A Long Time from Home Ch. 25

I was about to leave the room when Karen stirred and sleepily asked. "What up?"

"< There's a man on the balcony! >" screamed Zena in my head, followed by Cyra's somewhat calmer. "< He's opening the door >"

"I heard something." I said hurriedly to her and left the room.

Since the guy clearly wanted to own the girls and not kill them, the biggest danger to the Twins right now was getting hurt by accident.

"< Act like you sleep! >" I sent, moving up the stairs as fast as I could without making sounds. Running would have given me away and as I didn't have a modern weapon, I would most likely need the surprise, since I couldn't rely on Ars Mentalis alone. The man clearly had some mental powers, which meant there was a chance that he might resist anything I threw at him and with each delay, the Twins could get hurt.

I concentrated briefly, and mental power surged through my body, making me stronger.

There were some muffled sounds from the twin's room, indicating that at least one of them had panicked instead of acting. Not that I blamed them: They were only kids.

I tried to open the door as silently as possible, but it didn't cooperate as it gave a squeaking sound, before it was even halfway open.

Inside the room, a tall blonde man was holding Zena down, pressing a rag to her mouth and nose, while Zena was clawing at the gloved hand. As the door squeaked, he looked up with surprise painted on his face.

Adrenaline rushed through my body and I moved the short distance between the door and the bed before he had time to react.

I hit him with a double strike to his upper arms and with a howl, he let go of Zena and took a step back from the bed with both arms temporary paralyzed.

Freed, Zena scrambled away, clutching something in her hands.

Moving in between Zena and the man, I hit him in the chest with the base of both my hands at the same time. Rips broke as the force of the strike sent him flying backwards over Cyra on the other bed and through the open door to the balcony, where the railing stopped him with a crash. A moment later, there was another crash as if something metallic had tumbled and hit the stone tiles.

A gasp from the other direction caused me to whirl. Karen was standing in the door, looking at me open mouthed.

"Watch the girls." I commanded and hurried around Zena's bed and onto the balcony.

The short disturbance had given the man time to get to his feet and as I came out, he swung himself over the railing and jumped to the ground below. The landing must have hurt, because the sound of a body hitting stone was followed by a cry of pain. Unfortunately, it wasn't a disabling injury and as I came out on the balcony, the man disappeared in the bushes.

I stopped and considered my options. No matter what, I was certain that the women would call the police and if I jumped after him and kicked his butt, the women would have a problem with explaining it to them. Especially since I felt like killing him.

Behind me, both Cyra and Zena were crying, so I sent a feeling of being safe to them along with a pride over how well they had handled the situation, causing the crying to stop.

"< You were very brave, girls! I'm proud of you both >"

"< Really? >" sent Zena, surprise in her mental voice. "< But I panicked! >"

"< You did good >" I reassured her and cut of the connection, so I could listen.

The sound of running feet reached my ears and I realized there was more than one person, most likely two, which made sense in a sick way, because there were two girls.

Then the mental whisper came back.

"< No! My beautiful girls... Get them later... Must have them... Together we can be happy... Talented girls >"

The 'Get them later' echoed in my mind and I jumped over the edge of the balcony, landing silently on the stone below. There would be no 'Get them later' if I had anything to say about it.

The sound of running feet was fainter, but still coming from the right side of the house, so I sneaked that way, avoiding the metal ladder, that were laying on the tiles, while staying in the shadows. If there were two, there might be more, and I didn't feel like walking into an ambush.

Reaching out with my mind, I searched for any mental presence in the area outside the house, but aside from two in front of me, there was no one around.

Somewhat reassured, I started to move faster, gaining on them. Then I heard something that made me curse: The sound of car doors closing followed by the roar of a staring engine.

I started to run and reached the road just in time to see a large car racing away.

Feeling like slapping myself for being stupid, I sighed. In my anger, I had forgotten that in this new age, almost everybody was driving and unlike footprints in the soil, I couldn't track a car on the road.

I turned and walked back towards the house, where I was met by Karen. With her short black hair in a mob and dressed in only panties and a t-shirt, she looked adorable.

Wordlessly she gave me a hug as soon as she saw me. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, they ran, got into a car and took off, before I could even see the car."

"They?"

"It sounded like two persons were running away, but I never saw the other guy."

Karen shook her head, but then she gave me another hug and whispered. "You're insane to follow them in the dark like that but thank you anyway."

I nodded slightly, as I returned the hug. "How're the Twins?"

"Unharmed." Karen said as she let go of me. "Alice and Rita are with them now, waiting for the police to come." She suddenly looked worried. "Oh God. You don't have a passport and no way to explain how you got here. Are you going to get into trouble?"

"No... coz I don't plan to be here when the police show up." I said with a sigh. "Listen Peach, I can't explain why, but I have a feeling that any police officer that sees me living with three gorgeous women, that I'm not related to, will take offence and that I don't have a passport won't make things better."

"Right." She said with a thoughtful expression on her face. "Go pack your stuff... I'll talk with the others."

Wondering what she was up to, I went down to 'my' room and quickly packed my stuff, cleaning the place with a few Ars Mentalis tricks. Not only was it faster than doing it by hand, but it would also remove any scent in case the police still used dogs like they did two thousand years ago. I even remembered the toothbrush in the bathroom.

Alice and Karen met me in the living room, where Alice gave me a bone-crushing hug.

"Easy." I finally managed to get out. "I can't breathe."

She eased up the hug, kissing me instead. "Thanks for saving my girls."

"Anytime." I said with a smile, causing her to tighten the hug again.

"Give the guy a break." Said Karen with a smile and looked at me. "Okay, here's the plan: You were never here. Instead of you, it was me who heard the noises and rescued the Twins."

"Will they accept that story?"

"Well, I suggested that it should be Alice." Said Karen with a shrug, but before she had a chance to continue, Alice interrupted her. "Karen is the one with the fighting skills and the credentials to prove it, so it kinda had to be her."

Karen looked almost apologetic, as she walked over and gave me a hug, thankfully a softer one than Alice's bear hug. "Now, you need to go... the police can be here any moment."

"One moment... If you're going to explain it to the police, you need to know exactly what I did." I said and explained it in detail, adding an equally detailed description of the man. While I explained, I sent her subtle images of the scene and the man, somewhat similar to those the mind creates by itself whenever a person hears a description, but these ensured that she got the image in her head exactly right.

That done, I gave her a kiss and reached out to drag Alice into a group hug.

"It'll be fine. I'll go say goodbye to Rita and the Twins and then I'll be on my way."

There was a strange howling sound in the distance and Alice let go of me. "You don't have time for that ... It's the police."

"Say hello to the Twins and kiss Rita from me." I smiled, as I waved and walked out of the door.

Outside, I slipped into Vis meditation to activate Stealth of the Fox, which enabled me to move without leaving any trace and walked away from the house, until I was hidden by the darkness.

Turning around, I looked at the house as a car with a flashing blue light on top of it, stopped and two uniformed men got out.

Ignoring them I looked at the house again and realized what had been bugging me: How did the kidnappers know which room the Twins were sleeping in?

The most obvious answer was that they had seen it, meaning that at some point the kidnappers had been near the house, in a place from where they could see the balcony.

I circled around, keeping a good distance to the house until I reached an area from where the balcony was visible. Then I looked around for a good spot to hide and found a place near a tree where someone had been standing for a while, studying the house.

Kneeling, I examined the tracks. It looked like they were made by one man and not two, but they weren't as fresh as I had initially though, being at least five days old, which meant that the person was here the same day as the women found me.

That explained the look of complete surprise on the man's face: He must have thought the women were alone in the house. A though hit me, making me smile in the darkness. If the kidnapper had encountered Karen instead of me, the result would have been just about the same.

There were tracks leading away from the spot and with a slight smile of satisfaction, I followed the tracks until I reached the road again, where the tracks disappeared.

I sighed as yet another car with flashing blue light approached. While I could use Arte ex Visiones to look back in time to see what car it was, looking back in time generally took a lot of time and required that I was here and motionless while doing it. None of which was possible with the police using the road.

Disappointed, I turned around and walked away from the road, towards Malaga.

I was halfway there, when the mental whispers came back almost as a sick cry.

"< Need beautiful girls >"

For a few heartbeats, I stood completely still and looked around. Nobody was there, but the mental whisper continued. "< Must have them... Together we can be happy... Talented girls >"

There was a limit on how far such mental whispers could reach and that meant that the creepy guy had to be somewhere near.

Searching for a high point, I found a hill and climbed to the top, so I could look around at the surrounding area.

I didn't have to look far, because right on the other side on the hill, there was a small farm and there were no other buildings within sight, narrowing the most likely places where the mental whisper could come from down to one.

I slipped on my iron silk jacket and hid the backpack under a bush, before I used Vis meditation to activate Oculus Cati again and sneaked closer to the house. If it was the place where the creepy guy lived, I could walk back to get my sword before doing anything, but if it wasn't and I came walking in with a sword drawn, there was no way to explain to the people in the house, that I had taken a wrong turn somewhere and gotten lost.

Reaching the wall, I followed it, heading for a lighted window, when a door suddenly opened in front of me and a man stepped out, limping as he walked. It was the guy I had encountered in the twin's bedroom and unfortunately, he saw me as well.

"You!" he exclaimed in English and reached into his jacket.

Guessing that he was drawing a weapon, I hit him with a straightforward snap kick to the stomach and chest area, causing him to tumble away from the door with a scream, but instead of falling, he hit the wall and leaned against it as he drew a metal object and pointed it in my direction.

Assuming that it was some kind of modern weapon, I was dodging and turning at the same time, when thunder and lightning hit me. At least that was how it felt, as a flash blinded me and there was a loud boom. Something hit me in the right shoulder with enough force to break bone and make me turn even faster.

With the knowledge from the Trojan women, I knew it had to be a gun, but I haven't imagined that they would hit quite that hard. It was much worse than even a recurve bow. Two more booms sounded, but as I was moving, I was only hit once more, this time in my right leg, making it collapse under me and sending me to the ground.

Fortunately, it was only a flesh wound, but it hurt like a bitch and at the same time, I heard the mental whisper again. "< Got him, kill, kill! >"

Then I felt something that I hadn't felt since Baylon times: A spike of mental energy, aimed directly at my nerve system, and though it bounced of my mental shields like a fly against Alice's car, I was sure that a normal human would have been severely stunned, if not paralyzed, by the force.

Needing time to get rid of the blindness, I returned the favour by sending out a wave of mental power. It's an Ars Mentalis trick, designed to be used in situations where you're alone and surrounded, because it is powerful enough to stun most people near you, including any friends. It also works very well in a situation like this, where I couldn't see clearly.

Using my left arm to push off from the ground, I got to my feet and while my wounded leg hurt and was unstable, I could use it.

My vision was still blurry, but by now, I could see the outline of the gunman since he was right in front of me, staggering slightly from the mental wave.

I released the adrenaline in my body and moved.

A few halting steps forward brought me so close to him, that he couldn't easily use his gun on me. A punch in the throat crushed it like a ripe melon and since I was using my left arm and he was holding the gun in the right hand, I finished the move by locking his right forearm in my armpit.

A moment later, I was extremely happy about the arm-lock, because he fired the gun a few times more and had his arm not been locked in my armpit, he would have hit me.

Before the guy could come up with more surprises, I straightened his arm with a slight turn to the right. Using my non-wounded arm, I slammed the base of my palm into his elbow, breaking it and causing him to drop the gun. It looked like he was trying to scream, but nothing came out of the crushed throat and I suddenly realized that I needed some information.

Knowing I had little time, I reached out with my mind, using brute force to penetrate his mind-shield and picked out his name (David Curtis) as well as a mind-image and a name of his partner (Leonard Parker) along with the location of the partner's house.

The guy was dying fast and reading a dying mind was an extremely unpleasant experience, so I retreated from his mind and pushed him away from me. He fell to the ground trashing.

The pain in my shoulder and leg suddenly felt worse as the adrenalin level lowered and I looked down at the leg. Apparently, iron silk didn't work as well with bullets as it did with 'old school' weapon. Perhaps because the bullet moved so quickly that the fabric didn't have time to stiffen.

On the other hand, iron silk is one of the most impregnable fabrics ever made and the effects of those two facts were rather strange. Instead of penetrating the fabric, the bullet had dragged the iron silk into the wound as it pierced my flesh, mimicking the effect that ordinary silk could have on arrows or crossbow bolts.

The only explanation I could come up with about why the blow on the shoulder was different was that it had come at a glancing angle, giving the iron silk time to stiffen there.

It still hurt like someone had pierced my leg with a red-hot spear and as I looked at the wound, the leg suddenly collapsed under me, causing me to fall the ground. Agony soared through my body from both leg and shoulder, and for a moment the world seemed to spin before it settled down.

My training kicked in, suppressing the pain, and allowed me to stop the scream that was threatening to leave my throat.

Some deep breaths later, I had the pain under control.

Taking hold of the cloth with my left hands, I gently teased it out of my leg along with the bullet. It hurt like having your leg penetrated by an arrow, but I finally got the bullet out and used an Ars Mentalis trick to close the wound.

Fixing the shoulder was relatively simple, as that only required that I sat the bone correctly with my left hand and fused it together with Ars Mentalis, giving it time to work.

My eyes drifted to the dead guy. Like the Twins, he had clearly possessed some mental powers and that worried me. I had wandered the world for a thousand years and the few humans that could use anything that even resembled Ars Mentalis, had all had some Baylon blood in them, but now I had met three pure humans with that ability within a week.

However, the knowledge I had gotten from the women clearly stated that such powers only existed in fiction and not in real life, which told me two important things: It was extremely rare for people to have such powers and the very existence of those powers was kept secret.

The fact that both the gunman and the Twins had those powers, meant that there had to be more people out there with similar powers, since it was improbable that I had stumbled over the only three people in the world with mental powers, in the short time I had been awake.

The gunman looked to be in his early thirties and while he could have developed those powers early in his life, like the Twins, the latest any mental power would start to show was when the brain matured, which was around twenty-five. To make a guess, the gunman had possessed those powers somewhere between seven and twenty-two years.

My mind raced as I thought it through and then I grimaced, as I came to a conclusion that I really didn't like: There had to be some people out there that were actively working on keeping the existence of these powers a secret, otherwise it would be widely known by now.

It could be the various governments working together or it could be a completely independent organization, but the result for me was the same: Unless I kept a low profile, they would start searching for me at some point. The same could be said about the Twins, so I needed to warn them as well once the police had gone.

Looking at the house, I sighed and stood up. Detecting with the mind was extremely practical, but severely limited as it only detected known mental patterns or active thought. Besides the fact that some people, me included, were simply impossible to detect no matter what trick was used, unknown sleeping or unconscious people couldn't be detected either.

That meant that I had to go in there and search the place to be sure that the creep didn't have any kids stanched away somewhere.

After testing my shoulder to make sure it was in working order, I used another Ars Mentalis trick to clear away the blood from both my trousers and the ground.

Then I slipped into Vis meditation again to activate Stealth of the Fox, which enabled me to move without leaving any trace, picked up the gun from the ground and placed it on the dead guy, before I carried him into the house. That way he was out of sight just in case he had some late-night visitor, like his partner in crime.

Then I locked the front door and went exploring.

The ground floor of the house was empty of people, but as I searched the basement, I noticed it was smaller than I had expected from the dimensions of the rest of the house, making it possible that there were hidden rooms. However, even hidden rooms need a door and there's only so many ways to hide a door. Especially in a relatively bare room like the one, I was in now.