Borrowed Time

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?