Protecting Zoey

Chapter 22: Extraction

Markos pulled in front of Millie's house a few minutes later. Amanda was outside waiting on the porch when they arrived glaring darkly at the car. Markos let out a deep sigh, he was well aware of the conversation that was awaiting him as he fumbled with the door looking back toward Amanda.

"Olivia," Brianna said quietly. "Can you give Mason and I a few minutes? I think he deserves to know everything."

"Are you sure you do-" Olivia started but Brianna interrupted her.

"I'm sure." Brianna replied bluntly.

"Right... Just know Mason, I am sorry for my part in everything that's happened." Olivia said without looking him in the eye. "I hope you'll be able to forgive me."

She grabbed ahold of the door as Mason put his hand on her shoulder before she got out. She stopped for a moment and touched his hand before following Markos up to the porch. Her and Markos disappeared inside as Mason and Brianna sat in silence for a few moments. As the silence was starting to become too much for Mason, she placed her hand on his shoulder. He immediately felt heat radiating from her hand and looked down to see it shimmering softly.

"So, you're like Melissa then?" Mason asked looking back at her face as she lowered her head.

"Not exactly," she said softly as she moved her hand away. "She is, different. I'm not sure anyone is quite like her. I just have a unique lineage which allows me to do some special things."

"This is fascinating Brianna," Mason said glaring at her slightly. "But it really doesn't tell me what's going on."

"Harrison is a monster," she said looking down as the tears began filling her eyes. "Four years ago, Harrison found out about my abilities and made it his mission to have me like he has Zoey. Things got really bad when he wasn't able to accomplish his goals."

"What did he do to you?" Mason asked trying to keep the anger out of his voice even as it caused him to shake slightly.

"He started by trying to bribe my parents," she said the tears now pouring down her face. "Three days after they refused him, they were in a car accident and died. That's what ultimately caused Zoey and my argument, I wasn't willing to tell her everything that was going on, and she wanted to know."

"But where did you go?" Mason asked as she wiped the tears from her face. "If he was able to arrange something like that, how were you able keep away from him?"

"He tried," Brianna had a small smile spread across her face. "Markos was the detective that was looking into my parent's death, he introduced me to Charles and Melissa who helped me get out of town."

"But what about Zoey?" Mason asked as her smile faded. "You didn't try to get her out with you?"

"I did," she said her voice full of sadness. "But when I found out everything that was actually happening it wasn't safe for me to be here anymore. Elizabeth wouldn't let me talk to Zoey anymore and Harrison was trying to get me."

"So, why'd you come back?" Mason asked as the pieces began to fall into place.

"That's a strange and really long story," Brianna replied looking back at him. "But I was encouraged to visit Zoey by my boyfriend Ethan. It was a few months ago, we were talking under the stars, and I told him about my lost friend. We'd never talked about it before, and I never told him everything about Harrison or he definitely wouldn't have let me come alone. He told me that I had to go see her, try to reconnect with my friend after all these years. It's definitely something he would say."

As she finished her tears had stopped and she had a warm smile on her face when she looked away again blushing. "You and Ethan are actually a lot alike."