Kimber (33 page)

“What
have you done?” I ask before I realize why.

He
knows, he must. She was with him and now he will not answer me.

“What
have you done!”

 I
grab the door handle and pull it once, twice, three times. Leo keeps it shut.
He reaches in through the open window and secures the seatbelt around my torso.

 “Go!
Get her out of here!” He roars.

Wes
peels out of the driveway faster than I thought my car could go. I stare wide
eyed at the near demolished beach house.

Sirens
come alive in the distance.

“We
have to turn around!” I urge. “We have to find Lena!”

Wes
pays no attention to my request. He pushes my car to go faster.

“Damn
it Wes! We have to go back!”

As
the flashing lights of the fire truck and cop cruisers speed past us, Wes slows
to the required speed limit.

“Please,
Wes. I can’t just leave her there.”

He
turns to look at me the same moment two piercing halogen headlights break
through the darkness three hundred yards ahead. The vehicle becomes a vision of
anger as it jumps the median and barrels toward us.

Wes
swerves to the right and for a brief second I swear he’s only driving on two
wheels. There is nowhere to go but straight. The left side of the road is lined
with towering condominiums. The right side with a shopping center and a few
restaurants.

The
headlights are blinding. Wes tries what he can to evade the inevitable but his
erratic decisions do not make a difference.

 The
roar of the oncoming engine grows louder. I hold my breath and as the vehicle
inches closer, I brace for impact.

 I
lose all control of my body as the two cars fold into one. The screeching of
metal as it locks around me is deafening. The world spins and topples, leaving
me with no direction. The scent of old rusted metal; I associate with blood,
claims the night air.

MY
EYES FALL heavily shut as the soft warming white light embraces me. I feel safe
and secure, as though I’m wrapped in a blanket woven with compassion and love.
Tranquility becomes part of my DNA as I release myself from the insurmountable
pain that cripples me.

As
the world turns from black to white I hear a popping noise and suddenly I am
free. I feel like I could float within the clouds. Nothing remains of the night
or the day. And as I face the light beckoning me forward, my heart swells. My
mother, as beautiful as the day I last saw her, stands waiting for me. Her
almond eyes smile the same time her lips do.

“Mom!”

I
run into her embrace. No time is long enough in her arms. As she holds me
against her, she smoothes tears from my cheek with her motherly touch.

“Oh
Kimber, I don’t want this for you. I want to watch you grow, live, love.” She
pulls away holding me by the shoulders. “I’m so sorry. The way I left
you…helpless against watching you suffer and break apart.” She pulls me back
into her arms. “I won’t allow myself to be selfish and neither will you.”

Confused
I lift my head from her shoulder. “Mom?”

“My
path, this path, was always chosen for me. One way or another, this is where I
belong, not you.”

“No.”
I furrow my brow and shake my head. All I hear in her words is how she does not
want me. “I belong with you. We belong together. Why would I go back?”

The
vision  over comes me. I can see the sadness painted on Leo’s face as he mourns
me and stares down at the knife gripped within his hand. I gasp and look back
at my mother. “Would he?”

My
mother nods then turns her head to the side as if listening to something or
someone I cannot see or hear.

“The
Elders, they want to give you a gift. I want you to take it.”

“A
gift? What kind of gift?”

My
mother nods. “The gift of what rightfully belongs to you. The purist of pure
blood.”

“Mom.”

 “I
don’t expect you to comprehend everything right now. It’s better if you take it
piece by piece.” She reaches out, takes my hand turning it palm side up and
caresses my wrist with her thumb. “Under here, this is who you really are and
Kiddo, it’s powerful.”

 “I’m
scared.”

She
pulls me back into her arms. “I promise that when fear looks you in the eye it
will run and Leo will hunt it down. You were born for this. I’m sorry I didn’t
awaken it to you sooner.” She whispers in my ear. “When you’re lost, look for
me here.” She touches me just above my heart. “When you’re confused, look for
me here.” She touches my head before taking it in both her hands and kisses me.
“I love you, Kiddo. Remember that when nothing else seems real.”

My
head nods under her hands. Though my throat is too tight to speak, I send every
ounce of love I have from my heart to hers.

And
she’s gone.

MY
BODY JERKS as though I have fallen on the couch and my eyes spring open. My
head hammers with a pain forming behind my eyes. The room seems brighter than
before I fell asleep. My body, stiff and sore, protests against me moving. I
feel like the tin man in desperate need of oil. I try to remember how long
Wyler said muscle recovery took.

I
close the blinds and go to the kitchen where I take three Ibuprofen. As I reach
in the cabinet for peanut butter crackers, there is a knock at the front door.
I use the peephole and see Wes standing on the other side.

Ugh
,
this is the last thing I need. 

Skeptically
I crack the door open. “Hi.”

 “Hey.”
Wes replies. He stands in the hallway studying me because I have not let him
in. I’ve learned that lesson. 

 “Do
you need something?”

 “Can
I come in?”

 “Why?” 

“Because
Leo asked me to.” He’s annoyed.

 “Leo
sent you here?”

“It
wasn’t the Tooth Fairy.”

 “Go
to Hell.” I say with a perky smile.

Before
I can push the door closed, he has his black Nike wedged between the door and
the frame. I roll my eyes and sigh with frustration.

“Hey!
I’m here ‘cause he asked me to be. Call him yourself if you don’t believe me.”

            “Don’t mind
if I do.” I say opening the door for him to come in.

            Though the
cuts on my hands have not yet formed into scabs, if he tries anything funny I
will attack like a wild banshee.

             I grab my
phone from the coffee table and hit speed dial number two. I figured that by
this point, if he were lying, he would have tried to stop me.

            I watch as
he strolls slowly through my living room, eyeing my things before sitting down
on the couch.

            I listen as
Leo’s phone rings and rings and rings until his voice mail picks up. Instead of
the automated voice informing me of the number I’ve just dialed the phone
crackles with static but there is a voice behind it. Straining to hear it, I
press the phone harder against my ear. 

            “
Go!
”
A voice bellows into the receiver.

            I drop the
phone and fall with it to the floor. My body convulses as I gasp for air. Wes
takes me by the shoulders, trying desperately to help me. He babbles something
about seizures. He doesn’t know that we’ve been here before. He doesn’t know
how it ends with our death.

“Lena!”

I
shrug him off and find my feet. I stumble to the counter where I fish my keys
from my purse. Just like before Wes barricades the door with his body.

I
force the horrific thought of what happens if I do not make it in time from my
mind. Twenty minutes or so went by the first time Wes was here, so that puts me
about fifteen minutes ahead. 

“I
can’t let you. Leo said—”

“Leo
said you had to stay here and guard me but you don’t really want to ‘cause you blame
me for what happened in Egypt. But it doesn’t  matter if you just a Half blood,
you can still prove yourself to Leo, you can still be the Neph you envision
yourself being.”

He
retains enough composure to keep his jaw from hitting the floor but it’s
obvious he’s wondering if my aunt is not the only one with visions because he
asks, “How do you know that?”

“Wes,
I don’t understand half of what is going on right now, but this isn’t the first
time we’ve lived this moment. You have to trust me. If we don’t get to Leo’s
right now, we die tonight.”

Wary,
Wes studies me. “Give me the keys.”

This
time I cannot get them into his waiting hand fast enough.

His
driving is as erratic as before and I’m just as thankful for it.

The
night remains calm and holds no other color than black. I tell Wes to be on
high alert. We pull into the beach house driveway. It’s quiet, too quiet. The
house is dark inside.

 Wes
and I get out and stare at each other over the hood. He holds a finger up to
his lips while pointing to the back of the house. I nod. He leads the way as I
hang back a few feet. We look around and walk like stealth ninjas. Something is
wrong. My fifteen-minute lead is whittling down.

Other
than the house not being on fire, what else is different? I look around but in
the night, nothing sticks out. Then it hits me. Leo’s truck! It isn’t here. But
I can’t recall if it was the first time. I grab my cell from my pocket and dial
Leo again. It rings once before he picks up.

“Kimber?”
He says but his car window must be open because I can hardly hear him.

“Leo!
Get off the road! Pull over! Can you hear me?”

“What
the hell! Hold on!” He orders but it’s obvious I’m not the one he’s talking to.

 On
the outside I stand still while on the inside my heart stammers. I will never
fully be able to express what went through me the exact moment I realized how
agonizingly close and yet exceedingly far I had been from him. The night
shrouds my surroundings with darkness allowing every sense in my body to hear
the distant screeching of rubber and the contorting of metal as it absorbs
everything I have left and nothing I am willing to let go.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Sarah
Denier was born and raised in Saint Petersburg, Florida. From the start, Sarah
was compelled to write. As a little girl, she was mesmerized by her great
grandmother’s handwriting and would imitate it on any surface in sight.

At
the age of seven Sarah participated in her first school writing competition and
won with an essay on the use of balance in Martial Arts. Even at such an early
age, Sarah recognized her talent. During her childhood she explored her talent
by writing short mystery fiction. During her teenage years, she dabbled in
poetry.

Throughout
her academic career, Sarah’s talent was recognized by teachers urging her to
pursue a life in writing. In her eyes, writing was a personal form of
expression, a means of escape.

In
the spring of 2009, Sarah sought to accomplish her first novel. Raising two
children and working a full time job left little time for the project. Ten
months later the first draft was finished. By the end of 2011, her perseverance
had paid off with the completion of her first novel, KIMBER.