Vengeance in Blood (Book 2): Tribulations Read online

  They were all sitting together on the couch, watching TV on the eighth day, when Kenneth suddenly leaned up, looking at Besseta. “You’ve changed,” he announced.

  Besseta took stock of her body. “I don’t feel different,” she concluded.

  “You’ve changed,” Kenneth repeated, reaching up and rubbing her cheek.

  Tiffany put the puppies down, leaning over to look at Besseta. “How can you tell?” she asked, not seeing anything different.

  “She suddenly feels…different,” Kenneth said, never taking his eyes off Besseta, relieved she was okay.

  Besseta looked up, hearing his thoughts. “You thought I was going to be hurt or changed somehow?”

  “I was worried,” he admitted.

  Reaching over, Besseta grabbed him and pulled his face to hers, kissing him. “You’re mine, so don’t go thinking stuff like that,” she told him as she released the kiss.

  Kenneth smiled. “Who else is going to wear the shirt?” he asked, looking up. “I tried to get Bonnie to wear it, but she and Clyde just tried to crawl in the sleeves.” He grinned as Besseta and Tiffany laughed.

  The remote on the table slid across the surface onto the floor and landed with a clank. Tiffany looked over. “Well, it’s started,” she said.

  “Don’t Want,” Kenneth said and leaned down to kiss Besseta.

  Closing her eyes, she promised, “I won’t, baby. I feel really dirty. Can you give me a shower?”

  Kenneth picked her up. “What about me Wanting?” he asked.

  “We both have to sacrifice,” Besseta smiled. “You’re keeping your shorts on,” she informed him as Kenneth carried her upstairs.

  When Kenneth carried Besseta out of the bathroom wrapped in a towel, he was shocked to see Tiffany sitting on the bed, playing with the puppies. “Glad I had shorts on,” he said, carrying Besseta over.

  “I’m not going to be far from her,” Tiffany said, grimacing as one of the puppies chewed on her finger. “That hurt, Jack,” she said, taking her finger out of his mouth. Jack started whining in a little howl, and Tiffany put her finger back in his mouth. “Not so hard,” Tiffany said as Jack started chewing.

  “You have chew toys,” Kenneth said, walking into the closet.

  “They love me more,” Tiffany said and looked at Besseta. “Feeling better?” she asked.

  “Much, but don’t tell Kenneth. I love it when he carries me around.” Besseta smiled.

  Tiffany laughed with certainty. “I’m sure he knows.”

  Besseta rolled onto her back, looking up at the canopy. “Of course he does, but don’t spoil it.”

  Laying back with her head next to Besseta’s, Tiffany whispered, “Wouldn’t dream of it.”

  Kenneth came back and dressed Besseta then carried her downstairs to the couch. “You need to feed,” he told her as he put her on the couch.

  “I will tomorrow.”

  Tiffany reached over, grabbing Besseta’s hand to pull her off the couch. “Let’s go,” she said.

  Getting up as Tiffany pulled her, Besseta said, “I know when I need to feed.” She looked at Kenneth, who just looked distraught. “Oh okay, let’s go,” Besseta said, and he smiled.

  “I’m going to see if we have any messages,” he told them. “I’m sure you don’t need me to hold them, but I’ll come if you want,” he offered.

  “No, go and check,” Besseta told him. “It’s not like those morons can hurt Tiffany and I.”

  Kenneth sprinted upstairs to his computer as they headed to the dungeon. Surfing the boards, he found a message from Maliki and downloaded it. They had contacted him several times but never told him why they hadn’t started fighting. Kenneth sent updates about what he thought was going on and where Maliki should concentrate his attacks, and Maliki was more than happy with that.

  Using the information Kenneth sent last month, Maliki had wiped out a group of drone vampires and werewolves in South Carolina. Maliki also hit a warehouse the Strong Hands were using to gather intelligence on the web, also using Kenneth’s information.

  Just from reading the messages from Maliki on how successful his information was, Kenneth knew Maliki thought he was indispensable. Truth be told, Maliki wanted Kenneth locked away giving him information. Trouble was, the Strong Hands wanted Kenneth for that very reason.

  When the next message was downloaded, Kenneth browsed the boards and saw reports from South America where a village was destroyed by wild animals, killing over sixty people. Having a strong idea what the wild animals really were, Kenneth moved on. Seeing several other interesting reports and posts on boards, Kenneth pulled out his laptop.

  He keyed in his password, loaded the message, and hit “decrypt.” He had gotten tired of manually doing it, so he set up a program to do it. It was only on his laptop because it was programed to erase if there was any tampering.

  When it was done, the message printed out, and the computer immediately erased it. Reading over it quickly, Kenneth nodded and headed back downstairs. He found the girls sitting on the couch, quietly arguing about what to watch.

  “I’m not in the mood for Buffy,” Besseta sighed. “I can only take vampires turning to dust when killed so many times a week.”

  “But Xander and Willow are finally realizing they love each other,” Tiffany whined.

  “No, Xander realizes that; Willow knew it long ago,” Besseta corrected, rubbing Bonnie and Clyde in her lap.

  Flopping back on the couch, Tiffany huffed, “Fine, we’ll let Kenneth pick,” as he walked over to the couch. Tiffany held up the remote. “Here. No Buffy,” she said as he took it.

  “Maliki killed two more groups and wiped out a safe house they were using in Dallas.” Kenneth grinned, sitting down beside Besseta.

  Besseta took the pages. “Using what you sent, I’ll bet.”

  “All I did was track the money. The council for the Strong Hands didn’t use aliases to buy property,” Kenneth told her as Tiffany looked over to read the message with her.

  Besseta looked up. “That was sloppy,” she said and started reading again. Bonnie kept moving her head, trying to bite the paper until Besseta started petting her again.

  Nodding, Kenneth started looking through the movies. “Yes, but by now, I’m sure they realize their mistake and are correcting that, but I have a nice list of what they bought.”

  “How will you track them next?” Tiffany asked, not looking up as she read.

  “Already have. I’ve watched the boards reporting weird occurrences, and a clear search pattern is there,” he said, choosing a movie.

  When they finished, Besseta lowered the paper. “Seems the war here is going better, but Europe is almost lost,” she said.

  “Yeah, Maliki said they can’t contact anyone in Europe, but Asia is still the best off,” Kenneth commented. “The Strong Hands never got set up there, and all those they send in are being wiped out.”

  Tiffany nodded. “That really doesn’t surprise me. That is the oldest League, and they demand loyalty from those under them,” she stated, and Besseta nodded as the TV exploded.

  Kenneth was already throwing his body over Besseta and the dogs. After a second, he realized he hadn’t felt anything and looked over his shoulder to see the glass from the TV hovering in midair over the room.

  Glancing over, he saw Tiffany with her hand extended, her palm pointing at what remained of the TV. “Wow, you are nice to have around for something like this,” he said then looked down at Besseta, who had the dogs covered with her arms and legs.

  “What do you think you’re doing?” she asked, looking up at him.

  “Ah, protecting you,” he offered.

  Narrowing her eyes, Besseta said, “Hello, tough here. Worry about you.”

  “Impossible,” Kenneth said, rolling back to sit down as the glass in the air floated into a ball. Tiffany got up and guided it into the kitchen. “That would’ve taken me a week to clean up,” Kenneth admitted. “What did you Want?”

  “F
or the movie to start,” Besseta told him and heard Kenneth’s thoughts, knowing he already knew. He just wanted Besseta to realize she Wanted. “You were moving just before the TV exploded,” she said, hugging the dogs.

  “Yes,” he said, putting his arm around her. “I can’t be without you, Besseta. You make me feel whole for the first time in my life.”

  “Well, we can’t watch TV,” she huffed.

  Kenneth jumped up, puffing out his chest. “I’ll be back,” he said with a lowered tone, giving her the Arnold voice.

  “We can wait,” Besseta offered as Kenneth ran upstairs, and Tiffany came back. “Sorry,” Besseta smiled.

  “Pfft,” Tiffany huffed, waving the apology off. “Besseta, it was months before I controlled it, but in the first week, I blew up two houses because I Wanted inside them to sleep. It wasn’t until I realized what emotion trigged it that I could control it.”

  “Kenneth’s going to get another TV,” Besseta said, hugging the dogs.

  Grinning, Tiffany asked, “Besseta, do you think he could get a bigger TV?”

  Besseta laughed. “I told him, and Kenneth said don’t worry.”

  Kenneth ran downstairs and kissed Besseta and the dogs then ran out the door. “Don’t Want him to hurry, Besseta,” Tiffany warned.

  “I don’t even associate that desire toward Kenneth now, and it’s killing me,” Besseta admitted.

  With the puppies in her arms, Tiffany jumped up, cheering around the room. Not expecting that reaction, Besseta just stared at her friend. “You figured it out, Besseta. The connection to the desire and want. That feeling is what unleashes the power,” Tiffany sang out, putting down the puppies. “Come on,” she said and held out her hand.

  Leading Besseta outside to the north end of the property, she pointed and said, “Want that boulder to roll over.” The boulder was enormous. Taking a deep breath, Besseta looked at the boulder, wanting it to roll. When it didn’t, she furrowed her face and demanded with Want that the boulder roll. In her mind, Besseta felt what Tiffany was talking about: a little tingle in her mind that built to a bounding pulse.

  The boulder slowly rolled on its side and tipped over, exposing the soft dirt beneath. Besseta relaxed and smiled just as her knees got weak. She would’ve hit the ground if Tiffany hadn’t caught her. “Tired now, huh?” Tiffany asked, and Besseta realized she was bone weary tired.

  “It’s almost the same if you do it yourself instead of your mind. That’s why I picked something big for you to move,” Tiffany said, picking her up. Besseta heard water crashing against the shore and looked back but didn’t see any waves rolling in.

  “I can move that boulder with my hands easily,” Besseta objected.

  “I do not doubt you, but you moved the water behind the boulder back from the shore several hundred yards,” Tiffany told her. “That is a lot of weight because you didn’t focus your mind just on the boulder.”

  Cradled in Tiffany’s arms, Besseta looked up at her. “I can walk,” she said. Smiling, Tiffany put her down.

  “Don’t like anyone but Kenneth carrying you, huh?” Tiffany asked.

  Nodding, Besseta responded, “Yep,” and walked inside.

  Over the next few weeks, Besseta slowly learned to control the ability—not that there weren’t a few unavoidable mishaps. Now that Besseta knew what the new ability felt like, she attacked Kenneth. One night as they rolled in passion, Kenneth felt something cold on his back and looked up and saw it was the ceiling.

  When he looked down at the floor, Kenneth’s mind filled with panic, breaking Besseta’s thoughts of rolling in the clouds, and they crashed onto the bed. Besseta jumped off the broken bed to check on Kenneth, but he pulled her back down, continuing where they left off.

  Later, they were all sitting in the living room, which Kenneth had rearranged. He had taken out the couch and put in a huge, wraparound sectional with recliners in the middle. The day Kenneth left, he came back with a projection TV and a screen that covered the wall triple the size of TV they had.

  With the characters on the screen bigger than her, Tiffany was ecstatic. During the day, Tiffany and Besseta would practice as Kenneth read what Tiffany had on the cubari and surfed the boards. Then they would meet downstairs, and Kenneth explained what he thought. When they agreed or understood what Kenneth explained, he would send off a message to Maliki.

  After a long day, Besseta curled up beside Kenneth, and Tiffany loved on the puppies as they watched TV. “I notified the lawyer today. He will have the papers ready later this week,” Besseta told him.

  “Well, we can get those properties then,” Kenneth said as he shoved popcorn in his mouth.

  “Tiffany,” Besseta said, lifting her head and looking over Kenneth’s chest. “I told the lawyer you were setting up an account with them and you would tell them where some of your assets were for deposit.”

  “Uh huh.” Tiffany mumbled but didn’t look away from the TV. “If she sleeps with that guy, I’m going to scream,” she said, pointing at the TV.

  “She’s an assassin, Tiffany,” Kenneth said as Tiffany grabbed a handful of popcorn.

  Shoving it in her mouth, she mumbled through the popcorn, “Well, she doesn’t have to be a slut to be an assassin.”

  “Tiffany, did you hear me?” Besseta laughed.

  Tiffany nodded. “Lawyer, set up account. Tell them where some of my assets are.” She jumped up. “Oh come on, he’s a scumbag, and you’re going to jump his bones!” she yelled at the TV.

  Besseta laughed, enjoying watching Tiffany as much as the TV. “Hold on, Tiffany,” Kenneth said, pulling her back down until she was sitting on the couch.

  On the massive screen, the woman reached under the pillow and pulled out a gun then shot the man in the face. “You mounted him like a slut, and you had a gun under the pillow the whole time!” Tiffany shouted at the TV. “You could’ve just capped him.” Tiffany waved her hand then grabbed some more popcorn.

  Listening to Tiffany, Kenneth laughed, “Your vocabulary has definitely modernized.”

  “Kenneth, she’s acting like a two-dollar whore, but she’s a total badass,” Tiffany protested, never taking her eyes off the screen.

  “I rest my case,” Kenneth laughed. “I’ve corrupted your friend with television.”

  “Shit, she needed it,” Besseta laughed.

  Tiffany jumped up. “Kick his ass!” she yelled, jumping up and down on the couch, watching the movie. “That’s right; crush his balls, and make his momma cry!”

  “I’m taking you two to the movies,” Kenneth laughed.

  Besseta hugged him tight. “Tiffany would like that, but I’m not sure about the others in the audience. She likes talking back to the characters, explaining how they could do it better.”

  “Then we will rent one for ourselves,” Kenneth said, kissing her head as Tiffany dropped back down to the couch, still holding the puppies in one arm. “When do you want to leave?” he asked.

  “I got us a flight at the end of the week,” Besseta said.

  Giving a sigh, he asked, “Why don’t we drive?”

  “Uh, we get there and get back much faster,” Besseta pointed out.

  He looked down at her. “Granted, but I can’t take my stuff.”

  “Stuff?” Besseta asked, confused.

  “Yeah, like guns, vest, knife, and ammo,” Kenneth said, counting off on his fingers. “Stuff. Important stuff.”

  She sighed. “We are only flying in for a day. It would take us two days to get there, a day there, and two days back. This way, we drive down to the airport, fly over, sign some papers, get back on a plane, fly back that night.”

  “Okay, if you say so, love,” Kenneth smiled.

  “The babies don’t need to be left that long,” Besseta pointed out. “I think Tiffany would go through withdrawals if we were gone any longer.”

  Kenneth raised his eyebrows. “Yes, I never considered that,” he admitted. “I’m sure she’ll still have some withdrawals even for a
day.”

  “Not even going to argue that,” Besseta laughed as Tiffany jumped up again.

  “You’re acting like a slut again, bitch. Just shank his ass, and take the briefcase!” Tiffany screamed.

  “Your friend seems to think the leading lady is acting promiscuous,” Kenneth said, laughing and kissing Besseta’s head.

  “Promiscuous my ass. That whore is acting like a slutty tramp,” Besseta snapped. “What is the appeal in that? If she wasn’t kicking ass in between the times she humps every bad guy like a dog, this movie would suck. Why do you like it?”

  “Boobies,” Kenneth told her, and Besseta sat up. “Before I was with you—I’m sorry—I liked the movies with boobies,” he explained upon hearing her thoughts.

  “Then why watch it now?” Besseta asked, narrowing her eyes.

  Smiling, Kenneth motioned his head to Tiffany. “I knew how your friend would interact with the TV.”

  Tiffany let out a scream as Besseta laughed. “Yes, she certainly does.”

  “Always.” Kenneth smiled at her.

  “Always,” Besseta said, kissing him.

  Chapter 18

  It was very early as Kenneth helped them out of the boat and pulled his London Fog trench coat closed as cold wind blew off the lake. “There will be snow soon,” he said, feeling a little wimpy. The girls climbed out wearing dresses that were blowing in the cold wind and carrying their jackets in their arms. They only brought them because Kenneth told them it would look weird if they just walked around in the cold wearing their dresses.

  Leading them over to the garage, Kenneth went over to the key rack and took a set of keys off then walked over to an older Cadillac. “We can’t take the Jag?” Tiffany asked, dropping her shoulders.

  “It’s been around big cities too many times lately,” Kenneth said, opening the doors for them. “Several government agencies have license plate databanks set up monitoring traffic.”

  “We aren’t going to a big city,” Tiffany told him as she jumped in the backseat. “Besseta said the Jag was the fastest and most comfortable.”