Jodi:
*I slipped back into the pit, exhausted, my heart aching
with another day of fruitless searching. I don’t know what I hoped to do that
the brothers weren’t. What I did know was that I couldn’t sit home night after
night waiting for the worst. Kicking off my shoes, I hurried down the hall to
the nursery where Kassandra would be waiting with Sahvage, as she’d faithfully
done for the last week. That doggen was truly a godsend, tight-lipped and loyal
when I’d made my request of her. The disapproval was evident in the way her
face turned hard but, she’d nodded and agreed to tend my young while I joined
the search for his father…their father. I dropped a hand to my stomach as pain
spiked through me, the all too familiar pang of hunger that had grown with the
passing weeks. I padded down the hall and pushed the door open. Stopping inside the door, wanting only to
hold my son in the few moments before sickness and fatigue forced me to sleep,
my eyes snapping up at Butch’s voice.*
Butch:
What the fuck do you think you’re doing, Jodi? –watching
warily from my place in the corner, Sahv snuffling softly in my arms as she
stepped through the door. I eyed
Vishous’s shellan as she shuffled through the door, her usual tawny skin pallid,
her face drawn and gaunt. Her stubborn refusal of any attempt to feed her had
me near panic, though I’d never stopped trying to convince her. She’d lost
weight, her curves shrinking around the growing swell of her belly. Fuck, if V
came back and saw her this way… not if. When. When V came back.- You can’t keep
going out there. If I let anything happen to you, Vishous would rip me apart. –shakes
head- Jesus, you can barely get out of bed on your best day. Stop being so
fucking unreasonable. Think of the baby!
Jodi:
I am thinking of our babies, Butch! *striding across the
room, I pulled my son from your hands and folded him into my arms, pressing my
nose to the top of his head as his fingers curl around the pendant at my throat*
They need their father. Do you want me to tell them that I sat on my ass and
did nothing to bring him home? That I hid in the mansion and try not to notice
the way the other shellans look at me? I know I’m sick and I don’t want or need
their pity. I need my hellren home!
Butch:
You need to eat! –I winced at Sahv’s startled cry, my
frustration raising the volume of my voice- If you die, he won’t have anything
to come home to, Jodi. Fuck’s sake! –shaking my head, I crossed the room and
loomed down at her. So small. She’d gotten so fucking small, her eyes dark with
uncountable sleepless nights.- I talked to Marissa and she agrees, just let me
do that much for you. For V. You need to feed before it’s too late.
Jodi:
*lifting my chin, I looked up to meet your hazel eyes* I
will feed. When Vishous comes home. *it was the same argument. As the anemia
raged to gnaw at my withering body, one by one, each of the brothers had
offered their own blood to sustain our growing young but, I couldn’t bring
myself to do it. Someone else feeding our young… I shook my head at the
thought… it was too close to admitting that Vishous was gone. I would not..
could not ever believe that. Singing quietly, I dropped my lips to my son’s
head in a hushed whisper* We’ll bring papa, home, Sahv. I swear we will.
Butch:
-heaving a deep sigh, I fell back to lean against the wall,
watching Sahv pull the tiny dagger charm into his mouth and gnawing anxiously.
Fucking hard-headed female. Christ, she’d have to be to get through to Vishous.
The way he’d been before her.. I’d nearly lost him. Vishous was my best friend
but Jodi was the glue that held him together. Without her, he wouldn’t just
fall apart, he would shatter and leave nothing behind- I can’t let you go out
there again.
Jodi:
I don’t remember asking your permission, O’Neal. *reaching
for the pacifier clipped to his onesie, I push it between Sahv’s bowed lips,
smiling when his lashes droop over his crystalline eyes*
Wrath:
[Taking off my wraparounds, I squeeze my eyes shut against
the pain of a building headache. Beth had been quietly listening to me rage
about the Glymera bullshit taking me away from a far more important matter. My brother.
Her distinct scent of night blooming roses laced with my bonding scent wafting
through my nostrils when she starting pacing in front of the pansy ass desk. I
threw the wraparounds on top of the stack of bureaucratic bullshit piled in
front of me. The absence of the tech-wiz pressed heavily on the Brotherhood’s collective
back. All our efforts divided between the war with the Lessening Society, tracking
the Bastards and now finding our brother, we were all walking a thin line of
adrenaline and exhaustion. On top of that, the insulated Glymera bastards were
on my ass about the constant attacks on our civilians and the none-too-subtle
‘advice’ on how I should rule. Not that it made any difference; pleasing those
pompous asses was at the bottom of my list right now. The old ways were slowly
dying and I would like to keep it that way, bringing us into a new era of our
race. Evolution was necessary to survival and the Glymera sure as fuck wasn’t
willing to evolve. My inner rant was cut short by the high-pitched ring of my
cell, guided by the sound, I tentatively
searched over snowdrifts of beurocratic BS until I found the smartphone. Bracing
for whatever the fuck news I picked up on the third ring] This better be worth
the interruption [Brows shooting up when I hear the familiar voice at the end of
the line, the half-assed humor in the voice surprising the hell out of me] Well
symphath… same applies to you. This better be fucking good. [“It is. I think someone made an impression
with Donall’s daughter. She’s making plans to get the fuck out of dodge.” My
fingers tightened on the phone until it creaked.] Ione? The fuck are you
talking about? [“She met with me through…channels. Wanted help getting her and
a package back to the Old Country tomorrow night. Female looked like the cat
who’d gotten into the fucking cream and the whole time she was playing with a
gold zippo. I’d know that lighter
anywhere, Wrath. I’ve threatened to shove it up his ass enough. She was playing
with it like she was stroking his cock. Might be nothing but, it might not.” [moss
green eyes
narrowing to cat-like slits, I growled a single word into the receiver.] Where.
Beth’s hand tightened on my shoulder for a moment, leaning in to write down the
address I was repeating. This could be the break we needed and there was one
brother that needed to know ASAFP. Speed dialing the cop I put the
receiver back against my ear]
Butch:
God damnit, Jodi, you can't just… -the argument stopped when
my phone rang and I dug in my leathers for the phone, snapping the Razr open
without looking and barking a coarse greeting- What.
Wrath:
[The cop was as jumpy as the rest of us and you could hear
it in the tension of his voice, but I had no time to chastise him about proper
way to address the King] Cop, I just received some intel. I think this could be
the real fucking deal so listen up.
Butch:
-I snapped to attention, hazel eyes locking with Jodi’s as I
step out of the nursery to avoid waking the now sleeping young, shitkickers
thumping on the hardwood until I reached the end of the hall- Did we find him?
Tell me we fucking found him.
Wrath:
[leaning on my elbows on the frilly desk as I chuckle
humorlessly at your words] Not yet, my brother, but we're one step closer. The
sineater had some useful information and again I'm thankful the bastard is on
our side [rubbing at my useless eyes in an attempt to dispel the tall-tale
signs of an upcoming headache] apparently one of the civilians…Ione… asked to
meet up with Rehv given his.... extracurricular activities. Turns out she needs
cargo transportation out of the country. Not that I give a flying fuck if the
whole Glymera population leaves this side of the pond for good ~but~ Rehv said she
had V's lighter. [taking a small pause to let that bit of information sink in] Said
she was in a real hurry to close the deal. Sundown tonight. The Industrial
Street warehouses.
Jodi:
*my heart raced hearing Butch answer, hope lighting darkened
eyes watching him storm out of the room as I clutched Sahv to my chest until he
mewled a sleepy complaint, leaning over to nestle him back into his crib and
padding to the door, straining to hear what I could as the cop growled into the
phone, catching enough to fill in the blanks. Ione. Tonight. I glanced over at
the shutters still closed tight against the late afternoon sun. The brothers
were still bound by daylight but, I’d be damned if I’d be held back when my
hellren was within reach. Pressing a kiss to the top of my my son’s head and
stroking a knuckle over his cheek, I hurried out of the nursery and down the
hall, stepping out into the hazy sunlight and jumping into my truck, the engine
firing to life, tires squealing as I floored it down the winding drive*
Butch:
That. Fucking. Bitch. –a growl rumbled in my
chest, spewing acid-laced curses under my breath, fingers already flying over
the keypad to dial Rhage and Z, I headed back down the hall, rage raising my
voice into the air – Jodi, we might have something. Jodi? –calling around the
pit to no answer, I stalk past the wide-eyed doggen and back into the nursery
with the phone clenched in my fist, heart pumping with the news.- We leave at
sundown, we have a lead on… -the words fall on empty space and I stride across
the carpet to find Sahvage peacefully sleeping in his crib, the screech of
tires piercing through the drawn shutters- Jodi, what have you done?
