Chapter 7
North
If this were the past I would know exactly where she is, but during each of our lifetimes, our connection fades.
I have almost given up hope of finding her, and our newest club business isn’t helping matters.
Three women have been killed in our town.
They remain nameless to the public, and no one is coming forward with information.
Each time we catch wind of a new murder my heart is ready to break until I see the face.
They all could be her, they look similar to her, but not nearly as beautiful.
They’ve all had ties to our club. The first was murdered after our Halloween party.
The second had been on the back of Bill’s ride, warming his back a mere twenty-four hours prior.
And the last, she sold an old beater truck to South the same day she was killed.
All three murders point to one group of people, my brothers and me.
But we have don’t have the motto we do because we are soft.
“Nobody fucks with the Kings.” We will find who is responsible and they will pay with their life.
“Did Cece have any useful information?” I ask Bill, after killing my engine.
He frowns. Not a good sign. I should have sent South, but he would have maimed the poor woman for being useless. We’re all on edge with the cops breathing down our necks. Yes, we have abilities, but they are not nearly as strong as they used to be.
Bill runs his fingers through his long hair and sighs.
“Bitch about talked my ear off about everything else. She somehow knew how much I have in my bank account down to the penny but didn’t know anything we could use.
Think she’s crazy. She said she thought the FEDS were behind it and trying to frame us. ”
My head jerks back and I sarcastically laugh.
“Why the fuck would the FBI have us on their radar right now? And why go to all the trouble of killing those women just to soil our names? We do that enough on our own. If they wanted to question us, they would. You’re right.
She is out of her mind. Why would she even mention the FEDs? ”
“No clue. Besides, we still have Johnson on our payroll, don’t we?”
“Sure do,” I answer him, flipping my kickstand down and let it take the weight of my motorcycle.
I cannot say I believe one bit of Cece’s wild theories, but it makes me worry.
The first finger a small-town hairdresser points should not directly land on the FBI.
Something isn’t adding up. I need to get her alone in a room with South or myself, and it’s on me for letting Bill go instead of South.
“Did you ask her why she thought it was them?”
“Mmmhmm. Of course, I did. She rattled on about how she saw a black unmarked van sitting outside the clubhouse the last time she left my room freshly fucked.”
“Why in the hell didn’t you lead with that?”
“Didn’t think it was important.” He shrugs, opening the door of the clubhouse and heads inside.
I let the door close, needing a minute before I strangle the life out of my brother.
Could this be absolutely nothing and probably is?
Absolutely. But it warrants suspicion, even Cece figured that much out.
So, why in the hell my brother thought it to be insignificant is beyond me.
I pull a long breath in through my nose and blow it out of my lips slowly.
If I murder him before the hour is up, Ohm might.
I wrap my fingers around the handle and follow Bill to the table where he is sitting, blowing out another breath for good measure, hoping I can stay calm. “When did this take place?”
“Five days ago.”
“And she’s just sat on this thinking the FEDs were snooping around?”
“Guess so. Like I said the bitch is crazy. She probably wraps her head in tin foil to keep aliens with mind control out of her head, too.”
I glare at him.
“Oh, right. Guess she’s not too far off if she believes that, huh?”
“We’re not aliens,” I point out with a flat tone, balling my hands into fists, and straightening them to my sides.
“We’re not exactly as human as she is either, though.”
He is right. We are not humans, but we aren’t protectors anymore either.
I guess if I had to describe what we are now, it would be humans with extraordinary abilities.
We still bleed and die just like everyone else, but it takes a lot more to kill us.
We never used to stay in one place too long, but once we found the Kings that changed.
It is a brotherhood much like the one we already have amongst us, and we never lived by the law. We make our own laws.
“Not exactly,” I answer him.
Shuffling from the back hallway gets both of our attention and we look toward who is responsible. Draven slinks down the hallway and yawns. “What’s the hub bub all about, fuckers?”
Bill is quick and get right on top of catching Draven up to speed.
I take that as my que to find out where in the heck South is.
He should be back by now. He is never and I mean NEVER late.
Plucking my phone from my pocket I check the time.
It’s a quarter after noon. We were supposed to meet back at the clubhouse at ten after.
He is the one who chose the time. Perhaps he’s finally started telling me an earlier time than he used to.
I can’t remember how much earlier he used to tell me to be somewhere, but I know he didn’t tell me the right time.
We had this conversation the night I met her.
My finger slides over my phone and I dial South. He picks up on the first ring.
“You’re late,” I blurt out without giving him a chance to say hello. After all the years we have known one another, I have to say this is a first, and I don’t like it. I’m the one who is always running late. Not him. “I thought you were dead.”
“I know. Not dead, though, so there’s that.” There is a hint of irritation in his voice.
“Where are you?”
“Just left prison.”
My heartbeat pounds in my ears and it feels like my face is on fire. “What? I think I heard you wrong.” I pace back and forth on our sidewalk.
“You heard me right, North. I just left Shady Holler.”
“Shady Holler?” I have so many questions, but somehow that is the one I spit out. He’s two towns over and about fifty miles further than the destination where he should be.
“Yes, North. Shady Holler Penitentiary.”
“Why in the fuck where you there?”
“You’ll never guess.” No. I won’t. None of us have any reason at all to be there to my knowledge, so he hit the nail on the head with that statement. I do not entertain it with a reply, waiting for him to go on and explain himself. “Deylani.”
My mouth is suddenly dry, and the ground feels like it’s spinning beneath my feet as if I am suddenly hyper-aware of it turning on its axis.
My hand that isn’t holding the phone up to my ear smacks the brick wall in front of me.
I need to hold onto something before I fall over.
No one has spoken that name in many years.
She goes by Leila now, probably doesn’t even know her true name.
“I’m not following. Is she in prison as in she’s a prisoner?”
“No, North. She’s the groundskeeper. Yes, she has been there, right under our noses for years.”
My stomach turns sour, and I hate every ounce of my being. I should have felt her. Our last lifetime there was thousands of miles between us, and I still felt her. It should have been me that found her, not South. My airway tightens with regret, and I cough to clear it, but it does not help.
It’s not too late. We still have time. This news should make me happy, but I can’t find the strength inside me anywhere to smile.
South found her; he was always drawn to her, even before we knew what she was to him.
She was his to protect and he failed in a sense.
She and I should have never happened, but once we did, he was given a choice, take me out or join me amongst the fallen.
He has always been a true friend, even when faced with such a world-altering decision, he chose the better path for me.
Not him. I shouldn’t feel any amount of ill feelings that he didn’t tell me the truth.
He probably didn’t want me to get my hopes up for another cold trail that would be a dead-end, but it does not set well with me.
“How long, South?” I mutter the question in an unintentional snarl, straightening my spine, and squaring my shoulders as if he can see me.
“How long what?”
“How long have you known where she was?”
“About eight hours.”
“So, you magically found yourself two towns over and stumbled over her or what? I’m not trying to be a dick, but something isn’t adding up.” I sink my teeth into my bottom lip to stop myself. I need to get all of the information before I completely lose my shit.
“Back the fuck off, North. I’ve been searching for her since we lost her the last time. It’s taken twenty-seven exhausting years to find the right dreams and it wasn’t hers that told me where she was.”
“It wasn’t?”
“It was yours?”
I want to tell him to stay the fuck out of my head, but if it is the reason that led him to finding her, I can’t. “Mine?”
“Short answer. Yes. Long answer, I’m not sure. Do you recall any of your dreams anymore?”
Taking a moment to mull over his question, I really think about it.
I guess I don’t. I never really thought about it.
I have always assumed I dream when I sleep but can’t remember what they are about or what takes place.
It has never been something for me to second guess.
In fact, if I did have constant dreams and could recall them it would be an abnormal thing for me.
“I’m taking your silence as a no.”
“You’d be correct. But South, I’ve never really dreamed. That’s your department.”
“Used to be.”
“What do you mean used to be?” I talk louder, so he can hear me over the noisy truck he is driving to keep up appearances.
“It wasn’t Delayni who was controlling her dream, not entirely. You were the one driving, but she was shifting the gears.”
“What does that even mean?” I give up standing entirely when dizziness washes over me and decide sitting on the ground with my back against the clubhouse for support is the best option right now. She has been reaching for me, and I haven’t noticed. Maybe in this life we lose one another completely.
“It means you were you, taking control like you normally would, but she couldn’t make out your face. She didn’t know who you were, but she didn’t want to let you go.”
“How does that mean I was grinding the gears or whatever you said?”
“I felt you there, brother. I don’t know.
It’s hard to explain, but it was different.
There’s a difference and I can feel it. You will just have to trust me on this one.
Your ass was dream walking right into our sweet Delayni’s head.
” Our powers are supposed to dwindle with each life’s ending, until we are completely human.
We don’t have all the specifics, but gaining a new ability is not a thing that should be happening.
I don’t care about the fucking rules, though.
The fact that so-called Angels were not to mix with the outcasts was never a problem for me until her.
She made me question everything and even on her seventh lifetime and my fourth, she continues to do so even without either of us knowing it.
I refuse to sit and wonder, asking the reasons this is happening between us.
I don’t need the answers now or ever if it means finding her.
“So, let me get this straight. You found her and you left her?” My voice strains and is hoarse while I fight back tears. A lump forms in my throat and I rest my head on my knees.
“Let me finish. The tattoos on her arms begin where yours end. You are still connected, probably in ways none of us understand. It’s like a damn road map, North.”
“You left her?” I repeat myself in a low, defeated tone, not acknowledging the tattoos.
They are just ink driven into flesh and nothing more.
Could it mean something? Of course, but nothing will matter if we leave her in a prison to rot.
There is no telling what kind of life she has had this time to wind up there.
Sorrow and regret push through my veins as if they have the force of a steam-engine driving them.
This is not the life she is supposed to have.
This is my fault. She’s paying for my sins, for my choice to love her, and let her love me.
“I didn’t have a choice. I couldn’t get to her. She was in the infirmary.”
“Is she sick? For everything in this world and out of it, South. You’re not writing a fucking suspense thriller, quit giving me short answers. I feel like my heart is going to explode over here.”
“There was an incident last night. The guard who I caught sleeping was scant on the details, but he believes she had a seizure. Dunno if that is actually what really happened or not, but she’s ok. Maybe a little banged up, but she is alive, and we’re going to get her back.”
Even though he cannot see me I nod in agreement and my mind starts working on a plan to free her.
I don’t tell him any of it, we have already said too much over the phone.
In the off chance that the Feds are watching us, I hold my tongue.
There’s no way I am about to tip them off that we’re about to break someone out of prison. “What’s your ETA?”
“I’ll be there in twenty minutes.”
“Ok. Talk to you then.” I end the call, staring blankly at the screen of my phone. I need to move, and go inside, and fill our brothers in with everything, but I can’t find the strength to move. I don’t even know how to feel right now, much less how to get my muscles to do what I want them to do.
This is the longest Delayni and I have been apart.
Is what South said possible? Had my subconscious found her and neglected to let my conscious in on the details?
I guess it is a possibility, but why? That’s so ridiculous.
I am ridiculous. I have the ability to read minds but can’t even dig out important information from my own head.
I sigh, stretching my legs to drop my phone into the front pocket of my jeans.
Sitting around in a self-loathing pity party for one is not going to do any favors for anyone.
Right now we need action, so that’s what I’m going to do.