Second Chances (The Extinct Race Series) (14 page)

“Oh, I almost forgot,” he said standing again.
“The spell book that was mentioned was found. And before dinner, as some of you witnessed, Zoe, Zach, Halina and I cast a spell to add to the protection of the other. The half-bloods and anyone else, Dragon or human, who means us harm, will not be able to see us or feel us anymore. So it is safe for Grace to go home if she wishes. And if we need to go to town again, once we reach the border, we will just appear or disappear to anyone who means to harm us.” Kaiden said

“Good, the vests are on their way anyway, but that means that patrols can continue and that they will be safe doing so.
They won’t have to watch their back as much.” Carmine says

“
That is a relief. Also it should mean that the humans who are friendly with us will also be invisible to them when they are here. It will look like they just drove to the coast and then turned around and went back. Of course the men who are working on the houses will be living on the property until they are finished, and we will have the supplies delivered in.” Kaiden says

“Kaiden?”
One of the girls who work in the house asks

“Yes Lucy?”

“Will you be telling everyone else soon?” She asks

“I will be telling everyone at training tomorrow morning.”
Kaiden tells her

“Will you change us tonight?
Will you please turn us? We want the chance to have a soul mate and babies one day. All of us worked up here in the house, because we never thought we would be able to have that. We never wanted to rob our children of their Dragon, knowing it was inside them, but never to awaken. We didn’t want any normal man after what we grew up around either. We didn’t want to have to explain to one of the men from town what we had in us. It is not that we are ashamed of what we are, but we have seen how men in the past ran from one of us. We are stronger than them. Normal men can’t handle that. We have all been doing the training that you asked of us. We have also been doing the training that Charles gave to all of us before. Some of us passed a year or two ago and well you were gone.” Lucy says

“I would be happy to turn you Lucy.”
Zoe says and she stands and walks over to the small girl to hug her.

Lucy begins to cry and her legs give out.
Zoe holds her up and pulls back to look into her eyes. “Lucy, I am so happy that this is now possible for you all. I can’t even begin to imagine how most of you women felt. Knowing that if you turned you would be giving up that chance of a family or having one, but your children would never be what they were meant to be. The men too, but now that it is possible, I will turn you myself and I will take you on a flight and right now if you would like.” Zoe tells her

Lucy regains control of
herself and shakes her head from side to side. “No. please, have your dinner and dessert. We can all wait until you are finished. The information was just a lot to take in I got overwhelmed with emotion, with hope.” Lucy blushes

“Alright, whenever you are ready you come and find me.
Oh and don’t forget to be in a robe when you do.” Zoe laughs. She squeezes Lucy to her once more and then releases her and walks back to the table to eat her meal.

After they all finish eating one by one they leave and move to change.
Within twenty minutes they all stand under the moonlight in robes. The six women who work in the house stand before the six Pearl Dragons. All at the same time they bite. The women step back and drop their robes, each shift into their Dragons. All of them are a different race, the only race missing tonight of these women is a Blood Dragon. One by one they all shift. Ben hopes on Justine’s back tonight and they all take flight as one.

Chapter 14

Alaska, two days after the
rescue

Deirdra was pacing the room in a frantic mess.
Her father was locked in his office and things were only getting worse around their camp. He lost fifteen of his best sons. The other ones were wounded and he was able to heal them in time. After they had broken in and rescued Marcus, her father had locked himself in his office, and she hasn’t heard or seen from him for two days. Her brothers were getting restless and wanted to fight back. They wanted revenge for the ones they lost. But they could do nothing until their father gave them the order to.

Deirdra was doing all she could to keep the camp in order, but worry was thick in her shoulders.
She carried it around like a wool coat on a hot summer day. She worried that she would never become a Dragon now. That her life would never be what her father had promised. She was the most ruthless of his daughters and she would do anything to get what she was promised.

She heard movement down the hall and was waiting for another one of her brothers to come in and whine about going out.
Right now they were all on lock down. Even all the human women and the children were brought to the main camp. She sat and waited for whoever was at the end of the hall to hurry and get to her. Deirdra sat at a desk right outside her father’s office, so no one got in without going through her first. The steps got closer and she stood to block whoever was coming down the hall.

The person stepped around the corner and she noticed it was one of the women her father liked to play with.
Her name was Monique and she had given her three brothers so far. The last son she had was three years ago.

“Hello Monique, what can I do for you?”

“Master called me on my cell and told me to come right away.” Her voice quivered as she spoke.

“I am sorry
, but I cannot allow you in he has not opened his door and spoken to anyone in two days.” As Deirdra spoke the door to her father’s office creaked open a crack and she allowed Monique to pass. Monique slipped inside and all was quiet again. Deirdra sat back at her desk and opened the book she had been reading for these two long quiet days.

Three hours passed before the door opened back up and Monique’s lifeless body was thrown out.
Her father poked his head out the door and glared at the shock on Deirdra’s face.

“She is of no more use to me.
She cannot have any more children. Get rid of her body, and make it fast I have Lila coming up in an hour.” Aldrich slammed the door.

Deirdra stood
there for a minute in shock. Her father never killed one of the mothers, except that one who he killed to hurt Blake and win him over. His mother was babying him and he was never going to listen to father otherwise. But he never killed another because that one made death had made Vivi leave. He saw that as a bad omen and never killed one of the mothers since then. Deirdra grabbed the body of Monique and took her down to the boiler room. She didn’t know what else to do but throw her into the furnace.

When
she got back up to her desk Lila was there waiting. Lila was another mother who hadn’t given birth in a of couple years. Deirdra didn’t want to talk to her so she knocked on the door and it creaked open again. Three hours later her body was also thrown out the door. This time he said nothing and had just slammed the door.

Five days went by and all the mothers had made it through the door to the office.
Some walked out and she knew her father must have either gotten them pregnant or there was a chance they could be soon. By the time he was done with all the mothers there were only four left. He chose only three a day. So for the ones who walked out they just thought that the others were kept in one of his many rooms or something. None of them knew they were dead. That was all in Deirdra’s hands. She, besides her father, was the only one who knew those mothers were dead.

The morning after he was done with the women he came out of his office.

“I want all my sons and daughters who are ten and older brought to the training room. I also want you and Greg there to help me.” He said before he took off down the hall. Deirdra was used to just following rules, she listened and obeyed. She took out all her anger on the other Dragons. They were the ones that put her in this spot. They are the reason her life is how it is. They are the enemy and they will all die so that she can rule by her father’s side.

Deirdra got all the children who were ten and older to the training room.
Usually for the children their training started at sixteen. So she gathered all the children who were not yet in training. There were forty five of them. They were all lined up when their father walked into the room. He had Greg with him and Greg pulled a cart behind him. It was full of guns. Greg stopped once he got to the line of children and walked twenty meters in front of them. He then hit the switch for the targets to drop from the ceiling. Aldrich motioned for Deirdra to hand the children a gun. Aldrich stood behind them and watched. Once all the children had guns and a quick lesson on to handle it they took aim.

Their father had always worked them on fear.
He trained with fear and pain. All the older kids knew this. But today was different. Deirdra and Greg could do nothing to stop their father from what he did. Their father always told them the smart and strong were the ones who survived. He told them that the Blood Dragons were the best of the Dragons. They were the smartest because they could look into someone’s body with their hands. They could choose to take the life or save the life. He had never once killed one of his children, until today. As the children were lined up with guns in their hands they didn’t notice their own father behind them. He walked the line as they took aim and shot. They didn’t notice when he would put his hand on the shoulder of the child that missed. They didn’t notice them fall to the floor with no life left in their eyes.

Twenty children out of forty five walked out of that room.
Greg got the job of disposing of the other twenty five children that were dead. Their father just said to get rid of the weak ones.

“I am just weeding out the weak, nothing to worry about Deirdra.
Besides killing is your specialty right? You are the worst of my daughters, so this should be easy for you. Would you like to weed out the next test I have for them?” Aldrich smiled the evil smile of his.

This was the first time she had ever thought her father was crazy.
He was killing the children he made. He was killing the children he cherished. She knew he was a vile evil man to the others, but he always loved the young ones. Especially the boys, he loved having sons. This was the reason Deidra tried so hard to be on his good side. He favored the sons more than the daughters. The daughters were mainly used to look after the babies. Or they were used in the house to clean. The mothers were just used to make babies and fun for him. She knew her father despised women.

By the end of this training day there were only ten children that lived through it.
When she walked them back to the area they all lived, her sisters shot her looks of worry and fear. They knew change was coming after they lost the one Pearl they had ever captured alive. Deirdra just never knew that she would lose her siblings, that her father would kill his own children.

The next day her father did the same thing as the day before
, but with the brothers and sisters that have never been chosen to fight before. These were all the ones her father called weak and no good, but to stay home and do the bitch work. When the day was over she only had five sisters left. Twenty brothers went in and fifteen came out. Deirdra knew real fear for the first time in her life. Not the kind of fear for her life, but that of the ones she loved. There were not many women to begin with, but knowing now that she only had five sisters left was shocking to her. She was also scared for the really little children and the babies. She feared the mornings now.

The next morning she got some good news though.
Her father got some Intel and gathered some of her brothers and took off to Mexico. He told her that he would be back by dinner the next night. Deirdra moved as fast as she could. She gathered all the sisters together and told them what their father has been doing. Most of them had already guessed. She had come up with a plan the night before as she lay in bed and could not sleep. She called in a favor she knew a certain man would do for her. A man who was in love with her, he owned a boat, one that could travel the rough seas. She promised him she would marry him if he did this favor for her. She knew she would be dead before he even got back.

Deirdra told her sisters to gather all the children, especially the really young ones who were not yet fed the hate their father fed them.
She told them to do it quietly, to try not to gain the attention of their brothers. The man she knew met them all at the dock. It was in the middle of the night and she got them all on board and settled. Deirdra had never had any romantic feelings for this man. She only ever used him for his ship. Tonight though, she kissed him like she was going to die tomorrow, which she probably was for doing this. She pulled away and shoved a paper in his hands.

“You get them there safely.
Get them in the dingy boats and leave. They know what to do from there. Just drop them at the coordinates that are in this. If it is a mile in either direction off course they will all die. So make sure you get it right. I will be waiting for you here in a week. I will marry you then. I will go wherever you want to take me.” She wiped the tear from her cheek and ran back home.

Deirdra was taking a huge chance with their lives.
But the coordinates she marked were the ones she found years ago. It was about five miles off the coast of Ireland. Her boat would not go anywhere near the land, but she could see the beach and the mountain in the distance. She knew that was the location her father must be looking for. She kept that information secret. She was holding it for a good time, a time when she could get on his good side and truly win her place at his side. Now she was using it to save her sisters and the children.

The next morning, w
hen her father arrived back at the camp, he was in an awful mood. He was screaming and yelling about incompetent fools. She guessed that the lead he had fell through and he didn’t find what he was looking for. It took him another day to realize there were no children in the camp. When he realized this he went looking for Deirdra.

“Where are all my children?”
Aldrich yelled and spat in her face the next morning.

“They should be where they always are.”
She lied

“Well they are not
. Even my daughters and the babies are gone. They are not smart enough to get away from here all on their own Deirdra.”

“
Well maybe this time they did, you have never killed one of us before, and now you are killing us and our mothers.” Deirdra spat back at him

“Did my ruthless bitch of a daughter save me the trouble and kill them all for me?”
He smiled then, true pride showing in his face. Right then she knew she did the right thing. She knew now her father was truly insane. One of her brothers came running up right then, before she could respond.

“Father there is a trail leading out the back gate.
It looks like they headed to the docks. Six adult feet tracks and lots of little tracks, they definitely took off with the children.”

True rage shown in his eyes as he glared at Deidra
, he stared at her for a minute and then looked to his son. “Kill the human women. I don’t care if one of them left is your mother, I want them all dead. Then gather everyone in the middle of the camp. I have something to show you all.” Aldrich said with venom dripping from his voice.

Ten minutes later all her brothers surrounded her.
There were about a hundred of them all ranging from fifteen to fifty. Even the ones that would not go with her were standing there. And all of them stared at her. Some were outright pissed off and others were surprised. There were a few who could care less that she was standing there with their father. He had his hands on her shoulders and faced her towards the crowd.

“It seems my most faithful and loyal daughter has betrayed me.
It seems she sent your sisters somewhere, with all my children, your brothers and sisters. They are now gone. They are also now traitors. They have about a two day lead on us. I want them found and I want them dead. You hear me Deirdra? They are all now dead because of you. Even the babies they are all dead. Greg, Caleb and Jake I want you on the next plane to Ireland. I want you to find any pull you can and follow it. Find out where they go and then kill them. If you find the hidden Sect, you stay there and call me. I will be on my way there to meet you. As for the rest of you, split up in threes, go anywhere and everywhere, find them and kill them. I will wait here for your calls. I will wait here and ten of you will stay here, along with the ones too young to fight. Just in case the traitors come back. As for this traitor in my hands, she is no longer your sister. Kill her as you would any traitor.” Aldrich spat

Aldrich threw her into the crowd.
Deirdra was killed by her brother’s hands. After she was dead they all broke up into groups and packed up. The groups left the camp and the other three made arrangements to fly to Ireland.