(39) When all else is lost the future still remains

“Come on Race, we’ve got shopping to do.”

Race looked at Shan, then Addie, then Shan again. “We’re not leaving her here by herself are we?”

“Why not, I’m quite capable of taking care of myself? Vampire here, Race, an old one, and if you’re worried because I’m female, don’t be.”

“But…” One scathing look from Addie and Race shut up, turning to Shan. “They have a WalMart somewhere around here?”

Shan burst into laughter. “Not quite, but there’s a small shop we used to use in emergencies. Well stocked with local fare and a few basic necessities of life. You ready?”

A few seconds later they were standing in a narrow alley between several small stone buildings. “We’re definitely not in New Orleans any more,” Race muttered.

“Or in Kansas,” Shan replied, chuckling as he opened the wooden door in front of them.

As soon as they were inside, a portly middle-aged man greeted Shan with a wide smile, rattling off something in what Race could only presume was the native language. Shan responded in kind, accepting a hug before apparently telling the man what they needed. Then Shan handed Race a basket, picked one up himself, and with the man’s assistance they were soon full of tins, plus dried meats, fish and fruits. Shan stopped at one shelf, taking down two cases of bottled water to add to their purchases. Race saw a shelf of soaps, toothbrushes and toothpaste and added some to his basket. Satisfied they had what they needed for the time being, Shan paid the man and then started setting the bags and cases of water outside the shop in the alley. After bidding the man good-bye and closing the shop door behind them, Shan piled Race’s arms high with bags, grabbed the rest, plus the handles on the cases of water, and moments later they were back at the Compound.

Addie greeted them with a smile and led the way to one of the rooms along the hall. It was apparent when the men stepped inside that she’d been busy while they were gone. It had been cleaned up and a table with three mismatched chairs stood in the center. There were shelves along one wall that they proceeded to fill with their purchases.

Race suddenly realized that the light in the room came from candles stuck in several holders instead from Shan’s magic. “Very romantic,” he commented with a laugh. “Now all we need is a good wine to go with this.”

“Unfortunately, I didn’t find any down here. Maybe we should send Shan back for some.”

“Maybe we shouldn’t,” Shan told her. “I’m exhausted and you two should be as well. We have a lot to do tomorrow to make this place a bit more habitable, so I suggest we get some sleep.”

“I did find some sheets and blankets in one of the storerooms, no mattresses though, but the workout pads in the practice room should do us. As for a bathroom, with no running water I guess we’ll have to suffer.”

“That’s one of the things Race and I will deal with tomorrow afternoon, when we get up. Now we eat. Addie, are you okay for the time being?”

“I’m good for another couple of days. You eat; I’ll finish with our high-class sleeping arrangements.”

(38) When all else is lost the future still remains

“How long will we be here?” Race asked as he continued following Addie down the hall.

“I suspect that will depend on what we can find out about the being in the Messenger’s body, and then decide how to deal with them.”

“I will make it my job to see what I can determine about him. I have some sources that might have ideas about that.” Kayne said. “I would have done it earlier but there were things on the other plane that needed my attention. Things I preferred to handle myself rather than leave them in Shelagh’s hands.”

Addie cocked an eyebrow. “I hope for the sake of your relationship you didn’t tell her that.”

Kayne chuckled. “I may be male, but I am not that stupid.”

“Then there’s hope for you yet.” She grinned at him before opening the wide double doors at the end of the hall.

“Whoa,” Race muttered when Kayne produced more light so that the room was fully illuminated. It was huge. At the far end he could see a firing range, at one side hung heavy and speed bags, and other workout equipment stood close by. Across from that were cabinets, as well as a full range of larger weapons in standing racks.

“This was a fully equipped paramilitary compound, Race,” Addie explained. “We didn’t always use magic in our battles; in fact that was a rarity.” When he asked she gave him a brief run-down of what the group had done and why.

After she’d finished Race asked tentatively, “Will someone ever start it up again? It sounds like you were doing a great deal of good.”

“I seriously doubt it, but there are other ones like ours waging the same battles.”

Race nodded as he wandered over to check out the weapons.

Kayne came to stand beside Addie. “Are you certain?”

“About?” She looked at him in question.

“Anything,” he replied with a chuckle, “but right now, that you and Shan might not form another group like Lorcan’s.”

“If we do anything with this place,” Shan said as he strolled in to join them, “it would be what you suggested, as a school for battle-mages on this plane.”

“So you’re actually considering that?” Addie asked, a bit surprised though she suspected she shouldn’t have been.

Shan shrugged. “They’re needed. It’s not as if there was an over abundance of them. And it might give me some sense of real purpose, something I’ve been lacking recently.”

Addie nodded. “What about Race?”

“That is something I’ll have to find out. Having potential and learning how to use it can be two very different things. First and foremost he has to want to.”

“It will be interesting to see if he does, once you’ve dealt with this personage who is after Addison,” Kayne said. “This reminds me, I should leave the three of you. If I am going to find out anything about him, I can not do it here. Is there anything more you need of me before I go?”

Shan shook his head. “Other than some basic supplies, we should be good for a while and those I can get in the nearest town.”

Race came over in time to hear the last of the conversation. “But if you teleport can’t that thing track you?”

“He has to know where I am in order to do that, and thanks to Kayne that’s virtually impossible.”

Kayne cocked an eyebrow. “Totally impossible.” He hugged Addie, wished them well while promising to be in contact as soon as he had any information, and then vanished.

Guardian Angels – An Interesting Life (18)

As soon as Vic and Evan were in the car and driving away with their invisible passengers in the backseat, Vic asked, "You're sure that mechanic is the same guy you interrogated, Paddy?"

"Definitely. The question is, why was Peake's phone stolen?"

"For the phone numbers. He said he had ones on it for his mechanics. The description Mrs Peake gave us of the guy? If he'd been there before but without the glasses, the mustache, and the graying hair…"

"He cased the place," Paddy said. "Maybe did the same thing then, posed as a potential customer, talked to the mechanics, and figured one of them might be up for some fast cash. He sees the guy's name on his coveralls but has no logical reason to ask for his phone number so… Yeah, he figures Peake would have the guy's number on his phone, comes back in disguise, hoping he can get his hands on the phone, and gets lucky." 

Dom laughed. "You're getting a kick out of this detective work, aren't you Paddy?"

"Yeah, I am. I finally got put with someone who leads an interesting life. The last assignment I had with Hal and Dave, all I got to do was hang around guarding a woman with two kids. Bo-oring."

"It's usually not this interesting," Vic said. "Mostly leg-work and computer searches."

Evan arched an eyebrow. "You implied at one point this wasn't the first time you've been beaten up."

"Yeah, but the couple of other times it happened, it was someone who resented my digging into their less than legit business. I told you that—a punch thrown when I caught them, or a couple. Never did anything more than leave me with a sore jaw or bruised ribs, if they got lucky."

"Why the hell did Samuel wait until now to put me with him?" Paddy asked Dom mind to mind, so that the other two couldn't hear.

"Because until now, his life wasn't in danger?"

"Yeah, probably. Would have been fun, though, following him around, learning the business from the inside out."

Dom just shook his head.

"We need a plan of action," Evan told the others.

"Using the mechanic who tried to break into your house?" Paddy said.

"You're certain it was him?" Evan used the rearview mirror to look back at where Paddy's voice had come from. "And can you two materialize? It's disconcerting talking to thin air."

"Yes, Evan, I'm certain," Paddy replied with a bit of asperity, becoming visible again.

Evan tapped his fingers on the steering wheel. "What if we followed him when he left work? Find out where he lives…"

"What if we follow him." Paddy pointed to himself and Dom. "He won't know we're there, since we'll be invisible."

"Just one of us," Dom said. "We can't leave these two unprotected, even if we can sense if they're in danger from a distance. It's not worth taking the chance that we wouldn't get to them in time."

            "No," Vic said after a moment's thought. "That won't lead us to whoever hired him because the only contact they have is by phone." He rapped a knuckle on his lips. "There's one way to find our man, because he's not going to stop until he gets his hands on me."

(37) When all else is lost the future still remains

“You look, you will pardon the expression, like hell,” Kayne said when Shan reappeared in the command center, with Race following closely behind.

“I’d say I feel like it too, but surprisingly I don’t. The kid there could use some cleaning up though.”

“Both of you are bleeding whether you realize it or not,” Addie pronounced as she went to one of the closets to dig out a med kit.

“She didn’t even see me, barely,” Race whispered to Shan.

“Vampire here, Race. I could smell it.” She returned with the kit and told him to sit so she could take care of his arm. “And you, mister, off with those jeans so I can deal with your knees,” she ordered Shan.

“Excuse me,” he grumbled, “but I’m not…well…”

She laughed. “Do you ever wear underwear? Okay, Mr. Modesty, find a towel and then take them off.” As she started to work on Race she shook her head. “Kayne, a bit of your magic here please, this antiseptic is way past its sell date.” While Kayne obliged, he pointed out she could have healed the wound just as easily.

She disagreed. “Somehow I doubt Race would feel comfortable with my licking him, even if it is just his arm.”

“At this point I doubt it would have bothered me much,” Race told her, more than a bit stunned as he watched the deep gash slowly knit together.

“Now you.” She turned to Shan and shook her head in amusement when she saw him standing there in leopard form. “Guess that’ll work just as well.” ::Coward,:: she added in his mind.

::Didn’t want to embarrass Race.::

Addie’s eyebrow shot up. ::Somehow I doubt that embarrassed is what he would have been feeling.::

::There was that, too.::

::Such a sensitive little leopard.:: When he chuffed in annoyance she scratched behind his ears before telling the others, “Let’s run a check down here to see what’s left that could come in useful, while Shan finishes his healing.”

“What else was down here?” Race asked as he trailed after her.

“At the far end of the hall is the weapons and practice room. That,” she pointed to one door as they walked past it, “leads to Shan’s training room. It’s very well reinforced and was warded, though I doubt they’re standing anymore.”

Kayne stopped for a moment, pressing his hand against the door. “Amazingly, there are a few wards still, although far from what’s needed.”

“Training for sorcerers?” Race asked.

“Battle mages,” Addie told him. “Although if we stay here long enough he might just use it to work with you, I suppose.”

(36) When all else is lost the future still remains

“I can’t.”

“You can," Race replied. "You must. Listen to your heart. It knows. Now is the time. Go.”

Tears slid slowly down Shan’s cheeks as he stumbled blindly down the hall. As if guided by an unseen hand, he safely traversed the rubble-strewn floor to the room. His hand gripped the handle and he hesitated.

At the far end of the hall Race watched, his nails digging into the palms of his hands as he resisted the urge to go to him; to give him the strength to take the last step into the room. Please.  He looked up, closing his eyes. Please help him.

Shan pushed the door open. The room was in shambles, furniture crushed under fallen bricks and plaster. What was left of the walls shattered, destroyed. Just as he was. 

Wiping a hand across his tear-streaked face, Shan’s gaze searched for anything that said this was the room that had once been filled with love and happiness. Bits and pieces of his life with Lav lay strewn around. Clothing spilled from the broken dresser, now moss and mildew covered, almost unrecognizable for what it had been as was the rest of the destroyed furniture. The bed where they had loved each other, slowly or passionately as the spirit had moved them, was now in shattered pieces. He crossed to it with hesitant steps, stood looking down at what remained, remembering, tears coursing down his cheeks.

“I loved you, damn it. Why did you have to die? Why you?” Dropping to his knees, heedless of the sharp shards of brick that tore into them, he wrapped his arms around himself, rocking back and forth as sobs wracked his frame. “I miss you so much, my love. It’s hard, so hard, so lonely, so empty without you.”

Eventually the sobs lessened, the tears stopped. He was drained, empty. He lifted his head, staring sightlessly ahead. Then a faint sound, as if something small had been dropped, hitting the floor with a soft, bright clink, brought him back to reality. He looked, trying to find what it was. In the thick dust beside the dresser he saw something glimmering in the faint light.

Standing, he inched his way across the room and knelt, picking up the small silver object. His heart beat faster as he stared at it. It was the pendant Lav had given him their last Christmas together. A simple circle, a leopard’s head etched on one side, a panther’s on the other, with the words ‘I will love you’ under the panther, and under the leopard, ‘forever’. The chain had broken the morning of the explosion, he remembered. So he’d set the pendant on the dresser, vowing to get a new chain after he’d completed his day of training with the Master.

Now he clutched it, bringing it to his lips. “And I will love you forever,” he murmured. Then he lifted his gaze, staring up at the thin shaft of moonlight slipping through the shattered ceiling of the room. “I will, forever, but now…” One last tear rolled slowly down his cheek. “Now, I think I can move on.”