Sacred Bloodlines (2 page)

“Gabe, I was not sent here by your social worker.  I was sent here by someone more powerful than you can imagine.  There are so many things we need to show you to make you understand.  Listen to me when I tell you we are here to help.”

Uri shifted in his seat, gave Gabe an intense stare and continued, “There is so much to tell it really would be best if we could just show you.  Please, you must come with me.”

Gabe felt caught in Uri’s gaze and seemed unable to move.  He stared at him, trying to make sense of the conversation.  He caught sight of a glimmer of white glowing light flash in Uri’s eyes.  Startled, Gabe jumped back in his seat and Uri’s hand fell from him.  Gabe had seen the red glimmer before, but this was new.  “Who or what is this guy?” He wondered to himself.

“I don’t know who you are; you could be an axe murderer for all I know.  How am I supposed to trust you and follow you?  For that matter, follow you where?” Gabe asked.

“Gabe, search your soul, what do your instincts tell you?” Uri asked.

“That you’re a crazy nut job and freaking me out.”  Gabe snapped back.

“We must go,” Uri said as he stood and looked towards the exit.  Gabe noticed how the boy suddenly seemed mechanical in his movements.  He had gained a sense of urgency about him.  Uri stood and turned, reaching his hand out to Gabe.  Gabe stared at the outstretched hand, still unsure what to do.

“Seriously?  I’m not going anywhere with you.  Besides the fact I have no idea who you are even if I did agree to go how are we even supposed to leave?  There is no way the cops are letting anyone out of here until they have been questioned.”  Gabe asked.

Uri quickly dropped to one knee to look Gabe in the eye, he leaned in close and brought his voice almost to a whisper; Gabe had to strain to listen. 

“I know you, I know who and what you are.  I can show you amazing things that will change your life forever.  At the place I want to take you there are people just like me and you.  They all want to meet you, but it’s your choice, Gabe.”  Uri jumped to his feet again and extended his open hand to Gabe once more.

Even though Gabe’s thoughts kept telling him to stay planted where he was there was something deep inside that desired to follow Uri.  He wanted to believe there was something else out there, a different life he could eventually hold onto.  Taking a deep breath, Gabe closed his eyes and took hold of Uri’s hand.  He finally reasoned that Uri couldn’t bring any worse horror into his life than what he had already seen.  

Uri pulled Gabe to his feet, whispering something under his breath. Gabe asked him to repeat himself, but Uri didn’t reply.  He dragged him towards the nearest exit tunnel.  

Gabe stumbled behind Uri and realized they were headed directly for a cluster of officers.  “Uri, they are never going to let us through.  Wrong place at the wrong time only seems to go so far with them.”  Uri didn’t respond and just continued to walk towards the tunnel.

Five to six feet away from the officers, Uri stopped, never letting go of Gabe’s hand.  Gabe watched and waited for one of the officers to say something, but realized they were not even looking at them.  Uri studied the men, as if he were looking for a weak point.  Gabe worried what Uri might be thinking.  

A moment later, Uri raised his free hand to his left and with fingers spread; he tilted his head back and mumbled a word Gabe could not understand.  Gabe watched and wondered what type of insane character he was mixed up with.  He jokingly thought in his head that this guy fancied himself some kind of Jedi knight, waiting for him to say, ‘these are not the droids you are looking for.’

Just then, a woman’s shriek came from the direction where Uri had been lifting his hand.  All the officers rushed towards the source, leaving the exit wide open.  Uri took a tighter hold of Gabe’s hand and led him up the stairs, out of the tunnel to freedom.  It was as if the officers had not seen them even though they only stood a few feet away.  “What was that?” Gabe asked, not realizing his mouth was still hanging open in shock.

Uri shrugged, continuing up the stairs to the street, “Let’s get to the manor, Gabe, and I will explain everything, I promise.” 

“Manor?”  Gabe asked clearly concerned, but at this point he was in such shock over what he had just seen, that he continued to follow Uri while replaying the last five minutes of their exit over and over again in his head.  

Uri didn’t answer.  He led Gabe to a side street where he had an older motorcycle parked.  Uri finally released Gabe’s hand and passed him a helmet.  “Put it on.” Uri commanded while starting the bike’s engine with a couple of stomps.  Gabe slipped the helmet on and climbed behind Uri.  Within moments they were on their way. Gabe wondered, where this manor was exactly?

Chapter Two

Gabe nervously watched as they passed exit sign after exit sign.  Having left the city behind miles ago, Gabe became increasingly worried about getting back to the group home before curfew.  He tapped Uri on the shoulder and motioned for him to get off the highway.  

Uri pulled off the next exit into a dimly lit dingy gas station.  The lights buzzed and flickered overhead as the gnats and mosquitoes swarmed in the humid summer air.  

Gabe wasn’t used to seeing so much undeveloped land around him.  He squinted, searching to see if there was more civilization near this lone gas station.  Much to his disappointment, he couldn’t see lights in any direction.  Uri stepped off from his bike and walked around to the pump.

Gabe slid the helmet from his head and took another quick glance around, then looked up at Uri.  “Are we almost there?” he asked.  

Uri simply chuckled to himself.  

Frustrated by Uri’s dismissive attitude Gabe tried to explain, “Hey, can you answer me?  I live in a group home, I have a curfew.”

“I know where you live.” Uri replied, staring off in the distance while he continued fueling his bike.

“Creepy much?” Gabe said. “Look, what’s going on here?  You say you know me and where I live.  I have never met you.  Can you understand why this would be making me a little uneasy?”

Uri silently looked at Gabe with a pleased grin.  

“Gee, I am glad you see the humor in it all.”  Gabe added, becoming more infuriated with each passing moment.

Uri’s face stiffened as he watched Gabe punch the motorcycle seat, hard.  In an effort to comfort Gabe, Uri tried to reassure him.  “Seriously, Gabe, there is no reason to worry.  Michael will explain everything when we get home.”

The word home was a foreign concept to Gabe.  He had been relegated to countless foster homes throughout the years.  He only had a handful of memories of his parents, but most of them had been forgotten long ago.  

He remembered when he went to the group home he had been told it would just be a few days.  Now here he was, six months later, stuck in the same lonely place.  He had recently accepted The Boy’s Refuge would be the only home he would know for the next two years.  The way Uri said home felt so unfamiliar.  He envied him.

“Who is this Michael?” Gabe asked.

Uri stood there for a moment in silence.  The pump clicked to a stop, he pulled the handle.  Gabe watched as he replaced the dripping nozzle into the cradle.   Uri looked around nervously for a moment, setting Gabe on edge.  

“You’ll see soon enough.”  Uri answered, finally.

“OK, seriously.” Gabe insisted, stepping off the bike.  “I demand some answers before I go anywhere else with you.  I have no idea what you did back there at the Subway to get us past those cops, but I know something wasn’t right about it.  Now you’re taking me out to the middle of nowhere and I’m going to miss my curfew.  I need some answers now, damn it!”

“Get on the bike, Gabe.” Uri sounded annoyed as he replied.  “You won’t miss curfew because you don’t have one tonight.”

“What?”  Gabe questioned, consumed by confusion.  “What do you mean I don’t have one?  The curfew is not negotiable.  No exceptions.  If I am late I lose privileges.  You have no idea what it’s like when you don’t have the right to come and go.  It’s like a prison!”  Gabe became more excited as he talked about the consequences he faced.

“Gabe, please calm down.”  Uri said while climbing onto the bike.  He looked over his shoulder at Gabe.  “Michael made some phone calls.  The home you live at has marked you on leave for the next week.”

“What?!” Gabe shouted.  “How the hell did... what do you mean... a week?!”  Gabe was clearly distraught and overwhelmed by the situation.  He felt his head begin to swim and thought he might actually vomit.

“Look, it’s not like I am trying to hide anything from you Gabe!  There’s too much to explain.  Trust me; it’s simply easier to show you.”   Gabe listened to Uri, struggling to make sense of everything.  “Michael is a very important and powerful man.  He has helped many people in his life and, from that, gained a lot of friends.  In return, those people help him when needed.  It is necessary that we have time to show you everything and explain who we are.  These people gave us that.”

Uri could see he had Gabe’s attention.  Uri glanced around at the darkness; Gabe thought he almost seemed nervous.  “The manor is on an island just over eight hours away,” Uri continued.  “That’s why it’s of the utmost importance we keep going.  We need to avoid trackers.”

“Trackers?” Gabe asked, the crack in his voice revealing his unchecked fear.

“Not something you want to know about…  Really, Gabe, I promise,” Uri explained.  “If you can just find it in yourself to trust me a little while longer, all will be made clear.  Michael sent word to your social worker as well, saying that you were visiting distant family for the week.  If you want to return to New York at the end of the week I will take you myself.”  

“If I want to return?  What do you mean?” Uri ignored Gabe’s questions.  He leaned back and slowly reached out to touch Gabe’s hand.  Gabe wanted to scream.  To turn and run as far as he could into the darkness, far away from Uri and all these terrifying secrets.  However, the moment Uri touched his hand, Gabe felt that same calmness he had felt when Uri touched him at the train station.

Without another word, he climbed on behind Uri and they darted off into the night.  Gabe buried his chin into his own chest to try and block the wind from the part of his face the helmet did not cover.  

He thought about how his biggest problem that morning had been growing up alone in the world.  Gabe started to think about the bright side of his New York life.  He was fed and clothed.  He had a roof over his head.  Now he found himself on the back of a complete stranger’s motorcycle, being driven into the wilderness where nobody would hear his screams.

Gabe found himself fixating on all the possible ways his life could be snuffed out.  Perhaps a bag over his head, a knife to the belly.  Maybe even assassination style with a bullet to the back of the head.  

As he tried to think of something else, anything else, his thoughts drifted back to the evening’s events.  There was the train, the girl, the explosion, why did all of these things keep happening around him?  

Gabe thought about his most recent foster family.  They had been nice to him.  Some families he had lived with avoided him like the plague.  It had felt like they didn’t want to get close to Gabe or the curse that was his life from fear that it would infect them as well.  The Hannon family wasn’t like that at all, though.  

Gabe was so used to being distant when he would go to a new home, that he found it hard to adjust to the loving environment of the Hannon’s.  After countless tragedies, Gabe learned not to get too close for fear that he might lose someone else he had come to care for.

Gabe had actually made it eight months with the Hannon’s.  A record for him.  Gabe remembered how he had let himself get used to being accepted and included.  It was the routine, he thought.  It was easy to get lost in it and everything became normal.  He let his guard down.  He had begun to think that perhaps he was cured from his depression, those visions.  

It was then that his foster dad, Christopher, had reminded Gabe of what he had to lose if he let himself get too attached, too comfortable.

Christopher had gone to pick Gabe up at school for his therapy appointment.  In the car, Gabe felt the dread he had not felt for months.  The light headedness, stomach pains, clammy hands; it was all back and hit him with a tremendous force.  

Gabe could still hear Christopher’s panicked screams.  ‘Gabe what’s wrong?  Are you alright?’  Christopher had been so concerned about Gabe, who was doubled over in the passenger seat that he didn’t notice the truck that ran the red light.  Gabe struggled for air as he contemplated Christopher and the pain his wife and kids must have felt simply because they had tried to share their love with Gabe.

Gabe clenched his eyes shut tight, a haze filling his head.  He tried to think of anything else; anything but all the people who had disappeared from his life, ripped away by tragedy.  

Gabe refocused his thoughts on perils from the evening.  What exactly had Uri done when he raised his hand back at that subway?  Was it something Uri had done that made that poor woman scream?  Although Gabe didn’t know how Uri could have done anything, he hadn’t left Gabe’s side.

The officers had not even looked at them, which Gabe found particularly odd considering they were only feet away.  Gabe couldn’t imagine any possible way the officers could have missed them.  Gabe thought about he was certain something wasn’t right.  He had a mountain of questions for this Michael character when they finally met.  Gabe just hoped things wouldn’t end like it usually did when people tried to help him.

A couple hours passed and the rhythm of the road had Gabe drifting in and out of sleep.  His eyes had grown heavy again.  Just as he thought he might slip back into unconsciousness, he felt the bike pulling to one side.  He lifted his head groggily as gravel began to spit up onto his ankles.  

Uri was pulling off to the side of the road directly behind an old car.  The pebbles sprayed outward as Uri came to an abrupt stop.  The brake lights of the car glowed in the darkness.  Gabe once again began to feel very frightened of the situation he was finding himself in.