The Puppets and the Strings (A Werewolf's Saga Book 7) Read online

  He opened the door knowing that he could never get away with anything, not with his father around to smell him.

  Rachel watched him come back home. Her mind suddenly felt numb as he did. She always felt this way around him sometimes. She didn’t know what it meant, but in the end, she didn’t really care about it either. His father could block her, so why wouldn’t his son.

  “How long have you been out there listening?” she had to ask him instead.

  He bowed his head. “I just came to the door before he called me.”

  She knew that was a lie. Any parent would see it. She didn’t need to see his thoughts.

  Jimmy needed more. “Where did you go? Did anyone see you?” He had a thousand more questions to ask him, but decided to keep it just at those two for now. The wolf inside him would have gone for the thousand.

  He didn’t look at his father once. “I didn’t go anywhere. I never do.”

  Rachel heard the soft whining flowing inside his voice. She so understood him in ways that she never thought she would. Being a gifted mind feeler as she was it made it difficult for her to see things with her human eyes. With him, she could. She loved the fact that she did.

  Jimmy huffed. “Did anyone see you?” He couldn’t let this go. He also couldn’t have it happen again.

  Casey kept his head down. “See me? Who would want to see me?” He seemingly growled.

  Jimmy thought he heard it, and he didn’t know what to think. Sima didn’t have the wolf inside her. She only had its power. He feared what the sound could mean. Knowing this, he moved to his son and took an overwhelming smell. The smell of lavender, the smell of a wanderer was the only scent emanating from him. There was no musk. There was no stench of its overreaching power. He didn’t smell like a wolf.

  “How many times do I have to tell you Casey that leaving this house without your mother or me is dangerous? You don’t know who may be watching you. You don’t know who may see you.” He felt somewhat relieved that he didn’t smell what he thought he heard. The lavender smell told him enough. The boy carried the scent. He carried the aura, a golden colored hue around his body when he looked on him with the wolf’s eyes, of a Wanderer so he had to be one of them. This made him give pause. It made him more worried than he ever was before. He had to have the gift.

  Casey obviously wanted to hear none of this. “I know!” he shouted his frustrations out.

  Jimmy again thought he heard a growl. It may have been just the sounds of his raising his voice, but now, he didn’t care.

  “How dare you talk to me like that?” He did growl back.

  Rachel heard it, and she thought she saw his eyes turn to their wolf’s yellow sheen, and with both, again she heard enough.

  “That’s it, both of you are going to calm down.” She meant this more for Jimmy, and now she thought she knew why. Every full moon the wolf beckons to come out. It is his way of maintaining the balance. But he hadn’t done so for weeks. In fact, she couldn’t remember the last time he did. It explained his anger. The wolf needed release.

  Jimmy gasped, and then breathed.

  Casey looked up. “You can’t keep me locked up like the animal you are.” He had enough. He felt like crying. He felt lost. He couldn’t stand this anymore, and decided that it was time for him to leave, so he did. He left the living room, plowed his way with heavy feet to the stairs on the other side of the room from his father, headed up them, and flew to his bedroom just off the top of them to his right.

  Jimmy watched him leave, but said nothing. All he felt again was the anger that he tried so hard to keep down inside his chest.

  Rachel felt for both of them. With her son stormed off, it was time to face Jimmy about the anger she knew he was feeling.

  “What is the matter with you?” she now asked him with a deeply stern voice.

  “You’re blaming me for this?” Jimmy turned to her suddenly and felt trapped. Once again, she was taking their son’s side, and he began hating her for it.

  She huffed with disgust. “I’m not blaming anyone Jimmy.” There was more. “I just wish that one of you would be an adult sometimes.”

  This time, she was just pushing his buttons. She had to be. “Now wait a minute.” A slow ebbing growl followed through his voice. He even breathed it in.

  She heard the growl, and to prove her resolve on this, she let her brown eyes flare to their Wanderer’s blue.

  He saw the eyes, and suddenly felt his face flow with blood.

  She saw him blush. “You have not been yourself Jimmy.” She let her eyes go back to their normal color, and bowed. “When was the last time you changed?” It was time to switch gears with him. She hoped he knew it too. There was more going on with him than Casey.

  He calmed instantly. Her eyes did it. They always did. “What are you talking about?” He was relieved too. He could never fight her, he knew she wouldn’t either, but still—seeing the eyes was enough.

  She crossed her arms over her chest and hugged herself tightly. “When was the last time you changed into the wolf?”

  He shrugged softly. “I can’t remember.” He said this so quickly that he didn’t give it any real thought. He just couldn’t believe that she asked him in the first place. She was just trying to get this discussion off Casey. She was just protecting him again. She had to be.

  She knew this is what he thought too. “Try to remember Jimmy. When did you last change?”

  He huffed now. This time, he did try to think. In doing so, he honestly couldn’t find the answers. He didn’t know.

  “I,” he stopped himself, realizing what he just had. “I can’t remember. I really can’t.”

  She knew it. He hadn’t changed. Why, she didn’t know, but it was time that she did. It was also time for him to know it too.

  “I think you should go out and let out the wolf for a while. It might calm you down.”

  The more he thought about this, the more he couldn’t think. It felt odd. He felt disjointed suddenly and he didn’t know why. He had thought that it was Casey and dealing with him that was causing it, but now, he wasn’t so sure. In the end, may be Rachel was right. He needed to change. It would do him good.

  “You’re right.” Casey flashed in his thoughts. “What about him? Should I go and talk to him?”

  She smiled. Her husband was back again. So was her love for him. “I’ll go and see if he’s all right.” She uncrossed her arms, moved to him and placed both of them around his shoulders. She held him tightly. “You go out and have some fun.” She kissed him on his right cheek.

  He returned her kiss, but his went to her lips.

  After their short embrace, he looked back to the window behind the sofa and saw that it was still light outside. In fact, being the fall, and that it was only around three o’clock in the afternoon, it wouldn’t be night for another few hours. He couldn’t go out during the day.

  “I’ll go out in a few hours. I don’t need to run into anyone.” He turned back to her beautiful and hypnotic eyes.

  “Oh I don’t think you should wait that long. Walk slowly to the woods, take in the air, and by the time you get there it should be dusk.”

  The playfulness in her voice told him that she wanted him to leave. What she said also helped with the thought.

  “Okay. I guess you’re right.” He touched his forehead to hers.

  He was a good foot and a half taller than she was, so he had to bend down to her to do it.

  She kept the playfulness alive. “I am always right. Isn’t that why you married me?”

  He lifted his head, shook it, and returned to her a small smirk. “It was something like that yes.” He hugged her closely and gave her another firm kiss.

  She kissed him back.

  “I’ll be back.” He released her and turned to the door. When he reached it, he stopped and turned back to her in the living room. “Let me know how that goes.” And he motioned to the stairs.

  She gave him a firm nod. “I will do my best.�
� And she laughed.

  He did too, just before he turned and headed out the door. He closed it when he was standing on their porch.

  With him gone, she took a deep and everlasting breath. She then hugged herself again, this time tighter. She had to prepare herself before she talked with Casey. Not for what they were about to talk about but for the continuing fading feeling that was coursing through her head. It made it hard for her to focus her thoughts. It made her feel cold. It made her feel uneasy.

  Just push it aside. You’re just nervous about talking with Casey.

  She hoped she was right. In the end, she didn’t have anything else to go on, so she shook her head. She brushed it off, turned, and headed to the stairs.

  She climbed them as slowly as she could. She took her time. She didn’t know why, but she did.

  4

  Boy has this place changed. He turned left. He kept to the sidewalk and closer to the buildings on his right as he walked. There were less people on this side of the street. It made it easier to move.

  New York City is an ever-changing place, but a few select places seemed to change more than the others did. For Robert, his neighborhood now seemed to be one of those places. Younger and younger people are moving in. The rundown places were no longer rundown and now looked vibrant. Even the streets now seemed perfect, lacking the many potholes that used to line them. And the people, well they now filled the streets. Even at this time of night.

  He had lived in Brooklyn since moving here five years ago. Ever since the end times happened, he found himself feeling more and more out of sorts. There was a time that the whole world seemed to flow around him, as he kept the truce between the Walker world and their once human prey, but now, he seemed to be out of demand. Sharlia kept the Walkers well protected and out of trouble. She kept them in the light. As for the humans, they kept moving on, not even knowing that monsters ever existed in the first place. The Wanderers moved on to their now normal lives. Even Rachel had vanished some with Jimmy after they married. He, it seems, was the only one that never did. Something he just had trouble in finding out just recently.

  Without the excitement, without the ins and outs, he felt lost. He felt lonely. He felt abandoned. Oh, his sister still kept in contact with him, sending him pictures of her son through the link they had in their minds. They corrected a lot over this time, and went back to speaking again within their thoughts. But now, even she has started fading away. She no longer talked with him. In fact, it had been months. He figured it was because she was busy with raising a family. Or it could be something else, he just didn’t know. He didn’t want to push her, so he left it at that. In the end, he was left with an empty life.

  Since the end times, he stayed out of the way of the world. He kept to himself. He didn’t have many friends. Sometimes, he liked living this way. It made things feel simple. Other days, he felt nothing like it. Those days, he felt cold. He felt bored. He felt lonely. The latter feelings became more than the rest.

  Almost home.

  He crossed the street, and turned to his left. Quickly he then sped right. He had to miss three people coming towards him to do it too.

  Home sweet home. He came to an old rundown building on his left. With all of the new refurbished buildings around it, it looked out of place. He bought it before the area renewed itself. He liked it the way it was.

  He came to a small door at the corner of the building, and opened the door. It cracked some as the old wood of the door scraped against the doorjamb beneath it. It was a familiar sound. He then walked inside and quickly closed it back shut.

  His place was small, and it felt even smaller than that. He lived on the first floor and liked it that way. If he had to leave in a hurry, he knew he could get out fast. His place had three doors, two that went out back—one went to the alleyway behind the building, that one everyone could see, but the one on the left, that one went down to a small tunnel that went beneath the street. That was his way out, just like it was for the Speak Easy that owned this place oh so many years ago before him. He kept that too.

  Like I will ever use it. He laughed to himself as he threw his keys on to the end table at the left arm of his sofa across from the door. Just behind the sofa stood his bed, which he went to next and there, he took a heavy seat. No one has come after me in years. He thought of that night. He saw the castle across the field, and the wall, which surrounded it. He could still smell the mustiness gripping the air. I never thought I would miss the smell of rotting soil mixed in with werewolves. Again he laughed. And yet again, he felt lonelier than ever. Oh, how pathetic I have become?

  Thankfully, a knock came to his door. If it hadn’t, it would have been another long night of nothing to do.

  “I’m coming.” He stood up.

  He moved to the sofa and headed to the door. He thought of nothing. He didn’t expect anyone, but it didn’t matter. No one ever came to see him. He wasn’t important anymore, so he didn’t fear the knock. The neighborhood wasn’t the only thing that changed.

  He opened it and instantly gasped.

  “Rochie?” The woman standing between two large and very mean looking men said with a smile. She looked so small. She smelled like a faint decay covered over with a soft perfume. Her pale face sparkled even in the dimness of the doorway. The two large men with her offered a casual musty smell. He of course knew who these people were, and people they were not. He would know their smells anywhere. He wasn’t that much out of practice.

  “Now that is a name that I have not heard in a long time.” He didn’t know if he felt like crying or breaking in to a dance. Crying because of what they were, or dancing because they had actually come to see him. “What would three Walkers need to come and see me about?” In a normal circumstance, he would have probably run and headed to the back door on the left. This didn’t feel normal, because quite frankly, he was nothing of what he used to be. And worse yet, he knew they knew this too. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have knocked.

  Her smile faded all too fast. Her eyes then drooped. She actually turned sad even. “You are Rochie, the great rock thrower?” She didn’t sound all too sure if she was speaking with the one she was looking for or not.

  He knew why. He hadn’t shaved in weeks. He rarely bathed. He got his last haircut maybe four months ago. Hell, he rarely combed it. He rarely did anything unless he needed to. And now, he rarely did anything at all.

  It looks like it may turn into the cry after all. He bowed his head. “I am Rochie yes.” He tried to smile but the feeling just didn’t work. He must be more pathetic than they ever thought he was.

  She turned and looked to both men with her, one at a time, before stopping again on his face. He didn’t look like the all-powerful being that she had heard about. In fact, he didn’t even look like a powerful human either. In other words, he didn’t look like anyone with any powers at all. Knowing this, her voice turned soft.

  “I am sorry to disturb you lord Rochie, but I have come at the behest of our Master Sharlia. She wishes to speak with you about a very pressing matter.” Again, she smiled, but it didn’t look real. In fact, she almost looked ashamed.

  Again, he just swallowed his pride away. “She is the Master now?” He figured as much.

  She didn’t know how to answer that, so she didn’t. She kept with what they came there to do. “She needs to have you come with us, if you can.”

  He sighed. He had nothing left. “Sure.” He finally snapped as he shrugged with a heavy weight draping him down. He began to slouch a lot too.

  He startled all three of them. Even the two huge men seemingly jumped.

  At least I can still do something. He looked in her eyes. “I will come with you. I have so little else to do anyway.” He turned and grabbed his keys. His place was so small he didn’t have to reach all that much.

  With them firmly in hand, he stepped outside to the sidewalk, and closed the door. He didn’t even check to see if it was locked, and turned with them.

&nbs
p; “Does she still have the place on Long Island?” He kept this light. He was joking really, or maybe it was because he didn’t care. Either way, he just did it anyway.

  “Yes, my lord.”

  “Good…after you then.” He followed the small petite woman and the two tree trunks and headed to their car. They parked it right by his door. It never dawned on him how they found him. Again, he didn’t care.

  He just sat with her on the back seat.

  He thought of nothing during the entire trip.

  5

  She took a deep breath before she knocked. She had to gather her thoughts.

  Now what do I say? She didn’t know really. A part of her just felt like leaving him alone. Maybe it would be best to let him think. Maybe it would be best to have him stay calm. But she knew better than that. I know how he feels about all of this. I know how it has hurt him. She did. She didn’t have to be gifted to see this.

  When Casey was born, she always knew that this time would come. The constant moving, the constant distance from the world surrounding them, would cause him pain. He would have to grow up. She knew it, even though she refused to let it happen herself.

  We can’t just let him continue like this. This was true. He would grow into a man, and one day, he would strike out on his own. He would fall in love. He would make a life. He would start a family for himself. He would move on and make his own place in the greater world. She knew it, and so did Jimmy. Is it time? Is it time for us to let him go? The other part of her feared this. She knew why.

  When Sima lived, it was the same way with her. She too grew up. She too became a strong woman. She went her own way, and followed her own path. No matter how dangerous things had been, it still happened. They couldn’t fight it. They couldn’t deny it. It happened all by itself. The pain followed. They were helpless to stop it when it did.