A different kind of girl {Book One}

Leaving again

"Stephen where are you? This is my fifth message. Call me please" I beg. I dial Jed's number. What is going on?

"Where are you, Jed? Stephen isn't picking up and neither are you. Where the hell are you? Call me, I'm scared" I plead in terror. It's been radio silence since the morning when I woke up and Jed was missing.

John, Cara. Someone! Where is Stephen

Rachael, what's wrong? Oh, Cara. I never thought I'd be happy to hear your voice.

Cara, I can't get in touch with Stephen.

I'll try, call Marla. I pick up my phone and call Marla hoping she's not ignoring me either. Thankfully, she picks up.

"Hello, Rachael".

"Have you heard from Stephen or John? I can't seem to reach Jed" I say. They're all scaring me.

"He said he was working late". He'd still answer

"Okay, thanks".

"Don't worry about Stephen, he'll be fine" she reassures me. I end the call then teleport over to Ultra. The employees have gotten used to me hanging around the office so it's not strange when I walk into HQ.

"Has anyone seen Jedikiah today?"

"No, Rachael. We thought he went home" one of the workers says to me.

"Well, he didn't. Sorry to bother you". I walk into his office and sit on the couch. Jed where are you? I move around and sit on his office chair and pull myself into the desk. Why would he just ditch town? I'm his daughter. I rummage through his drawers but there is no clue on where he would be.

Rachael, get down here now! Instantly when I hear Cara's angry voice in my head I teleport down to the subway. What could be so urgent? Has she found Stephen? Into the subway, it's empty apart from Cara and Russell who is sitting on the couch looking pissed and in pain.

"What's happening? Russell, Omigod! Are you okay?" I shout as I see Russell walk towards me and Cara and this other girl with an ice pack for the bump appearing on his head.

"Where's John and Stephen? What's happened Russell?" Cara asks.

"After mission: impossible went up in flames-". Mission. What mission? Is this where they've all been?

"Where are they, Russell!?" Cara shouts.

"I don't know!" Russell yells as he waves his arms around in anger. Just then I hear footsteps and a commotion. John and Stephen walk down the steps and over to us slowly. Then John speeds over to the office.

"John," Cara says with a sigh of relief.

"What happened?" I ask for like the millionth time in a few minutes.

"Where's Cassie?" Cara asks. I've seriously been left out of the loop, I need to spend more time down here.

"She's gone, she's dead," Stephen says with a solemn look on his face.

"The founder..." Cara stumbles over her words.

"We didn't kill the founder," Stephen says. John reappears.

"Russell... where is Jedikiah?" John asks. Why was Jed here?

"That's what I was trying to say. He hit me then threatened me to take him topside" Russell says.

"Where did you drop him off?" John questions quickly.

"Ultra, the big one," Russell says. But I was just there. I don't understand.

"I'm going after him," John says but Stephen stops him.

"If you walk in there, you're a dead man walking. Let me talk to him first". Wait! I don't know what's going on.

"You have one hour Stephen," John says. I touch his arm with my hand, gripping onto his skin and he looks down at me.

"I'll be fine." I nod at him and Stephen teleports out. I look at Russell and the state he's in and make a quick decision to move him away from the group and get sorted out.

"Russell come one. Let's get you cleaned up" I say as I lead him away into the office.

"Me, don't need no doctor," he says before collapsing on the couch. Christ!

"Night Russell". I peak out the office to make sure no one is around before teleporting back to the apartment where I find Jedikiah, grabbing items from around the room and shoving them into a bag.

"Jed, what are you doing?" I ask. He passes by me and I spin and then he goes back. In and out of his bedroom.

"I need to go away for a while. It's safer for us both".This is the aftermath of what happened before with Stephen and John. What could be so colossal that he now has to disappear?

"What?! I just got you back. You've walked out on me once, are you really going to do it again?" I say playing the guilt card.

"I'm sorry Rachael. I need to go now" he says as he stands by the door. "I'll be back. Stay safe and don't look for me" he says. I shout at him as the elevator door closes. I bang on the metal doors, praying that they open up and he says he changed his mind. He could take me with him. Dammit.

I walk down the steps of the subway slowly. My tear ducts have finally run out of tears. How could he leave me again? I don't understand why that happened.

"What's wrong Rachael?" John asks when he sees me. I walk right past him and over to the lockers where I first started.

"Rachael, have you heard from Stephen?" John asks as he sits next to me.

"No, I haven't heard from anyone," I say. Why did I come here? Because I had nowhere else to go. I don't even really have a home anymore. 

"Rachael, are you okay?"

"I need to go to Stephen's," I say quickly. I have to see Marla. I have to do something. It's too late to find Jedikiah, he'll be long gone but I can see Stephen and talk to him.

"No, you need to sleep. Come on," he says and picks me up, bridal style. Sleep is the last thing on my mind.

"Fine, but I will leave tomorrow to find Stephen," I say. John walks into the empty office and sets me down on a couch.

"Okay. Now go to sleep, you need it" he says.

"So do you," I say in an annoying child's voice.

"Maybe I do but I'm used to staying up all night. I'm a vampire" he jokes.

"So... what happened today?" I ask, trying to put off going to sleep.

"We went to kill the founder and Stephen stopped me cause he was listening to him then Cassie, the founder's daughter, told me to shoot so I did and the founder used his powers to dodge it, therefore, it hit Cassie" he pauses. "It was my fault. I should have followed Stephen then Cassie would still be alive". He sits down next to me and rubs his face with his hands. It's eating him alive.

"No John. Don't ever blame yourself for that. It was the founder's fault for dodging it. You just shot the bullet that was all. He did the rest" I say. He was the coward, just like Jedikiah.

"I know but I can't stop thinking about it".

"Hey, it's going to be alright," I say as I stroke his cheek with my thumb. He places his hand on mine and bends his head slightly, rubbing his cheek into my hand.

"Thanks Rachael". He kisses my head slightly. I close my eyes.

"Do you think we'll ever be normal again?" I ask. He starts to answer but by then I had already fallen asleep on his shoulder.