Broken Girl (Book I of Anita Blake Adoptive Mother Series)

Chapter VI

~ Anita's Point of View ~

After we managed to get rid of the attackers but also capture a few we moved to one of the rooms that Jean-Claude made sure were there. Brittany was extremely scared, more than I have ever seen anyone. It surprised not only me but Jean-Claude Micah Nathaniel and Asher that the fear hasn't made her heart stop that's how bad the fear was.

She was currently sitting on the bed in a corner hugging her legs tightly to herself her body shaking horribly and her eyes almost glazed with fear. After a while Asher moved to her and as gently as possible pulled her into his arms and held her to him. I have never seen him do that with anyone, and apparently neither had Jean-Claude, at least not since he was horribly scared.

After he did that Brittany finally broke down and sobbed hard. Which made my heart hurt but also made me unbelievably angry.

"Whoever this Ahriman is he better not show his face and he should back off if he values his life. Because I swear I will make sure he dies so he won't be a threat to anyone ever again." I said almost hissing it out which showed how pissed I was.

"We will find him and then stop him Ma Petite." Jean-Claude said and was just as angry as me because his eyes were glowing blue.

"Hopefully it will be before he decides to attack again." Asher said as he held Brittany to him and gently rubbed circles on her back trying to calm her.

"Some of them were captured so maybe we can find out from them. Although that will probably have to happen through torture or something." Rafael said. He looked at Brittany with pity sadness and anger in his eyes. I could tell he hated seeing her like this as much as we did.

I nodded slowly. And then I told them about the crime scene and what Dolph and I suspect. Though we were still trying to figure out why this was happening. When speaking of Dolph he called and told me that others that were either Brittany's age or around her age. They weren't just female either, and one of the things they had in common were the parents or family being murdered as the person or people targeted were taken. However, at one crime scene, one of the attackers or kidnappers or both was killed, and they were cloaked and had a mask.

Which made everyone in the room worried, and it caused Brittany to whimper softly and hold onto Asher tightly. As I was talking to Dolph, Edward called so I told Dolph that I would call him back and talked to Edward, telling him everything that we knew so far. For a long while Edward was quiet then he said he would be in St. Louis to help as soon as he possibly could be. After I hung up I said, "We are probably going to have to tell Dolph what we find out so that he can help. Because it seems we need as much help as we can possibly get." Everyone agreed with me though none of us liked that fact.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to cause this." Brittany said softly her eyes bloodshot. She looked at weak and fragile.

"Don't be sorry Brittany." I said to her gently touching her shoulder. "None of this is your fault. It's this Ahriman's fault. He's the one doing this or ordering others to do it." She nodded, then Kindle took over.

"We don't know much about him. But while in captivity there were whispers and rumors about him." Kindle said and shuddered lightly, "We had hoped that that's all it was, whispers and rumors."

Asher held her gently and asked what we all were wondering, "What did they say?"

"Well for starters he's a ruler of his own Empire. He's also power hungry. He made his own mercenaries somehow that are called Ahriman's Shadows because they move in shadows and attack fast or do whatever he orders. They are ruthless as well. Some are even his bodyguards. There were whispers that he sold his soul which is partially how he got his power. Some whispered that it's suspected that he was kidnapping gifted people to enslave. And gain even more power. Some of his followers believe that he wants to conquer and expand his Empire. He is also in a different realm but plans on conquering other realms." Kindle said.

"We can't let that happen." Rafael said. To which we all agreed.

"That would explain why he took you and Brittany and is having others be taken." I said.

"A lot of people are in danger then." Jean-Claude said. To which we all agreed.

"We will definitely need all the help we can get against him like you said Anita." Asher said while holding Brittany to him even though Kindle was in control.