Living in Darkness (Bloodbreeders) (30 page)

“Is this what you want, Derek?
To live in the
graveyard, sleeping right next to rotting, worm-infested corpses?
Well,
is it Derek?” I asked, with his terrified face mere inches from mine.

“If you were with me,” he said very quiet.

“What am I going to do with you?” It was worth a shot, but scaring them
sure as heck wasn’t going to work. By then, the others had crowded around the
door.

“You okay, Derek?” Brandon asked.

“Yeah,” Derek slowly replied giggling nervously. “I might need to
change my shorts though.”

I struck a match, and lit the largest candle. The inside of the crypt
glowed in the candlelight, and the first thing that caught my eye was the small
golden box, sitting on top of a handwritten note. I reached out, touching the
box lightly with my fingertips.

“Would
ya’ll
give me a few minutes, please?”

“Come on, boys,” Ashley said knowingly. “She needs to be alone.”

She pulled the others back, and I watched them leave. When they were
gone, I gently picked up the box. I held it, unopened, as I picked up the
letter and started reading. It said:

My dearest Renee,

I am so sorry I was not able to protect you. I know of
those that took you, and I will never stop searching for you, my love. I hold
in my hand the gift that once waited for you in the box you hold now. I will
honor you with my life, and will return it to you when once again our hearts
beat as one. Please forgive me for letting you down. I vow to take the life of
anyone who brings you harm. My search will start in Cuba, the one place I know
that Rebecca will return.

No matter how much time has passed, if you are reading
this, do as I ask and stay where you are. I will return, Renee. I am truly
sorry about your family. I, too, was attacked and left for dead. We shall speak
about all things in time. You will always be with me my love. I will find you,
I swear.

Yours forever,

Martin

I stood staring at the letter for a few minutes, one line repeating
over and over in my mind,
I am truly sorry about your family.
The note
fell to my feet, as I turned and walked in the direction of my grave, as if on
autopilot.

“Renee, are you okay?” Ashley asked as I passed, but my gait never
slowed. My mind was overloaded, and I couldn’t stop until I saw what I needed
to see. Then there it was.

Erected in front of me was a large stone memorial, with several small,
flat headstones close to its base, one of which was my own.

“No, no, this can’t be. There should only be two,” I said aloud, not
caring if I was overheard.

I was all but numb, my feet frozen in their stride. I leaned in closer,
near enough to see the names of my parents and all my siblings etched into the
stone. The only name missing was Johnny. I put my hands over my eyes, and
pressed into them, trying to wipe the picture from my mind. I hoped against
hope that what I’d just seen was some kind of illusion, a trick of some kind. But
when I opened my eyes, the gravestones were still there, glistening in the
moonlight.

“How,” I uttered. “Why?” I repeated this over and over, unable to come
to grips with what I was seeing. I felt a hand touch my shoulder, and the shock
finally won. I fainted, collapsing to the ground.

When I came to, I was back in the crypt, surrounded by the only family
that I had left. Ashley was a mess. She must have been crying the entire time I
was out, because her face was mottled, red, and puffy. I sat up slowly, and was
almost knocked over when she threw her arms around my neck.

“I was so afraid for you,” she cried. “Renee, why didn’t you tell us?”

“Because I didn’t know,” I said, pushing her back a little. I forced
myself to smile, to ensure her that I was okay. “We have to find out what
happened. I’ll need your help. Everyone here believes that I am dead.”

“What do you want us to do?” Brandon asked. “We’ll do anything, just
ask. We’re all we have, and we won’t let you down.” The others nodded in
agreement.

“While there’s still time, I want to go to the farm tonight,” I said.

Bo looked a little uneasy. “Are you sure you want to do that?” he
asked.

“Yeah, I have to see it for myself,” I said. “And while I’m sleeping
tomorrow, you guys can go around and try to find out something, anything.”

“But what will we say?” Derek asked.

“Look, just figure it out, alright?” I snapped. Derek’s eyes widened,
filled with surprise and hurt. “I’m sorry, Derek. I didn’t mean to snap, I’m
just not myself right now. Just... just tell folks that you’re cousins of the
Crocker family.”

“Okay,” Derek said quietly. “Sure, I can do that.”

“Yeah, we can do it,” Ashley added.

I stood and started out the door, with the four children in tow. When
we reached the car, I hopped into the driver’s seat. “I know a back way,” I
said, starting it up. When the others had climbed aboard, I headed toward the
farm. There was an old road that passed close the Pecan Bayou creek, and it was
well hidden from the main road. I parked the car about half a mile from the
farm.

“Come on. We can walk from here.”

“You mean
,
you don’t care if we come along?”
Derek asked.

“Like Brandon said, we’re all we have now, so come on,” I said with a
little smile.

With that, the five of us were off. We came around the bend in the
road, expecting to see the beautiful little Crocker farm, but what remained was
no longer recognizable as my home. The entire farm was burned to the ground. Even
my father’s truck sat tarnished in the embers that used to be the old barn.

“Do you think this is how they died?” asked Derek.

“Shut up, Derek,” Bo demanded. “Just shut the hell up.”

“Sorry,” Derek said, lowering his head.

“No, Bo, it’s alright,” I said. “I don’t know if this is how they died.
Maybe y’all will have some luck finding out tomorrow.” I stood there for a
moment, staring at what used to be the most beautiful farm in the county.

“One more thing,” I said, after a few minutes of silence. “Johnny’s
name was the only one not on the tombstone. I need y’all to ask around, see if
you can find out what happened to him, okay?”

“But didn’t you...” Ashley said, her voice trailing off when she
couldn’t bear to say the words “kill him.”

“I thought I did,” I said. “But maybe he survived. Maybe, just maybe,
he was only hurt, and was in the hospital or something when all this happened.”
I said motioning toward the charred remains.

“We’ll find out, Renee,” Brandon said. “We won’t stop until we do. I
promise.”

“Thanks. I really appreciate everything,” I said glancing around one
last time. “We best be getting back to the cemetery. I’ll stay there, and y’all
can stay in the car. If anyone asks, you came for a visit, and that’s when you
found out about the Crocker’s.”

I turned and started back to the car. I couldn’t clear my head of all
I’d discovered the past few hours. Martin had mentioned an attack, but who
attacked, and why? I immediately suspected Rebecca, but it was impossible. I
was with her, on our way to Cuba, when this must have happened. Is it possible
the whole thing was an accident? And, what about Johnny? Could he be alive,
living safely somewhere? For now, all I could do was wait.

Bo had driven on the way back to the cemetery, before I’d even realized
we’d left the farm. We piled out of the car, and headed through the
gravestones.

“I’m going to head on in,” I said, when we’d reached the tomb. “I’ll
see y’all tomorrow night.”

“It’s still a few hours
til
dawn. Do you want
us to come with you?” Bo asked.

“No, I’ll be fine. I just need some time alone to work through this,
okay?”

They nodded, and headed back toward the car. It killed me to watch them
walk away, looking back every once in a while, almost in unison. As soon as
they were safely at the car, I went inside the crypt. I relit the candle, and
pulled the heavy stone door to a close, a much harder chore than Martin had
made it seem.

I picked up the note off the dirty stone floor. I couldn’t tell you how
many times I read it that night, but it was too many times to count. I wept
until the sun rose, and was grateful to fall asleep, the one place where my
thoughts couldn’t follow.

Chapter 24

When I awoke, I laid there, unable to summon the will to get up. I
couldn’t wait here for Martin to return. There was no way on this earth that I
would leave Garvin and
Tanda
in that hell, even if it
meant returning all by myself.

“Something’s wrong,” I could hear the concern in Ashley’s voice, though
it was muffled through the thick stone door. “She should be up by now. Please,
y’all move the
door,
we need to check on her.”

I heard some grunts and groans, soon followed by one of the boys
saying, “It won’t budge. How the hell did she move this thing?” Their innocence
brought a smile to my face. I got up and went to the door. I pressed my
forehead against the cool stone, and listened as the four of them tried to move
it. Once again, I smiled, shaking my head.
 
I pushed against the door, and it took every ounce of strength I could
muster to move it. I needed to feed, but not around the little ones.

“Hey, are you okay?” Bo asked. “The sun’s been down for hours.”

“I’m sorry I just needed a little more time. So,” I said, jumping
straight to the point that hadn’t left my mind since we’d been to the farm.
“Did you find out about my family?”

No one spoke. Tears began to stream down Ashley’s face, and she lowered
her head. The other’s looked at each other, avoiding my gaze.

“Please, tell me,” I said, looking straight at Brandon, knowing if any
of them were going to speak, it would be him. He opened his mouth as if to say
something, and then closed it. His brow furrowed and he too, lowered his head,
shaking it slightly. I walked over, grabbed his shoulders, and shook him hard.

“Tell me, Brandon, right now,” I yelled in frustration.

“Renee,” he howled in pain. “Please, you’re hurting me.”

I let go so fast, he crumpled to the ground. He held his shoulders,
rubbing where I had grabbed hold, clenching his eyes tight, unsuccessfully
trying to stop
himself
from crying.

“I’m so sorry. I forget I’m different when I’m with all of you. I never
meant to hurt you, Brandon,” I said reaching toward him. He recoiled, a little
as I held out my hand, so I swiftly pulled it back to my side.

“You okay?” Derek asked, walking over to his brother. “Here, I’ll help
you up.”

He knelt down, but Brandon pushed him back, jumped to his feet, and
took off. Bo started to follow, but I stopped him.

“No, Bo,” I said. “He needs to be alone. Not only did I hurt him, but I
made him cry in front of everyone. I have too many brothers to know that
hurting their pride often does the most damage.” A lump formed in my throat as
the realization hit me. “
Had
too many brothers...”

My attention was snapped back to the present by the sound of Ashley
gasping deeply between sobs. The poor girl was a mess. I walked over and pulled
her into a deep hug.

“Are you okay, sweetie?” I asked.

“It’s just so horrible, Renee,” she said, wiping her tears with the
sleeve of her shirt. “None of us wants to tell you.”

“Come sit down with me, all of you,” I said, motioning to the front of
Mrs. Hill’s crypt.

As we started walking over, Derek looked over his shoulder and asked,
“What about Brandon?”

“He’s alright. He’s down by the last row, sitting on the fence,” I
said, semi-pointing toward him.

Derek
squinted
his eyes, and peered in the
direction I was pointing. “But how can you tell? I can’t see any...” he
stopped, then glanced at me. “Oh yeah,” he said, with a bit of a nervous
chuckle. “I almost forgot. I sure wish I could see like that.”

We made our way to Ashley and Bo, and sat around the front of the
crypt. I looked from one kid to the next, and they all had the same terrified
expression on their face. I already knew my family was dead, so why were they
so afraid to talk to me about it? I asked them that very question. The answer
came from Brandon, who had come up behind us.

“I didn’t mean to run off,” he said. “But damn, that hurt, Renee, but
not as much as what I’m about to tell
ya
.”

I turned so that I could see him more clearly.

“What do you mean?” I asked. “What happened?”

He came around and sat beside me, staring down at his wringing hands. “They
were murdered,” he said, never looking up. “Most of ‘
em
was found in the house. The only one they couldn’t find was your youngest
brother.” He paused, but I urged him to go on. “They said it happened within a
week of your death.”