Page 8 of Archie

“I’ve been trying to talk to her, Archie but she’s a stubborn old goat and won’t let me get out of this job.” Before Archie could say anything, Alma told Josiha to shut his mouth that she was the one in charge. “She thinks that she is. She’s no more in charge than I want to stay here. I’m tired, Archie. I don’t have it in me to do this—”

“Shut up, you old fool. You just don’t seem to get it that I’m not going to give up this life. We have magic, money, and a house. Not as nice as theirs but we have one that we can have a roof over our head. I don’t want to die. Do you hear me? I do not want to end my life now that we don’t have to work anymore.” Carrie started to point out that they’d have to be the leap leaders, but Alma cut her off, too. “No. We’ll just keep doing what we’ve been doing all along. No one gives a crap if we show up to meetings or not. Hell, no one cares if we even have a meeting anymore. Dying wasn’t part of the plan that I had when we were asked to do this. I just wanted the magic and the immortality. Working was never anything that I wanted to get involved in.”

“Then what you’re saying is that you only took the job because you were too lazy to do anything else. Is that what you’re saying?” Alma admitted that was exactly what she was saying, and it was stupid of her to think that at this late in the game, she wanted to change things around. Sunny snorted before continuing. “Well, that’s tough shit. Archie is set to take the job. If Josiha wants to keep his job, I suggest that the two of them fight it out. That’s what is to happen next. Archie is several hundred years younger and if it comes to that, his brother Nash can take over the fight if it gets to be too much for him. I don’t personally see that happening, but you never know. After that, if the two of them are drained, again, I don’t see that, then the next in line is me.”

Sunny simply shifted into a large dragon, spitting out flames as she reached a great height and bulk before shifting back to herself and smiling at the couple.

Josiha laughed. It was something that she’d never heard him do since she’d been around, so she thought it was odd. But the harder he laughed, pointing out to his wife that they had her there, it was Alma who laughed this time.

“You don’t get it, do you? Josiha, you never were the brightest bulb in the basket, were you? They’re talking about killing you off, you old fool. Not me. I’m not in charge. I just put up with you so that I could live forever. Not only that, but the pay was great, too. Even the money that was in the account for the leap…Christ, you never noticed a damned thing. I’ve been stealing from there for centuries, and you never had one single clue.”

That seemed to be just what Sunny had been waiting for, and she put up her hand, and Alma disappeared. Just poof, she wasn’t in the yard with them any longer. Everyone just stared at her as she stood there smiling. Then, it occurred to her when Josiha disappeared as well.

“You knew this. You knew that she was stealing the funds meant for the leap.” Sunny shook her head and pointed to Archie. Carrie turned and looked at him. “Why didn’t you tell me what was going to happen here today? I would have helped. I don’t know how, but I would have.”

“We’ve been considered leap leaders since we bonded the other day.” Her face heated up when she realized what he was talking about. “Josiha came to me that day and asked me if he could speak to me. As you know or might not know, Alma has been following us around to make sure, I’m guessing, that he didn’t just hand it over to me. Josiha told me everything. Not only had Alma been stealing from the leap, but she’d been running some of the leap off for various reasons because she knew that if the counting of the leap dropped to a certain number, then the king of all the leaps would give more money to this one to make changes. To make changes to the land or improve homes, whatever was needed to bring it back to a solid number.”

“And she counted on this. At some point, she was making sure that she went with a large sum of money. Why would she think that they were going to die?” Archie told her what the rules stated. “I didn’t know that it was their decision to stay or not. I’m guessing by the way things went that Josiha had made the decision for the two of them. That she was going to end her life no matter what.”

“No. I decided that when I spoke to my mom.” She asked Sunny what she meant. “Alma had been complaining about the leap running out of money for a while now, so I had someone checking into it. It wasn’t until just then that we knew it was her. Stupidly on her part, she fully admitted to her being the one who was stealing from the leap and how long she’d been doing it. I didn’t kill her, mores the pity. Alma was taken to our leap prison. She’ll live out her days, centuries, and centuries there as a prisoner for her part in the theft. Alma will be required to work off the debt that she incurred until it’s paid in full. Then, after a time, she’ll die. Fade, whatever is needed to get her out of the system. Thank you for helping with it.” She told her that she’d not done anything. “Oh, but you did. When you showed up here at Archie’s side, it made it so much easier to get her to confess. She had to brag to someone, and why not a fellow woman.”

“What about you? I mean, you’re a woman too the last time I checked.” Her face heated up. “Not that I go around checking on you being a woman. It was just…I got it mixed up in my head. I didn’t…perhaps you can change the subject now.”

“I will.” Sunny laughed. “You know, I really love you, Carrie. You’re kind and funny. I don’t think there is a better person for the job than you and Archie. Even my mom thinks that you two will do great things now that you’re in charge.”

“I hope so. I want to make this a safe and wonderful place for other leap members to have a family and be able to grow with us.” Sunny hugged her, and the four of them headed home. The leap house was going to be gone though, then torn down. According to the men who were going to take care of it, the building was too old to save, and the foundation was much too broken to be able to salvage. Carrie was glad. The place would forever smell like it does now, she thought.

Nash and Archie were walking behind her and Sunny when they got to their driveway. As soon as she stepped onto the porch, she felt that something was off. Hearing the small whimper of someone, she turned to see a little girl who had been beaten badly hiding in the corner of the porch under the swing. Going to her, she cried out as soon as she touched her. She called to Archie to hurry.

“She’s Mikey’s sister.” The little girl told them that Mikey had gone back to get their mom, that she’d been beaten up by their dad, and that he had an axe. Leaping over the railing, Archie never touched the ground as a man but shifted into his beast as he took off toward what she could only assume was Mikey’s home. Nash, shifting too, followed, leaving her and Sunny there to be with the little girl. Archie spoke to her as she was getting the little girl into the house.

“Bring the car when you can. I don’t know what we’ll find, but I’m sure that I can’t go around like this. I’m sorry I left you to deal with this.” She said that she would when she got the little girl settled. “Her name is Sissy. I’ve spoken to Mikey a few times about his dad. I love you, baby. Please be careful when—” When he didn’t finish, she paused in wiping Sissy’s face to find that she’d been cut badly by someone. “Honey, call the police for us. Their mother is gone.”

“I’m coming. Sissy is going to need stitches, and we’ll have to take them to the hospital anyway.” She was crying when she saw how badly Sissy was beaten. The child had fresh and old wounds on her small body that made her want to find her father and kill him herself. As soon as she got Sissy in the car, Sunny got in the front seat with her, and the two of them didn’t speak on the way to where Archie and Nash were. She told her through their link what was going on. She asked her if she could drive.

“Yes. I wish that I could shift. I’d take care of the bastard myself.” Sunny touched her fingers to her forehead, and they drove a bit slowly to the house. Neither of them said a word as they made their way around the police cars and the two ambulances that were there. Her heart hurt for what they came upon.

The mother was lying in the yard with an axe in her head. It was a horrific sight, one that she knew would be burned into her memory for a very long time, if not forever. She didn’t call out to Archie, knowing that if he was busy, she might distract him enough that he’d be hurt. Carrie hoped that he was killing the father slowly for what he’d done. The man deserved whatever he got and then some.

Sissy was put into one of the ambulances, and Carrie went with her to the hospital. Holding her hand, she wondered what was going to happen to the two children now that their parents, both of them, she hoped, were gone. She was going to talk to Archie to see what the sloth would do with them. If anything, she’d adopt them into their family so that they’d never have to worry about their life again.

The sloth leader joined them at the hospital. Sissy had been sedated so they could check her body for other injuries. She told the older man, Roger, what she knew about what had happened at the house. She also told him that their mother was gone and that she’d been killed by her husband.

“He’s not her husband. Her mate, either. The children, both of them are from her true mate. I don’t know that Albert killed her mate, but he moved into her home not long after he was buried. I didn’t know about it. We were having a bit of a crisis that had taken me away from the sloth for a couple of months. When I returned a few days ago, I was informed about what was going on. As a matter of fact, it was my intention to take her under my protection so that she’d be safe. I’m sorry to realize that I waited too long to do anything.” She asked him about the children. “That would be up to their biological grandmother. I’m not sure that she’d take them in, but they’ll be protected forever by the sloth.”

They were going to keep Sissy for a few days. She was extremely dehydrated as well as very undernourished. She finally had to know what had happened to Mikey and reached out to Archie. His anger was apparent, and when she asked him if he was all right, he told her that he wasn’t. He also didn’t think he’d ever be again.

“He’s dead. Margo was able to get in a few slices to his face and throat before he tossed the axe at her. I’m not sure of all the details yet, but he bled out in the woods behind her home. I wished that I could have taken care of him myself, but I believe this is better. What have you heard from Roger concerning the children? By the way, Mikey is beaten up badly but will survive. He’s going to be in the hospital for a few days longer. I’m to understand that Sissy is staying there too.” She told him what Roger had told her. “Good. If she doesn’t take them in, would you mind if we did? I know it’s a lot to ask, but—”

“I was thinking the same thing. Even if she does take them in, I’d like to be a part of their lives from now on. They need someone around that can show them that their lives were not the norm.”

Chapter 5

Douglas hadn’t said a word since he’d been arrested while coming out of the motel four days ago. He wanted to find and ask Shelly what the fuck she’d done, but no one was telling him anything. She was going to pay for this shit if she had told where he was. This time, he might well kill her. Things were not going as planned, and he was pissed off.

Yesterday, he’d demanded to speak to his sister. He knew as soon as he was told they’d contact her to see if she wanted to talk to him that it was her and not Shelly who had figured out where he’d been. He wasn’t sure how she’d done it, but it would be just like her to go snooping around in shit that wasn’t any of her concern.

“You’ve been asking about Shelly Gibson. Well, I’m finally able to tell you that she died a week and a half ago from a brain bleed brought on by blunt-force trauma. She was coherent enough when she showed up at the emergency department to tell everyone that the two of you had had a fight and that it was you who had hit her several times about the head and face. You’re going to be charged with her murder. There are other charges too that are pending so I’d not expect to be getting out all that soon.” He could only stare at the woman officer when she then asked him what he wanted for dinner. “The menu that you got at lunch needs to be turned in now. If you don’t tell me what you want, then I’m—”

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