The Link Pt. 03: The Huntress

Chapter 25 - Teegan

I tried to pull back my hand, but a strength I never envisioned closed around it. Something profoundly evil, anger mixed with horrible purpose, filled my body. Caleb screamed and dropped to his knees, then other screams from outside the room began. Threads that connected me to others were being hijacked; evil was following tendrils I barely knew were there, traveling faster than I could comprehend. Minds were being torn apart.

"All that you know is mine," Sabbatini, or whatever it was, said. "And to think I feared you, growing weaker as you grew stronger. You learned nothing!" My anger flared, and I sent all my hate at the thing that was gripping my hand. It laughed and grew younger before my eyes. The evil moved inside of me, sending horrible blackness down links I knew too well. I heard my mother scream. I severed everything as tears filled my eyes. Every link, as rapidly as I could think, dropped away. Caleb fell to the ground. Alive or dead, I could no longer tell. The evil swelled inside, eating at my mind. I was losing myself.

"You've been busy," Sabbatini said, lifting himself to sitting position. The hair on his head darkened and filled in before my eyes. "Corporate power, links to the military, even connections to the press." It was peeling back my thoughts, ripping away all that I was. "Oh, the things that we'll do together. Adolph was nothing compared to what you'll become."

I tried to fight, but my anger was swallowed like fuel. My hatred nothing but hors d'oeuvres for a mind I couldn't touch. Its smile grew. "Pregnant! How wonderful is that?" I cringed as the blackness beat past my feeble defenses. I could feel my daughter's distress, and I screamed as I disconnected from her. "That will only delay the inevitable. The child of my child is my child." It stood from the bed and stringy skin filled with youthful muscle. Discolored skin became toned.

"Kneel," it ordered. I pulled my mind back, took everything I was and packed into a dark, silent corner I never knew was there. I huddled inside of myself. The worst mother in the world, dying before her baby was ever born. I instinctively sought Caleb's strength and found nothing. I was truly alone for the first time in my life.

"Kneel," it said again. It sounded so far away. I saw what it envisioned, a world torn apart with me at the head. A war to begin all wars. I saw the path of hollow victories, weapons never meant to be used ripping holes in the planet. My daughter would inherit what scraps would remain. I saw the horror she would become.

I found it then, deep in my dark corner. A link to myself, the thing that bound me to this world. It could be severed, releasing my daughter and me from the beast's grasp. I cried. Caleb would be alone, and I would murder my only child before she was born. Hell had come, and I was its cause.

Chapter 26 - Sam

I heard Natalie's scream as I felt the surge of darkness pulse into me. I gasped, then it disappeared. A terrible feeling that made bile crawl into my throat. The newspaper fell from my hands, and I rose from the chair. There was no Teegan.

"My baby," Natalie cried again. I ran to the kitchen and found her in tears. I searched internally, trying to locate my daughter and nothing returned. Not even a direction. I pulled Natalie close and tried to fathom what it all meant. "They killed her," Natalie said.

"We don't know that," I lied. Nothing had ever severed Teegan so distinctly. Even when she tried to block me out, there was that sliver that held on. That one little strand that let me know she was there. My eyes began to fill as I pretended to be strong.

"Where is God!" Natalie screamed. I pulled her closer, more to hide my tears than to settle her down. It was true; my baby was gone. Nothing of her was left. I should have never let her go alone.

"I failed her," I whispered. Natalie began bawling. I failed them both.

"Shhhhh." The sound was all around us. A comforting sound so full of hope. Natalie looked at me then around the room. I separated from her as an incredible warmth filled me. Natalie grabbed my hand, obviously feeling the same. "Your daughter needs your help," the voice whispered. I had heard it before, but I couldn't place it. "She is about to make a choice that will change the world forever. Fire can not fight fire. She was not ready for what she's facing."

"She's gone," I said stupidly, trying to source the sound.

"You're ready. It's your time," the voice said. Natalie smiled, which looked so strange with the tears running down her cheeks.

"Mother?" Natalie said, looking at the ceiling.

"I'm so proud of you, Natalie, but I have such little time," Rose said. Natalie looked at me; there was hope in her eyes. "Find her, Sam. You're the only one who can."

"There's nothing there. I've lost her," I argued, looking about for a body that wasn't there.

"Remember Runnymede, Sam," Rose said with humor. My eyes widened at the reference. Natalie was practically bouncing. "Stinky can never separate from you fully." The voice and the warmth faded as quickly as it came.

"I don't understand?" I said.

"Screw understanding, find my daughter," Natalie ordered, her words full of hope.

"What happened?" Zane asked. We turned to the door to find him leaning despondently against the jam. He sported the same tears as I. "Teegan's gone."

"Maybe not," I said and pulled a chair and sat down. "I have to think." Natalie sat next to me and Zane the other side. Family had power, didn't it?

Rose reminded me of Runnymede. Was that to prove who she was or some reference I needed? I read everything on the Magna Carta, but that was years ago. The kitchen went quiet, and I looked deep inside myself, searching for some connection to my daughter. I found nothing. Why didn't Rose just tell me what I should do?

"Anything?" Natalie asked. I shook my head, and she placed her hand lightly on my neck in support. Something appeared, a sliver so tiny I missed it before. I could barely sense it, so I wrapped up my determination and thrust my will at it. It disappeared, and I jerked up, losing Natalie's hand.

"I had it, then it was gone," I said.

"She's still alive?" Zane asked.

"I think so. Quiet, maybe I can find it again," I said and closed my eyes. It was such a small sliver, hardly a hair's width of a connection. Just touching it with my thoughts sent it flying in the ether wind. Searching began to strain my mind, and it must have shown. Natalie lightly caressed my hand in support. The sliver returned, and I jumped on it. Again it fled, and I lost it. I sighed loudly.

"I can't hold onto it," I said, disgusted with myself. My baby needed me, and I was too damn weak. "It's was right there, you know that link, but so much smaller." I put my thumb and finger a hair's breadth from each other to demonstrate.

"Maybe you're trying too hard," Natalie said quickly, "it never took effort before. Just let it be, and maybe it will come to you." She was trying not to sound anxious, but I could hear it in her voice. Now I was failing them both. The pressure was increasing.

I settled my mind, closing my eyes once again. Thoughts of the past relaxed me. I remembered changing that first diaper in the horrendous heat of the desert. That first time Stinky let me know how special she was. I felt Natalie squeeze my hand and the sliver reappeared. I smiled and let it sit there, concentrating only on its presence. It was a beautiful thing, a signpost pointing to my precious daughter. I opened my eyes, and it didn't fade.

"I found her," I said. Natalie released my hand to cover her joyous smile. The thread vanished. I smiled as things began to sort themselves in my mind. "We found her," I rephrased.

"What?" Natalie asked.

"I'll explain later," I said, taking Natalie's hand in mine. I turned my other hand palm up to my son. "It will take all of us." Zane put his hand in mine, and the link appeared and grew. Magna Carta was the beginning of power moving from one central authority to the people. A small step for a monumental idea. Power to the people. Teegan needed all of us. Teegan needed every one.

"Even now your mother would rather teach than tell," I said under my breath as I closed my eyes. The thread was so apparent now, I wondered why it was so elusive before. It didn't want my intelligence or my determination. It only needed my desire, a father's love for his daughter. Add in a mother and a brother, and you had real power. The realization strengthened the link, it was pulsing like an artery full of life-giving blood. I didn't attack it like the other two times, I simply wound around it, following it as carefree as a water bug on a still pond. Lightly touching, but never forcing.

I found her there, encased in a dark shell. My baby was trying to die.

"Daddy?" Teegan called. She had felt me, then tried desperately to sever the connection. I could feel her protecting me, wanting to remove me from whatever was threatening her. Something so evil it permeated all but the encasement she had collapsed into. Struggle as she might, she could not sever what I now owned. I did what any father would do; I loved her.

"You have to leave, Daddy," Teegan cried. It was the voice I hadn't heard in years. The voice of the girl that loved me unconditionally. Before the teenager, but after the toddler. I smiled and loved her more.

"It's trying to use me," Teegan said, again struggling to shrug me off. "It wants my baby." I tried to let the surprise of a grandchild slide away and not interfere, but it was too much. It invaded my very core. Natalie rode my emotions, following me to the source.

"My baby is having a baby," Natalie thought, her love overflowing everything of mine. I squeezed her hand and felt her smile.

"No Momma, you two can't be here," Teegan said. "You don't know what he is. It corrupts anything it can find."

You can't fight fire with fire. You have to douse it with water. Rose was always the teacher, making me solve things for myself. It was annoying then, and still annoying now. Why do I still love that woman?

"He can't corrupt everything," I thought loudly. "He can't corrupt us." There were muddled protests from Teegan as she digested my thoughts.

"Let me feel my grandchild," Natalie insisted greedily. We could tell that Teegan was shielding her child, walling her off from the thing she feared. "Let me love her too."

"He'll find her again," Teegan argued.

"Let him," I said. "Let him find us as well. Don't fight it."

"He's too strong," Teegan thought weakly. "Caleb's on the ground. I think he's dead." I could feel her tears, and knew she was close to doing something drastic. We had interrupted.

"His strength is in your fear and anger," I said. "I know my girl, and her strength is in her love." I sent images of a baby, a butt covered in the vilest sewage looking glop, and the man that cleaned it up. Only a special child could make that tolerable. I felt an embarrassed smile, something less than dismay. I could feel hope growing.

"Let him find me, Stinky," I said.

Chapter 27 - Anthony

People were streaming from the building as I drove up. The front entrance was blocked by an SUV. I parked on the road, just beyond the gate, as fear of what might be invaded my thoughts. Taking my colt, I ran through the gate slowing long enough to see two young men on the ground. They looked dead, sprawled where they fell. The bitch was already here, and its killing had begun. Damn me for not poisoning her as a child. I prayed I wasn't too late. Mr. Sabbatini was all the family I knew.

The drive was longer than I remembered and my body was complaining. I gasped in lung fulls of air and forced my thighs to ignore the pain. People were streaming out of the left side of the building. The right, where Mr. Sabbatini's room was located, seemed devoid of any activity. I ran to the left, knowing he would have been one of the first evacuated. I had to find him in the mass of evacuees. I had to. The alternative was unthinkable.

"Mr. Sabbatini," I called out as I approached the double doors that lead from the back parking lot into the building. People in wheelchairs were being pushed farther away from the building. Some by nurses, others by patients themselves. I reached out and grabbed the arm of a nurse, one I remembered seeing in the past.

"Mr. Sabbatini, where is he," I said. The nurse looked at me and screamed. Idiot, I thought to myself, I was brandishing my gun like a maniac. I quickly lowered it, tucking it into my pants. "No, no. I'm looking for Mr. Sabbatini," I shouted. It was too late. The nurse left her patient alone in his wheelchair and began running, yelling about a gun.

The panic increased as I ran in circles, examining wheelchairs one by one, and shouting for Mr. Sabbatini. People were scattered wide, and I heard no response to my calls beyond crazed orders to get the patients away from the building. Mr. Sabbatini wasn't out here. I drew my gun and ran for the door.

Inside a doctor was running down the hall. He had pulled his white coat across his face, and he was waving me away. "Gas," he shouted, pointing at two more young men on the ground. I pulled my shirt over my nose and used my free hand to hold it in place. "Get the hell out of here," the doctor said as he ran past me out of the door. His shouts of gas mixing with the other calls, increasing the pandemonium. Gas or not, I moved forward. I had too. God's chosen was in trouble, and I was his only soldier.

Chapter 28 - Teegan

Dad was so assured. As dangerous as it was, it was good to feel his strength again. My family's faith in me was a beacon against the darkness. Still, the thing was beating at my shell, slowly dissolving what little defenses I still possessed.

"I'm going to be an uncle?" Zane thought wildly. It was such a happy thought, so full of life and future. It burst through everything, the exuberance of youth with a brightness that reminded me of my daughter's.

"Yes," I replied with determination. This thing would not damage my family. It could not. Daddy was here. I slowly opened my eyes.

"That's it beautiful," the thing before me said. It was taller than before, young and handsome in an exotic European way. His hand gripped me tighter. "You can see it now, the power we will let loose in this world. You will be its empress, your child a princess. That boy of yours, well you'll never doubt him again. He'll kneel to your greatness."

"He'll kneel now if asked. And I've never doubted him," I said, letting my smile grow. Caleb was alive, or at least this thing thought so. "What you offer I already have or never wanted."

"Oh, so young and naive," the thing continued. His blue eyes were dancing, almost sparkling with lust. "Do you think the military will ignore your power? Do you think they won't use it for the same purpose? No, you must grab the world by the balls and take what is yours."

"I already have more than I deserve," I said. "My daddy raised me not to be greedy."

"Bah, family. A trivial concept that ties your hands. Remember how they held you back, questioning your every decision. What do they know about being young and alive?" the thing argued. "It is you that holds all the cards now. Be the woman you were meant to be, strong and without doubts." A surge of blackness flowed into me, stronger than before. I swallowed hard and tears began anew.

"Have you met my Daddy?" I stammered, then I opened my music to let my family in. A light, as brilliant as the thing's blackness was dark, exploded through me. It gritted its teeth, and his grip shifted as if it were suddenly uncomfortable. The thing doubled its efforts, blackness invading the bonds that led home, wrapping around them, discoloring what was pure a moment ago. It was Dad who held me steady. His bond pulsed with a strength that was meant to cradle me as if I were the infant he had found so many years ago.

"A girl! And she's so beautiful," Mom thought loudly. I hadn't realized I had exposed my baby.

"We have you now," Dad said. I could feel the power of the darkness surge, but Dad didn't falter. Zane was there, chaotically bouncing around in the most lovely way. I could feel how it weakened the thing as it tried to grab hold and steady the young mind.

"She's mine," It hissed. For a moment, I feared Dad would attack. Instead, I only felt his laughter, as if the whole idea was ludicrous. "You are nothing but ants under my heel. I have dealt with your kind for centuries. I will have my victory!" Something changed and its strength increased knocking the breath from my lungs. The blackness filled with something awful, a disease that seemed to grow and spread without direction.

"Then we need more ants," Dad laughed, his music was getting louder. "Find everyone baby, find them all." Mom wrapped herself around my baby, shielding it from the blackness with her very soul. Zane kept bounding about, little bursts of love exploding inside bruising the darkness with bits of light. I closed my eyes and searched for tenuous threads like the one Dad had secured. If he could find me, I could find others. For my family, for Caleb, for my daughter, I would find others.

Chapter 29 - Senator Bradley Yowman

"Here you are, sir," Tammy said, handing me a couple of aspirin. I was rubbing my temples, wondering what caused the sudden headache. I was just looking over a speech on my tablet and it felt like something stabbed me in the eye.

"Thank you, Tammy," I said, trying to match her smile. The pain was dissipating quickly, but I threw the aspirin in my mouth anyway. Tammy liked to be helpful and I liked her happy. She had a knack for names, one of my great weaknesses. A weakness the youngest senator ever elected in Arizona should do his best to hide. She handed me a glass of water which helped wash down the pills.

"You have a meeting with Bob Walters at three. Do you want me to reschedule?"

"No," I said, flexing my eyes about, trying to stretch away the last of the pain. "I'll be fine. Probably just eye strain. Can you print out the speech? It might be easier to read on paper."

"Certainly, Senator," Tammy said, then exited the office to handle the task. I sat back down at my desk and pushed the tablet away. As the pain faded, I let the silly fears of an aneurysm or brain tumor go with it. I looked about the office letting my eyes relax as normality returned.

I wondered if that was one of the first signs of aging. My grandfather always told me not to grow old. 'It's a silly thing age,' he would say, 'all that wisdom and none of the strength to use it.' He was a good man, and I missed his wisdom. I chuckled to myself, knowing I couldn't be getting too old, wisdom had yet to make itself known to me.

"Here's the speech," Tammy said, handing me a small stack of papers. It seemed longer printed than it did on the tablet. It probably wouldn't hurt to read it out loud. I promised fifteen minutes and I didn't want to bore anyone any longer than I had too.

"Think you can stand listening to it?" I asked. "I'd like to get the time down. Maybe, take some bits out."

"Yes, of course, sir." Tammy sat down in one of the leather chairs on the opposite side of the desk. I wondered how she could look so comfortable knowing I was about to bore the tears out of her. Nothing like a political speech to put one to sleep. I stood up and took a deep breath. I could never give a speech sitting down, even a practice one. Just one of my quirks.

"Thank you, Mr. Chairman," I started, looking to my left as if the imaginary chairman had just introduced me. "It's always a pleasure to talk with such an esteemed..." My eyes wavered and the page took on a clarity I never thought possible. A feeling of well-being invaded my mind, lifting away all the barriers that I imagined stood before me.