Synching With the Devil's Son

Chapter 57

Lucien's P.O.V.

The guilt that pounds into the back of my skull for making Bella feel like I was hunting her physically hurts. I mean, I was hunting her, but in a playful manner. I suppose the centuries of being a skilled huntsman doesn't come off as playful to somebody who has been violated, and I ended up scaring her. I need to tell her I am going to find her attacker, whether she wants me to or not, because he needs to be punished for what he's done to her psyche. I fantasize a little about what I'm going to do to him once I find him, and before long, we are at Bella's house.

I drive up a long driveway to a simple, well maintained two story house. It is very obvious that it's occupants are proud of it. The paint is newer, cream colored, and the entrance is covered in stone. The windows are arched, the glass beneath them gleams brightly in the disappearing sun. The grounds are enormous, it must have been a farm once, but now a greenhouse, six barns attached to gated pastures, and a small man-made pond sit on the property. I can see two men trying to herd animals into one of the barns. Are those sheep? Yes, and goats, a few horses, and maybe llamas? A handful of enormous pigs are in a different paddock with a few chickens clucking around them. The fenced pasture next to the pigs is full of dogs, too many to count, and what I think are two emu stand in the paddock next to them. Upon closer inspection, they are, in fact, emu, and walking amongst them are two peacocks. There must be a peahen somewhere because the gentlemen have their tails out and are strutting around. This is a literal zoo for domesticated animals, although at this point I wouldn't be surprised to see a hippo emerge from the pond or antelope frolicking in the back paddock. I look at Bella with my eyebrows raised.

"Yes, I know. We have a million animals, but we can't turn away an animal in need."

"I can see that," I tell her, smiling at the absurdity of it all.

"Come on," she tells me, holding out her hand for me to take. "Chris and Dad need help getting all these guys inside, it's getting really dark over there," she says, pointing to the ominous sky.

I nod my head, grab her hand and we quickly make our way out to the fields.

When we approach her father and brother escorting two horses into their massive barn, Bella calls out loudly,"Dad," to get his attention. A broad shouldered middle age man kept fit by the life he leads, picks up his head and turns toward his daughter. When she has his attention, she cups her hands over her mouth and yells, "What can we do to help?"

He smiles at her and points toward the emu's. Great. I have an innate respect for birds, I have wings too, but I don't have anything in common with these beasts - they don't fly. Their beady eyes look at us warily as we approach. "Can you please open the barn door? I'm going to herd them in there, but you cannot obstruct their path or they won't go in." I nod in understanding, and she continues. "The peacocks should follow them, but if they don't they should weather the storm okay, they have done it before. Animals are pretty smart when it comes to respecting Mother Nature."

"All animals except humans," I tell her, opening the large barn door. I step aside and watch Bella as she spreads her arms out and starts walking behind the emu's, hearding them toward the barn. It's obvious these animals have done this before because they head straight into the building, the two peacocks close behind. I move to close the door when I hear Bella shout, "WAIT," and I stop to witness three peahens scramble in after the boys. I smile at the noises they make in recognition and welcome, closing the barn door behind them.

"That was a lot easier with two people, thank you," Bella says, reaching up to give me a quick kiss. "Now let's make sure all the dogs are in," she says, turning towards the next barn. I open the large barn door and Bella opens the paddock, and soon at least thirty dogs go racing by into the the barn. They range in size from over one hundred pounds to less than ten, and the cacophony of their barking makes me wince. I look at her, and she nods, so I close the barn door and walk toward her. "Do they have kennels or anything we need to shepherd them into?" I ask. Bella shakes her head. "There are open kennels and beds in there, it's sort of a free for all, but they all get along and share. The aggressive and traumatized dogs are already in their kennels," she tells me, looking at the ominous sky. "It's going to start coming down in buckets, and I don't want you riding your motorcycle in this weather. Put it in with the horses and I will go see if Chris needs any help."

I raise an eyebrow at her, but don't argue. A little rain isn't going to hurt me, but if she wants that as an excuse to keep me near her, then I'll play along. I push my bike into the barn she indicates and find her father inside, sliding one of the horse's stall closed. He turns to me with a pleasant expression on his face.

"Thanks for helping, now we can enjoy our lunch without being saturated," he says, his handsome face is alight a with friendly smile.

I smile back at him, throw my kickstand down and walk toward him. "Lucien Amon," I say, holding my hand out in greeting. He takes it and shakes my hand firmly. "Garrett Parker, you're a friend of Bella's?"

"I am, sir. Would it be okay if I stayed here and weathered the storm? It looks like it's about to come down in buckets, and motorcycles are notoriously dangerous in bad weather."

He smiles at me. "Of course you can stay, son. If you would be so kind as to grab my keys and coffee mug," he indicates with his head where they are sitting on a partition separating the horses from the sheep, "then I'll finish up in here and meet you in the house." I nod and grab the items, turning to head out when I literally run into Bella.

"Oomph!" she groans, rubbing her head where my elbow made contact.

"Shit Bella, I'm so sorry!"

She winces, "It's okay, I probably should have made a little more noise," she says, continuing to rub her head.

I put Mr. Parkers keys in my pocket and place the mug on the ground. "Come here," I tell Bella softly. When she steps up to me, I place my hand over the area she's rubbing and probe, with my mind, her injury. She's looking up at me with such adoration, that I cannot help bend to give her a quick kiss. When I take my hand off her head, she looks at me with awe and I give her a half smile.

"Thank you," she says, touching the area softly to see if it still hurts. She gives me a megawatt smile when there is no pain.

I smile. "You okay?"

"I am now," she tells me, hooking her hand into mine.

"Apparently," Mr. Parker says good naturedly from the other side of the barn, "you two have some explaining to do."