Clayton's Jade (Runes Stone Series) (11 page)

              Afterwards, as they lay in each other’s arms they fell into a deep sleep.  When the alarm went off they wanted to throw it across the room.  Neither one of them wanted to get up but they had a lot to go over before the fight tonight.  Groaning, they both started to move around before they got up out of bed.  Grabbing some clothes from the closet she threw them on. “Damn.  I forgot to grab clothes from the dresser.”  Throwing on the dirty jeans he went to the spare bedroom and found a clean pair, switched them out, and put on a loose tee-shirt.  He had gone through so many shirts over the years from muscling out in the berserker form that he just made sure they were mostly baggy.  Tonight he would be in his alter form so he’d dress for it.  Even his jeans were the loose ones.  He knew they still might rip, but that was ok.

Everyone was starting to move around.  Kaylee was brewing a second pot of coffee for everyone.  She was also cooking a mixture on the stove. “What’s that?”  It looked interesting.

“Eggs, Spam, and potatoes, my parents called it campers special when I was growing up.  It seemed like the quickest and easiest thing to make.  If you could help get the coffee moving that would be a big help.”  As the second pot finished he put it in the coffee carafe.  Then he started a third pot.  Before he took the coffee out he poured himself a cup.  Then proceeded outside where everyone was gathering to go over the details for tonight.

They made sure that all of the shifters knew exactly where the traps were, and if need be could lead the others to them.  The more they caught in the traps, the easier the fight will be at least that was his way of thinking.  He just hoped that they could hold on to their human side long enough to win the fight.  He had the perfect idea for Vie, so that she could help out.  He would talk with her here before the fight broke out.

He was already getting a bad feeling about tonight, something big was going to happen.  Knowing that he had relied on his instincts his whole life just made it worse because Kaylee would be out there and there was nothing he could do about it.  When breakfast was ready Kaylee came outside and stood behind Clayton looking at what they had gone over.  “So this is what you guys were doing last night.  It’s amazing you didn’t get hurt and you put all this up without damaging anything in the process.  Thank you for that.” 

“I wish you didn’t have to go outside but trying to lock you up wouldn’t work it would just postpone the whole thing.  At least this way we have an advantage. Just promise me you will be careful out there tonight.  Don’t take any extra risks.”  He had to say it even if he knew it would not do any good.

“I need to be outside to roam and hunt and just be wild.  It is part of who I am.  Even just staying in this small area is hard for all of us to do.  I am trying to stay in control of my animal, but it is not easy.  This is her time, and having to control it believe me when I tell you, I will pay for it later.  She is pissed off.”  By the look on his face he had never heard the animal side of a shifter being a separate part of them. 

“You talk as if you have two different identities within you.  Can you help me to understand that?”  He really was having hard time with the concept. 

“In a way I do.  She is my cat. Everything that is free and wild.  She is instinct. She is the predator within me.  I can control her to a point, but eventually she will take it back, at least in cat form.”  It was one of the hardest things she had ever tried to explain to another person.

“So in other words she is pure emotion?”  That was the only way he could understand it.  He hoped over time he would better understand.

Smiling at him she wrapped her arms around his shoulders. “That will work for now.”  The more he was around her the more he would understand.  She was not a person that was afraid of things but she was scared about tonight.  That dream had shaken her, what made it worse was that she had already seen the guy in person. 

“If I could risk it I would take all of you out and show you exactly what we have done but I don’t want to disturb the area too much before tonight.  We have everything covered up so that it can’t be detected.  From the map you have a general idea of where things were placed and where to lead them.  When the fight breaks out do the best you can, but try not to get hurt.  I don’t know what shifters they have, so that is going to be a surprise.”  Looking at the group he said, “Do any of you have anything to add?”  They didn’t have much time before the sun set. 

“If you don’t think you can take them, run.  Lead them to us.”  Mark stated as he looked directly at Coreen.

“Now if you don’t mind I need to go take care of a few things before this starts.”  Grabbing Kaylee’s hand he walked into the house and back to the bedroom.  As much as he wanted her there was no time.  “Vie.”

Without any warning Vie was right in front of his face.  “Damnit!  Did you have to get right in front of my face?” Taking several steps back he took a deep breath, shit like that pissed him off.

“You called me, remember.”  She said crossing her arms over her chest as she stared at him.

“I need your help tonight.  During the fight when someone gets seriously injured I need you to bring them here.  The hard part for you will be to not heal them. If you have to use your powers to take them out do it.  Does it drain you to use them like the healing does?  This is not going to be a quick fight.  When the fight is over you can help the worst hit, the rest we will help the old fashion way. “Turning back to Kaylee he said, “I need you to get out any medical supplies including needles and thread.  As you know most of us can’t go to the hospital.” 

“No it doesn’t and I will be more than happy to fry a few of them.” she was bobbing up and down as she said that almost like she was going to enjoy the fight way too much.

“Got it.”  Kaylee went into the bathrooms and pulled everything out that she had in there and took it to the kitchen.  Then she went to the closet were she kept her sewing kit and pulled that out.    In the kitchen drawer she had three lighters to sterilize the needles before use.  The last place that she had stuff was in her lab.  It was a good thing she hoarded things away in here.  It was going to come in handy tonight and tomorrow morning.

  She grabbed the first box and turned to take it into the kitchen and there was Dagda holding out his arms to take it from her.  “Thanks,” she said as she put the box into his arms and lifted the other box and they both went back to the kitchen.  “I think that is all that I have in back up.  I hope that is enough to get us through.”  The counter was covered with supplies.  They needed to take things out of the boxes and get them organized.  With the two of them working together it didn’t take long.

The boxes contained gauze, ace bandages, slings, splits, antibiotic creams, also painkillers and other things that had been in there for years that she had no idea what they were or what they were for.  She figured with the group of people that were collected here someone would know what to do with them if needed.  Also, if needed, she had three sets of crutches in the garage. 

Reaching into the lower cabinets she pulled out three large pots and filled them with water.  That way all they had to do was turn on the stove to boil the water so that is was sterilized.  Going back down the hall she took out the towels and old sheets out to the front room
and both Kaylee and Dagda began to tear the sheets into smaller pieces to use as rags.  It was nice that Dagda didn’t talk unless he had something to say.  She got more done when she didn’t have to think of things to say.  For some reason, he seemed to understand that.  She also knew he was going to end up a good friend. 

One minute she was tearing sheets the next she saw a stone. The stone had the markings on it that she had told Clayton about. She had seen it before. She suddenly realized where it was located. It was next to the river here on her property.  From the markers she could see it was only a mile away.  Just as fast she was looking at the sheets again. 

“Dagda can you take a person with you when to go somewhere else, like you did last night for the shifters in the ocean?”  This would solve her time problem.

“No. I wish I could, it would be a lot easier trust me.”  He looked back down at the sheets and went back to work.

“I have to talk to Clayton.  I will be right back.”  Going back to the bedroom she saw Clayton.  His back was ridged and his hands were clinched at his sides.   “Are you ok?”

“I am always tense before a fight, don’t worry about it.”  He said as he turned and pulled her into his arms.

“I saw where the one stone is.  The one that gave you a puzzled or shocked look on your face.  I don’t have time to go and get it but I can tell you where it is.  You can get it before this fight starts and that way we will have one more in our possession.”   She could see the debate going on in his eyes. 

“We will go and get the stone.  You will have to stay with me even after you change. Is that a deal?”  He did not want to be too far away from her just in case something happened. 

“Deal.  Now let’s get going.  Oh, and I will have to let Dagda know.  I left him tearing old sheets to use as rags.” She took his hand and started pulling him out the bedroom into the hallway.   On their way out the door they stopped and spoke to Dagda.  He agreed to let everyone else know what was going on and to get ready for the fight, even if he was not back. 

She led the way moving as fast as she could, knowing that time was not on her side.  Moving fast had its downfalls.  More than once she heard Clayton cuss as a branch whipped back and hit him in the arm or face.  When they got to the place in the river
that the vision had shown her, it was in the water and it was opal, moonstone, and iron mixed together.  Just as she reached down to grasp the stone she changed. So she had to sit there while Clayton leaned down to get it.

He leaned down and picked up the stone and put it into his pocket.  Then he turned and started to walk back. “Come on Kaylee.  Time to get back to the party.”   As they started to walk back Kaylee hissed, when he looked back at her all the hair at the back of her neck was standing on end.  Something had pissed her off that he couldn’t see. Then he felt something brush by his legs. He turned and saw Kaylee fighting with another cat, but he didn’t know what kind.  Without thinking he reached down to pick up Kaylee and she ended up biting him.  Not knowing what else to do he kicked the other cat just like a football.  It landed on the other side of the river.  Unless that cat liked water it was out of this fight.

Then he felt Kaylee rubbing up against his leg.  He bent down and swept her up into his arms and hugged her close.  “I know that you didn’t mean to do that.  Don’t you worry I heal quickly.  I will tell you that is some love bite you got there.”  He watched her head go down and she licked his hand. Let’s get back to the area that we are supposed to be in.”  He carefully set her back on the ground.  “No more fights till we get there.”    On the way back he felt a little queasy.  He must have eaten something that didn’t agree with him.  It would just have to go away, he couldn’t be sick tonight of all nights.

Shaking his head he went over to his tree cubby to hide until things broke out.  He felt hot and sweaty, what the hell was wrong with him?  He just had to maintain until this fight was over.  In a way he was worried, he had never had to turn berserker when he didn’t feel good, this was going to be a first for him.  Right now it was just a waiting game.  Something he was usually pretty good at, but now he found it difficult with Kaylee out there.

Now his skin was starting to itch.  This was getting ridiculous what else would go wrong with him.  He felt like saying, ok bad guys we need to reschedule this fight due to my body going wonky.  Like that was going to happen.  He had felt fine all afternoon, at least until after Kaylee had bit him.  Her bite shouldn’t have had an effect on him, but he couldn’t be sure.  He would look into it after the fight. 

The shuffling of leaves caught his attention. He could hear something but, could not see anything.  Taking a deep breath he thought it was just the wind rushing through the area stirring up the leaves.   An animal raced by him.  He couldn’t tell if it was one of theirs, the others, or natural wildlife.  Several animals went by him before he realized some of them didn’t belong in the area and were not in their group.  The one that concerned him the most was the Black Panther.  So when it was in the center of the net he yanked up and caught it.  From the hissing and growling that came from it he knew it was pissed.  He just hoped that the net would hold, panthers had very sharp claws and teeth. He secured the rope tight enough that it wouldn’t go anywhere. If nothing else, it would keep it busy for a while and away from the others.   It was calling all the other animals to it.  He hoped that the other berserkers were ready with their nets because he could hear them coming. 

Crossing his arms over his chest he touched each of the tattoos and then they were in his hands ready for battle.  He skirted the edges of the nets that were laid out and found a safe place to watch the incoming get scooped up in the nets.  He wondered what kind of animals they would end up catching in the nets.  Knowing that the nets were just the beginning of the fight was exciting to him. 

He stood watching as the animals came rushing towards the panther caught in the net.  Then they caught sight of him and started after him.  He ran over the top of the nets till he was past the last one.  Making a half turn he watched as the animals were swept up into the air by the nets.  The men secured the ropes to the nets and got ready to face the rest of the enemies.  Each of the berserkers had their own weapons tattooed on them.  Looking up in the trees he could see Vie ready to grab people and fight if necessary.  She was not happy about her role in this fight, but what else could he let her do.