Chapter Twenty

The knock at the door made her eyes open. It was unusual; no one knocked, mostly because they respected each other’s time of rest. Tristan was already up with his pants on. He approached the door cautiously which made no sense to her. They were in the house.

“Who is it?”

“Ven. I’m sorry to wake you up, but you need to come see this.”

“We’re coming,” Tristan said.

Mira got up and pulled on shorts and a tank top with panties and a bra. Tristan didn’t like her to let the girls free among his friends, and she respected him for it.

Everyone, including Dre was in the living room bunched around the television. It was on CNN of all channels.

“Viewer discretion is recommended for anyone under the age of 17.” The host of the news show said. It didn’t make any sense until it did.

The journalists were allowed to go into a room filled with dead bodies. Yep, dead and enough to give her nightmares. The first thing she looked for were her kittens. No, not hers, but somebody should have been protecting them. They all seemed to be under the age of twenty. That’s not true. The ones that she could see were under the age of twenty. Some of the bodies were destroyed; dental records might not be enough to identify them.

Reporters were gagging and running out. She couldn’t blame them. The smell wouldn’t come through the television, thank God for small favors. The scene was enough to convey how it smelled.

One cameraman or woman zoomed in on one of the bodies. Mira didn’t want to get closer to the screen, but her feet weren’t listening. She walked up and knelt as she looked at the body of a poor teen no longer with them.

Tears unbidden and unwanted came from her. She didn’t know the teen, but she knew the look, the lacerations, the paleness of skin that had been sucked dry. She hoped, even prayed that she was wrong. She wasn’t, the body of this young lady was the same way Tina’s body had been when she was dying. Whoever did this to her was related in some way to the ones who had held Tina.

Mira rubbed furiously at her eyes as she felt the comforting presence of Tristan in her mind and at her back. She waited for the words to flow from him that would try to make her feel better. None came. His hand cupped the side of her face before soothing her neck and settling on her shoulder. She moved closer so she could wedge herself while she was still kneeling against his leg.

She took the comfort he offered in silence. One deep breath then she stood, her hands patting down her pockets. She looked at Tristan. He pulled a phone from his pocket. She thought it was his but managed to grin when she realized it was hers. He was so perfect for her.

“Jax,” she said when the ringing was picked up. “Are you watching the news? Turn on CNN.” She hummed softly while she waited. It was Amazing Grace her grandmother’s favorite song. When she died, Mira had softly hummed it for her at her funeral. It was the least she could do for the dead in…

“Where is this happening?”

“Texas.” Dre looked up at her with big brown eyes full of fear.

She didn’t blame him. He may be the only one in the room who properly understood how much danger they were all in.

“Yeah, I’m still here,” she told Jax. “We need a clue, a something. The longer we wait, the more chance of…” Her words died away, and her eyes flicked to the screen. The reporter was giving them the newest bit of information they learned.

They were wrong. She knew they were wrong. No humans drained a body like that. It wasn’t some vampire fetish as one news reporter speculated. The blood was still in each victim. How did you explain that some people were more sensitive than others to a world that refused to believe beyond their five senses?

If you got them to believe, how did you convince them that a person robbed of this sense would die? That wasn’t a battle that she planned on fighting.

“Wait, why didn’t you lead with that?” She looked around the room. The Kur’iks looked like they could hear both sides of the conversation. Dre looked confused.

“Jax says he has a lead, but it hasn’t been screened yet.”

“Kayden will screen it for him.” Cade pointed to the corner where there was a lone chair.

This must be the last member of Enigma One that she hadn’t met. She couldn’t focus on him; he was shrouded by a haze covering him that didn’t make sense to her. He waved his hand, and whatever was protecting him disappeared allowing her to see him clearly.

His bright green eyes met hers. Yep, he was a Kur’ik. In his hand, he was holding an iPad, but it didn’t look right.

“Hi, I’m Kayden.”

“I’m Mira. Is that an iPad?”

“No, but I designed it to look like one unless you look closely. It interfaces with our ship and the thin Neuro-net you have over the planet.”

“You mean the cloud where we back all of our social media as well as work up to?”

“No, I mean the Neuro-net that watches and learns.”

Deep breath, she knew big brother existed, but she didn’t want proof. More than once she touched something decidedly not human and not alive. One problem at a time, missing teens was all she could concentrate on.

“Jax, I’m giving the phone to Kayden together you can verify the lead.” She turned the phone over and left the living room. Staring at the dead bodies of teens wasn’t going to give her an answer.

“Can I sit next to you?” She was on the back porch. Tristan sat on the swing next to her.

“Yes.” She placed her feet on his lap and tried to relax when she started the swing going back and forth. “I know nothing I could have done would save them. It doesn’t make it easier to accept.”

“We fought with the Thalians, for whatever reason we seem to be natural enemies. They have one motto over everything else, ‘Never let a Kur’ik take them alive.’ It makes no sense. I came across one once, he was dying. I was tired of fighting and death. I asked; I almost begged that he let me heal him.”

He shook his head, the weariness he didn’t often show was sitting on his shoulders like a shroud.

“He blew himself up. In his gray eyes, I saw the regret, the desire to reach out. Whatever secret they keep was too great for him to overcome. I live with the fact that nothing I could have done or said would have made a difference.

She understood some people were beyond saving because you didn’t get to them early enough. Other’s wouldn’t give you the time you needed to save them.

There was nothing she could have done for those teens, she needed to focus on the ones she had a shot at helping.

“Thanks, I needed the reminder.”

He slid her sandals off and massaged her feet. They sat there until the weight of the world rolled off their shoulders giving them enough room to just breathe.

“Are you ready to go back in?”

“I am.” She gave him a small smile. This was when she needed to remember her purpose in life and well as remember who she was.

They walked back in to find Dre in the kitchen. He was banging cans on the counter.

“Dre?”

He turned at the sound of Mira calling his name.

“I’m looking for a can opener.” He held up the can of ravioli for her inspection.

“Why do we have ravioli in the kitchen?”

Tristan shrugged. “Locke likes them.”

“Are you hungry?” She asked Dre.

“I want ravioli.” Which was a far cry from saying he was hungry.

“How are you feeling?”

“Do you want to know the truth?” He walked over to the table to stand in front of Mira.

“I feel like I’m crazy. There are times I swear that if I could close my eyes and bypass the invisible membrane that surrounds me, I would find Meghan. She’s right there on the edge of my consciousness. I feel her, and she’s in pain.”

He spun around on his heels and went back to the cabinets. “Where did you hide the damn can opener?”

“I got you.” Locke took the can from him popped a claw and opened it.

“Eww, dude is that sanitary?”

“If you're asking me if my claws are clean, yes they are.” He washed them with soap and water before retracting them.

Dre shrugged and stuck a fork in a ravioli shoving it into his mouth. Mira’s hand went over his.

“If you’re hungry, we can heat this up or make you a better meal. I don’t want you to get sick, Meghan will need you.”

“That’s a low blow,” he said putting the can down. “I like you.” He gave her a smile. “Now if only we could find her.”

“I think I can help with that,” Kayden said coming into the kitchen. “The source checked out, and I have three possible holding places.”

“We can start with the closest one and fan out from there,” Tristan said mulling over the locations that Kayden pulled up for them to look at.

Ven was shaking his head no.

“I agree with Ven,” Cade told them. If they get wind that we are looking for them, they may change locations.

“We could break into three groups and hit them all at once,” Key said.

“That means we need backup. There’s no telling what we will find if we did that,” Cade said. He looked at the locations again. “I need a better solution.”

Taking the other Kur’iks away from their family wasn’t the plan he wanted to go with.

“Dre do your feelings of Meghan act as hot and cold?”

He stood blinking at Mira until a smile gradually brightened his eyes and took over his face.

“It does. That’s how I was initially trying to find her.”

Who needed a divining rod when you were surrounded with people blessed with extra senses?