Chapter Thirteen
As soon as I pulled up into the driveway of Paula's cabin, I sensed something wasn't right. I rushed to the front door and found that it had been bashed in. The frame looked like it had been hit by explosives, and the door was relegated to splinters on the foyer floor. And the moment I stepped inside, I was met with the sight of blood. Too much blood.
“Rose!” I called out, running from room to room.
I found Paula's body near her bed. She was lifeless and her lifeless eyes stared up at the ceiling. It looked as if she'd been trying to make a run for it, but her poor, cancer-ridden body hadn't been able to get very far. Her body was riddled with bullets and she lay in a pool of her own blood. If there was one bright spot, it's that her suffering was finally at an end – not that it was a particularly bright, bright spot.
But my heart hammered my chest from the inside and I was on the verge of panic – there was no sign of Rose.
I left Paula's room, checked in Rose's room. No sign of her.
I called her name again. No answer.
I started to panic, fearing the worst. As I ran down the hallway and stepped into the kitchen, I saw Rose's lifeless body laying on the floor at the head of a long-smeared trail of blood. It looked as if she'd been crawling toward the back door, trying to escape. But she was lying face down in a pool of her blood.
With tears welling in my eyes, I knelt beside her, rolling her over to look into her eyes, hoping against all hope that she was somehow still alive. The amount of blood on the ground though, told me that it wasn't very likely.
“Rose, no,” I said, feeling her neck for a pulse.
But then I felt a spark of hope. There was a pulse. It was faint, but it was still a pulse. She was still with us, but if I didn't do something, she wouldn't be with us for much longer.
“Asher?” she managed to choke out, her voice little more than a wet gurgle as blood dripped from her mouth when she spoke.
She probably only had minutes to live, at most. And she stared up at me with glassy eyes. I could see that she was afraid, but there was also an acceptance of her impending death in her eyes. I shook my head to deny it. Death was not an option. I was not going to just sit back and let her die.
“Don't speak, baby,” I said. “I'll take care of you. I got you. I'm not going to let you give up.”
“Too late,” she choked out, the ghost of a smile touching her lips.
She had a big, gaping gunshot wound in her chest. It hadn't hit the heart – she would have for sure, been dead if it had – but I feared that it was close. And she was bleeding out fast. The shooters probably thought she was dead, or was likely too far gone to be saved, so they'd left her.
For that, at least, I was thankful. They'd left her for dead, but I could do something to save her. I didn't stop to argue with her, instead, I pulled a knife from my pocket and sliced my wrist, squeezing out some of my blood.
“Drink, Rose,” I said. “I know it's gross, but it can save you. Trust me.”
I dripped the blood into her mouth as her eyes fluttered closed. It only takes a little bit for the magic of my people to work. It was hard to tell if she could swallow it though, so I just kept dripping my blood into her mouth and prayed that some of it made it into her body.
She coughed, her body spasming as blood spewed from her mouth and covered me. But I didn't care. All I cared about in that moment was saving her. Slowly, Rose's breathing was becoming a little more regular. I checked her pulse again. It was a little less faint. A little bit stronger.
“Atta girl, Rose,” I said, confident that some of my blood had made it into her body and was working its magic.
She was already improving and my heart did a little flip-flop of joy. Rose looked up at me, her eyes becoming a little clearer, a little more focused. She looked at me and I could tell by the expression on her face that she was remembering everything that had happened. Was recalling the horror of it all.
“Paula?” she asked, still in pain and grimacing as she spoke.
I shook my head and couldn't meet her eyes. “I'm sorry, baby –” I said, gently kissing her hand. “I didn't get to her in time. She was already gone.”
Rose nodded, and I could see she was heartbroken, but was still not completely healed herself. It would take a little time since she was human, but eventually, she would be healed up completely. The bullets in her body would be pushed out as her tissue regenerated and the wounds would heal. It would be as if nothing had ever happened to her in the first place. I'd made it to her in time, and for that, I was thankful.
I pulled her head into my lap and stroked her hair, as I watched her heal before my eyes.
“Had I lost you –” I thought, tears filling my eyes.
“You didn't though,” she said, finally feeling better enough to speak. She reached up and wiped the tears away from my eyes. “I'm here. Because of you, I'm alive.”
“And because of me, you were nearly killed.”
The guilt was overwhelming. I'd screwed up majorly, and I knew it. Too many people were at risk because of me. I needed to clean up this mess, yes, but my first priority was making sure Rose was safe.
Everything else could wait. Everything else would wait.
~ooo000ooo~
“How are you feeling?” I asked, staring down at her as she lay on the couch.
I'd moved her into the living room to let her rest and get comfortable. And I was glad to see that she was healing incredibly fast. It was almost like nothing had even happened.
“It's a miracle,” she said. “I'm still a little sore in spots, but overall, I feel fine. I can't believe it.”
“Good,” I said, kissing her forehead. “I'm just glad I found you in time. You're a strong woman, Rose.”
“I'm glad you found me in time too. I just wish Paula has been able to hang on a little longer,” she said, taking my hand in hers, grief etched upon her delicate features.
“I do too,” I said softly. “I'm so sorry, Rose. So, so sorry.”
“It's not your fault,” she said softly. “You couldn't have known.”
“I feel like I should have.”
She gave my hand a gentle squeeze and offered me a small smile. Logically, I knew it wasn't my fault. I couldn't have known that they'd hit Rose and her aunt. But it still didn't take away the guilt I felt. I felt like yeah, the ball toward everything that was happening had already been rolling, but my actions had made it roll even faster.
“Do you know who was behind this?” she asked.
I flinched at her question.
“Not really,” I said. “But I think I might have an idea now. I think I'm finally starting to put all the pieces together and I'm pretty sure someone came after you because of your connection with me. Somebody knew about us.”
She nodded. “The same thought crossed my mind, but I've never seen these guys in my life.”
“Did you get a look at them? Can you remember what they looked like?”
She stared at me, a scared look on her face. “They looked a lot like you,” she said. “Tall with dark hair and eyes. Big men. Very big men.”
“Do you think they were bears like me?” I asked. “Or were they human?”
“I don't know,” I said. “They didn't turn into bears or give any indication they could shift. And they used guns to attack us, so maybe they were human?”
I needed to figure out who the Sheriff was working with. Who'd been feeding him all of the information he had. If I could figure that out, I might be able to shut all of this down. I also needed to speak to Mariana and the others in her clan to let them know what was happening and to hopefully keep the peace between the two clans. But I couldn't bear the thought of leaving Rose's side. Not while she was still healing.
My phone rang. I grabbed it and looked at the display. It was Mariana.
Speak of the devil, I thought. I didn't want to talk to her at that moment, but I also knew I couldn't avoid her if I wanted to make things right and avoid a completely unnecessary war between our clans.
As soon as I picked up, I heard genuine fear in her voice. “Asher, why are you doing this?” she cried out. “Why? Do you hate us that much?”
I heard gunshots in the background and the sound of somebody screaming. Adrenaline poured through my body as I listened to the commotion behind her. She was truly scared. And almost instantly, I made the connection in my mind. Whoever had attacked Rose, was now attacking the N'gasso compound. The pattern was the same – they attacked one of ours and then attacked one of theirs to make it look like possible retribution.
Whoever was behind all of this was moving quick and was doing a great job of inflaming the tensions between our clans, not giving us a chance to stop, take a breath, and collect our thoughts.
“Make them stop!” Mariana screamed. “They're killing everyone.”
She was out of breath and I could tell by the way she was speaking that she was running.
“Who's killing everybody, Mariana?” I asked. “Where are you?”
“Your people,” she said. “They came in with guns, Asher. You sent them in with guns and silver bullets. Asher, my entire family is dead. You had my entire family killed.”
Rose could see the look on my face and wincing just a bit, she sat up. “What is it?” she asked.
“Where are you, Mariana?”
I knew it wasn't my people attacking her. My father was going to hold off on anything, allowing me a little time to see if I could fix this mess. I knew that there was no way in hell he'd sent our own people in to attack the N'gasso. Especially not with silver bullets.
When we went to war, we went in as bears. Our honor – the code of my people – demanded that we fight a fair fight. Bringing silver ammo was not a fair fight.
“I'm at my family's cabin,” she said. “In the woods now. I ran from the house and managed to escape for now. But I don't know how long it will be before they find me, Asher. We were in the middle of a meeting when your guys burst in –”
“They're not my guys, Mariana,” I said.
“Don't lie to me, Asher. They look like your guys,” she hissed. “They have the markings.”
“Did you recognize any of them?”
“Well, no –”
“Exactly,” I said. “It's a setup. Someone really wants us to go to war with each other, to wipe each other out. It's not the Q'lapa. Believe me, it's not us. Stay put, I'm on my way.”
I hung up the phone and hurried toward the door.
“I'm going with you,” Rose said.
“It's not safe,” I said. “And you're not fully healed yet.”
“It's no safer here either. Who knows if those men will come back,” she said. “And I want to help. You saved me, let me help you in return.”
“No –” I started and then stopped.
But she was right. Leaving her there was just as dangerous as taking her with me. They almost killed her once. If they came back, I wasn't sure they'd mess it up again. And besides, if she was with me, at least I could keep an eye on her. Keep her safe.
“Fine. But you're going to stay in the car and hide,” I said. “You got it? When everything starts going down, I can't afford to be worried about you. Whoever this is, they're using bear killing ammo, Rose. If I'm distracted, I could wind up dead. And that's the last thing I want right now.”
“Got it,” she said. “Stay in the car.”