Changer's Blood (Balancer's Soul cycle) (73 page)

Sarah
suddenly
looked like death warmed over.
She looked so disoriented.

She sighed and stepped back.
Kara
walked in after removing
her
dirty shoes
. She
sat down on the sofa that
her
brother crafted and Sarah joined
her
. “Talk.” She said evenly. Her
emerald colored
eyes were tired and a little upset.

“What’s the matter
,
big
sister?”
Kara
asked in concern.

“You wouldn
’t understand.” She sighed and Kara
saw how defenseless she actually was
without
Conno
r around
. Her head
dipped
down and her eyes shut.

Kara
placed
a gentle
hand on hers and brought the stallion into view.
“Is this about what that blonde bimbo said on the news?” With her eyes still closed she nodded. “Did you blow off a little too much steam at the training area?” She
answered in the same fashion
again. “Then why are you so upset.”

She lifted her head and looked
upon Kara,
directly in the eyes. “I love Connor more than life itself, but
why am I feeling so jealous?” She
accidently snickered
an
Sarah’s
voice went back to steel bending
. “What’s so funny?”

“I know exactly what
you’re
feeling
and why
.” Sarah faltered for words so Kara
went on. “When Brother met you
,
I felt
somewhat
the same. Someone else has their attention on my brother and that is what’s bothering you. It’s the jealousy of knowing that Brother’s attention might go somewhere else.” S
arah
nodded
,
uneasily. “I’ll tell you something.” Her full attention was
now
riveted on
the younger child
. “Brother will never ever leave you. I thought he would be gone forever when he built this house for you. I was wrong. He has eyes only for you and you should never doubt that.”

She finally smiled softly after being reassured. She
then
glanced down and gasped. She asked quietly “What is this?” Sarah carefully picked up the stallion that was
a reference to
her
brother.

As Sarah
carefully traced the exquisite
ly detailed
curves
with the tips of her fingers
Kara
spoke. “Brother made that three years ago. I did the painting and
now I’m giving it to you. This will be my gift for our second slumber party.” Her head shot up and her eyes went wide. “Oh yeah, when the men are gone, we will party!”
Kara stood up and twirled. When she
stopped
Sarah’s
expression
remained
frozen and it made
Kara
double over in laughter.

When Sarah finally relaxed she too started giggling. “Well what should we do first?”

Kara
had a great idea.
“How about we play I’ve Never
?”

She stopped. “But you’re at the
dis
advantage because I hav
e three hundred years on you.” Kara smiled
Exactly!
she
thought
in a smug manner. T
hen Sarah started laughing and Kara then knew Sarah
was reading
her
mind.

Kara
had a question first. “Sarah, what did Brother do today?”

Her smile faltered. “
When he dropped us off last night
,
we went home and had dinner. He left at about three in the morning and ran all the way to where Mathew was
,
in the woods. He called my
cell phone
this morning and told me that a cougar got a hold of
the remains
. He then buried what was left and
also
buried the bullet casing deep in the ground.
He spent all night looking for anything that could be traced back to us.
He didn’t leave behind any evidence.

“This was the first time he has ever had to kill another person. I’m actually proud that he is feeling remorse for the one who died. Even if he
did
ha
ve
it coming
…
” Sarah answered
Kara’s
questioning eyes. “I’m proud of him because he doesn’t relish over his kill. My mate is one who enjoys life
and basks in it
, but will end it only if there is a threat. I’m happy
I didn’t choose a malicious man
.” Sarah
smiled again
as her eyes became unfocused
.

“Last weekend you had that same look on.
W
hy do you look so depressed
?”

“Because Connor is so far away
from me
.
Mates share a
powerful
bond. I can feel exactly where my mate is at all time
s, like an invisible tether trying to come back together
. When
our mate is
far
away we get agitated
, scared, angry and even depressed. Only when our mates are close can we be at ease.
The bond to be together is
stronger than any
form of
addiction, but in a good way. We’re two halves of the same whole and as such we always want to be together at all times.
And when he holds me, it’s like I’m whole again.
When he leaves…
”

Feeling tired of such a long lecture
about a Balancer’s bond
Kara
asked
with a grin
“Ready to get this party started?”

Reward
and Take

Mid
-
Friday
Connor
met up with Mark and the three groups
that had been taken into the forest
. Earlier
that morning he
buried
what was left of
the scattered remains of Mathew.
From the animal prints that had appeared
and been classified as
an assortment of scavengers and a large bear scraping .
The
most
difficult part was covering up
all
of the evidence.
Connor
had to use
an array of
powers to
mend
the struggle tha
t took place that night.
Terra
had to be used
to fill in
all of
the footprints and the impact of the Mathew’s fall
should a search team be sent and find this place
.
The few lingering human remains were also buried well over six feet underneath the soil
,
should any dogs be called to the scene. His
job wasn’t finished because
he
still
had to remove all traces that led
up
to his death.
E
very
single
step
Mathew
made
in the forest
,
as he followed
their
trail
had been vibrated to fill in and hide the tread of his shoes
.
Connor
ha
s
always hated killing anything unless
there was no other way. Like his
mate said
earlier
,
Mathew
had two chances in life and he chose
vengeance
.
His fate came to a close on
the
final attempt.

Manny’s fraternal twins were less argumentative about the outdoors this time
around
and
they actually made their own shelter. And it was well built.

This time Janet and Ray built their own shelter without any assistance.

The new family of three was
very pleasant to meet. Their names were Ben and Angelia and their eleven year old son
,
James
, was soft spoken
.

After the shelters were made
properly
Mark and Connor
taught them
all
how to make traps. They liked t
he way to trap squirrels
for the simplicity
. Connor
grabbed a
dry
stick and turned to the nine people that were
watching from
behind. “This is one of the easiest traps you’ll ever need to trap small animals.
Traps take time, but they use the least amount of energy. There is a cost to using traps though, animals won’t always take the ba
i
t and you end up hungry. To alleviate that cost, build more than one trap to better your odds at getting your next meal.
”
He
took out a three foot strand of fishing line. “
And t
his
one of the simplest and most effective means to trap squirrels
.”

T
he stick
was then
shoved
by
one end into the dirt and
the other end rested in the trunk of a tree.
“Squirrels
, as are many creatures,
are lazy animals. They would rather
take the easier route to
climb this leaning stick than climb vertically up a tree. Make sure your stick has two branches in the shape of a V.”
O
ne end of the fishing line
was then tied securely
to the upper part of the stick. Then the other end was fashioned into a choke line.
T
he
thin
noose
end of the line
was placed delicately
into the V shape
of broken branches that shot off the center of the b
ranch. “When the
unsuspecting
animal climbs up this stick, its head will come through
the transparent fishing line
first and that will be the end of it. The animal will die quickly.”

After it became dark and everyone went to sleep Mark asked quietly “Well?
What did you find?
”

“Not a single trace of
him will ever be found again.” Connor
sighed. “I wanted to thank you.”

“For what?” Mark asked innocently.

“For not second guessing me.”

He smiled. “I will always follow you
,
my friend. You
’ve
always f
ound
the best solution and that was it. Your first priority was for the
young
girl
’
s safety.
But my question is
:
Why did you want me to cover Jack?”

Connor
looked from the fire and into his
friend’s
silver eyes. “Because you
’
r
e
faster than Jack.
You are capable of reacting to a wide array of
situations instantly.
If need be I knew you would
be capable of
pick
ing
those two up and run quicker. Also if you got shot by a bullet, you’ll regenerate within
seconds
unlike Jack who’ll take more than a week to completely heal.”
For t
he rest of the night
they
went through every scenario
possible
. The conclusion would always wind up with Mathew six feet under
or being digested
.

Sunday afternoon after everyone paid and left
,
They
got
the usual fifty dollar
deposit back from Bill.

O
n the trip home Mark made
Connor
laugh. He told
him
how much
his
sister has ate this week and he couldn’t be more proud of her. “At the rate she’s going, she’ll be at her
maximum
weight very soon.”