Wicked Thing (C.O.A Series Book 2) (37 page)

The child nodded, smiled and squeaked, “Kay.”

Lexy felt the shivers as they trailed over the surface of her skin.
Had Kayn just found the reincarnation of her brother Matt?

There was such joy in Kayn’s expression as her lips parted in awe and she opened her arms to receive her brother’s relocated spirit. Matty placed the kitten on the floor and dove into her arms, without question. He’d done so with the blind trust of a child that had always known, and loved her. She embraced him as tears of both insurmountable joy and disbelief trailed down her cheeks.

Kayn whispered his name against the nape of his neck, “Matty. It’s you… It’s really you.” Tears were flowing freely from her eyes as Kayn looked up at the group of Ankh that had gathered at the door and asked, “How is this possible?”

Lily stood in the doorway her eyes were filled with tears of joy. She knelt down beside Kayn and whispered, “Hi Matty. Do you remember me?”

Matty kept embracing Kayn, but looked into Lily’s eyes and nodded at her. Lily whispered, “I guess you’ve finally earned your wings.” She stood up in tears and walked out of the classroom.

This meant that the dynamics of Lily’s ill-fated love affair with the mortal that she kept finding every twenty years or so had changed. He had earned his wings and in this last life he had been the mortal adopted brother of Kayn and Chloe Brighton. He had died bravely in the end and this sacrifice had been rewarded. If Matt survived his Correction, he would be claimed by a clan and then he would still have to survive the immortal Testing. They would have to make sure Ankh was the clan that claimed him.
Lexy managed to get close enough to each of the children to check for the mark of Abaddon.
There was nothing, but these children would all have abilities in the future. They would be safe until they were of age. After they reached the age of sixteen they would all be slated for Correction. This was messed up.
Lexy looked at Frost and stated, “These toddlers haven’t been marked for Abaddon yet. Finding them and holding them captive until they’re of age for Correction is completely against the rules.”

Kayn held on to the reincarnation of her brother as she spoke calmly so she wouldn’t upset the child in her arms, “We have to hide them. There has to be somewhere we can hide them until we can find out what’s going on.”

“There is,” Frost piped in from his spot in the doorway. “I’ve already called them and they’re on their way.”

They’d given other partially immortal children to the Aries Group before and they’d placed them with good families…Understanding families.

Kayn turned around and looked at Frost. He was grinning at the momentary happiness, she’d found.

Frost strolled over, knelt down beside Kayn and sweetly said, “Hey, little man. I remember you.”

The cherub faced toddler smiled at him.

Frost stood back up, squeezed her shoulder and whispered, “I’ll explain everything to you once we’re alone. He’s going to be alright. They’ll hide him and take care of him until he’s old enough for his Correction. The Aries Group has hidden quite a few orphaned second tiers for us in the past.”

Lexy’s heart warmed as she observed Kayn having the moment with her brother that she’d always dreamed about having with Charlotte and then she felt the weight of the knowledge that a Correction would be sent for these three adorable toddlers someday
. Lexy saw a flash. Zach had taken a picture.
He wasn’t allowed to do that.
She squeezed Frost’s shoulder, letting him know she was going to leave and deal with the Aries Group without saying any words. She didn’t want to interrupt the moment. Lexy was halfway down the hall when she saw a group of well-dressed people entering the front doors of the school. Agent Gingham was there. Good, she knew a couple of them. Grey walked in at the tail end of the pack and waved at her.

She briskly shook Agent Gingham’s hand and even took a moment to greet Agent Douchetastic.

Agent Gingham, the lady she’d befriended while spending the afternoon getting shot at, grinned at her and queried, “We heard you guys found some children alive?”

Lexy held up her hands to signal that she needed the group to wait there for a moment and none of them made an attempt to move past her.
She wished she could give Kayn more time but she knew she couldn’t.
Lexy began to explain, “There are three toddlers in the room at the end of the hall. They are special toddlers if you know what I mean. One of them is the reincarnation of our Kayn’s brother. Can we give her a second to say goodbye?”

“Of, course,” Agent Gingham replied.

Grey questioned, “Kayn’s brother, Matt? Are you serious?”

Lexy nodded at Grey and said, “Yes, he recognized her and everything.”
Grey had obviously missed the big reveal while going to wait for the Aries group
.

As they strolled down the hallway together she tried to keep herself from looking at the walls again for violence towards innocent mortal children had always been her emotional kryptonite.

Agent Douchetastic asked, “Where are the rest of the children?”

Without missing a beat Lexy far too bluntly replied, “They probably ate them.”

Her comment was met by deafening silence and all one could hear was the sound of footsteps in the hall, and one person’s squeaky shoes.

Grey placed his arm around her and whispered in her ear, “Why don’t you just let me do the talking next time?”

Yes, she really needed to work on her people skills, but in all fairness, there was no possible way to sugar coat the horrors that had taken place in this picturesque little town.
The troop of mortal agents had these haunted expressions of horror on their faces as they trudged down the hallway, with the weight of the depravity on their hearts.

Agent Gingham ordered one of the others to collect all of the student records and the pictures from the walls so they could keep track of the innocent souls that were lost in this town.

And this was why humanity was so beautiful. They were frail and easily harmed but they felt so much for each other and for those they’d never even had the opportunity to meet in person. Perhaps, in this way…mortals were magic too.

Lexy remained behind with Grey as the others walked into the room. They heard a full almost decipherable sentence come out of the miniature version of Kayn’s brother in an adorable squeaky voice, he said, “Goo bye Kay.”

“Wait!” Kayn called to the lady. She paused and looked back at Kayn. “His name is Matt. He likes to be called Matty.”

She had to leave. She didn’t want to hear anymore
. Lexy walked away and Grey rushed to catch up with her. They strolled down the hallway and out of the main doors of the school while the Agents collected the pictures of the students and placed them into a folder. Grey placed his arm around her as they stood off to the side and watched as the toddlers were carried out of the school and lovingly placed into a vehicle while being spoken to in soft and loving voices. She glanced at Grey and he was visibly upset. She whispered in his ear, “This is for the best, we can’t keep them.”

He squeezed her shoulder, knowing that her words were more of a band-aid for her heart than a consolation to him. Lexy saw Kayn’s little brother and he smiled at her through the window and placed his teeny tiny palm up against the glass. The rest of the group showed up and stood beside them and nobody attempted to speak until the vehicle containing the children pulled away with little Matty’s hand still pressed against the window. She didn’t like to admit it when things affected her like this so she nudged Grey prompting him to do the speech.

Grey addressed the whole group at once, “Lily went back to the cabin with the truck, to collect our things. Some members of the Aries group are collecting DNA samples from the bodies in the freezers. There’s no need to go back to the cabin. We can leave as soon as she gets back. Markus and the others had to leave the state with the motor home. I guess they had a run in with Triad. We’ll be hoteling it until we catch up with them.”

They all sat down on the curb of the sidewalk to wait. Grey took her hand and whispered, “Just think about how incredible it will be to take a nice long bath and get all of that blood out from underneath your fingernails. There’s only so much a guy can do when you’re covered in that amount of blood.”

Lexy smiled as she looked at her nails.
Yes, he hadn’t been able to get it all when he washed her up the night before. It was sort of gross.
Kayn sat there with the group and they all watched as the vehicle containing the reincarnation of her brother disappeared from sight. In true Dragon fashion she blinked away her tears, and accepted her Handler’s affectionate embrace. It occurred to Lexy in that moment that Handlers were both a lifeline and a band-aid. She smiled at Kayn as their eyes met over Zach’s shoulder. Her fellow Dragon’s eyes were now peaceful and Lexy knew why. It was because they would see Mathew Brighton again. It was only a matter of time…

Chapter 21
What happens in Vegas

T
he six Ankh drove for a full day and night, only stopping to trade off drivers. When everyone started to fight about every little thing, it became glaringly obvious that they all were in desperate need of a personal day. The group came to a unanimous decision; it was time to take a break. They stopped for the night in one of Lexy’s favorite destinations…Vegas. She adored everything about this place, from the lights to the buzzing and whirling sounds of the endless noise. It was easy to allow yourself to become lost in a crowd here and it was by far the best place in the country to people watch. They chose a hotel close to the main strip, knowing that if they had a half decent club and restaurant downstairs it would simplify things and give them more time to just have fun. They could only afford to stop moving for a day and a night for they had places to be in the near future and insanity to stop. The plan was to leave by the ten thirty check out the next day. The boys had been plotting a long overdue night of male bonding and debauchery, while in the truck. So, the girls made plans to pamper themselves by going to the hotel’s luxurious looking spa. Then they were going to dress up afterwards and go out for some drinks and maybe dinner at a nice restaurant. After making themselves comfortable in their rooms, Lexy downed a few tiny bottles of vodka from the minibar so she wouldn’t feel squeamish while she was being massaged by a stranger. She bought a new dress in a boutique by the lobby and met up with the other two down at the spa and the trio of mentally exhausted immortals enjoyed being pampered for the entire day while continuously having their champagne glasses refilled. Lexy had done well; she’d actually enjoyed the massage, and endured the rather rough feeling manicure and a pedicure. She felt like a new girl with her sexy up do and slinky new dress. They sat in a classy restaurant and had more drinks while finally having the opportunity to indulge in that steak she’d been fantasizing about.
Grey would be all over this dinner. What was he doing right now?
The waiter refilled their glasses of wine and as Lily took a sip Lexy grinned as she aggressively flirted with their sexy young waiter. Kayn had been well-behaved in the alcohol consumption department that day. Lexy and Lily had definitely not and they were the ones that were supposed to know better. Lexy heard her cell phone buzz in her purse, rooted around for it and finally found it. There was a message from Grey,
‘I need to see you.’

Logic had rarely been her friend while three sheets to the wind and she wanted to see him too, even though spending time with him in this state was a horrible idea. She’d always been far too susceptible to his seductive little quirks while drinking. She texted her response,
‘Where are you guys?’
After receiving his answer, Lexy cleared her throat and suggested they go to the club at their hotel. After a short cab ride back, they arrived to the pounding sound of the music and the red light from the club that was attached to the hotel they were staying at. The three of them had a lot of time to talk while they were getting their nails done at the spa and Kayn had gone into great detail about this one irksome comment Frost had made. He’d told her that she was in the train wreck stage and truth be told she was a bit of a train wreck, but everyone is a train wreck after the Testing. Nobody likes it when someone points it out though. A person is always well aware when their life has drastically veered off the tracks. Lexy wasn’t sure she’d ever ended up back on the tracks, herself. Hell, Lexy knew if you googled train wreck you’d probably see a smiling picture of her.

They were all looking pretty damn hot as they strolled right past the lineup and into the club. Kayn’s hair was piled on top of her head with a few soft sensual ringlets framing her face. Lily had her glistening flowing jet black hair and curves that went on for days. Lexy’s crimson hair was also, in an up do and she knew her short dress left little to the imagination. She could see the expressions of appreciation on the male patrons faces as they followed the trio’s movements across the room, and it made her feel powerful. The boys of Ankh were in a darkened corner of the room, chatting up a flock of female admirers as the three strolled up to the bar to order some drinks. There was this dim red tinted lighting that added hedonistic sensuality to the crowded space and this was definitely not going to be helpful while seeking to keep her hormones in check. Everything in this club screamed, cut loose and succumb to the sexy atmosphere. Everything was a carnal sensory delight from the bar stools that were silky black velvet to the barely clothed staff.
Where was Greydon?
She’d seen Frost and Zach but not Grey as she entered. Lexy searched the room for her Handler and in moments she was able to narrow in on him. Grey was flirting with some random girl as per usual. Lexy smiled as she shook her head and looked away.
Why had she come here? What was she trying to do for herself? Coming to him while in this state was like dousing herself in vodka and then playing with matches.
Through the fog of the days drinking logic whispered,
it’s not too late, just stay away from him. Protect your heart.