Kathi S. Barton - Author: June 2015

Sunday, June 28, 2015

Royce The Hunter Series Chapter Eight is ready to read

Chapter 8

Leah was exhausted. Her head was pounding too. She put her untouched dinner in the sink and went into the living room to watch a little television and to relax. Maybe if she was lucky, her headache would stop hurting so bad and she could go to bed. She’d been tired all day.

She hadn’t worked for several days. Her body was just too tired to make it out of bed and she hurt more and more when she simply moved from the bed to the couch. Tonight was the first time in a few days that she had been in the kitchen and she had made a mess of it. She’d get to it tomorrow, she decided, after she had a good nap.

There was nothing on the television so she turned it to one of those music stations and tried to mellow out. Chilled, she reached for the throw on the back of the couch and nearly had it over her when her hand went numb. Lifting her arm up, she looked at it and was frightened. Her vision was becoming blurred.

Terrified, she reached for the phone just as blood began to trickle out of her nose. She knocked the phone to the floor and only just managed to grab the handset before it too fell. She knew this was the end, knew she was dying. She needed to make just one more call.

Calling an ambulance seemed futile. She would be gone long before they got there and she’d not get to do one more thing before it was too late. Dialing blindly now, she hoped she pressed the correct buttons and didn’t waste her last breaths on a stranger. When Kasey answered the phone, Leah wept a little.

“I love you.” She felt the blood pour from her nose now and spill on her shirt. “I love you very much.”

“Mom? Mom, what’s happening? Where…oh God. Please, Mom, answer me. Tell me you’re all right.”

She hadn’t meant to panic her, but Leah knew she would understand. “Be happy for me. You be happy. I love you.”

“I love you too. Please don’t die. Mom, I need you. Please, please tell me you’re fine.”

“I love you.” The world seemed to still for a few seconds. Her body went numb all over and the phone slipped from her fingers. Nothing hurt, nothing hurt anymore, and she felt at peace. A bright light blinded her completely and then nothing.

Leah York died as peacefully as she could.

~~~

Royce got back to house at just after ten the next morning. His body ached and he smelled like smoke. The building had been completely engulfed by the time he’d gotten there and the fire department was trying to keep the fire from spreading when his family showed up. Arson, the chief said, gasoline had been poured over every floor and the place had gone up like dry tinder.

“You have any idea who would do something like this, Mr. Hunter?” the inspector had asked when it was clear it was intentional. “This kind of fire could have been a lot worse than it was.”

“Yes, sir. Your men did a fine job keeping it contained. Who set it? I’m not positive. I have a few ideas, but nothing I can prove. And don’t ask me. I won’t tell you.”

“Didn’t think you would. You’re brother, the lawyer, he said you and the previous owner had had words over what you had planned for the building. Thinking maybe it could have been him?”

Royce knew it was him, but didn’t say anything. The inspector moved away after a few seconds. Royce had watched him stop and talk to his mom, but knew he’d get nothing from her either. Charles Benton had a lot to answer for and Royce was just in the mood to ask him.

When Royce stepped out of his bedroom after taking a long, hot shower, he tied off the trash bag he’d put his clothes in and took it to the trash can just outside the kitchen. The smell was as much a part of the material as anything and he knew he’d never get them clean. He was putting the lid back on the top when his mom pulled up.

“Hello, son.” She sounded as tired as he did. “Got anything to eat in that monster kitchen of yours?”

He invited her inside and, while she started the pot of coffee, he gathered things to put together a nice lunch for them. He wasn’t surprised when both his brothers showed up before the first pot was finished brewing.

“Do you think Charles was stupid enough to set the fire?” their mother asked as she bit into the large sub he’d made for them all.

“He probably didn’t set it himself, but I’d bet any amount of money he was a part of it.” Daniel got up and got them all a beer as he continued. “I have a few things to look into, one of which is the security cameras that I had installed. If they were up and operational before the fire we might have caught someone.”

Royce nodded. “They’re running. I got the okay to have them turned on the day before yesterday. I told them to run them now just in case.”

Jesse looked up. “You thought he’d try something? Damn it, Royce, you should have said something. I would have had some of the security team out there.”

“No, I didn’t think he’d be that stupid. I was running it so we could see if we’d put the cameras in proper position. The company that installed them said they could come out and move the ones we wanted. I never thought of them until just now.”

Royce hadn’t thought of much anything the past few weeks and was beginning to think maybe he might have missed more than that. He looked up when Curtis’ phone went off. He got up and left the room when he answered.

“I, for one, am exhausted, but I want to make sure that we are looking into this thing with Charles.” His mom yawned for the second time in as many minutes. “Why don’t we meet in the office—”

Curtis came back in and cleared his throat. “That was a guy I have looking into some things. Charles Benton was admitted to the hospital for smoke inhalation. He’s on life support. It doesn’t look that bad, but they don’t want to take any chances.”

Royce looked over at his mom when she started crying. “I never meant for him to go to such extremes. I…his daughter didn’t deserve what he did to her, but I never meant for him to kill himself over some sort of revenge over this.”

She finally lay down on the couch and covered up. Royce and his brothers cleaned up the kitchen without saying much more. They agreed to meet at the office tomorrow, go over the recordings from the fire, and turn them over to the inspector. After another hour they left and Royce went up to his own bed.

His plans to talk to Kasey were going to have to wait until tomorrow. He had to figure this out with Benton and see what they could do about the building. He was a little worried about this house and whether or not he’d set up someone to torch this one, but he’d also had a nice security system installed before he’d moved in. Royce was just drifting off to sleep when he remembered that he’d left his mom on the couch. She’d be fine, he knew, and fell into an exhausted sleep.

He’d slept around the clock he realized the next morning. When his alarm went off at six the next morning, he knew he’d never slept better. The quick shower and getting dressed for the office made him realize that he’d not felt this good about going to work in a long while. He was pulling up out front when he got his first of many calls for the day.

“The recordings are being delivered by courier this morning. There is some news on CNN about the fire that implicates Benton. And before you ask, no, I didn’t let it leak.” Royce laughed at Jesse. “Also there are four meetings today with some of the guys from the Maple Committee. They want some updates on whether or not you’ve decided to let investors come in or not.”

“Why are you giving me updates and not Bobbie? I could have sworn that she did this every morning.” He pulled into the parking place just as he asked. “Don’t tell me you’re my new secretary.”

“Christ, no, but she called in. She said that there was a death and she needed to be there for them. She said something about it being a long time friend and if you wanted to dock her, she’d tell everyone where the bodies were.” Jesse laughed. “I told her I might just do it to find out where you stuff them.”

“I’m nearly in the building now. I’ll see you when I get up there. I suppose you’ve got someone coming up to cover for her, right?”

“Yeah, two ladies are on their way up. I know you have just Bobbie, but this is going to be a hell of a day and I don’t want anyone quitting on us right now. Oh and by the way, you have like forty messages on your machine.”

Royce pulled out his badge and swiped it over the machine. The man at the desk didn’t look familiar, but that wasn’t anything new. The security team was expanding every day, it seemed, and they needed even more people. When the new buildings they had opening by the beginning of fall opened they’d be short staffed again. With a nod, he went to the private elevator and went to his office.

The messages were from the investors that Jesse had mentioned. Three of the men wanted in to “broaden their portfolio,” another wanted to see about expanding his bottom line. They both meant the same thing, just one more honest than the other. He was fielding question about the Benton building when Curtis walked in with two other men. One he recognized from the fire, the other he didn’t know.

“Let me get back with you on that. We’re still checking the area out.” He hung up on the man as he was sputtering about timelines. “What can I do for you gentlemen?”

“This is Inspector Gordon from last night and this is Fire Marshal Will Swanson. They have a few questions on the insurance we had in place. I tried to tell them it’s a common practice for us, but Swanson here seems to think otherwise.”

Royce simply got up and walked to the file cabinet against the wall. After a quick search, he came back with a handful of files. “There are the insurance policies that we have on each building we purchase. If you’ll notice that on the day we sign the papers, we open a policy on the place. It’s mostly for peace of mind, but also for the workers when they are on site. There are also attachments to each policy that we cancel. The reason, the date, and who did the closing. While I understand why you’re asking, it doesn’t mean I have to be happy about it.”

They looked over the papers quickly. No one said a word and when they’d seemed to be satisfied, the two men left. Curtis hung around and said nothing for awhile. Royce knew his brother well enough to know that he’d say his piece eventually and when he did Royce knew it was going to be nothing he wanted to hear.

“Benton is going to make it. He confessed to the entire thing, including setting the fire on his own. He claimed it was because he was so grief-stricken, that the death of his daughter finally got through to him.”

“Do you believe him?” Royce didn’t. But he never had liked the guy in the first place.

“No. But it’ll be a good defense. Temporary insanity over the death of his daughter is a good way to swing it. Finding out that we had plans to make the building as a tribute to her and he’d done nothing—less than nothing actually. He’ll get off with some time, but not as much as he should.”

Royce nodded. “And those idiots, what do you think they were doing if they knew he confessed? Looking for another angle for a friend?”

“No, CYA. It’s always good, even when you have an ace in the hole to cover your ass. Like me covering yours for instance.”

Royce didn’t want to ask, but he did. “What have you done? And how much is it going to cost me?”

“The girl, in the off chance that she’s pregnant, I’ve put together a contract that gives her a house and a car. Money to spend as she sees fit and a trust for the baby. All she needs to do is to leave you alone and never contact the family again. I also have one that says she’d entitled to nothing if she divorces you and that you keep the child. Either way, you’re covered.”

Royce shifted in his chair. He wasn’t sure if he was supposed to be happy with what Curtis had done or pissed. He was feeling a little bit of both. Before he could answer, his brother stood.

“Or we can go with plan C. You tell me you love her beyond all your wildest dreams and I tear up both contracts and the two of you live happily ever after. It’s up to you.” Curtis walked to the door. “I’ll see you tomorrow. If you need me or just want to talk, call. See you in the morning.”

Royce was still sitting at his desk an hour later, no closer to figuring out what he wanted to do than he’d been before Curtis had come in. His personal line rang and he picked it up, smiling for the first time in days.

“I missed you today. The two girls we got from the pool to fill in for you didn’t make my coffee right and they couldn’t find anything I needed the way you did. Please tell me you’re coming back tomorrow.”

“I can come in tomorrow, but I’ll need the next day off.” Bobbie was quiet for a few more seconds than he liked. “I guess you didn’t hear.”

Royce sat up in his chair and closed his eyes. “I was told you had a death and that you needed to be off. Who was it? Not your sister-in-law, was it?”

“No. I thought…Leah York passed late yesterday afternoon. She’d been ill for some time and an aneurism took her life.”

Royce felt the room tilt off its axis and then back again. He closed his eyes. Here he’d been plotting with Curtis the best case scenarios concerning her future and she was dealing with her mother’s death.

“How’s…Christ, I didn’t know. How are they doing? Is…is Kasey all right? Jay, is he, is he handling this well?”

He heard her sob and his heart broke for his friend. “Jay is trying to keep them all together. Suzy of course doesn’t understand, but she knows something is wrong. Kasey. Kasey is…I’m not sure. She won’t…Leah called her when she was dying. She called Kasey and told her that she loved her and that she wanted her to be happy. When the ambulance got to her home, Leah had the phone on her lap and she was gone.”

Royce stood up to leave. “Tell me where she is and I’m coming to her. I want to see her and…” And what? He sat back down hard in the chair.

“She was at her uncle’s house when I left. I don’t…I’m not sure if she was going to stay there or go home. She’s taking it very badly. Then there was her father. He showed up right before I left. Kasey didn’t move to speak to him, but I could tell she was upset.”

“When is the funeral and where?” Royce didn’t know if someone had sent flowers or not, but he would be there. “My family will be there for them.”

“That’s very nice of you, Royce. I’m sure they’ll appreciate it. It’s only a graveside. The poor dears haven’t any money. It’s at Cedar Cemetery on Wyatt Street. The paper said that the family would be there around one and that the service would begin at two or thereabouts.”

Royce laid his head on his desk. He was an ass and he hated himself more in that moment than he had in his entire life. He sat up and spoke again to Bobbie.

“Let me know if I can do anything for them. Anything. I’m going to call my mom now, but you have my number if she…if they need anything.”

“I will. You’re such a dear boy. I know that they knew this was going to happen, but I don’t think you’re ever prepared. The poor girl and Jay…I don’t think I’ve seen a man more devastated than he was today.”

Royce called his mother when he got off the phone with Bobbie. “Mom, I have to tell you something. Can you meet me at my house? It’s really important.”

Stay Tune for Next Week Chapter Nine

Books In the series

THE HUNTERS -

1 ROYCE – http://smarturl.it/royce

2 CURTIS – http://smarturl.it/curtis

3 JESSE – http://smarturl.it/jessethehunters

4 DANIEL- http://smarturl.it/danielthehunters

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Two Men Joined By Fate...

Asher and Kiaran were joined at birth by the dying decree of the Dragon King?literally. Asher had his own bit of magic as a 3,000 year old immortal, and Kiaran was his dragon shifter. Out in society Kiaran was a part of Asher?absorbed into Asher's body?only being able to separate in dragon form. At their birth home, the two men could exist apart from each other as men. They protected each other, and would until their dying breath if it ever came to that. They shared everything...that is until Essie came along....

Essie was doing her best to hide from a mother that didn't even recognize her own daughter. The witch had poisoned her with a scratch and if Essie wasn't healed soon she'd die.... Sick or not she didn't want anything to do with that handsome, overbearing barbarian, Asher, nor that rude dragon that protected him. She was doing just fine on her own.

But Asher had other things on his mind and after a while brings Essie around to his way of thinking and makes her his wife, but Kiaran brought up a valid point?Essie was his mate too....

Could Essie find it in her heart to love both men equally? To share the bed of both?together?

Asher's five brothers and their dragons watched the scenario unfold with bated breaths. The subject had never been broached, and all their futures hung on the outcome....

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Friday, June 26, 2015

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Two Men Joined By Fate...

Asher and Kiaran were joined at birth by the dying decree of the Dragon King?literally. Asher had his own bit of magic as a 3,000 year old immortal, and Kiaran was his dragon shifter. Out in society Kiaran was a part of Asher?absorbed into Asher's body?only being able to separate in dragon form. At their birth home, the two men could exist apart from each other as men. They protected each other, and would until their dying breath if it ever came to that. They shared everything...that is until Essie came along....

Essie was doing her best to hide from a mother that didn't even recognize her own daughter. The witch had poisoned her with a scratch and if Essie wasn't healed soon she'd die.... Sick or not she didn't want anything to do with that handsome, overbearing barbarian, Asher, nor that rude dragon that protected him. She was doing just fine on her own.

But Asher had other things on his mind and after a while brings Essie around to his way of thinking and makes her his wife, but Kiaran brought up a valid point?Essie was his mate too....

Could Essie find it in her heart to love both men equally? To share the bed of both?together?

Asher's five brothers and their dragons watched the scenario unfold with bated breaths. The subject had never been broached, and all their futures hung on the outcome....

Buy Links

B&N http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/books/1056085702?ean=2940151480970&itm=61&usri=kathi+s+barton

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Prologue

Anthony waited in his chambers for the man to be brought to him. He wanted to…well what he wanted to do, very badly, was not going to happen until he was sure that things were taken care of here. And that was what he was waiting on Elbert to help him with. He looked back at the painting on the wall and felt his heart break again. She was gone; his lovely wife was gone from this world, and he’d be joining her very soon if things went the way the course was taking.

“Sire? He’s here.” Anthony nodded and asked to have him shown to the throne room. “I will, sire. And the young woman is here as well. I have shown her to the sitting room until you are ready for her.” Elbert, his ever faithful servant, bowed as he left him there.

Anthony made his way to the young man as soon as he was able to stand on his own two feet. Jacob was his only hope…his last hope that his family line would continue. As he entered the room, he pulled his magic around the two of them tightly, not wanting anyone to hear this conversation. Jacob was kneeling before the chair that Anthony’s wife had sat in not hours before when all hell had broken loose. Anthony spoke to the man now kneeling before him.

“I should like to ask you a favor, please. It is more than any man should ask of another, but—”

“Anything, my lord.” Anthony actually smiled. He’d expected no less from the man. “You have done more for me and my family than anyone has done for us before. I will be here to serve you for as long as I live.”

“You might want to think about this before you say yes, Jacob. What I ask of you is more…it is more than asking you to raise your arms up for me or to put in a bigger crop. This is a matter of life and death for so many people; our linage, mine and yours as well.” Anthony asked him to come closer to him so that they may speak.

“Sir?” Jacob looked up, then back at the floor before continuing. “Sir, you wish for me to come to you? Up there? I don’t think that is the way things should go, sir. No matter the favor you ask of me.”

“I do. I wish for no one to hear what we are speaking about. And should you come closer, I can tighten my magic around us so that no one will.” Jacob got up but he moved like a man who was going to the gallows. “I swear to you, Jacob, if you tell me no for the task that I ask of you, I will treat you no differently.” There would be no time, he wanted to add, but he didn’t. There was no reason to frighten him anymore.

“Perhaps you should tell me then.” Anthony smiled again; his face, unused to the movement, ached just a little. His heart was simply too heavy for happiness. “But should you need me to do either of those things, you have but to ask me.

“I know that.” Where to begin, he thought. At the beginning. “You know what I am, do you not? I mean, you know that I am not human?”

“I do.” Jacob made it sound as if he was silly for asking him. “I believe I have seen you and your wife flying over my crops on more than one occasion. My mother, rest her soul, told us of how you were a fierce person both as a man and beast.”

“She would know.” Thinking of Jacob’s mother, he knew now why the man was as good as he was. “I should like for you to marry.”

That got the younger man’s attention. “Marry, sir? While I would love to have a wife and children, I have no means to marry. A wife would wish her husband to be able to plant a crop without fear of it being their last, a home that did not leak on her pies, and an oven that did not smoke more than my grandmother did. I have no money, sir, to marry.”

“I have such a woman for you. One that will be beside you no matter your house problems. But that will no longer be an issue for you either. I mean to pay you.” Jacob said he had no desire to marry for money. “No, I don’t mean that. I mean for you to be paid to do a job for me. But you will need a wife to make it…I’m not explaining this very well. Let me being again.”

Anthony thought of his own wife, cold below the ground near their children. And the things that she’d done to protect them from the men who had killed her. He needed Jacob and young Sally to help them more than he would ever be able to.

“My wife…my wife has been killed.” Jacob looked shocked and told him how sorry he was. “She died keeping our young from harm. From the very men who will come here soon to kill me as well.”

“You wish for me to protect you. I shall do my best, sir. I cannot lift a sword like your men, but I can try. I will die trying.” Anthony shook his head. “Sir?”

“I need for you and Sally, the woman I have chosen for you, to wed. In doing so, you will sire six sons with her. Each of them will be strong and brave and will help me with my own.” Jacob sat down now, his curiosity piqued. “I have six unborn children hidden away. Each son you have, one of my own children will come to. They will be a part of them throughout their lives together. Their lives will be long and great, too.”

The door to the chamber was pressed against, and Anthony knew that men were just on the other side. His time was running short. When Jacob stood up and drew his knife, Anthony knew that this man had given him hope where it had not been before.

“I have little time, so listen to me. Sally awaits you in the other room. Elbert will come to stay with you for your life, then remain to care for your sons when they grow. My children will…they will protect your sons as your sons will protect them. Sally has her own magic to give them that will keep them hidden from men like those that are going to kill me. Your job is to raise them up for me. Raise them to be good men and dragons that I would be proud to call my own.” Elbert came to him then, the girl he’d chosen for Jacob with him. “Go with her. Elbert will have all you need to be safe and your home cared for.” The door nearly gave way, and he knew it wouldn’t hold much longer. Standing up, he nearly shoved the man to his servant and wished them luck. Anthony let his beast take him as soon as his hope for the future was out of sight. His dragon had been wounded earlier today while he had tried to protect his wife. Now they had come to finish the job, and Anthony was almost ready for them to do so. His children were safe. That was all that mattered for now.

As the men came through the door, their swords raised against him and their fire burning whatever it touched behind them, Anthony sent the last of his magic to his children and told them that he loved them. Then he fought for his own life if only to give their hope, the hope of all their lives, a little more time.

It was over soon, sooner than he’d thought. But he’d lost so much blood, and without his own magic to allow him to fly away, he was hurt over and over until he nearly fell atop those that he’d not managed to kill. And he had killed a great number of them.

The man with the sword came at him, but Anthony had no more strength to move away from the blade as it entered his chest and pierced his heart. As he fell forward, his hot breath killing the last of them, including the man that had taken his life, Anthony knew that all was not lost.

~~~

Jacob held the woman’s hand as they ran from the castle. They ran and ran, not even stopping for fallen trees and brambles. He was afraid for them, all of them, having seen the men with the army behind them storming the gate. The king would not be able to keep them at bay for long. He’d known the man was hurt by the blood stain that ran down his chest to his lap.

“I have to rest.” He nodded and stopped running to allow Sally to sit on a stump. They’d been running for over an hour, he thought, just running in a direction away from the castle and his home. Jacob looked around and found a few berries to pick and an apple for her. He brought them to the woman. She was holding a tumbler of water when he returned.

“I have magic, did you know that?” Elbert shook his head, then nodded. Her laughter made him think of a spring morning before the dew burned off. “The king wished to ask a favor of me. Did he you as well?”

“He asked me to marry you. Said that we’d have children together. Six sons.” She nodded and didn’t look the least bit surprised by what he’d said. “I have nothing for us. I told him I barely have a house, but he seemed to think it mattered little.”

“It doesn’t. Not to me. I can make a fire on the ground if need be. You have shown that you can provide for us today. And you have kept me safe from those men. Men who I’m sure have killed our king.” He told her that the queen was dead. “I felt her death as if it were my own. The same men killed her that are now dead in the burning castle.”“He has provided for you both.” They looked at the man who had run out with them. Elbert nodded in the direction they were headed. “Ahead, about another day’s walk, we will come to a place that is yours. It will provide for you both, and the children you shall have.”

“We will live there? For our lives?” Jacob looked at Sally, thinking it was a strange way to word the question. “Or will we sire children only to be put out?”

“Nay, my lady. It will be yours and that of your children when you pass. I will care for them as my own when your time comes. But I assure you, it will be a long while yet. You will not see children of your children born, but you will watch your own grow into men.” Elbert took a large satchel from his shirt. “He gave me this to give to you. Should he not have…he knew his time was short, so he had me write what he said. They were coming for him even as he was dying.”

“Why?” Jacob sat down, weary himself now. “He was a good king—strong—and kept us safe. He and his wife provided for us and never took more than we could give. Why would they kill them?”

“Because they are human. People…men who have no strength of their own will kill things that they do not understand. The same will be true for your sons someday, I fear.” Jacob took the book handed to him and passed it to Sally. He could not read and hoped that she could. “Once you are wed—and I will do the deed for you—things will come to you that you never would have imagined. Beyond the wealth that he has given you, but magic as well. You will need it to protect your children as well as his.”

“Why did he choose us?” Jacob nodded. It was a good question from Sally, but Elbert asked if they could walk while he told them. “I would also like to know if we will have daughters too.”

“I know not of the other children you will sire. I am sorry. There was no time for much in the way of smaller details.” Elbert flushed. “When he gave me this, he lay bleeding, mourning the loss of his wife. But in answer to your question as to why he chose you? It is because you have hearts as pure as the first breath of a child. The wisdom to know right from wrong and stand by it. And he said that he’d never met two people more suited to each other than you. He was quite pleased that you’d remained unmarried until now.”

They walked for the rest of the late day. It wasn’t until the moon was nearly over their heads that they finally laid down for the night. Jacob laid out his worn jacket for Sally to lie upon, and went to the woods to find things for their fire for the night. He was just coming back when he turned and saw a creature standing on all fours watching over his Sally.

“I am a watcher…what you might call a dog or canine, I suppose.” Elbert’s voice came from the large Rottweiler sort of creature, and when he turned to look at him, Jacob could see that it was indeed him. “I neither sleep nor eat, young Jacob, but will protect what is in my care. You rest now.”

Jacob nodded and moved back to where he’d left Sally. She was lying on the coat, but she was awake. He sat beside her on the cold ground and began stacking the logs for in the morning. She put her hand over his, and he looked at her.

“Are you not happy with our being together, Jacob?” He told her that he had no idea. Her smile made him smile. “You are very honest, aren’t you?”

“I see no reason to lie to you. And I won’t.” She nodded. “Elbert. He’s watching us. He’s not human, did you know that?”

“Yes.” She lay down and patted the place beside her, and he lay with her. “Neither am I; did you know that?”

“He said that you had magic.” Jacob put his hand over hers when she put it over his heart. “I will make you happy, I think. I will hope so anyway.”

“You have already done so.” Jacob looked at her and asked her how. “By not running and screaming into the night when you came upon my father.”

It took him several moments to realize she’d meant Elbert. “You are like him? A watcher? I like him, by the way.”

“I’m more of my mother. She was magical and my father is as well. We will not live as long as they did, but a long time. Our children will live forever so long as their dragon is safe. Did you read the book that was given to us?” He told her that he couldn’t read. “Then I shall teach you. But the book says that our children will be coupled with the dragon on the day that they are born. Once they are together, nothing but death will separate them. And even that bond might be too strong to break then. But they will need each other in ways that we can never understand. It says that their duty is to keep the weak and the overwrought from being killed. That all creatures, human or not, will need them.”

She spoke through the night, telling him what she’d read and some of the things that she knew. He listened to her, her voice soothing even when she told him of the trials they’d be put through, raising the children together with dragons. Jacob asked her what he could think of, and when the sun came up over the mountain, he got up from their bed and gathered more wood to start their day. Elbert brought them a skinned rabbit.

After they broke their fast, they started for their new home and new lives. Elbert told them that since they had lain together, he would consider them man and wife. And should anyone ask, they had just married recently.

“Do not tell others where you have been. The castle will be…people will wonder why you have survived when others have not.” Jacob agreed, as did Sally. Elbert also told them that should they need anything, anything at all, he would provide it for them. That from now on, they were to try their best to keep to themselves in order to protect the children. All of them.

~~Thirteen months, thirteen days, thirteen hours, and thirteen minutes

after the hour the castle fell~~

The house was filled with the cries of the first born of Jacob and Sally. Asher Anthony Benson came into the world screaming his head off and letting the world know that he had arrived. Elbert took the small bundle from Jacob, who had acted as mid-wife for his own wife, and laid him to rest on Sally’s chest.

“He is hungry, I think.” Sally pulled him to her breast, and Elbert helped with the clean up as she fed her son. Elbert had never been as proud of anything in his life as to see his first grandchild come into the world.

As Sally lay resting, he picked up young Asher and took him to the porch of the home. Jacob joined him a minute later and the two of them sat on the rockers resting. Sally had had a good labor, short and, with her magic, not too terribly painful. But she needed her rest now and they were glad to give it to her. Elbert looked at Jacob as he handed him his son.

“He will come here soon.” Jacob nodded but looked unsure. “The hatchling will not harm Asher, but make him stronger. You know this, correct?”

“I do. But I still worry. The notes that he gave us are very vague as to how they are to be united. It only says they will be as one.” Jacob looked at him, then at his child again before continuing. “Will he be a dragon, Elbert?”

“I honestly do not know for sure. What they have done, the king and queen, is something that even I have never heard of. For all we know, he may care for the child himself and never need your assistance again.” Jacob looked shocked, and Elbert laughed. He so loved teasing this gentle giant. “Nay, they will both need you. But until he arrives, we will have to wait and see. The next child will be easier, I think. We will know.”

Nothing happened the first night, nor the second or third. The baby, young Asher, began to cry more. Nothing would satisfy him. No milk from his mother or a cow would fill his belly. He would kick the blankets off his body no matter how tightly he was bound in them. And he would not allow anyone to hold him for more than a minute or two without screaming again. They all worried for the child.

On the sixth morning, Elbert got up to start his day and knew that something was wrong. There was silence from the babe’s room, and the household was warm, too warm for the winter they were coming into. He was just entering the baby’s room, shared by his parents, when he heard Sally scream. Elbert knew that the child had died.

He didn’t approach the bed that held Asher. Elbert stood back, not wanting to see the vibrant child lying so still in death that he knew had come to him. His heart broke as he heard Sally sobbing and Jacob standing as still as death himself as they stared into the crib. A crib he’d made for the babe himself.

“I shall take him yonder. I am so sorry.” Sally turned to him; he could see her tear-streaked face as she put out her hand to him. “Nay. Not yet. My heart…I cannot look upon him just yet.”

“He lives.” Elbert thought he’d misheard her and asked her to repeat it. “Asher is fine. The dragon has come to him. Come see them.”
Elbert walked to the bed slowly, his heart not believing that what his daughter said was true. He was set to bury his first and only grandchild, and she was telling him a falsehood. But when he came to the bed and looked down, he had to blink away the tears several times that clouded what he saw there.
The baby was sleeping soundly, his little arm wrapped around the dragon lying upon his chest. They were of the same size, the two of them, one nearly human child and one fully dragon. Elbert put his hand out to touch them, to assure himself that they were alive, when the dragon lifted his head and hissed at him.
“The book…remember what the book said?” He glanced at Jacob, who had lowered his voice more than likely so as not to wake Asher. “We have to let him have a bit of our blood so that he will know who we are to him.”
Sally pulled a small blade from her pocket, the one she used to cut herbs, and sliced it across her finger. Droplets of blood fell from the wound and into the mouth of the tiny dragon. When he nodded at her, she reached in and ran her fingers over the baby and the dragon as well.
“He is warmer than Asher. I wonder that he’d burn him.” Jacob cut his finger and let the dragon taste of him as well as Sally continued. “Do you think Asher suffered because his dragon wasn’t here?”
Elbert cut his finger then and let the dragon taste of him. But instead of nodding to him, the dragon came up off the baby and landed on his shoulder. He nipped gently at his ear before going back to the bed with Asher.
“What do you suppose he did that for?” Elbert tried not to sound so upset, but the others laughed and he smiled. “He bit me. Do you think because of what I am?”
“No. I think he bit you because you thought him dead.” Elbert nodded at Sally at her explanation. “We should leave them now so that they may rest. I think that our lives will be much quieter now that they are together.”
Elbert didn’t know why, but he thought that this was just the beginning and that their lives would never be quiet again. He hoped he was wrong, but he had a profound feeling that he was right.

Sunday, June 21, 2015

Royce The Hunter Series Chapter Seven is ready to read

Chapter 7

Kasey knew her uncle was mad at her, but she didn’t care. Well, she did, but he loved her. It had been two weeks since Royce had left her and she knew it was time for her to move out. She still had her bandages on, but she was hobbling around pretty well and she didn’t have to have someone feed her at every meal.

“I still think you should wait until you get at least your arm out of the sling. It’s not hurting me having you here.”

Kasey took a deep breath before answering. “I can’t stay here forever. I have to have my own place, my own things again.”

“You could, you know,” he told her softly. “You could stay here forever. I love having you here. And Suzy has been so happy since you moved in. She’ll miss you.”

“I’ll miss her too. And I’ll miss you, but Uncle Jay, I have to leave. I can’t…I don’t…”

“I know, baby.” He hugged her to him before he finished. “I’m so sorry, honey. I wish I would have told him to go home. He shouldn’t have treated you that way.”

She’d told him that Royce and she had had a fight. He’d wanted her to go back to the hospital and she’d thrown him out once and for all. She’d not told them about the sex, and she’d not mentioned that while he wanted to know if they’d stupidly created a baby, he wouldn’t do anything about it. But she did tell them about the check.

The check had been for nearly thirty grand. Ten years of bonuses and back wages. She’d taken the money and paid her mother’s hospital bills and doctor bills and put the rest of it in her mom’s account. She smiled when she thought of her mom’s anger when she’d told her what she’d done with the eight thousand left over.

“You’ll do no such thing. You take that money and spend it on something extravagant for yourself. You’ve worked far too hard to put that money to no good use in a bank.”

“I’m going to get a job that I can work during the day and come home at night. I’m going to work one job, just one, and at the end of the day, be finished with it. When my vacation comes around, I’ll take one, go somewhere fun, and not worry about the other three jobs I have. But best of all, I’ll know that you’ll be taken care of. That you’ll be secure, safe, and have money to fall back on when you don’t feel like going to work.” Kasey held her mom’s hand. “Please let me do this for you. Please. I need to know that you won’t be treated as a subhuman without insurance the next time you get sick. Let me do this for you.” She nodded. Kasey knew she didn’t like it, but she would do it. For her, for them.

The apartment where she’d been living until just over six weeks ago was rented again. Calling it an apartment was like calling Kennedy National Airport a small stopover, but it had been hers. She was grateful to her uncle for getting her things packed up for her and putting them in the garage. She’d been looking for something suitable for several days now and thought she’d found someplace. The work she’d been doing for the college was helping make that dream a reality.

Kasey had been doing some typing when she’d had time before she’d gotten hurt. At three bucks a page to correct term papers and redo them, it had been an easy source of

income. Now it took her a little longer, but the typing was helping to exercise her fingers after being broken and she had been able to put some money aside. She had almost enough to put a deposit on the place and pay some of the utilities. Her uncle was lending her the rest.

The apartment was on the ground floor of an older house. She had a bedroom, small kitchen that spilled out into the dining area, and living room. The bath was large by most standards, but it was clean. There was plenty of hot water, Mr. Rhodes told her, and she’d have a parking place right out front. He reminded her of her uncle and after a few minutes of walking around the place, she decided to take it. It would be her first real place since she’d come back home.

Three days later, she was moving in. Her uncle had asked a bunch of the guards from work to help him set her up and she had more help than she needed. But it was great seeing the gang and she sprung for pizzas and beers when everything was set up and things were put away. Her mom brought her an old kitchen table and chairs and her uncle gave her the couch from his basement. She was smiling happily when they all left. But as soon as the door closed, her face crumbled.

Nights where the hardest. She was lonely even when she’d been staying with her uncle and he would sit and talk to her after he’d come home. He never mentioned work other than to talk about one of the guys and she never asked about the one person she wanted to. Royce and his hurtful words still haunted her.

Two weeks. It had seemed forever ago when he’d told her they’d been stupid. She supposed they had been, but that didn’t make it any less hurtful. She wondered if there would ever be a time when she didn’t feel the ripping pain when she thought of what had been said. Crawling into her bed, she let the tears fall. She had no reason to hide them now, no reason to bury her face in the pillow to hide the hurt. But she did anyway. As she had been doing every night since that night, she cried herself to sleep.

~~~

“If you snap at me one more time I’m going to knock the shit out of you. I’m fucking sick to death of having you bite my head off every time I open my mouth.”

Royce looked at Curtis and counted to ten. He knew he’d been snappy, but if one more person asked him what his problem was he was going to scream. He was fine, damn it. Fucking wonderful. “I’m not snapping at you,” he said between clenched teeth. “I’m trying to make a point. If we don’t get this contract signed then the rest of the projects in that area will fall apart. It’s because of this one building that we can’t move on the others.”

“I know that. But short of going into Klingner’s office and demanding that he sign off on it, there isn’t a hell of a lot I can do. The man is giving up his entire business, one his father’s father started. He can’t just let it go without some thought.”

“Then he fucking should have been a better businessman.” Royce took another deep breath before continuing. “Look, I’m having a bad morning and I—”

“You’ve been having a lot of bad mornings and at the risk of getting my head bit off again, what the hell is wrong with you?” Curtis closed the file, apparently finished discussing it. “Does this have anything to do with that little officer?”

Why did he have to mention Kasey? It wasn’t as if he didn’t think of her on his own several hundred times a day. He wanted to snarl at his brother to leave it alone, but he knew that if he didn’t talk to someone soon he was going to have a breakdown or one or all of his family was going to hire a hit man and take him out.

“If I tell you something, can you keep it to yourself? I mean not even tell Mom? I’m serious.”

Curtis got up and opened the door to his office. Royce heard him tell Bobbie to hold his calls and not to disturb them until they said. She agreed. Royce knew he’d been snapping at her too and wondered why she hadn’t poisoned his coffee yet.

“All right,” he said when he sat back down. “Tell me what has you so bitchy that you’d take it out on all of us. Does it have to do with Miss York?”

“Yes.” Royce got up to pace. “She and I had sex.” He didn’t say more because frankly, he wasn’t sure how to proceed.

“And that’s bad how? She’s a pretty little thing. She seems to have more than the normal brain cells in her head that you normally date. And the prettiest gray eyes I’ve ever seen. Was the sex that good or that bad? Don’t tell me you couldn’t get it up around her. Oh, Royce…no wonder you’re pissy.”

“That’s not it, you fucking asshole. I didn’t use protection. And she isn’t on the pill.” Royce might have laughed at his brother’s expression at his announcement if he’d been in the mood to find anything funny.

“When? Is she pregnant? Has she, Christ, Royce, is she demanding that you marry her? I can certainly help you out with any kind of arrangements you want to make. I would suggest a pre-nup before you marry—”

“I’m not marrying her. And I don’t know if she’s pregnant or not. She said she’d let me know. But I already told her I wasn’t going to marry her.” That sounded just as bad now as it had when he’d told Kasey. “Marrying for the sake of a kid is no way I want to go through the rest of my life. She understands that.”

“I see.” Royce looked at Curtis when he spoke. “Actually, no, I don’t. You play you pay, buddy. Unless, of course, she tricked you. Did she? If so, I can see where you’d not want to attach yourself to her, but you know what Mom is going to say. Once she beats the shit out of you anyway. She’s been preaching safe sex to us since before we knew what sex even was.”

“She didn’t trick me. I… Damn it, Curtis, I fucking don’t want a kid. I don’t want a wife, and I certainly don’t like this waiting. I want to call her up and demand that she tell me. I’ve been making myself and everyone around me nuts and for two weeks. I can’t take it anymore.”

Curtis sat there for several minutes while Royce watched him. He could see his brother’s wheels turning. Of all of them, Curtis was by far the most analytical when it came to problem solving. “She probably has a doctor’s appointment soon from the incident here. Let me make a few calls and see if we can get a test done without her knowing it. That way you’ll have your answer and she’ll be none the wiser.”

“Is that even legal?” Curtis shrugged. “Then don’t do it. I won’t have you getting into trouble over my mistake. I’ll get my answer and then everything will be all right. I’ll know she’s not pregnant soon and then get on with my life.”

“Do you really think it’ll be that easy? You think she’s not pregnant?”

No, Royce thought. She’d be pregnant and he’d be in court trying to fight his way out of any demands she had been dreaming up. “I don’t know, but just in case, I want you to draw up some papers telling her that I’m not going to be a part of the kid’s life if she stays out of mine. I’ll pay her whatever is reasonable for support, but that’s it.”

Curtis nodded. “And Mom?”

That, Royce had no clue. “I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it.”

Feeling better than he had in a week, after Curtis left Royce sat down to go over some of the things he’d been putting off. By five o’clock, he’d managed to get four projects completed and two more started. He was very proud of himself. It was nearly six o’clock when he left his office and he was home by six-thirty. Home to his new house.

The house was lovely. Huge, but very well made. The furnishings had been sold; he’d not had the same tastes as Benton and was having two of the bedrooms converted into an office on the second floor. The kitchen had been remolded recently so, when he’d moved in, he’d been able to cook for himself. He was enjoying the ability to play around in the kitchen again.

The house was a three-story colonial that had been built of brick. The front of the façade had been sandblasted of the white paint some years ago and the dark color meshed well with the four large white columns that graced the front. The double doors, oak and very old, opened into a large entrance hall that opened to a long, curving staircase that led to the upper floors.

Seven bedrooms filled the second floor with five baths. The halls were knotty pine and wide with indirect lighting along the floors. The stairs leading up to the third level were also curved and oak and spilled out into a room alight with skylights everywhere. Royce had been using the room as a large office/gym until the office on the first floor was ready. He had no idea what he was going to do with the room once he moved his things out of it, but it was a really nice room.

The master suite was on the main level. There was a fireplace in the bath and in the main room. His mom had told him that the two rooms off from the suite were a nursery and a maid’s room. He hadn’t been in either of them since he’d moved in. Royce cringed whenever he thought of his mom hinting about using those two rooms.

The kitchen and living room, the two rooms where he spent the most time, were the most furnished. He had gotten a living room suite that he wanted, complete with overstuffed chairs and a big screen television, and the kitchen was perfect.

He was standing in front of the refrigerator when his phone rang. He frowned when he realized who it was. “I’m not happy with you, young man.”

Royce straightened up when his mother spoke.

“Why? What did you hear?” If Curtis told her what he swore he wouldn’t, Royce was going to kill him.

“Why didn’t you tell me that Miss York quit working for us? I think after all we’ve been through with her you’d at least let me know when she decided to move on.”

That was news to Royce too. “I didn’t know. When did she quit?”

“She told human resources this morning. I probably wouldn’t have found about it then if I hadn’t been in the lunch room when one of the guards happened by. He told me that she had another job and that she had moved into her own place.”

Royce slammed the door closed. Damn her. She had no right to move on when he was so fucking miserable that he was barking at everyone. He realized his mom was still speaking.

“I can understand that she’d want to not be in that office again. Poor girl probably has nightmares just thinking about it. But to up and quit without letting us find her something else. Well, I have to tell you I feel slightly miffed. And you say you didn’t know either? I thought the two of you had gotten close.”

Closer than she thought, he wanted to tell her, but didn’t. “Do you know where she moved to? I’d like to make sure it’s a better place than she was in before. That place was a dump.”

“No. All he told me was that he’d been to her house just over the weekend, that a bunch of the guards had helped her move her things in. He said it was a nice place. Small but nice. He didn’t know what she was doing for a job, though. He said that he guessed she was going to go to work for some company downtown.”

Royce was going to find out. Just as soon as he hung up from this call, he was going to be making a few of his own. The woman had made him suffer long enough. He was finished waiting on her.

After telling his mom he’d let her know what he found out he called Daniel. Daniel said he’d need until tomorrow, but he’d get back to him. He wondered why he didn’t ask why, but his phone was beeping again and he hung up.

“Mr. Hunter, it’s Herman Gordon with the fire department. There’s a fire at the old Benton warehouse. We were wondering if you could come down and help us out?”