Clayton's Jade (Runes Stone Series) Read online

  The first time he had lost one of his men had been a shock. They all knew that iron and fire would not hurt them and for the most part neither would steel. However steel tempered with silver was a different story and so the weapons of the Ragnarok were created. Then over time they figured out how to detect the weapons so that they could not carry them. Odin then put the weapons on them in the form of a tattoo to be called upon when they were needed. The swords and daggers that they carried were all tempered with silver which would kill or hurt most creatures that were in this word with the exception of ghosts and demons and for that they used iron. Some of the stories were right and some were wrong, it was challenging to know which was which. There were more creatures out there that Kaylee did not know about and he wasn’t ready to tell her about. He would just feed her a little information at a time until she had it all without overloading her.

  “I have seen the rise and fall of different civilizations and the extinction of animals throughout the years. Some of the things the history books got right and some of it was wrong, but then again history is written by the victors of war and or the ones that make the policies and decisions of that time. I have seen more that person should see and would forget most of it if I could. At times I try too. Then you meet the people that make you want to keep going and fighting for what’s right. People like you, Kaylee.”

  By the time he had said that she had stopped at her next stop which was a good thing. She had not been expecting that. “For once I don’t know what to say.” It was probably the nicest thing someone had ever said to her, not to mention the most meaningful. She was starting to see a different side to him one that appealed to her. The things he must have seen over the years must have shaped him into the man that he was today. Getting out of the car she went and collected her samples labeled them and went back to the truck still not knowing what to say.

  After she had put the samples in the box he leaned over putting his hand under her chin and tilting it up, then she felt his lips on hers. It was gentle kiss, not the demanding ones that she had had before. Wanting more her lips parted allowing him to deepen the kiss. His hand moved from her chin to her hair at the back of her head just cradling her there. She didn’t want him to stop. She could feel warmth spreading through her body and her pulse speed up. She could feel herself getting wet and all just from a kiss. Then they heard another car arrive with shouts going go for it man. With fast reflexes she pulled back turning red as she did. She was not used to losing control of herself. There was a part of her that was disappointed that it ended so abruptly that was also the same part of her that wanted more. She watched him as he leaned back against the seat. “So where to next?” He asked trying to put her at ease.

  “We go back to the main road and up about ten miles till the next turn and repeat. This is the easy part and the fun part then I go back to my lab and turn into a geek.” She smiled at him as she backed the truck out and drove out to the main road. The rest of the morning was uneventful and passed to quickly from her point of view.

  By the time they got back to the house it was time for Clayton to leave and meet up with Brad. It was nice to have someone with her to share information with as she gathered samples of water. She would do the rest in the lab she had built at home. She needed to see how much silt was in each sample. That would help calculate the erosion percentage that was happening due to past logging. Then there were several pollution tests that had to be done and one for quagga and zebra mussels. She would start some of the test this afternoon while he was gone.

  They made it home by noon so that he could eat and check the surveillance cameras that he had put up the night before. No one had been around the house while they had collected the samples. “Unless you know who is at the door, don’t answer it. When I get back we will work on your fighting skills.”

  “No problem, I will be working in my lab. I will lock myself in and blare the music. When I do that I am in my own little world.” That was her time. When she went into the lab she forgot the rest of the world. “Be careful and listen to Brad when it comes to the tide pools. He really does know what he’s talking about. I will see you when you get back.” Grabbing a bottle of water she headed to her lab.

  He made sure the doors were locked on his way out the door.

  CHAPTER 6

  The tide was coming in as he climbed down the steep incline to Pebble Beach. Waves crashed the beach and the surrounding rocks. He sensed something was not right. Someone was lying on the beach. It was Brad. He did not seem to be moving. His eyes scanned the area for movement. At the beach area close to the tide pools he saw a man headed towards Brad. The person looked to be a man of about medium build. He did not have a shirt on and looked to be coved in tattoos. In his right hand he gripped something. When the light hit it he could see it was a blade. At least it was still light out. The reddish tint to the sky indicates that he would lose that in a half an hour.

  A closer look at the terrain he saw what he had to work with and it did not look promising. If he had to fight that person out there to protect Brad it was going to be hard. Water, rocks, and waves did not make it a good area for a fight. Some of the plants such as seaweed, sea anemones, and sea grasses would make it slippery. There were also animals that could hurt him, barnacles and sea urchins were just a couple of the many creatures that lived in the tide pools. Medium rocks surrounded pools of water. In the deeper water there were larger rocks jutting out. The beach consisted of pebble type gravel that ended at a cliff rising straight up. There was one easy way onto the beach and he had just used it, the rest you had to climb down. The seagulls were flying out around the last two rocks that he could see before it became just water.

  Why would they want to kill Brad? He was brand new to what was going on around him. It didn’t make any sense unless they knew something that he didn’t. If that was the case he would be having a long conversion with Odin when this was over. He could feel the rage building up in him the more he thought about it. He couldn’t let out the berserker this time though. He had to keep his head straight. His left hand skimmed over the dagger tattoo on his right shoulder and he willed it into his grasp. He felt the weight of the dagger in his hand. It didn’t matter if it was small or large the cold weight of the blade felt right in his hand. He could hear the tattoo man yelling.

  “Come here little seal so I can finish this.” The man scanned the beach until his eyes caught brads unconscious form lying in the sand. “Ah there he is.” The man muttered to himself. “This is going to be easy.”

  Clayton hurried over to one of the large rocks he had seen. He hoped that as his feet hit the tide pools that is did not make a loud noise. He crouched down, the dagger ready to plunge into the tattoo man.

  When his adversary was in reach Clayton thrust the cold steel into him. He heard a scraping sound as it sank into the tattoo man. The dagger had brushed one of the many piercings adorning his body. As he pulled the dagger out, he realized that while it was in fact a deep wound, it was not quite fatal. The opponent turned. As he advanced, Clayton stumbled backwards as he tried to regroup. Blood poured out of the wound as the tattoo man kept coming at him.

  “Why hurt him?” Clayton eyed the overly muscled man trying to figure out his next move.

  “I was told to. Now I get two for one.” As the tattoo man stepped forward Clayton stepped back. The man was pure evil. Clayton could feel it rolling off him in waves.

  “I don’t think so. My dagger tasted your blood first.” This dude was cocky, and cocky people always made mistakes.

  “Let’s finish this. I have two rune stones to collect.” His opponent gripped the shadow knife. The knife slashed at him. Clayton arched backwards. The knife sliced, and fire raced through Clayton’s chest. Blood soaked his tee-shirt. Then he straightened up, and leaned forward, just close enough for his dagger to rip across tattoo man’s thighs.

  Clayton felt water drip from the tip of the knife as it cut through the air. As he stood back up he
stumbled back to avoid the next pass of the enemy’s weapon. His own dagger slick with blood made it hard to hold. Clayton’s foot splashed as it sunk into a pool, finding a medium rock that didn’t move, he braced his foot against the rock. Pain shot through him as a blade pierced his lower rib. He leaned in pushed with one arm and jammed the dagger into the guys shoulder. Clayton twisted the dagger and yanked it out, letting loose a stigmata of blood as it poured from the wound. Just then, the ground started to shake just as his opponent started to strike.

  The rock that Clayton’s foot was braced against shifted. He tried to turn as he fell as a head injury would be bad right now. His opponent had fallen backward and slammed his head against a rock. Even as he fell he knew someone had bought him a few minutes. The right jaw, hip, and shoulder took most of the blow as he landed. That was not a natural event. Who or what had made that happen Clayton wondered. With a quick glance at the shoreline he ended up with dust in his eyes. He blinked his eyes repeatedly to clear them as soon as possible.

  When his eyes had cleared, he noticed another section of tide pools. If he could lead the man over there, he wouldn’t have to focus on avoiding Brad so much, and could focus on the fight instead. The guy was up before he realized it so he started to move toward the other section. It might just give him a chance. The water felt cold enough to be a slushy without the ice. By the time he was able to breathe normally, he was in water up to his chest.

  Clayton could not see the other guy. It was as if he had disappeared. Something slick and hard brushed up against his leg. Sharp knives tore into his thigh. Pain seared through him causing him to forget he was in the water.

  As his head hits the water his eyes open and he sees the great white. That asshole was a shifter. Now he was just pissed. Taking his dagger with everything he had, thrust it into the shark, driving it into the front of the gills.

  Blood darkened the water around him. Whatever he had hit on the shark had been lethal. He had to get to shore. As he limped toward Brad, he realized that the wounds on his leg were serious. He had several other areas that had been split open by the guy’s knife, he would stich then up at home.

  Brad was in bad shape by the time he reached him. With Brad’s labored breathing he knew that help was needed immediately. Time was running out for him. Doing the only thing he could think of he closed his eyes and envisioned Vie and thought help.

  Vie blinks in right in front of Claytons face. “Can you help him? I don’t think that the hospital can help.” He knew that he was cutting the time close, but he didn’t have any other choice. She had barely had enough time to heal him.

  “Yes. We need to get both of you to the house first. Then we will fix you up. I don’t know if I will be able to heal you completely. No matter what, you will have to stay out of trouble for the next few days. Do you think you can manage that?” She looked tired. Clayton would bet that she had not fully recuperated from healing him last night.

  Smirking, he looked at Vie “I will do my best as long as the others do not attack.” The next thing he saw was his bedroom at Kaylee’s home.

  “Kaylee we are going to need clean sheets for the bed.” Brad’s breathing was getting worse. He would take a breath then let it out with very long pauses in between each. She had to start healing him now. “He is bad, I will do what I can for each of them, however you may have to play nurse to them until I can heal them completely.” This time she placed her hands differently. One hand on Brad and one hand on Clayton. She watched as they both started to heal. Brad was slower to show improvement. As the wounds started to show on Vie she collapsed to the floor.

  Kaylee went over to her and checked her pulse, this was not an easy thing to do considering how tiny Vie was. It was slow but steady. Picking Vie up being careful not to touch the wounds, she carried her across the hall. As she was putting her in the bed the wounds that had opened and were dripping blood started to close up enough to stop the bleeding. After making sure that Vie was ok, she went back to the men and checked on them. Brad still had a ways to go before he would be moving around again. He was out of danger and that was a relief. Clayton was healed just enough that he was going to be a pain in her ass. Right now he was out cold, but she could already read the writing on the wall. Covering both of them with a blanket she left the room.

  What had happened? This was insane. She wanted her quiet peaceful life back. Facing the reality of the situation which really sucked, she started making a list of all the things she was going to need. Then she started to put supplies on the kitchen table. Dinner was simple grilled fish, mashed potatoes, and carrots. She could cook that without thinking about it.

  After she had put the potatoes on to boil she went back to the bedrooms to check on everyone. Once she got to Clayton and Brads room she couldn’t seem to leave. She felt at ease just watching Clayton sleep. He was a very complex man and she found herself wanting to find out everything about him. She was attracted to him physically, but what about the man on the inside. That was the question she had to find the answer to. Turning she walked to the other room, then out to the front room to read for a while. She had not had that luxury since everything had happened. It was still too early to grill the fish that only took about ten minutes. So she sat down with one of her books and began to read.

  When the potatoes were almost done she put the fish on the grill then went back in to finish the side dishes. When everything was ready she dished up a plate for Clayton and herself then went to the bedroom with the food. She had not bothered to fix a plate for Brad knowing how bad his injuries still were. He would be out cold for the rest of the night.

  Helping to sit Clayton up in bed to eat dinner had not been an easy chore. At least he was somewhat moving around. She had been scared to death when she had first seen them. Vie was still out cold and would be for a while yet. After dinner she removed the dishes then helped him lie back down. When she was done, Clayton held onto her hand and looked up at her. “May I have a kiss goodnight?” He had such a hopeful look on his face that she couldn’t resist. Leaning down she kissed him lightly on his lips. What she thought would just be a simple kiss turned into something more when his hand reached around her neck and pulled her in closer. Opening her mouth to protest ended with his tongue delving into her mouth and dueling with her own. The taste and feel of him was driving her insane. Hearing a slight cough brought her back to reality quickly. Why was he awake? He should still be in a healing sleep. Tuning a few shades of red she said goodnight and left the room. She knew that she needed to get over her fear of intimacy if she wanted to be with him. Going into the front room she turned off the lights as she went. As she walked past the chair she grabbed the blanket off of it and lay down on the couch to sleep.

  7 CHAPTER NAME

  When she woke up the next morning she went to check on the guys to see how they were doing. She didn’t really expect much change. She made oatmeal for breakfast for anyone who wanted it. She really didn’t have much of an appetite. All she wanted was coffee. She had a tray and put a two bowls of oatmeal, two glasses of milk, a glass of orange juice, two straws and two cups of coffee. Then she took it with her into the guy’s room. She helped Clayton to sit up then sat between the two beds. She took the glass of milk and put a straw in it then helped Brad to drink it. She was able to get a few spoonfuls of oatmeal in him but that was it. It was better than nothing though and it would give him energy during the day that you could use for healing. It was a very slow process. By the time he had finished the milk she was ready for another cup of coffee and Clayton was done eating.

  She took the tray with all the empties on it back to the kitchen, refilled the coffee and went back down to their room. She handed Clayton his coffee and went to see Vie with the orange juice. She didn’t know how Vie was going to drink this but she figured this was a safe bet. When she got to the bedroom Vie was sitting up. “I brought this. I don’t know how to help you drink it but it was the best I could come up with.”

  “Th
ank you, that was very thoughtful. If you will hold me up to the lip of the glass and put the straw into it, then we will be all set. I figured that since the guys are stuck in bed you and I get to practice on your new abilities. If they try to get out of bed you can just freeze them or at least you will be able to by the afternoon. Go get something comfortable to wear because you also have to work on some fighting techniques.”

  “I thought I was getting out of that with everything that has happened.” She was smiling at her as she said it. She was glad it was Vie that was going to help her and not Clayton. She knew that if Clayton was training her that her mind was not going to be on fighting. This was definitely better. She grabbed an old pair of sweet pants and a long t-shirt. It was white and had a cat with its claws showing and its fur sticking straight out. At the top of the picture it said STRESSED OUT in bold letters. It was just one of her many cat shirts. She just couldn’t help herself.

  Going into the bathroom she changed clothes. When she came back out she picked up Vie and went in to see the guys. She thought Vie wanted to give them a, you get out of bed and you will die speech. When they walked into the bedroom, Clayton was trying to get out of bed.