Too Many Secrets To Hide | ✔| #Wattys2017

Chapter Ten

Word Count: 3232

I stood shocked as Derek made no move to correct me. He was my father? What?

From somewhere in the back, came a fistful of hatred and it hit Dad square in the nose. It was Bel who had launched the attack. "Let's go!" she yelled and started dragging me away. That was why she had felt betrayed. It was our dad. That's why dad hadn't called me. That was why Bel and I had werewolf traits. We were part werewolf. I hadn't lied to that man- when I said I was a half breed, what I had said was true.

Before Bel could drag me away, I grabbed the sprayer off the decommissioned guard's arm. I might need it. Then I ran with her willingly. It was our blessing that besides dad and the unconscious guard, we were the only ones underground. "They're all werewolves," Bel told me as if I didn't know. I did feel bad for her though, she had clearly found out about the existence of the creatures in a far less pleasing manner than I had.
"And you're Maddox's mate," I told her, as if she didn't know. She seemed a little intrigued. "They said I was someone's mate but I wasn't sure if it was Maddox or not," she said. "They kept talking about getting the Alpha's girl." And she looked at me very concerned. "He's not the Alpha yet," was all I responded, but both of us knew I was talking about Jasper.

I noticed how expertly bandaged her wrist was. It seemed dad had really taken care of my little sister. Oh. But the devil himself was right on our heels. I sprayed him once more and he stumbled. I had no idea how much of this stuff would kill him, and he was my father, so I was only trying to stun him. "What's in those?" Bel asked. "Wolfsbane," I told her as we jogged up the steps.
We were at the door of the shack by the time dad even made it to the bottom stairwell. Seeing I had some time on my hands, I resolved to call Jasper. I hated doing it, and I wouldn't have if I was the only one I needed to get our of here. I couldn't be selfish though, so I called for help.

"Hello?" he answered frantically, and I was sure it was as soon as his phone had rung. "Jasper, I've got Bel," was the first thing I said. He said something else, but I had to cut him off and jerk my sister to the ground. There was someone heading for the shack. "Hold on just a second," I spoke into the phone vaguely. I crawled across to the other side of the door. "I'm gonna jump on him," I directed at Bel. "We're gonna get you something to fight with." Seconds later the door swung open. Like I had been on a spring, I tackled the man to the ground, spraying him with the poison. I was happy he thought I was human, or he might have sprayed me too. I now realized it could possibly have a very bad effect on me since I was part wolf. Bel kicked the guy in the head until he passed out and we took the sprayer off his arm. Together, we threw him down the steps. He slammed into my dad and they both tumbled all the way to the bottom.
I suddenly heard my name being screamed from my phone. "I'm back," I whispered. "What was that?" Jasper yelled. "Listen," I denied answering his question. "We're at the little shack in the woods where da-Derek is." I didn't want to tell him it was my dad who had kidnapped Bel. I still couldn't get my head around it myself, and honestly, I would probably still be standing down there gawking at him if Bel hadn't punched him and drug me off.

"How did you get there?" Jasper yelled louder. "I left to save Bel and then they found me and brought me here." While Jasper was ranting about how idiotic it was and how I could have been killed, another man approached the door. "Be right back," I interrupted just before the door came open. We did the same thing to this guy as we had to the other, taking his sprayer and thus rendering him nearly powerless against us. It wasn't long before he was unconscious. "Look, just get here," I hissed when I got back to the phone. I didn't ask if he knew the way because I was sure Mark did, he had been here hadn't he? I ended the call right there because I needed to talk to Bel.

"Is that really dad?" I asked exasperated. She nodded coldly. "He goes by Derek here," she said, but I already knew that. "Why did he kidnap you?" I asked. "To get at Jasper and Maddox," she whispered back. I glanced down the steps, there was no movement in the pile up and I was sure dad had passed out by now. "Do you think he'll be okay?" I queried. It sounded soft and weak, but even if he was a bad guy, he was still my dad. "I don't know," she retorted. Her voice was much colder than mine, but still held just a note of remorse.

"He killed people," she said, looking me in the eyes. Before I could ask who, I had to hush her because another man was coming to the door. "What's taking them so long," I heard his grumbled complaint. We attacked him, knocked him out, took his sprayer and threw him down the steps. It was almost becoming a habit.
"Who did he kill?" I asked. "Julie," she held back a sob as a tear ran down her face. Julie was Bel's best friend from our old school. He killed her? "He told her I wanted her dead," she said, sadness replaced by anger. "He tortured her to death and he made me watch." Her voice was nothing but pure rage now, casting a glance down the steps that could have killed anyone who met it. "But...I-how?" I stuttered, unable to comprehend all of this.

"Did he hurt you?" I finally questioned as this was my biggest concern. She shook her head no, but I looked at her wrist suspiciously. "I sprained it when they took me," she said. "But dad killed the guy who was with me when it happened and had a cast put on it." So, dad was evil but he still cared about me and Bel? How could I trust him? Then, how could I trust Jasper and his family? He was my mate, but dad was my father.

Jasper did seem to care though. I mean, he wouldn't even stop calling since I had hung up on him. Finally, I answered my phone again. "What?" I snarled. "Can you at least stay on the phone with me so I know you're alright?" he growled back. "I'm kind of having to take care of some things right now," I said, rather aggravated. I put the phone down as we waited for yet another man to enter the shack. He met the same fate as the others before him and then I went back to Jasper. "Alright," I said only half paying attention. "Where do you keep disappearing to?" he asked hatefully. I explained the situation to him briefly, leaving out how Derek was actually my dad.

Jasper sighed loudly over the line. "Stay where you are, I'm coming to get you," he ordered. "I could do it without you, you know," I hissed back. "I only called for some back up, it's not like I need you. I can protect my sister." Jasper didn't answer for a few moments, but when he did, he spoke much softer. "Just keep the two of you safe, I'll be there as soon as I can, okay?" I couldn't help one corner of my mouth from turning up. He sounded so sweet. "Okay," I replied just as sweetly. It was ridiculous this effect he had on me.

"Okay," Jasper responded with a relief stricken exhale. Was he really that worried about me? He started to say something else, but I had to cut him off to prepare for yet another ambush. It was successful. "What were you saying?" I said when I got back to the phone. "I said tell Bel that I'm bringing Maddox with me." I relayed the message and it was the brightest I had seen her eyes glow all night. "Tell Maddox she's excited to see him," I told Jasper. He chuckled, but it wasn't really much of one due to the stress he must have been under.

"Are you alright, Cadence?" he asked me gently, though I could tell he was trying very hard to restrict the raw emotion in his voice. "I'm fine," I told him. "Really, because I could have sworn you got pretty hurt a couple hours ago," he said accusingly. I remembered having been thrown down. "It was nothing," I replied honestly. We kept talking while he drove, me leaving periodically to take down someone else. He even gave the phone to Maddox so he could talk to Bel for a little while.

"Alright, I'm gonna have to let you go," Jasper said tentatively when Maddox had finished talking. Of course, he was hardly done but by Jasper's orders he ended the conversation. "I can't be on the phone while I'm in the woods or else they might hear me." I understood that and said goodbye.

At this point, there were at least two dozen bodies in the stairwell. I didn't like that I saw movement down there either. "I'm going to handle that, stay here," I commanded Bel when I noticed she saw it too. I tossed her my phone in case she needed it. She couldn't use her own because it was dead. She told Maddox it had died after he had called her about twice. How convenient.

Downstairs, I found it was dad who was stirring. He was barely conscious, and it broke my heart. I had done that. I had sprayed him with lethal poison. He could be dying right now! I had conflicting urges to help him up, and to kill him. He was my dad, but he was evil. At least, it certainly seemed that way. I had considered maybe dad was the good guy and Jasper was actually the deceitful bad guy. That hope was dashed when Bel told me about him torturing Julie to death and making her watch. What kind of decent person doesn't something like that? But, it was like I always said, eventually, everyone will let you down or leave you. So I kicked my dad in the head as hard as I had ever kicked anything. I flinched because I could feel it a little too, but he went out like a light. On my way back up to Bel, I gave each of the others a good whack to make sure I wouldn't be coming back down here anytime soon.

"It's probably going to be couple of hours until they get here," I informed Bel when I resumed my position on the opposite side of the door as her. "They cant run because that would make too much noise." Bel nodded solemnly. I knew she just wanted to get out of here. We had to take down another guy just then. Looking at the pile on the steps, I wondered how many were left. We had been effectively picking them off one by one.

I spoke too soon. A pair was coming for the door. We hadn't had to handle two at once yet. Would we be able to? I saw the determined expression on my little sister. Of course we could. We quickly devised a "you get that one I'll get this one" plan before they came in. As soon as they closed the door behind them, Bel and I drenched them in the poison and pounced as it set to work instantly. They didn't prove much of a challenge as long as we had plenty of wolfsbane.

"Good work," I said through only one heavy breath when the job was done. "So, you think we could actually kill them?" she asked, referencing the fact that they were werewolves and probably not easy to kill. I shook my head. When we were little, Bel and I had been in a car crash with dad that should have killed all three of us. We had been four and six at the time, and only part wolf, and didn't even sustain any permanent damage from the wreck that should have killed us. If we at that age had been that durable, then we would have a lot of trouble killing these full bred, grown adult werewolves.

Then a thought hit me. "Do you think mom is a werewolf too?" I asked. Through the torchlight, I watched tears start streaming down her face. Her expression was mix of sorrow and hatred. I knew what was coming, but until she said it I put forth all of my bodily resources to tell myself otherwise. "He said she was just a worthless human..." she whispered, hardly able to speak around the lump in her throat. "... He killed her...this morning."

I didn't have chance to emote verbally, so I took out all my rage in our next unsuspecting victim as he walked in right at that moment. With strength I didn't know I had, I single-handedly slung his limp body all the way to the bottom of the steps. "How could he?" I growled, eyes glowing with fire in the torchlight. Bel was still trying not to cry. She shook her head, no words could come out. I was seething while she cried, inflicting more and more pain on each of our victims. I more than made up for the lack of fighting she did now due to her sorrow.

After about another dozen and a half bodies getting pushed down the stairs, I still hadn't calmed down enough to think rationally. "I'm tired of waiting on them," I snarled viciously. "We need to run for it." Bel looked up at me with a horror I could barely see through the red in my vision. "Can't you smell the alcohol on them?" I asked without even an ounce of the gentleness I usually used to deal with my sister when she was upset. "The ones that are even left out there are gonna be drunk. They won't even notice us leave."

Refusing to question me right now, Bel nodded and stood up. We loaded our pockets with sprayers and crushed the ones that we couldn't carry so that nobody else would be able to use them. We only decided to take some for if we met our supposed help in the woods on the way back. They might need them.

Peering out the pathetic window of the shack, I watched some of the men dance around drunkenly. Every one that I could see either had a bottle in his hand, was too drunk to hold a bottle, or was passed out. It was time to go. I cracked the door as quietly as I could, but it still creaked loud enough to worry me. Only slightly to my surprise, it didn't catch the attention of any of the men. I led Bel outside, closing the door behind her. We ducked down as we headed for the woods.

As much as I wanted to take her in the direction of the road, I knew Jasper would be coming the same way I had. So we were going to risk a several hour's walk back through the woods. Not to mention that we might get lost and completely wander around the help coming. And this would all be a round about way to get to the road. I stopped her. No, we were not going to do that. I grabbed her arm and tugged her the direction the road would be. She was confused but didn't question her older sisters authority.

"Bel and I are heading for the road. Should we go back to your house or meet at the restaurant?" I texted Jasper. I thought the restaurant was closer, but his house was certainly safer. "I told you to stay put!!!" he answered moments later. "Well I didn't listen. So am I going to meet you somewhere or what?" I replied coolly. "Just head for the road I'll find you." he texted back. I could practically hear him fuming.

I snuck Bel through the woods towards the road. It seemed like a longer walk than it was to the lake from the road, but then there wasn't a path this way. We were constantly getting snagged on brush and briers. We also didn't want to use the flashlight on my phone in case somebody saw it. Also, even though Jasper had been letting me charge it with his charger, there was no need to use up the battery on the flashlight. So in the dark, we stumbled and bumbled as quietly as we could away from that awful place. We took turns shushing each other as we walked. We were both being pretty quiet though. When we finally made it to the road, it was two a.m. already. I realized the restaurant was most likely closed by now, so I made the decision to head for Jasper's house.

We hadn't been walking down the side of the road more than five minutes when I saw two pairs of headlights coming at our backs. As the distance closed between us, the cars got slower and the front set of headlights began to look more and more like the ones on Jasper's mustang. In the dark and being blinded by the lights, it was hard to tell though. The cars got closer and I heard Bel squeal. It was undeniably the mustang followed by his mom's expedition, and we both knew it.

I didn't notice how fast my heart had been going or how scared I was until I saw Jasper's face. He leaped out of the drivers seat and charged into me with enough force to have knocked me over. I stayed on my feet though, as his arms came around my body to support me upright. "Why did you scare me like that?" he whispered against my ear. "Don't you know how worried I was?" I didn't answer, I was just so happy to be wrapped in his embrace.

I spotted Bel and Maddox past Jasper's smothering shoulders. Maddox was grinning so wide it cancelled out every frown he had donned since Bel had gone missing. He kept smoothing his hands over her hair and then pulling her back into his arms. Then he would hold her at arms length to look at her before once again embracing her. Once I saw him swipe his thumb right under her eye, presumably wiping away a tear.

I wasn't crying, though. But then, I hadn't watched my best friend and mother be brutally murdered by my own father. All of my protection couldn't be used for my baby sister now. Looking at her now, in his arms, I realized she wasn't a baby anymore. She was nearly grown and she now had scars of her own to carry.