Society Rules (51 page)

Cassandra looked around uneasily, over her shoulder before speaking again. That damned shadow.

“Um, Shawn . . . sweetie . . . when were you going to tell me about the kids?” She was looking at him unhappily now.

Baker’s heart sank. She knew. Damn it all, she knew.

“I wasn’t sure about the kids, Cassandra.” Baker spoke honestly. “Sure about what, Shawn? Their status . . . or taking them in?”

“Both, kind of,” he sighed. “Cassandra, I don’t want to bring in the kids.”

He held his breath again as he waited for her reaction. With Cassandra, you could never be sure what you were going to get. Lockhart looked pensive as she kept her arms tightly crossed, poking at the clumps of soil at her feet with the toe of her ruined shoe.

“But, Shawn,” she protested. “These kids are the
most
important. I don’t know for sure, because I don’t work in your department, but I am willing to bet that they’ve never caught any so young before. And I think they’re a set . . .
Equals
or whatever, which is kind of nasty, actually. I thought that
Equals
were, like, you know, boyfriend-girlfriend or something.”

Baker was wracking his brains to come up with an explanation for Lockhart. He too, was baffled by the idea of the two kids being
Equals
. Obviously, they didn’t know everything about these beings, but he had thought the same as Cassandra. He looked up at her to see her watching him very carefully.

He tried another tactic. His ace in the hole.

Shawn smiled fully at her again.

“Come on, Cassandra; let’s do this Will’s way. Then we’ll be rid of these kids, and we will still get to bring in the others. We’ll get plenty of credit, and reap the rewards.” Baker stepped closer to Cassandra, and pulled her close to him.

“Besides,” he whispered. “Just think of how we could occupy our time while we wait to hear from Will.”

Cassandra’s jaw dropped open. As many times as she had dreamed of hearing just these kinds of words from Shawn, the reality of the moment astounded her.

She allowed Shawn to pull her toward him, and caught the faint remnants of expensive cologne. Her breath caught as she felt his lips press softly against the sensitive area just below her ear.

Oh,
he
was
good
 . . . just like in her dreams. She could even force herself to ignore the feeling of the children’s eyes upon them.

The sound of something crashing through the underbrush yanked them back to their surroundings. “What the hell was that?” Shawn was already on edge.

To him, there was nothing worse than noise coming from unknown sources in a graveyard.

“It’s just some animal,” Cassandra told him breathlessly. “It’s been hanging around here the whole time.” She hadn’t been quite ready to give up the moment, but Baker was now looking around, distressed. He wanted to see this “animal” with his own eyes. Just to make sure. But he saw nothing.

Uneasily, he turned back to Lockhart. She was still gazing up at him, dreamily. “We are going to take these kids back to Will’s mom. Then we will . . .” Cassandra stopped him with a light smack to the chest.

“Silly boy! We are not giving these kids back, are you
crazy
? This is too good to give up. Don’t get all wimpy on me now, Shawn. You can handle this!”

Baker was surprised to find that Cassandra was still resisting, after his offer. He had been so sure that she would go for it.

Actually, she
was
going for it just fine, yet still resisting. He was going to have to get tough.

“Listen to me, Cassandra. I am calling the shots, here. This is my plan, my deal, okay? Just do what I say and everything will work out fine.” The woman stepped back and narrowed her eyes.

“Shawn Baker, obviously you don’t have the guts to do what is necessary, but that’s okay. I have enough for both of us. You can turn your back, if you’d like, and let me do the dirty work, but we
ARE
bringing in all four of them. Your plan has been modified!”

Crap. She
was
going to fight him.

He thought for a moment, glaring at the woman before abruptly shifting gears. He’d actually covered plan “B”, as a backup . . . he just never thought for a moment that he would have to use it. Shooting out the truck tires had turned out to be the thing to do.

Shawn raised his hands in mock defeat. “Alright, you know what? Let’s load up and get to a hotel, and we will talk about what to do from there . . . how does that sound?”

“Now you’re talkin’.” She smiled.

He made a great show of rounding up the kids and walking ahead of Cassandra before he let out a yell. “The truck has two flat tires!” he tried to put the right note of irritation in his voice.

It wasn’t hard.

“So change it, big man!”

“There’s only one spare, Lockhart!”

“Oh, yeah. Great. Well, what the hell are we gonna do
now
,” she wailed. “I’m sick of this place, and sick of these kids and . . .”

“Alright, I hear you! Jeeze, relax girl!” Shawn was still working to keep her loyal to him.

“Let’s go back here so we can sit, and I’ll make some calls.” He moved the kids quickly back to the thick woods, and let them sit together on the log again. He wanted to keep Cassandra away from the truck, obviously, and he needed to think.

And try to figure out what to do next.

With an angry sigh, Cassandra went to sit back on the crypt, jerking around a couple of times as the shadow in the corners of her eyes continued to torment her.

Shawn noticed as well, and moved well beyond the area where he had seen it last, shifting to stand near a large headstone that rose to the middle of his back.

He pulled out his phone and stood, thinking. Cassandra helped him think, by yelling at him.

“Baker, you’ve got to get us out of here and now, or all hell is going to break loose!” His response was lost as a blast of hot air whipped around his body, nearly burning his eyes. A heat storm, maybe?

Shawn thought the sun looked awfully bright and . . . um . . .
close
. Freaky.

Chapter 33

“The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them.”

Isaiah 11:6

The road was unusually deserted, especially considering the fact that it was a very sunny spring Saturday. They had passed only one other car on their hasty journey, not counting the police car, of course. Jackson had clearly seen the officer’s intention of stopping them.

A warning, eh? Well, the man was nice enough, Jackson decided, and under normal circumstances, he would never have dreamed of interfering with the man’s thoughts. He would have pulled over and taken the official warning gratefully.

Ah. Yes. He had not been the one to interfere!

He did not have that gift, did he? Jackson and Indie were meshing so seamlessly in thought, now, that it was becoming difficult at times to separate whose ideas were whose.

Jackson filed away his intention to tease Indie about her effect on men for a more appropriate time.

That
poor
officer
didn’t
stand
a
chance,
he thought, as he remembered the completely befuddled look on the man’s face, just as he had been preparing to pull out behind them.

He glanced over at her now, and noticed her lips, pressed tightly together.

Consider
it
noted
, came her distracted thought.

Jackson spoke aloud, now. “I thought you were going to let me have some private alone time with my evil thoughts,” he commented as he scanned the sides of the road. They should be getting close now.

“Maybe I’ve decided that I had better keep an eye on you and your thoughts,” she returned, anxiety riddling her features. He could feel her tension building, in spite of her earlier calm, and her pledge of confidence in fate and himself.

Jackson was anxious as well. He was very unclear about the outcome of this ordeal, but he already knew this; the same senses that had warned him that they were going to have to face their pursuers head on, now told him something else.

Something awful.

People were going to die today, in connection with this little adventure, and he had no idea who they were going to be. He was appalled by this revelation. He knew that Indie had felt this as well, accounting for her rising anxiety, and he had nothing with which to comfort her.

He couldn’t even enjoy a moment of selfless bravery, and hope that he would be one of the doomed, to spare anyone else, because of the strange workings of having a permanent soul mate, whose fate was intertwined with your own.

The end of him would bring about the end of Indie as well. Unthinkable.

It did cross his mind, that perhaps this
was
it. That their destiny was that they were to meet, and do something very important, and then move on. He could not help but remember Ms. Conner’s dying words. “
She
is
in
possession
of
something
so
precious
 . . . .”

Something that must be protected. He then thought of her last words.

“
At
all
cost
.”

Maybe they were not meant to have any length of time together in this life.

He and Indie. That could account for two souls that he knew would be moving on today. Although he knew moving on was not exactly the end, he wanted to enjoy the here and now with her;
the
pleasures
and
joy
of
the
flesh.

At least for a little while.

“What will be, will be . . .” he thought with a sigh. He was ready to do whatever was necessary.

He glanced upward at the sun raging in the sky and shivered. He wanted to go to one of the observation centers to check on the status of the sun, but he could see from here that it was expanding with an excess of negative energy.

Usually it was too subtle for the average person to notice, especially without the benefit of viewing it from one of the focus areas, like Mystery Hill, or the better-known Stonehenge.

Today, however, no one could help but notice the change. It was frightening.

Indie spotted the back end of the PT Cruiser, its nose deep in the muddy ditch. Jackson abandoned his chaotic thoughts and guided the Mercedes to the opposite side of the road, pulling over an appropriate distance, and turned off the engine.

He pocketed the keys, and turned to face Indie, grasping both of her hands before speaking.

“I suppose it’s pointless to ask that you remain here, and let me go see what I can find, right?”

“I knew you were a smart man,” Indie replied. There was no way she was staying in the car.

Jax looked into her eyes and spoke silkily, in his singsong mesmerizing voice. “Don’t you want to wait for me, and stay where I know you’ll be safe?”

Indie’s eyes misted for only a split second, before she tossed her head. “Oh, don’t
even
try that with me . . . are you kidding?” she huffed, pushing against his chest.

He placed both hands around her face, and kissed her quickly before giving her a tight, miserable smile. “I figured it would work exactly like that, but you can’t blame a guy for trying, can you, love?” They sat looking at each other for a full thirty seconds, before speaking in unison.

“Let’s go!”

They left the car, and began silently working their way through the tall grass and huge rocks that were littering the area. As they moved around a particularly thick cluster of trees and rock, Indie sucked in her breath as she spied Will’s truck, obviously purposefully concealed. She also noticed the two flat tires.

Jackson squeezed her hand and whispered fiercely. “Don’t assume the worst, Indie. Let’s check it out.”

Indie nodded, but felt a knot of dread in her belly. She almost didn’t want to look, but knew that not looking would not make what was frightening her go away.

As they began working their way toward the truck, trying to be very quiet as the dried weeds and grass crunched under their feet, Jackson saw movement deep within the cemetery housed within the clearing ahead.

He saw the blond woman, and read immediately from her heart and mind that this was the real threat. This person was cold. This person was heartless. This person had the features of
darkness
.

A true demonic soul.

Jackson’s strong infallible heart skipped a beat, and a frost seemed to wrap around his entire body.

They were in trouble. He’d never had any problem confronting one of
them
before, but her close proximity to the children, and having his
Equal
so close to the foulness of evil, disturbed him greatly.

Killing them off here and there was part of his job, but it was never a direct confrontation. He always made sure to take them out before they even knew what was happening, because active confrontation was dangerous with these creatures.

The lost souls who had no idea what they were.

Just walking anger and hate.

Jackson turned to speak to Indie, but saw that all of her attention was focused on the truck. He also took note of the fact that there was no way to get to the truck without coming into clear view of the woman.

Instantly, he knew that he and Indie must separate.

Indie
! He sent an urgent call to her mind. She turned with a start, to face him.
Listen,
Indie,
you
can
get
to
the
truck
if
you
use
your
gift.
You
will
not
be
noticed.
There
is
enough
cover
from
the
woods
to
allow
me
to
make
my
way
closer,
to
the
back
of
the
cemetery
where
they
are,
without
being
seen
 . . .
what
do
you
say
?

Indie hesitated, and then answered silently.

Yes,
you
go.
I
feel
like
I
need
to
get
to
that
truck
right
away
.

“Be careful,” they whispered aloud to each other, and Jackson veered to the left to circle around, feeling Indie shut down as he moved away from her. He didn’t like the feeling of separation and isolation that this caused him, but he knew that it was the best option. He focused on getting through the crackling grass unseen.

Indie approached the truck cautiously, still moving with care. She wasn’t physically invisible, just unlikely to be noticed, so she moved with deliberate stealth, to avoid any sudden movement that could possibly give her away.

Her heart was pounding so loudly, she felt sure that anyone within a half-mile radius could hear it. All attempts at calming it had proven ineffective so far. Deep breaths, calming focus . . . nothing was helping.

She finally made it to the right side of the truck; the one facing away from the cemetery, the truck itself now offering shelter from any searching eyes.

Carefully now, she grasped the door handle, and opened it ever so slightly. She was unprepared as the weight of something large pushed back against her, causing the door to open all the way.

Indie covered her mouth to stop the scream that nearly escaped as she recognized first, that this was a person, and then in almost the same instant, the identity of that person. He had fallen half out of the truck, like a scene from a horror movie.

It was Will. Most of his body remained on the seat, but his head and shoulders now hung treacherously outside the truck.

It was obvious that he had been leaning heavily against the door. Shaking violently, Indie knelt near Will’s head, and could just hear the faint sounds of breath, and a faltering heartbeat in the full throes of cardiac arrhythmia.

She didn’t want to touch him. To look at him was telling enough.

Indie covered her face with both hands and burst into silent sobs that threatened to tear open her chest.

She looked at the face of the man she had married.

The father of her children.

He sucked in a desperate gasp as he began struggling to right himself, and Indie knew that she could not put it off. She had to get him back into the truck.

Swallowing her sobs, she wrapped her arms around Will and lifted him quite easily into the cab of the truck, straightening his body to make a more comfortable arrangement of his limbs. The tears pressed through her tightly shut eyes, and the heaving sobs began again.

The burning in her belly was so strong that it extended to her entire torso.

She pressed her face against his, holding him tightly. Will stirred, and tried to look around to find the source of the arms that held him. “The pain . . .” he whispered weakly.

Indie sat up instantly. She had the power to comfort, to soothe and to take away pain. She also had the power to help heal, but only that which
could
be healed. She could diagnose hopelessness through her touch. And Indie had almost never felt such hopelessness. However, she could bring him peace and ease his pain.