- WhiteBird -

- Chapter Eighteen - Home is when im with you

A hot dry breeze swirled around the cars in the parking lot, but the intensity of the sun had finally died some as it sat much lower in the sky.

The sky was still bright, and Karr glistened slightly in the light.

He could feel the dying warmth against his side, but he had turned off his ability to see a few hours ago. He could still sense the world around him, hear it, and feel it, but the more he stopped using, the easier it was for him to stay alert.

Karr was frustrated by the fact that he was trying to protect Casey blind, meaning he didn't know what or who to look out for. He couldn't search or seek out anyone, his only hope was to stick to Caseys side, and always watch him closely.

He had long figured Bonnie didn't want him to search out or seek whatever threat there was to Casey, and that's why she removed little bits of specific memory. Only thing was, he knew that memory was locked away, reachable somehow.

Karr scoffed to himself, he was surprised Bonnie sent him on such a mission, he was surprised anyone trusted him to protect another at all. Hurt welled up inside him, because he knew that for all of his life, no one ever seemed to trust him, or want him in their life.

Except maybe for Casey.

Karr felt guilty too, for the secrets he held from Casey, but he knew someday the boy would find out, and Karr was afraid that once again, he could be abandoned. He wondered if he could deal with such a loss.

Voices in front of him caught his attention, and Karr pushed away his troubled thoughts, opening his sight and taking in the world.

Two men stood before him, but they kept a fair distance, almost like confronting a chained and aggressive dog.

They were looking directly at him, pointing and talking hurriedly to one another.

"That's the one." One of the men said in Spanish. "Boss said it would have a yellow light in the front."

"Well what are you waiting for?" The other one said, taller and skinnier than the former.

"I don't know." The first one said again.

"It's just a car man."

The two made their way up to Karr, glancing wearily at his scanner.

"Iv never seen anything quite like it." The first man said lowly. "Why's the boss making us check out this kid?"

Karr knew then exactly who these men where, they were associates of Arturo Long. He scanned for Casey, but he was still safely sleeping in his room, undisturbed.

"He wants to know if he's who he thinks he is I guess." The taller one said, grabbing Karr's door handles and giving them a tug.

The first man seemed momentarily perplexed by his friends statement, but after a few seconds he seemed to grasp the meaning.

Arturo Long didn't strike Karr as the type of man to work with the less intelligent, as he himself was incredibly smart and cunning. Karr wondered if these men worked for someone else, but who else would know who Casey was, or that he stopped at his fathers place?

They both proceeded to poke and prod at Karr, trying his doors, hood, and trunk with out success. Karr growled internally, aggravated by being messed with.

"One last test." The tall one said, pulling out a small crow bar from the waist band of his jeans.

He made his way to Karr's hood, standing on the drivers side just above the long hood scoop.

He raised the bar up, giving a careful glance around, and brought it down on Karr's hood with a terrible clang.

The impact vibrated slightly, but it did no damage to his hood, where all of his bonded shell was still perfectly intact.