Shielded
Chapter 13 - Letting Go

She was wrong. Ray might not look like a royal now, but she had it in her to be a real leader. Fuck, I attacked her and triggered her past issues yet she still apologized to me because she saw I needed it. And the way she protected that little girl, demonstrated just how much of the Valkyrie instincts she has. Not to mention the power that basically dripped off the woman and I was pretty sure she was still holding back on us. No, Ray was wrong. She was going to make an amazing royal one day. Right after she realizes how far beneath her we really were, and leaves.

--Connor

The stop at Polly’s took much longer than I had expected. Camilla kept touching me like she needed to reassure herself that I was still here and Roberto spilled the beans that I was here and two other kitchen guys showed up to see me. We all stood around talking about nothing of substance for over thirty minutes. It was all very weird.

Eventually, I convinced them that I needed to get going and slipped out the back with my backpack and new work schedule. That had taken some doing, but I had finally convinced Camilla to allow me to keep my hours. Her concerns about my hand were sweet, but I really couldn’t afford to skip many shifts. When I came around the corner I saw that Maria was clinging to Blake’s back as he chased Connor around the parking lot. For a few moments, I leaned against the wall and just watched the scene play out. All three of them were smiling as Connor darted away from Blake’s attempts to tag him and Maria’s giggles permeated the air. It was a happy, carefree sight that warmed my soul.

Blake must have seen me because he darted over to my hiding place and Maria promptly tagged me while calling that I was it. I gave her a big smile and then tried to reach out and tag Blake, but he was too quick on his feet. In fact, both of the massive Berg twins were wicked fast and after five minutes of relentless chasing, I came to the conclusion I wasn’t going to outrun them. Time to out-think them. I cloaked myself and while the boys were looking around I simply walked up to Connor and tagged his shoulder. He spun around, surprised by the touch and I plastered on a huge smile before revealing myself to say “Tag your it.”

As Connor’s eyes focused on me he faltered for the smallest moment before declaring that I wasn’t playing fair. The relief of being able to show someone else my Gifts and using them just for the fun of it was almost overwhelming. I felt my smile growing even larger and I let out a peal of laughter of my own. Connor didn’t start chasing me and Blake came over with Maria who struggled out of Blake’s hold and ran over to me while holding her small arms in the air. She was too fucking cute for her own good. I reached down, pulled her into my arms, and started twirling. Her laughter mingled with my own and I embraced the bubble of happiness that was welling up inside of me.

When we stopped spinning, I looked over to replace the twins with identical looks of shock on their faces. That sobered me up fast and without much thought, I materialized three Shields. One around me and Maria and one each for the twins. I gripped Maria tighter to my chest and turned to scan the area for whatever had put that look on the boy’s faces. I didn’t see anything but I wasn’t taking any chances. I swung Maria to my back and she obligingly hung onto my heck and wrapped her legs around my hips. I called my kataña and started slowly backing up toward the truck.

“Easy Ray,” Blake said in an overly calm voice. “Nothing is coming after us. You just got spooked.” I looked over to see him and Connor staring at me with concern lacing their features. It was so different from how they looked just a moment ago. What had happened. Did I really read this situation so badly? I scanned the surroundings again, but the parking lot was still empty.

“Why did you two look so shocked? I figured someone with two heads was standing behind me with a bloody ax after seeing your faces?” I demanded without letting down my guard. Connor and Blake traded looks that clearly communicated something that I wasn’t understanding. I searched for some trouble one last time and then allowed my kataña to dematerialize. The last thing I needed was someone to see me standing with a child clinging to my back while I wielded a sword.

“We were just taken by surprise,” Blake hedged, clearly uncomfortable about something.

“Surprised by what?” I asked again, but Connor was more interested in getting some answers of his own.

“How can you shield us without physical contact? Hell, how are you holding three separate Shields at the same time?” Well, I guess that means that Elijah and Derik hadn’t shared my ability to do this with them. That was kinda comforting.

“I don’t know,” I admitted and let the Shields drop. “I just do it. I didn’t know it was weird until I read Max’s book.”

“What else can you do?” Connor demanded making me feel like even more of a freak.

“Oh no, you are done trying to distract me. What were you two so surprised by?” I fired back to get the attention off of me and back on them. I was much more comfortable when I wasn’t in the spotlight.

“Jesus, you have no idea do you?” Connor said and I was pretty sure he was angry about whatever I didn’t know. “You are fucking powerful Ray. From what I can tell, way more powerful than any Valkyrie we have ever met and that includes princess Regina. The more powerful the Valkyrie, the more powerful the allure they have. I am pretty sure the only reason humans haven’t been flocking to you in droves is because you stayed invisible most of the time. Seeing you that happy and carefree was enough to get through even our resistance and it caught us off guard.”

It was like he had taken a knife and pushed it right into my heart. Of course, it was my power that was attracting the guys. Why else would five handsome, gifted, kind people give a shit about me. It had been a mistake to walk around uncloaked for so long and if I kept doing it I was going to keep forcing them to be drawn to me. I liked these guys. I didn’t want to force them to do anything.

“So you are saying that the only reason that you guys are being so nice to me is because I am leaking out this allure?” I asked to clarify. This wasn’t something that I wanted to misunderstand. I wouldn’t force myself on anyone. If this was true I was going to have to remain cloaked and kiss my budding friendship with the Three Musketeers goodbye.

“Oh no Babygirl,” Noah said and rushed towards me. He reached out and cupped my jaw and ran his thumb along my cheek causing tingles of warmth to seep into my skin. “That was Connor speak for he thinks you’re pretty. Ignore him, he is just being an asshole. We are nice to you because one, we are nice people and two, we like you and want to get to know you better.”

“But what about my allure breaching your resistance?” I asked, wanting to be absolutely sure they weren’t playing me. Blake wasn’t lying when he said that they wanted to get to know me better, but I needed some assurance.

“Your allure is a part of who you are, Ray. Just like it is a part of who we are and we can’t control it anymore than we can control how tall we are. Don’t you feel drawn to us? Isn’t it easier to let your guard down when you are around us than it is when you are surrounded by humans?” I thought about that for a second before slowly nodding my head. Blake was right. I felt closer to the guys than I had to anyone in my life. Even Jack. And I felt this way after only a week of knowing them. That level of trust that quickly was unheard of for me. Linking it to something supernatural was the only thing that made sense.

“That’s the allure Babygirl,” Blake whispered as he tipped his forehead down to rest against mine. “It makes things easier, but it doesn’t take away your free will. If we wanted to walk away we could. But we think you’re kinda awesome and want you to stick around for as long as possible.” Every word he said was the God's honest truth and it caused a large chunk of the wall surrounding my heart to crumble away. They wanted me to stay!

I surged forward and wrapped my arms around Blake’s waist and tucked my head under his chin. I thought he was pretty awesome too. The feeling of the clan bond felt amazing and I wanted to stand there soaking up strength and reassurance from Blake all day, but the wiggling on my back reminded me that I still had a little girl clinging to me. We needed to get back so that we weren’t late for the meeting with her aunt.

I broke away from Blake and looked around until I met Connor’s eyes. I needed to know if he felt the same way. If he really felt that I was somehow controlling their actions, then I would need to keep my distance from him. I let all of the questions I had show on my face and like always Connor gave it to me straight.

“The only other female Valkyrie that we have ever spent any time with was Regina and she is a spoiled, entitled bitch who knows exactly how powerful she is and what she represents to the rest of us. She always used that to her advantage and never let us forget just how much better she is than the rest of us. I keep expecting you to start acting like her. But that’s on me, not you. I like that you are down to earth and don’t flaunt your power,” Connor admitted in a direct voice and I gave him a soft smile. On one hand, it was nice to know that he didn’t mind hanging out with me, but it was a little disconcerting to know that he was waiting for me to turn into a spoiled brat. Actually, they all acted like they were waiting for me to act in a certain way.

I decided to drop the subject after I checked my watch to see that more time had passed than I had thought. If we didn’t hurry we were going to be late for the meeting with Maria’s aunt. I crouched down so that Maria could climb off my back and then we walked hand in hand to the truck. I know that I had only known this little girl for less than a day but I was going to really miss her. My little charge already felt like such a big part of my life.

The ride back to the guy's clan house was quiet and I was pretty sure that one of the twins had texted Elijah about our timeline because he was outside waiting with a brown paper bag in his hand when we pulled up. I lifted Maria out of the back of the truck and set her on her feet, expecting her to run and greet Elijah as she had taken to doing with the twins, but she just reached up and wrapped her little fingers around my hand. I guess my little charge hadn’t warmed up to the clan leader either. Elijah checked his watch before telling us that we didn’t have time to go back into the house. I followed Elijah over to a sleek black Audi A6 sedan that was parked in the four-car garage. Wow, these guys really were loaded.

Once again I climbed into the back, pulled Maria on my lab, and belted us in together. It was a lot more awkward without another person in the front seat and it felt like Elijah was our hired driver, but back seats were safer. Elijah just smiled at us and handed me the brown paper bag before setting into the driver’s seat. I looked in the bag to replace two sandwiches wrapped in tin foil that were still warm, a bag of carrots, two yogurts, and two bottles of water. I took a moment and just stared at the packed lunch. Jack and I traded food all the time to make sure that neither of us went hungry, but no one had ever gone through the trouble to pack me a bag lunch before.

I pulled out one of the sandwiches and unwrapped the foil to replace a grilled chicken panini that smelled amazing. I offered it to Maria and she tentatively took a bite and considered it for a moment while she chewed. She must have decided that she liked it because she suddenly grabbed the sandwich with both hands and started eating it with gusto. I laughed under my breath at her enthusiasm and started eating the other one. It really was an excellent sandwich with pesto and creamy white cheese. The quiche this morning had also been excellent once I had slowed down enough to actually enjoy it. If Elijah had cooked both, then he was really talented in the kitchen.

I thanked Elijah for the food but we didn’t talk much on the drive over to the police station. After we were done with the sandwiches, Maria leaned back on my chest and quickly fell asleep. I carefully ate the bag of carrots and one of the yogurts even though I was pretty full. I wasn’t one to turn down free food. Especially not healthy food. When we arrived at the police station Elijah parked but neither of us got out of the car right away.

“What is going to happen?” I asked and hated how much emotion my voice revealed. Maria was going to stay with a family member that loved and already took care of her. That was the best-case scenario. I needed to be happy for her. This didn’t mean I would never see her again. We did live in the same city.

“Social services already vetted Valentina and completed a home visit this morning. They are living in a small but clean house in the Temescal neighborhood. Valentina has two children of her own, one is twelve and the other is just a baby so Maria will fit right in. Her husband, Hugo Garcia works for the city as a garbage man. Valentina and her older son are both illegal, but Hugo is a citizen. The baby and Maria were both born on American soil and are also citizens. With everything that happened, we are pulling some strings to get the green card process started for Valentina and her son. Today we are going to walk into the police station and Valentina will take custody of Maria.”

“And Maria likes Valentina? She is treated right with her family?” I asked as I stared down at my little charge. Her curly hair had fallen over the left side of her face and her lips were slightly parted as she continued to sleep.

“Valentina says so, but the only way we can be sure is to see how Maria reacts to seeing her. I will monitor her thoughts and if anything suspicious catches my attention I will tell you. If that happens we will investigate and get to the root of the problem. If it isn’t something that we can fix, then we will replace another solution,” Elijah said in a calm, sure voice filled with confidence. “Ray, I promise that we will keep your protected safe.”

He wasn’t lying. Elijah really believed that we could keep Maria safe, and I was surprised to replace that his word was enough for me. It gave me the strength to pull Maria more securely into my arms and step out of the car. This was something that I had to do because I was in no way fit to take care of Maria, but for the first time that I could remember, I didn’t have to do it alone.

I walked a step behind Elijah into the police station and I spotted Derik as we walked through the maze of desks and bustling people. He was in uniform and looked to be interviewing someone at his desk. The woman he was talking to was hysterically crying and Derik looked supremely uncomfortable. If I wasn’t so sad about having to give up Maria, the sight might have actually made me smile. We made eye contact briefly as I walked passed and at that moment I knew Derik was also here for me if I needed him. God, it felt so good to have people around that gave a damn about me.

Elijah led me to a conference room located at the back of the building. Within the room sat four people. A man in a suit that looked like he was ready to pose for a toothpaste commercial, a woman that had a stain on her shirt and looked strung out on coffee, and a Hispanic couple. The Hispanic man stood as we entered the room and was surprisingly short. He wore blue jeans and a grey faded button-down shirt with well-worn work boots. He was on the thinner side, had a mustache, and kind eyes that zeroed in on the child in my arms the moment I walked through the door. The woman had clearly been crying and still had crumpled up tissues in her left hand. She was wearing black yoga pants with a red scoop neck t-shirt and had her hair pulled up into a messy bun. This must be Valentina and Hugo Garcia.

I looked over Maria’s aunt and uncle for a full minute before gently shaking the sleeping girl in my arms. The entire time I evaluated Maria’s only remaining family the rest of the room remained silent. It was like everyone in that room knew that if I decided to walk out with Maria and never return they could do nothing to stop me. But during that time both Valentina and Hugo did nothing but look at my little charge with love and sorrow. My father had never looked at me like that. Point one for the Garcia’s.

Maria’s sleepy eyes were slow to focus once they opened, but when she saw me looking down at her she reached up and wrapped her arms around my neck. I embraced the hug and tucked my head into her hair and took a deep breath. I could do this because it was what was best for this precious little girl. This wasn’t goodbye. I could do this.

After one more squeeze, I gently lowered Maria to the ground and she finally realized that she was in a new place and looked around. Hugo crouched down and when Maria saw him, her face split into a wide grin and she ran straight into his arms. He picked her up and cradled Maria’s head in his hand as he started murmuring words in Spanish to her. Valentina started crying again and wrapped her arms around both of them. It was a touching moment that I couldn’t fully comprehend. I had never had someone love me like that. But this was clearly love. Maria was going to be okay with the Garcia’s.

I pulled the fabric of reality around me and slowly disappeared from sight so that no one would remember that I was supposed to be there. Then I walked out of that conference room because I was having trouble catching my breath. I wanted to be happy for Maria and deep down I was, but right now all I could feel was the overwhelming pressing weight of being completely alone. I didn’t have a family that stepped in when my father had died. Instead of hugs and tears of joy, I got shuffled from rundown house to drug den to group home with all of my belongings stuffed into black trash bags.

Something inside of me had identified with Maria because the one person in this world that was supposed to love us above all else had instead hated us. I had thought that we were the same and that I would swoop in and save her from having to live the life I had. But in the end, Maria and I were not the same. She was an innocent child filled with love and joy. I was a murder with trust issues and a temper. Maria was better off with her family. That is where she belonged.

I was just getting a grip on my runaway emotions when a fight broke out in the main room. I hadn’t really been paying attention to what had been going on so I had no idea what was happening or why these three guys were fighting. I took stock of the situation and was surprised by what was going down. All three guys were dressed in business suits complete with ties. Not really the type of people that you expected to be brawling in a police station. They looked like nerdy desk types that had never thrown a punch in their life, but the way they were going after each other was impressive.

It looked like two of them were trying to take down the third. Guy number one and two were throwing punch after punch and even a kick or two but the third guy was doing a good job either avoiding their hits or just taking them without slowing down. Uniformed officers and other people from around the building started to wade into the fight to break things up. As I watched, guy number one shook off a uniformed officer who had been trying to restrain his arms behind his back and returned to the fray with frantic energy. Guy number one picked up a laptop on his way and used it to clock guy number three in an underhanded swing that clipped the guy on the chin. Number three’s chin snapped upward and he fell back like a log.

Guy number one was then tackled from the side and I recognize the uniform officer on top of him as Derik. Once they were on the floor Derik turned the guy on his stomach and was trying to pull his arms behind his back, but wasn’t having much luck. Number one must be one strong-ass dude. Two more people went to help Derik restrain number one and I looked over to see a pile of officers on top of number two. Number three was still out cold, possibly seriously hurt but he was still rolled over and cuffed. Holy shit. It just took seven police officers to retrain two men. Somehow I didn’t think that was normal.

I looked around and saw that Elijah was watching the mayhem from the conference room door. In fact, he was standing in the middle of the door with his Shield out. The sight warmed my heart. He had stayed and protected Maria and her family instead of entering the fray. He was keeping his promise.

I made myself a little more visible so that I could have a conversation and walked over to Elijah. “What was that about?” I asked and he only took his eyes off the scene before us for a second to check that it was me before returning to his attention to the men still struggling against the handcuffs. It was like they were rabid or something.

“We’ve been seeing some pretty violent crimes over the last couple of weeks. People that are stronger than they should be and who don’t seem to feel any pain. People that don’t fit the normal criminal profile. People high on a new drug.”

“Moondust,” I murmured under my breath as I remembered the little baggie of drugs stamped with the moon and wolf that I had hidden in the void.

That got Elijah’s attention and he turned to face me. “And what do you know about moondust?”

I touched my cheek and found that it was still a little sore. So much had happened since my confrontation with Kyle Johnson in the alley I had forgotten I was still sporting a black eye. “On Sunday I was walking to go see a friend and I saw two guys roughing up some homeless guy. I intervened, but they were a lot stronger than I had expected even though I was pretty sure they were human. After I had subdued them, I found drugs and cash on them. I called it in and heard the officers mention moondust,” I explained while watching as everyone settled down from the fight.

“As far as we can tell the users are human, but the effects are even worse than PCP. Violent crime in the bay area has spiked. The supernatural community is starting to take notice,” Elijah admitted.

“What does that mean for you?” I asked. I knew that Valkyrie acted as a type of supernatural law enforcement, but I still didn’t know what role each individual clan played.

“That depends. If this is just a normal new drug that some human cooked up, then it doesn’t mean much for us as Valkyrie and we will go through the regular police channels to deal with it. However, if we replace evidence that points to this drug being supernatural in nature then we will have to stop it. This kind of violence is something that brings attention and could lead to humans replaceing out about us. We can’t let that happen.”

“Connor, Blake, and Max are just high schoolers. Are you telling me that they will have to take down a major drug ring?” I asked, getting a little concerned. This sounded like something for the FBI or DEA to handle. Not a group of five young guys.

Elijah turned to give me his full attention. “In our world, the boys were considered adults the moment they turned sixteen. But no, this problem extends far past just Oakland. If this turns out to be a drug that some supernatural cooked up to mess with the humans then we will get help. There are clans that are specially trained to handle situations like these. And in this area, our clan would never get put in charge. We are surrounded by more powerful and more established clans.”

The way that these guys kept talking made it seem like they were some run-of-the-mill clan. But I knew better. They were the best Valkyrie that I had ever met.