Golden Rule

Chapter 6

Chapter 6 – Fernanda

              It has been almost three weeks since the accident. The hospital gave me personal time off. ‘Take as long as you need,’ my chief of surgery said to me when he came over to see me with his wife after the allotted bereavement time from human resources was over. I didn’t know how I would go back to living my normal life and continue with my plans. I didn’t have the mind for it. It was all supposed to happen with Noah, Nana and Maddie.

              I signed Noah’s life insurance over to his parents. There was no way I could keep that money; their family ring was enough, and I still felt uncomfortable keeping it. I knew the money from the insurance would help them immensely and it would give them a chance to take off their jobs to grieve properly. My Nana had had a handle on whatever my parents had left, and I was not too worried about my financial situation. Nana Regina also had a small life insurance account. I knew the house was paid off and my schooling was paid for each semester.

              I would have fits of anger and desperation. At night I was melancholic and scared, my wolf mostly missing, I barely felt her in the back of my mind at times. I would wake up dazed and confused and immediately turned to anger. Travis Billings was out there somewhere, and my wolf wanted revenge. I tried telling myself there was no way I could get away with it. He was on the authorities’ radar and I would raise suspicion if I got involved. I was scared of my loneliness, not of Travis; I prayed for him to come to me so I could take him out in self-defense. But I knew that was a long shot; he had probably already left the city, possibly the state.

My bedroom was a mess, my mattress torn and on the floor, clothes everywhere. Ashley hired a lady to come once a week for a month to help keep the house clean. “Think of the care and love your Nana gave that house. It’s still your home you shared with her and to an extent Noah and Maddie.” That convinced me to accept the help and I made sure to tip the cleaning lady for her work.

              I could hardly eat, I slept during the day a lot. I took hours long showers until the water was freezing cold. I could not figure out how to move on with my life.

              I was sitting on the oversized chair in the living room with my hair still damp from a shower, just staring at the wall, when the doorbell rang. I huffed not wanting to get up, wanting to just keep to myself and figure out my life. Today I wanted to cry and didn’t want company. I hoped it was Ashley at the door so I could just send her on her way.

              When I opened the door, I almost rolled my eyes when I saw who was standing there. Adam was standing on the porch with a crooked smile and a s**t load of cologne. I did not want to be rude, but I wasn’t in the mood for his games.

              “Hey, can I come in?”

              Jerk, he didn’t even ask how I was feeling. “Adam, I’m really not in the mood for company. I just want to be alone right now.”

              “You really shouldn’t be alone, company can help you take your mind off things, ya know.” He said walking up closer to me. I was already getting angry, and I would not hesitate to knock his ass out.

              “I’ll be fine, please go.” I answered and began to step backward to shut the door.

              “c’mon Fer, I want to be here for you. I can help you get your mind off things.”

              “what the f**k are you going to help me keep my mind from?! I don’t want to forget Adam! Now leave!”

              “Please do as Miss Maldonado asked of you, Adam” said a woman’s voice suddenly taking me by surprise. She literally came out of nowhere, I didn’t even sense anyone.

              Adam turned to the side and I got a view of two women standing behind him. A mid to late thirties looking, tall beauty who looked badass and mysterious; and a soft eyed, motherly type around the same age as the first.

              “we have a meeting with Miss Maldonado and I need to kindly ask you to leave now.” Said the tall beauty. For some reason, I didn’t object. I didn’t have a clue who these women were, but I already felt I trusted both of them. I wanted Adam to leave immediately so I could converse with the women.

              “who are these hot ladies, Fer?’ Adam asked and I did roll my eyes this time.

              “we are her lawyers and please don’t call her Fer.” Responded the tall beauty.

              “alright, whatever, call me sometime so we can hang out alright?” he said before he leaned in to try and kiss my cheek. I leaned back just in time and narrowed my eyes at him while giving him a mean look. He turned to leave but not before checking out the two women watching him intently sizing him up. He jumped into his car and drove off.

              When they turned their gazes back at me, they both bowed their heads and together said, “princess.”

              WHAT?

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              The two women and I were seated in the living room, looking at each other. I didn’t know what to make of them. After they had called me princess, my wolf was front and center. I felt she was almost happy that these women were here which confused me. There was no way my wolf knew them; I had never met them before.

              “My princess, I am Frida and this is Violet. With your permission, we would like to encase the house and reveal ourselves.” Said the same one who had been the only one to speak so far.

              “I don’t know what you mean by that. Why do you call me princess? My name is Fernanda. Who are you?” I responded.

              “of course, calling you princess is a habit, we’ve always referred to you in that manner, even with Regina. You are the princess of the Mother Mountain range. You are the only one who has claim over its gold and its riches. You are a direct descendent of the indigenous werewolves of that area. Before we go any further, Violet can encase the house so we can speak about sensitive issues and with certainty we will not be eavesdropped on.”

              To say I was shocked would be an understatement. I needed more information. My wolf was yelping in my head. “fine. Yes sure, enclose the house and explain to me what you’re saying.” Immediately I feel a shift in the air. I begin to smell gardenias and lavender. I turn my gaze at the two women again and see their auras. “You’re not humans, but you’re not werewolves either.” I said to them.

“I am a vampire and Violet is a witch. We are your protectors and estate conservators. We have handled the finances left by your parents since their passing. We have here everything for you to review, on my life you will find everything is in order.” She stopped and waited for me to say something. I kept quiet wanting her to keep explaining. “We understand your confusion. After your parents were betrayed at Golden Cross, we fled to keep you safe here in the city. Our plan was to return eventually and seek those responsible. Regina convinced us to stay in Chicago since you had made a life here with your chosen mate. She only wanted you to be happy and loved; to have a normal life. She did not want to take you back to that place that broke us all and took your parents. We decided it was safest if we didn’t group together, as we knew we would be searched for. With the unfortunate passing of Regina, your mate and your sister, we await your orders.” The vampire Frida said looking at me with a look of guilt. I looked at them both blankly, trying to process the ‘betrayal of my parents’ part. Finally, Violet spoke up.

“we failed you, they got to your loved ones, your nana, mate and sister, and we were not there to stop them. We understand if you choose to take our lives, princess.” She bowed her head low, again I just stared. What could I say? A thousand questions were running through my mind.

“you say you are my protectors and that you failed because they were killed by that crazy bastard? You handle the money my parents left me. You obviously know everything about my past. You just walked into my house, and you’re telling me to kill you?”

“yes princess, you are our master and reason we breathe. We failed and are at your mercy.” Responded Frida. At that, they both shifted to their right knees with their right hand in a fist on their heart. I was dumbfounded, speechless. “after Travis Billings is dealt with, we put our lives in your hands. We will go to that bastard when you are ready, princess.” I jump up from my seat.

“what do you mean?! You know where he is?!” I scream out.

“yes, we have him apprehended in a secure location.” Responds Frida.

“take me to him now.”

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We had been driving an hour out of the city, north towards Wisconsin. Frida and Violet were quiet. It wasn’t an awkward silence; I was still trying to wrap my head around them supposedly having Travis captured. Were they thinking about me taking their lives? Who the hell was I to do something so…. drastic to these women? I would never even think about it. There was only one person responsible for my loved ones’ deaths and we were supposedly on our way to him.

The amount of trust I was giving these two strangers baffled me. But my wolf had finally resurfaced, and she already trusted them. I was putting all my faith in my wolf and following her lead, what more could I do at this point? I had nothing left to lose.

My wolf was back at full force. She was restless now. She was out for blood and I would let her have his blood. Frida got off the highway; we were driving through rural country now. Houses were very few and land was plenty. We had been up to Wisconsin for runs with the other werewolves from school; but I wasn’t familiar with any of this land. If I had been here before I couldn’t recall.

She drove a little while longer until she turned on a desolate dirt road. After about ten minutes we came up to an old barn that seemed abandoned as it was falling apart.

“you have him in there?” I asked them.

“yes princess, its encased like we did your home. If anyone happened to show up, he can see and hear them, but he wouldn’t be visible to the person. Part of our plan to drive him mad. There is a farm a few minutes further down the road. But they won’t see us either. You have nothing to worry about.” Replied Violet.

              Frida pulled up close to the barn. Once she stopped the car, we all got out. They looked at each other and turned back the way we came. I turned as well and didn’t notice anything.

              “don’t worry princess. I assure you; you have nothing to worry about.” Replied Violet. I rolled my eyes at her calling me princess, but my wolf felt at ease and so did I in return. I shrugged my shoulders and started walking toward the entrance of the old barn. When I saw Travis, I smiled for the first time in almost three weeks. My wolf was going crazy.

              He was tied to a chair, gagged and not a single bruise on his body that I could see. They had left him all to me. When he saw us, his eyes went big and wide; he began trying to scream and thrashing around in the chair until he fell over on his side. Frida walked over to stand the chair back upright, like his weight was nothing to her. She stayed standing beside him. I walked up took his gag off.

              “what the f**k! I saw you dead! I-if you do anything to me, the cops will know it was you b***h!” was the first thing he spit out.

              “if you don’t want us to hurt you, tell our princess what you have told us.” Said Frida. I never took my eyes off of Travis. He was a dirty looking man. Even before he went to federal prison, he looked haggard and unkept with a nasty body. He was a tall, big man, the only thing prison did for him was bulk him up. He thought wrong if he thought I would be anything but vengeful. He looked at me with eyes mixed of stupor and fear, his bottom lip hung while his mouth was open. I cringed.

              “Why and how did you do it?” I asked him.

              He spat out right in front of me and started “I don’t know, some guy named Jaime hired a lawyer for me and they got me out on good behavior and as a reformed prisoner. He met me and took me in once I was out and he planned the whole thing and paid me to do it.” He stopped and stared at me.

              “keep going!” yelled Frida.

              “I thought Madison was you. We thought you were in the car when we started to follow them. I saw her body all twisted up and knew she was dead, but I thought it was you. I didn’t bother checking her face, even though I told him I did. I got some of your, well her hair, like he told me to. I finished off your little boyfriend and then the other lady. I gave Jaime the hair, told him you were dead; they were dead, and he drove himself to the airport and left. That’s it… well. He had phone calls with a guy he called Alpha. He would give him updates and s**t. That’s all.”

              I looked up at Frida at the mention of an alpha. She gave me a small nod, I took as her telling me she knew what he was talking about. Just then, I heard footsteps behind me. When I turned to look at the person walking up to us, my wolf started growling.

              “I made it, everything is set. Get out of my way so I can kill this bastard!”

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              “this is bullshit!” I protested at Frida and Violet. “I could have at least knocked out some teeth. My wolf is going insane now!”

              “we cannot raise any suspicion, princess. We should have told you before about the plan, but we figured you wouldn’t agree. Everything is in motion, so we have to be back at the city as soon as possible.” Says Violet.

              “You will get the ones that are truly responsible. Travis was only a pawn, so we let Patricia have him.” Added Frida.

              Their plan was smart, I had to admit. Patricia would kill him; shoot him with a gun that she would say was his and set the barn on fire. They didn’t want me to touch him or do anything to him so as to not leave any suspicious evidence that would contradict the story Patricia would tell the authorities. The police were already notified and were most likely on their way there now.

When Frida and Violet approached Patricia, Violet placed some kind of mind clearing spell on her. They wanted her to make the decision of killing Travis of her own will and not under the influence of alcohol or drugs. She rode with them while they tailed him. She wanted to avenge her daughter, something she should have done years ago when he was living with them. I still felt anger in my heart towards her. But she was, in a way, stepping up now. Whoever those people were, this Jaime and some Alpha, they were after me. Now this had nothing to do with Patricia, Travis would still be in prison and Noah, Nana and Maddie would still be alive if it wasn’t for these f*****g wolves. Reluctantly, I agreed, and we left the barn.

              When we finally reached my house, we went inside to wait for any news. They had asked I leave my phone there and I realized now it was just in case the authorities traced my location; it wouldn’t show up at the barn. When I picked it up, I already had a missed call from detective Gonzalez. I called him back and he sounded out of breath.

              “Miss Maldonado, we found Travis. Ms. Fenton, Madison’s mother has killed him.” I stayed quiet while I suppressed a smile. Violet and Frida looked at me gawking my reaction.

              “I can’t say that I hate to hear that detective…” I stayed on the phone with him a few minutes before he was needed. When I hung up, I studied the two women who were now my accomplices.

“We have an idea of who could have planned this. Somehow, whoever betrayed and attacked your parents found us.” Said Frida.

”I want to return to my parents’ home.” They looked at me and nodded their heads in agreement.