Finding Hope: Book Ten of the Running in Fear Series Read online

  Finding Hope, Book Ten of Running in Fear Copyright © 2017 by Trinity Blacio

  All Rights Reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, without permission in writing from the publisher.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

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  Riverdale Avenue Books

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  Cover by Scott Carpenter

  Digital ISBN: : 978-1-62601-430-5

  Print ISBN:: 978-1-62601-431-2

  First edition, December 2017

  Chapter One

  The creatures, or what some called heliokillers scanned the ruins of downtown Winona, Minnesota, before lifting their noses to the air and sniffing. They were at least six feet tall, with the wings of a bat, boils covering their grayish, green/yellow skin, and four eyes to boot. Any animal or human would be terrified of these things, but not Hope Catcher.

  At 5’2”, Hope Catcher was small, but fierce. Since the age of 12 she’d learned the ways of the wild fast. These creatures had murdered her parents and her animal instincts had taken over. No one had believed her story, until these monsters had swarmed the cities, destroying the buildings all around them and taking the women. When she was small, it had been too late to stop them. Now, their world, Earth, lay in ruins around her. A new wilderness had been born, more dangerous for any female because of the threat.

  No one was ready for this kind of destruction on their own turf, but she was. She’d studied and hunted them day and night, preparing for the worst. Her home was a fortress against them. Traps lay all around, ready for them if they stepped foot near her place. The one gift Hope had been born with was sight, and she used it to protect the little ones she had taken in. The heliokillers’ fake human appearances did not hide them from her. She saw the nightmarish monsters of her childhood for what they really were, her enemy, and Hope would kill as many of them as she could.

  One thing she’d learned early on was to blend in with her surroundings, including making her scent blend in. With each kill she made, Hope removed their sweat gland or the organ that produced their hideous smell. With experimentation, she created a concoction that not only hid her human smell, but masked her animal scent. Somehow, with this fragrance, Hope could get close enough to kill the creatures without them even knowing she was there. It also allowed her to move around more freely when running low on supplies.

  She didn’t use guns. No, the noise would draw others to her. Her choice of weapon, the Xiphos, had been used in ancient times by the Greeks, her ancestors. The weapon featured a double edge, leaf-shaped blade that was light and perfect for slashing through their leathery skin. It had taken her years to learn how to kill them.

  With her almost-white hair wrapped in garb to camouflage it, Hope pinned the massive bundle to the top of her head, out of the way. It also gave her more cushion to the helmet she wore that her face and helped protect her

  Yes, each piece of her ensemble had a purpose. Three more feet and she would have another slay under her belt. She stopped when the thing twirled around and faced her direction, but its attention wasn’t on her. Something new and dangerous to them both had appeared in front of it—or at least it appeared to be dangerous. These creatures were stranger than any Hope had seen on Earth. Four unusual creatures circled the heliokiller. Hope couldn’t believe it. The monster that had destroyed her world actually looked terrified as it hissed and watched every move the four animal-like things made.

  But what really shocked her was that Hope’s second form, her bear, actually didn’t seem to be worried about the new creatures. Oh, the mama bear watched, considering that her children were only two miles away. The new animals had fur like that of a big cat, but stood tall like a bear on its hind legs. They had to be close to six feet tall, and their fur’s different colors—red, purple and black—showed they were not from this world, at least she didn’t think they were. Their eyes glowed yellow, and their fangs dripped with liquid.

  Studying the new creatures, Hope wasn’t ready for their coordinated attack and jerked backward from her hiding spot. She was lucky the heliokiller didn’t see her and inform his friends it. One taller new creature had seen her, drawing his attention away from the heliokiller for only seconds, but it was enough to warn her to slowly back away from the scene of the four animals, or whatever they were, devouring the monster.

  After running for a good mile in the direction away from her home, making sure those things, and anything else, didn’t follow her, Hope made her way back to the caves where she lived. Half a mile from home, Hope shifted to her bear form and sniffed around, but still she didn’t scent anything unusual as she approached the caves’ entrance and looked at the valley below. Her head moved back and forth as she fought with a bad case of nervousness and being downright scared, hoping those new creatures wouldn’t find her new home.

  At the age of 23, Hope had lived a hard life, but she was bound to make a good life for the little ones behind her. Two years earlier she had found the three orphans huddled together and made them hers.

  They were running out of food and she had been detoured by the heliokiller. She could go into the woods and hunt, but the children couldn’t. Hope stiffened, then relaxed, smelling one of the children she had adopted since none of the den gave a shit about them or her.

  “Mama Hope,” her smallest child, Sasha, called to her, coming up next to her bear, then running her tiny fingers through Hope’s fur.

  Bones cracked, her fur disappeared, clothes covered her body as she knelt in front of the four-year-old. “You shouldn’t be out here, Sasha,” Hope said, picking the girl up, throwing her in the air and smiling when she giggled. Turning, Hope made her way to the back of the cave/den. “Now what do you need?”

  “Mandy told me to come get you. Baron is sick.” She wrinkled her nose. “It was nasty.” For a four-year-old, Sasha was one of the smartest little people Hope had ever met. Already she was learning her numbers and could write.

  Coming around the bend, Hope pushed open the door and frowned. “Baron, did you eat something bad?” She placed Sasha on the couch next to Mandy, who sat on the other side of the couch bed to be close to Baron.

  Hope knelt close to the couch. Baron was curled up on it, his skin flushed. She reached over and touched his forehead. “Yep, you have a fever. Into bed with you. I’ll grab some medicine on my trip into town.” She helped him up and walked with him to the side of the cave where his bed was. “You can watch TV if you want. I’ll grab more batteries too, but make sure to drink plenty of water till I get back.” She kissed the top of his head and tucked the blanket around him.

  “I should be watching the girls,” he mumbled, glancing at his sisters as they crowded around him, needing to be close.

  “They’ll be fine and you can see them from here. I’m going to shut the door when I leave. I don’t want anyone near the front of the cave while I’m gone, okay.” He nodded and grabbed on to her arm before she could leave.

  “Please be careful.” He tried to keep from crying, but Hope noticed his eyes filled with water. At the age of eight, and the oldest child, Baron tried to be helpful, but was still a little boy.

  “I’m not going anywhere. You three are stuck with me for good
. Now stay covered up and drink your water.” She tousled his hair. “I’ll be back before you know it.”

  After giving Mandy instructions, Hope slipped out of the room and closed the bolder door. Each child knew where the emergency exit was if they needed it. But as soon as she stepped out of the cave, Hope knew she had visitors.

  “Fuck,” she whispered as the four creatures stood staring at her.

  One of them moved to the side, staring behind her, which had Mama Bear finally taking action. Bones crunched and Hope stood on her hind legs growling, bound and determined to protect her cubs.

  At once one animal stepped back with the group. The words Not hurt little ones, protect were in her head, calming mama bear a little. All four creatures seemed to shimmer before her, right before their appearance changed to smaller creatures that appeared to like that of house cats. “We protect till they come.”

  Shifting, Hope frowned down at the creatures. “I don’t know what you are talking about, but I have a sick child and we need food.” She looked around her, not liking the words “till they come.” She sure as hell didn’t need anyone or want anyone. She leaned over and grabbed her helmet off the rock edge, glancing back at the bolder that blocked her home. The massive boulder could only be moved aside one way, but should she risk going out with these things here?

  “There you are, we’ve been searching for you,” a deep voice said, just before three very tall blue-ish men appeared behind the creatures.

  “Well fuck,” she growled and stepped back, reaching for her Xiphos and easing it from its hiding spot.

  “Easy, we mean you no harm, and a lady as beautiful as you really shouldn’t be swearing, now don’t you think?” the one in the middle said.

  “You’re not me and I don’t take orders from anyone. Take your animals and leave, please,” Hope said, not liking the way her body was reacting to these men. Her pants were getting damp between her legs, her nipples were hard and their scent was addictive. Even her bear wanted to rub herself up against them.

  “I’m afraid we can’t. We won’t leave you, Little Bear. My name is Gourd, this is Fand on my right, and Jester on my left. We have been searching for you for hundreds of your Earth years,” Gourd said, bowing his head to her.

  Hope laughed and moved away from the entrance of the cave. “I don’t have time for this, and if you were searching for hundreds of years, I wasn’t even born yet. So, your search would have been in vain. Now, please, you are going to draw too much attention to this area and I need to leave.” She shifted, allowing her bear to take over, needing to move to the city quickly and hoping to draw the men and animals away from her home. She was also trying to ignore the hormonal surge in her body.

  * * *

  Gourd’s Naperones had found their chosen one, and she was a feisty little thing. Gourd smiled as his woman shifted and took off running away from her little home.

  “Protect the ones she has in there, Zar. We have a female to round up,” he said to his pets as he glanced over at Jester, then at Fand. His hand automatically reaching out and scratching one of his pets as it rubbed up against his leg, before turning and following the others to the front of the cave. “Let’s go see why our woman was in such a hurry to ignore our matting scent.”

  Gourd shifted to the male of her species, which was easy for his people. One of the reasons they were such great warriors, was that their enemies never knew where they were. The first few steps, Gourd stumbled as he tried to get used to the massive body of the white polar bear. If he was going to be a bear, he was going to be the biggest and meanest, it would seem.

  “You know it would be easier just to travel our normal way,” Fand grumbled and bumped into him, trying to get used to his own new body.

  “She is our chosen one. We need to show her that we can do this. It’s the least we can do, especially since she will have to get used to our ways when we are bonded. But I do agree this form is tedious.” Gourd glanced over at Jester and laughed as he fell face first into a pile of their animal’s waste.

  Gourd was surprised he heard the branch snap over Jester’s growling and Fand’s laughter. It would seem the bear had excellent hearing. He lifted his massive head, ready to shift at the last minute if their enemy had found them, and was surprised to see their woman there, sitting and watching. Gourd swore the small bear was laughing just as hard as Fand was.

  “I don’t know why you keep those smelly things around,” Jester grumbled as he went to wipe his face, forgetting he had a massive paw.

  “No,” their female shouted, shifting and moving towards Jester, but it was too late. Jester once shouted human cuss words when his big paw crunched his nose.

  “You didn’t have to change. It’s obvious the bear isn’t your true form. If you want to come, let’s go, but I really must go now before it gets dark.” She looked up at the sun. “We don’t have much time.” She started to reach out to Jester, but quickly pulled her hand back, then shifted and took off without a word.

  Jester didn’t waste any time changing back to his natural form, making sure he was clean of all the mess. All three of them moved to follow their woman, scanning the surrounding area. Already, one heliokiller had been killed, but Gourd knew at least three more were roaming around, from what his pets had informed him, and their scanners had confirmed it before they had dropped down to these coordinates.

  To think his pets had actually found their mate was comical, and Gourd knew he would never hear the end of it from his brother, either. Pride welled up in him as they followed their woman. Her moves were silent, surprising for a bear her size, not to mention how she moved stealthily and blended in with her surroundings.

  She stopped by the small waterway and her head snapped up as she scanned around, as if sensing something. Her small bear stepped up under the umbrella of a tree near her, watching and waiting.

  On full alert, Gourd silently moved next to his woman. He could be invisible to anyone around them, one of the many gifts his kind were born with. Gourd ran has hand through their little bear’s fur, alerting her to his presence, knowing only she would be able to see him and scent him.

  As if on cue, two heliokillers appeared on the other side of the bank, searching for something, as if sensing them, even though they couldn’t see Gourd and his men.

  Without having to say a word, Jester and Fand moved to intercept their enemy. Their woman’s muscles stiffened under his hand. “Easy, Jester and Fand will take care of them, watch,” he sent into her head, using the connection that had started to form already between them as mates.

  Slowly, so as not to draw attention to herself, she glanced behind her, then stared up at him. “We have many abilities you will learn about. One is that you can speak with each of us in our heads if you ever need us,” he explained.

  “Why?” He heard the suspicion in her voice.

  “Now isn’t the time to get into this discussion, but I promise, I will explain soon. Where do you need to go? We’ll take you there,” he offered.

  “You can do that?” she asked, looking back just as the heads of the two heliokillers went flying into the waterway.

  Gourd waited to hear a scream, but their woman didn’t even flinch, as though this violence was nothing new to her. But that would change that, she would no longer have to worry about being harmed. “We all will,” Jester said, appearing next to them. “Where do you want to go, Little Bear?” he asked, kneeling in front of her and running his fingers through her fur.

  Gourd swore their mate sighed right before she shifted, staring at Jester as he rose. “I need medicine for Baron, and we need supplies. Already it’s getting late and more will come. They search at night.”

  Gourd hadn’t even thought of her with another man, but she had a child.

  Fand’s growl brought Gourd out of his fog. “Who is Baron?”

  Before any of them could move, she had Fand on the ground with a knife at his throat. “If you ever growl as you speak any of my children’s names,
I’ll slit your throat and leave you for the buzzards,” she growled, her bear in the forefront as fur started to appear on her skin.

  “Your children?” Gourd got out, holding his own growl back. “You have a man? Why isn’t he going for supplies for you and your family?” he asked, ready to kill this man.

  She moved fast, shifting as she jumped off Fand. The bear let out a roar that had birds flying, and even he thought for sure she would attack, but she turned and headed for the river. “I don’t need this shit. Do I look stupid? The only man to ever get close to me was my father. There has never been one worthy of my attention,” she shouted into their heads as she swam across the cool water. Once across, their little bear never looked back, running through the woods toward what had to be a small city.

  “I have a feeling we have much to make up to our woman,” Jester moaned as he moved to intercept their furious mate.

  Chapter Two

  Disappointment and anger played tug-of-war with Hope’s emotions and she didn’t know why. The three of them were nothing to her, just some strange, hot, blue alien men who happened to find her hiding spot. That in itself should be disturbing enough since she had taken every precaution to protect her home.

  But deep in some little spot inside her, hidden from everyone, Hope had hoped they had come to rescue her, or even love her.

  “Stop, please, Little Bear. We can heal your son. You don’t need to go anywhere,” the one called Gourd said, appearing in front of her, making her stop.

  She grumbled, sitting down and staring at him. If she wasn’t so damn tired and confused, she’d give them all a piece of her mind, but Baron needed help, especially with these new creatures destroying everything around them. Who knew what kind of sickness was on him, and Hope would not lose her son.

  “How could you help him? Do have a store or something close by? Because I don’t see the supplies I’m going to need to keep three children alive,” Hope asked after shifting, feeling exhausted. She knew she would need to rest before shifting again back to her bear, and she knew she was taking a big risk trusting these three men. But time was running out and her children had been alone too long. Her bear snuggled down to take a nap inside her, but knew she was close if need be.