Chapter 10

Randal - Chapter 10

Standing in the shower, Randal heard the door open and close and smiled. Laney had said she was going to join him, but as the time grew later, he wasn't so sure he'd have time. School was back in session today, and he had to get there early.

"I'm sorry." He turned and pulled her into his arms just as she reached for him. "There was a problem with a backpack that had to be addressed. And then shoes were missing too."

"Having a child in the house means I'm going to have to seduce you whenever I can." He kissed her, giving her as much of his passion as he could. "Christ, I need you."

He pressed her against the shower stall wall and devoured her mouth. Then moving down her body, he nibbled on her throat that was pounding with her pulse. Her breasts were suckled on as he made his way down to her navel, his favorite place to tickle her when she was naked.

"You have to hurry, Randal. All I thought about all the time I was looking for a shoe was coming in here and having you make me come." He grinned at her from his position on the floor. "You're going to pay for making me wait."

"I hope so." He spread her nether lips and suckled on her clit. She was soaking wet now, not just with the shower water, but she was dripping wet too. As he made a meal out of her, savoring every drop of her, he slid his finger into her heat and told her to come.

She cried out with her release, quietly because they didn't want Heather to hear her. They'd had a close call two days ago when they'd thought that she was at a friend's house, but she'd come back early because the child had gotten sick.

Standing up, he told Laney that he loved her and then kissed her again as he slid deep inside of her. She was so tight around him, and when she came, tightening around him again and again, Randal moaned at the ecstasy of her.

"My turn." He hadn't come yet but it didn't matter. When she pushed him back against the wall, he knew that he'd come sooner or later. And from the look on her face, he had a feeling it was going to be later. She cupped his balls in her hands and rolled them. Randal's eyes rolled to the back of his head and he nearly fell forward.

She never touched her mouth to him, not yet anyway. But she did make him suffer, in ways that he was sure were harder on him than being hurt. Christ, he loved this woman, and when she finally took him into her luscious mouth, he cried out loudly as he came hard enough to make his body ache with it. When she swallowed him, taking his crown past the tightness of her throat, he came a second time. His body bowed back from the wall; his entire being seemed to have clenched up seconds before his release. As soon as his cock and balls emptied, he slid to the floor, his legs no longer strong enough to support his weight.

"You killed me." Her giggle had him looking at her, but even his vision was protesting the movement. "I cannot move. And all the kids in my class are going to be so disappointed."

"You think so? Well, if you're a good boy today, I'll make is worth your while when you get back." He groaned. "Poor baby. Do you want me to kiss it and make it better?"

"No. Don't touch me. You really will kill me." The water shut off and he still couldn't move. "Call me off sick, I beg you. I can't move."

"Heather needs a ride to school, and I have a meeting to go to. Get up and show some spirit." Randal did stand up, but he was wobbly because his legs felt like rubber. "You owe me, if I made you feel this good."

"As I said, I think you killed me. Or broke me…I'm not sure."

She was laughing when she left the bedroom. He dressed himself with the magic and made his way to the stairs. Standing there, he heard Heather talking to Laney downstairs in the hallway and waited.

"Is it going to be scary, you think?" Laney told her that Randal would never allow harm to come to either of them. "I know, but I don't know if I can do it. Are you sure that he won't hurt me?"

"As positive as I have been about anything in my life." Randal didn't know who they were talking about, but he'd bet anything that it was their dad. "I'll be right there with you, as will Randal. You don't have to worry about anything, of this I swear to you."

Lance had requested to see Heather. He told them that he'd not do anything to hurt her, nor would he touch her unless she said it was all right. Lance had taken on many changes in the last few days. Walking the neighborhood that he now lived in. Going to work every day, even on his days off, to help out, and he wasn't begging Laney for anything. Other than to see Heather.

"I'd like to tell her that I'm sorry too." Laney had said nothing, but Randal asked him what it was that he'd done that he needed to tell her that. "I wasn't there for her either. I was a lousy father to both my daughters. One was completely my fault. The other, Heather, I could have said something. Even though I'm pretty sure she's not my daughter, I was around when she was born and I should have stood up for her. Done something that would have made her life better."

"She lived with monsters; you know that, don't you?" He nodded at Laney when she spoke. "They were drug addicts, and treated her like a slave. She had to cook and clean for them, and keep them out of harm's way when they were too stoned to take care of her. You did that to her. You and Rosemarie."

"I know that. I should have…I should have done a lot of things that I didn't. And every day for the rest of my life, I will beg for forgiveness and peace for what I've done. Not that I deserve either, but I know that I was wrong about so many things." Laney didn't say anything, so Lance looked at Randal. "I only want to tell her how sorry I am. To beg her to please try and forgive me. If you both wish to be there, then that's all right with me as well. I don't deserve to be alone with anyone, as far as I'm concerned."

And today, she was going to go and talk to him. Randal had agreed to take her, as Laney wasn't sure she could handle it. Of late she'd been very teary and upset. He hoped that once the trial was over for Rosemarie, things for her would settle down.

By the time they two of them were at the school, he'd talked Heather into joining the after school singing club, as well as trying out for track. She loved to be active, and he was sure that she'd enjoy some sort of sports too. As soon as she was out of the car and on her way into the building, he picked up his things and made his way to the building as well. But once he was on the sidewalk, he had an eerie feeling that something was wrong.

There were no children hanging around the play yard. The buses didn't show up for another hour at least, so he was sure that was it. But the feeling wouldn't be quelled, so he called Heather back and she came immediately.

"I want you to go to the car and wait for me." She nodded, but grabbed his hand. "I don't know what's going on, honey, but I can feel it."

"I can too. Like there is someone inside there that is hurting." He only felt apprehensive about something, not sure what it was. But when she said hurting, he lifted his nose to the air and could smell it then. Blood. "Dad, I want to go home."

"I can't leave here without knowing." She nodded and tightened her grip on his hand. "Go to the car and stay there. I'm going to have my brothers come here as well."

She made her way to the car by back stepping. She was nervous, he knew that, but at what, he didn't know. His own heart was pounding, and he knew that he was going to walk into a shit storm. Taking a deep breath, he let it out slowly as he reached out to the family for help.

Joe and I are in town. I'm on my way. Joe said not to enter. She doesn't know what is going on, but don't go inside. He said that he couldn't do that. Yeah, I told her that you would do it anyway. Just be careful, Randal. I don't want to have to explain to Mom or your mate that you were hurt.

The first thing he saw was a trail of blood. Not a great deal of it, but enough to let him know that someone was inside the place. He told Trent and the others what he found, and they assured him that they were coming. That was when he saw the police officer who dropped his little boy off every morning.

He's dead. Shot once in the head. I have his gun. Chloe asked him where Heather was. In my car. I told her not to move until one of you guys or I came back to get her. Can someone tell Laney? I need to be on my…. Mrs. Collins is dead. Her body is just behind the front desk. I don't think that was where she was killed. There is no splatter.

His brothers started talking all at once. He had to close the connection for a few moments just to get his breath back. The smell of blood was making his wolf crazy. The need to protect and kill was making him a little high strung.

Randal felt rather than heard Laney. She was upset, but when she spoke to him, he could feel her trying hard to control her terror. He was glad for it…he was afraid enough as it was.

While I understand that you have to check the place out, you get hurt and I will hunt you down and hurt you worse. Randal told her that he loved her. I love you too. Please be careful. I'm not going to tell you to get out of there…I understand why you need this. But please, for me, stay safe.

I promise you that I will. He stepped over the body of a child, and his heart tore up when he realized it was one of his kids. I can't talk to you now, love. I have to finish this. Please, just let me.

Yes, I understand.

He didn't tell her what he'd seen, didn't tell any of them what he came across as he made his way to his classroom. Randal had no idea why, but he thought this had nothing to do with him, but the school itself.

As soon as he stepped into his room, he saw three of his students huddled in the corner. It took him several minutes to get them out of the room through the windows. Trent was there, lifting them over the glass and to the ground and safety. When they were out and running toward the rest of his family, both Chloe and Marty joined him in the room. Trent was going to wait there for more children. Anastasia joined them as they headed down the hall again.

"There are children in the gym. The gunman, or gunmen, are not in there. I'm going to lead them to this room, then to Trent." He nodded at Anastasia. "I don't know the people that did this, but you can bet that they're not long for this world when I find them."

She went to the gym and left the door ajar. When it closed all the way, he had a moment of panic until he heard from Trent. He told him that he was outside the gym door helping the children there to safety. Randal had to lean against the wall and get his terrified heart back under control.

At the fork in the hallway they decided that they needed to split up. They'd cover more ground that way, and maybe find more children. Chloe took the right fork and Marty the other. Randal made his way to the cafeteria, where he knew that the kids gathered before classes began.

As soon as he entered the great room, he thought that the children there were dead. They were lined up on the floor, their heads down and their little bodies as still as he'd ever seen them. There were perhaps fifty students in the room, and two adults. He was sure that one of them was a teacher, but he'd not seen her face yet. The other, he had no idea. As soon as Mrs. Cavendish turned in his direction, he felt his world tumble around him. The new principal was not only holding a gun in her hands, but she had blood all over her face and dress.

She hadn't seen him as yet, for which he was grateful. But he had to get to the children, or at least get them to safety. He told the others what he found, and when Chloe told him that she had a group of children she was taking to the gym, Marty said she was on her way to him.

No, don't come here. I can handle this. She asked him why not. Because if you come here with me, I'm going to do everything in my power to protect you, even at my own risk. I love you for your help, but I can't concentrate on what I'm doing if you are here, and I'll get hurt. Please, let me do this on my own. If I can't, I'll call you. But for now, I have this.

All right, but like your mate, if you get hurt, I'm going to hurt you worse. He said he would let them, too. I'm with Chloe, looking for other children. If they're the only two, then we can work quicker to get the strays out. These poor children and their parents.

He had to agree. But he had to somehow end this without anyone dying. He wasn't sure what he could do, if he was honest with himself, but he had to do it quickly. Almost as soon as he thought he should call in help, Mrs. Cavendish—her first name escaped him right now—picked up one of the students by the hair and put the gun to his head.

"Don't." Randal moved out of the doorway he'd been hiding in and moved toward her. "I'm not armed."

He'd slipped the gun in the back of his pants before coming out. And when no one searched him, he was profoundly glad. The gun might be the difference between the life and death of these children.

"Well, look who it is. Mr. Randal. You come to die too?" He glanced at the other man, but didn't speak. "I've had enough of these little shits, and I've come here today to rid the world of their whiney voices."

"You don't want to do that. Laura, right? Your first name is Laura." Randal smiled when she nodded. "I'm terrible with names. I think it has to do with having to remember so many. What are you doing here?"

"Killing the scum of the earth. What are you doing here?" He told her he was coming to work. "Well, you should have called off, I think. Every one of these little pissers is going to die today. My name will go down in history around these parts as the woman who did the world a favor by killing a bunch of kids."

"And your help? Who is that?" He thought it was her husband, but he wasn't sure. Randal had met the man once, when she was named the new principal of the school. "You think you need help with a bunch of children?"

"My husband and I, we're ready to die for our cause. I didn't think I had one until these little shits kept coming by my office and begging me for shit. I don't have time for that. I'm supposed to be retired, not working all the time here." He wasn't sure what she was talking about, but she continued before he could ask. "Harold lost his job a week ago. Right before Christmas. Can you believe that shit? That man—your friend, Doug Coulier—fired him because he was drinking on the job. My husband does not have a problem with drinking. If anything, he should be drinking more with the shit that he's gone through."

"What is it he's going through, Laura?" She fired the gun at his feet and he didn't move. The children, however, started to scream. Laura shot one of them at random and told them to shut the fuck up. "Laura, why don't you let them go? They're not going to be any help to you in this."

"He and I are going to make some demands, then we're going to go away for a long time." Laura smiled at her husband. "Aren't we baby? We're going to take a long vacation."

When she lifted her gun up and pointed it at him, Randal thought for sure he was going to break his promise to Laney. But when she fired at her husband, just a single shot, the man fell backward, hitting the wall behind him before he fell on the floor. Randal was terrified.

"He lost his job and all our money. Now I'm going to go to prison, and I don't think I can handle that, Randal. What am I doing here?" He said he didn't know. "I don't either. I hurt all up in my head. They all have to die, you know. But you have to as well."

The gun was lifted up and pointed it at him, and he did the only thing he could think of. Randal drew his own gun and fired three times, his hand jerking with each shot. When she fell backwards and then lay still, Randal sat down. He had just killed someone.

~*~

Tanner waited with the rest of his family for Randal to be processed. His clothing, as well as his shoes, had to be removed, and he was then checked again. Even though he'd told them several times that he'd not been hurt, they looked him over for wounds. None of them, not even Laney, who had arrived just as the police were entering the building, could touch him yet.

"I think she was mad at her husband." The officer asked him again if he'd heard his name. "No, I'm sorry. I only just remembered her name when she turned toward me. I think she's only been employed for a few weeks. Right after Thanksgiving she was named as principal."

"Did you know any of the students?" Randal told him that he knew all the kids in the school. "I'm sorry, sir. I truly am. We're still going through the building now, but it looks like you and the chief got most of them out before this went down."

Randal looked at Laney and him when he said his name. "I'm all right. I promise. Shook up a lot, but I'm okay." Laney told him that she loved him. "And I you, sweetheart. You were all I could think of when she pointed the gun at me."

Tanner bent down to his brother's level and asked him what he needed from him. "The principal's home is going to be gone through. Also the computer in her office. They'll want to take you to the hospital, just to make sure that you're not in shock, so let them. Better to have a record of this than not."

"I understand." Laney asked if she could hold Randal's hand, and the cop nodded but warned her not to touch him anywhere else just yet. "I'm all right."

He kept saying that, and Tanner had a feeling that he was trying to convince himself as much as them. His parents weren't able to come into the building just yet, nor was anyone else for that matter. Tanner had only been allowed in because his brother had asked for a lawyer and his wife. The rest of them would have to wait. But Tanner was giving them updates about what was going on.

The parents of the kids had started coming to the school about ten minutes after it hit the news. There were going to be a lot of grief stricken families tonight. Four children had been murdered, two of them from the upper classes; sixth grade, he'd heard. Also one of Randal's kids, as well as a young girl who had wanted to escort her little brother in today. Then there was the police officer, as well as the secretary to the principal. It would be a long time before motive was sorted out, but Tanner would be there for his family.

When Randal was released, Tanner stayed back to let the rest of them hug him. Randal had saved the lives of a great many children today, and quite a few adults. Mrs. Cavendish had been waiting on the rest of the staff to come in, and her plan, according to the list she had on her desk when searched, was that she was going to kill each teacher as they came in. Then when the children were in their rooms, she was going to have them line up against the walls and kill them as well. It would have been a massacre of the highest kind. As it was, there were still too many deaths as far as they were concerned.

Tanner waited until the last of the bodies was brought out. The principal and her spouse were taken out the back of the building and not with the others. He thought it was a good idea, as the crowd was already gearing up for a showdown. As he watched them cling together, their hearts broken as much as his was, he wondered what would happen now. This school was jinxed as far as he was concerned.

"They're going to rebuild it." He looked at Noah when he spoke from the dark shadows of the building next door. "I've put the word out that it needs to be torn down and began anew. I'm going to pay for it."

"We'll help too." Noah thanked him. "They're going to need to find teachers that will come here too. And a new principal."

"I think your brother would make a good one. Look how he's calming down everyone, telling them that the people are no longer going to hurt their children. Telling them not what they want to hear, but what he knows for facts. He's a good man, and will be good for the new school. A man with a family. A heart made for children. He needs to take this job so that it'll be run well, and more security can come in and make it safe. He'll be able to do that." Tanner told him that Randal had turned it down before. "I don't think he'll be able to this time. To them, he's a hero—me as well—and if he doesn't take it, they'll come to him anyway with any problems."

"He's going to fall apart when this is done." Noah said that he would, but he'd have his family there. "Yes, we'll be there for him. So will his mate."

"I'm to understand that you're not looking for your mate. That you'd rather spend your days alone than with her." Tanner turned to look at the vampire, and asked him where he'd heard that. "I'm not a man who tells on those that come to me."

"Yes, I don't…I didn't want a mate. But I can see now where one would be good for a person. Look at Laney and how she's there for him, but not in his way." Noah said he doubted that she would be thought of as being in the way. "No, I guess not. But while she's there for him, she's giving him the time to come to terms with it too. Do you know what I mean?"

"Yes. They're a good team. Just as your own mate will be with you." Tanner said nothing. He wasn't sure about that. He was sort of set in his ways, even for as young as he was. "Tanner, she will love you like no other, and you will her as well. But to turn one away, a love like no other, simply because you think yourself above it all, would be a disaster for you both."

"I know that. I do." He looked back at the man who had been his friend for only a few weeks and told him the truth, the truth that he'd not been able to tell anyone before. "When I was in college, there was a car accident. Two people were hurt, me being one of them. I can't father children. Not ever."

"I know that. I think they all do." He looked back at his family and asked Noah how they might know. "I would imagine that Joe has told Trent. She would have done a great deal of research on your family before coming to you the first time. It would have been easy enough for her to find and dig into."

"I should have known that it would be out there. The way my mom and grandda treated me when I got home that summer. Joe, she told you then?" He said that she told him everything about his family. "There's more?"

"Oh yes, a great deal more. Some of it you might already be aware of, some you might not. She is good at research. Benny is good too, but not as good as my Joe is." Tanner nodded but said nothing. "Do you think that your family will love you less because you cannot father children?"

"No, it's not that. Just that they might…I don't know. I guess I don't want to disappoint anyone. I know that I am. When I woke up in the hospital with my nuts banged up, it was too late for me to shift and take care of the damage. Besides, the bruising was so bad that it wouldn't have helped me much anyway. I was hurt too badly." Noah said nothing, for which he was grateful. "What if she wants a passel of children, as my grandda says? What if her only desire is to have my child? I can't do that, for anyone."

"I think that when the right woman comes along, she will be so happy to have a man like you in her life that she will be only too happy to just be with you." Tanner looked at Noah with a cocked brow. "Yes, it sounded better in my head than past my lips. But you'll be fine, young Tanner. You and your family are meant to have it all, and she will give it to you. You and your family will be complete then."

"Sure, so long as no one asks me about a baby to bounce on their knee."

The police officer that had been first on the scene came toward him. Glancing back at Noah, he wasn't surprised to see that he had disappeared. It wasn't late in the day, but the police weren't as accepting of vampires as they were wolves.

"Mr. Calhoun, there is a call for you from the station. It's about that woman, Ms. Prichard. She wants to talk to the attorney for her daughter. I'm assuming that would be you?" He said it was. "She's an ornery person, if you ask me. I don't know how she got along this long without someone hitting her a few times to keep her in line."

"I don't either. I'll go, but I'll have an officer with me." He said that was a good idea. "Her attorney, Chester, has he been notified?"

"Yes, sir, he has been. But she said she doesn't want to talk to him. She called him some names, but he'll be there directly." Tanner thanked him. "You're welcome. I'll be glad when she moves on. Like I said, she's mean."