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

Chapter XV

~ Asher's Point of View ~

Brittany was asleep on the special couch that Jean-Claude had, even while Jean-Claude and I were in the room with her. Anita would be with us, however, she got called to crime scene. The call she got sounded urgent to say the least.

She said that she would alert us if she needed to. Especially if it concerned the newest crime scene. It has been almost two days since the incident at the Circus of the Damned, and Brittany has finally become comfortable and less terrified. I hadn't told Jean-Claude about her feelings for me or mine for her and to an extent Kindle yet but I decided to now.

"Two days after ago after the incident at the Circus of the Damned Kindle told me that Brittany has feelings for me. And to a certain extent so does Kindle." I said after I took a prescribed antidepressant that I have been on for a while and while looking at Jean-Claude.

"Really? She did Mon Amie? Did she mean it?" He asked as his eyes glanced over at Brittany's sleeping form.

"I could tell she did. She was definitely not lying. She was probably scared of telling me. That's how Kindle made it seem anyway." I said as I glanced over at her as well.

"I'm happy for you Mon Amie. You deserve to be loved as Anita and I love you. And after everything Brittany has been through she need love as well. You have both been damaged. As we all have at one time or another. Maybe it's time to let that go now and heal so you don't look back on it and regret it later." Jean-Claude said as love shone in his eyes pausing for a moment looking at the picture of the two of us with Julianna, and then he added while still looking at the picture, "Julianna would want you, us, to be happy." And I knew he was right just as he did.

A soft whimper drew our attention to Brittany but she was quite as quickly as she whimpered. Anita contacted Jean-Claude on the phone and said she was coming back to tell us something important. That was when Brittany started thrashing around in her sleep and crying out.

I immediately moved to her side and as gently as possible wake her up, "Brittany wake up." She continued to cry out whimpering then it got worse because she started to cough as if she was choking on something. Both Jean-Claude and I were worried now. I again tried to wake her.

She startled awake, her eyes very wide, tears making them shimmer her body shaking almost violently. I held her tightly to me and gently rubbed her back.

"It's okay. You are safe." I said trying to calm her down. "It was just a nightmare."

"No...It wasn't...It didn't feel like a nightmare even though it was terrifying..." Brittany said as she slowly calmed down looking at Jean-Claude and I.

"Take your time Brittany. Don't rush yourself." Jean-Claude said.

It took her a while. But she was finally able to speak calmly without Kindle's help this time. "It felt more like a forgotten memory. A terrifying one. One that I didn't know that I had or remember that I had." She said while looking confused.

I was about to say something but was cut off by Jean-Claude pulling both my attention and Brittany's to him. "Anita is here. And she's not alone." Jean-Claude said.

I raised my eyebrows while holding Brittany to me. Just then Anita came in immediately going to Jean-Claude and was showing him what happened while two other women came in with her that we have never seen before. They just stood there not saying anything at the moment.

One of them was a woman who had a lot of power to her but was shielding most of it from us. It seemed out of respect. She had skin that was tan or dark brown almost black, black hair, dark eyes that looked black or close to it, and she was either Anita's height or slightly taller.