Covenant Page 6

  “She’s in the bookstore?” James asked Alope.

  “Yes, we just saw her go inside the bookstore.”

  “But, you haven’t seen her before. Only I have,” I argued.

  “That girl carries the same distinction of the one described as the Awakened Reborn. She has the symbols on her jacket, and the coloring of her eyes was different—one blue and one green.”

  “You got close enough to see her?”

  “No, Liyah did.”

  Then the front door opened. A bell rang as Liyah walked out of Baker’s Bookstore with her hands in her pockets. She paced her steps from across the street and nodded her head. “It’s her. Natalie is inside,” she said loudly, but yet trying to speak at a normal tone.

  I ordered for them to hide behind a green dumpster. Liyah ran over to us. “It was her,” she said. “The eyes of blue and green, the symbols on her jacket, and of course the scent—the kind only carried by those faithful monsters.”

  To be sure, I asked, “What did she smell like?”

  “It was definitely sweet and a bit spicy, almost like a scented candle. I’m positive that was her. Trust me, Bodaway. I don’t lie and am almost never wrong.”

  I peeked out from behind the green dumpster, which was across the street in an alleyway. Through the tinted glass I saw the Awakened Reborn holding a book and leaning against the wall. Her mouth moved as if she were reading to a crowd. I recognized her dirty blonde hair dangling down pass her shoulders. Her scent still lingered out in the streets—the aroma of her god.

  “What’s the plan?” Aaron asked me.

  I kept my eyes fixed upon her every movement. For a moment I considered going in there. No! That would be too direct. There would be witnesses. No one could see me attack her—I couldn’t do it in the open.

  “Everyone back me up in case I need you. She is mine. Once she leaves the bookstore, I’ll follow her.”

  Ten minutes later, there was still nothing.

  Then twenty minutes passed, and yet the Awakened Reborn girl didn’t come out the front door. There was still no sign of her until I saw her walking on the next street.

  “Wait, I think the shop has a rear entrance and exit,” Liyah said, pointing down the alleyway. “There! She’s on the move!”

  “This is it, stay behind me, and join the fight only if I request it. Let’s get this over with,” I hissed.

  Then I moved, running at impossible speeds, dodging cars, disappearing and reappearing like a mist of light. I didn’t think anyone saw me. I dashed down the alleyway and veered the counter. There I saw Natalie with a bag of books and a purse to match her outfit.

  The smell of sweets and spices clogged my nostrils. It was so overwhelming that I had to cover my nose and continue to pace my steps. I kept quiet, moving like a mouse trying to snatch food from a kitchen floor.

  “Natalie,” I muttered darkly, slowly raising my dark energy and preparing to attack.

  The Awakened Reborn girl halted. She dropped her bag of books and then slowly turned around. I was in the open with nowhere to hide. I froze out of fear and didn’t take my eyes off of her. There she squinted her pretty eyes, baffled.

  “Oh no,” I uttered in horror. “She sees me.”

  She picked up the book and began to walk toward me with a wondrous expression. She didn’t seem to be afraid of me. This was new. Her blondish hair waved wildly as the quiet breeze acted as a barrier between us. We were only a few feet apart now. I froze again out of paranoia and looked into her eyes—one green and the other blue. There it was—the innocence of a good person. I saw it.

  “You again,” she said. This time, there was no sign of running or worrying. It was a moment of weakness for me. No light emanated from her. No power appeared. There was nothing but the two of us, a demon and an angel.

  “Are you here to kill me?” she asked.

  I became flustered. Sweat rolled down my back. The outdoor temperature rose twenty degrees, and I was helpless as a lamb. If she had begun to attack me, I would have allowed her to kill me. I didn’t know what it was. Was it the scent she carried, the innocence of her voice, or the fearfulness that swarmed my very soul at this moment?

  “No … I—I.…” I couldn’t speak much more.

  “Tristan,” she said. Tristan? Why had she called me by the name of the small boy? I slowly took a few steps back. What was I doing? For the first time, I was actually petrified of a Reborn. How did she know of that name?

  “Tristan?” I questioned.

  “Yes, you’re Tristan. Aren’t you?” No! The voice had called me Tristan, and now she was calling me by that name.

  Then, as quickly as she had noticed me stalking her, I vanished, dashing back down the alley and around the corner. I ran faster than I had ever run before. Even the energy from the dark spirits flared outward. I knew she saw the blue aura of light emanating from my body. I didn’t try to hide my powers from being exposed. I simply didn’t care. I needed to get as far away from her as I could.

  There, in the alley, I saw James and the others. They had sensed me approaching. I saw them preparing for a fight, each of them raising their dark energy and then some.

  “Run! Go!” I yelled.

  “What?” I heard James ask.

  “We need to leave—now!”

  At once, the clan leapt into the truck. No one questioned me. I dived into the old metal bed and ordered James to step on the gas. He charged through the neighborhood, and within moments we entered the countryside of Blackfalls. Once again, I had failed. I was ashamed and frightened of the one named Natalie.

  Back at the house of Eis Lakota, the others demanded to know why I had run from her. James ranted on about how he could have helped with Natalie’s execution. Alope sat next to me, rubbing my shoulders and repeatedly whispering into my ear, “It’s going to be okay, Bodaway. I’m here for you.”

  Ignoring their allegations, I mumbled, “We can’t kill her.”

  The room grew quiet. Liyah looked up from drawing a map of Blackfalls. Aaron stopped sipping on his soda. They were all shocked by my hardening news.

  “What do you mean we can’t kill her?” James asked loudly. “She’s just a girl, a human being, nothing different from what we have handled before.”

  “What happened back there?” Liyah asked.

  I sighed as Alope kept her arms around me for comfort. I silently thanked her for that. “This girl, this Reborn, is different. When I saw her, I froze out of fear and pity. I couldn’t …”

  “ … couldn’t kill her?” Aaron mouthed off. It was obvious that he was upset with my failure; he even had been back in Woodland. He felt I was not being the warrior I should’ve been, and it angered him.

  “I just couldn’t do it. I simply couldn’t do it.”

  “So, she was open for attack, no one was around, and she probably wouldn’t have retaliated if you had done your job. Is that right?” he questioned me.

  “Maybe, but there is something more going on besides it being a simple kill. When I was standing before her this time, I felt at ease, almost as if the desire to kill or cause harm had suddenly died within me. The cause to not disappoint my father didn’t matter. But I became afraid of her. I was afraid of killing her.”

  “Bodaway, this—”

  “Aaron, shut up! I’m sure Bodaway has a good explanation. We weren’t there to experience the moment. Maybe she has some type of influence on our abilities,” James argued.

  “No, it’s not that,” I muttered.

  “Then what is it, Bodaway?” Alope gently asked.

  “I couldn’t harm her. Even in jeans and a T-shirt, she recognized me. She called me Tristan.”

  “Tristan? You mean the name of the boy you killed back in Woodland, South Dakota?” James questioned.

  “That’s right. How could she possibly know that I kil
led a boy named Tristan? It doesn’t make sense.”

  “Maybe the Awakened Reborns can read the minds of others? Or she honestly thinks your name is Tristan?” Liyah offered, trying to make some sense out of the situation.

  “The voice,” I said.

  “What voice?” James asked.

  “A voice spoke to me while I was in Natalie’s room. It was clear and sharp. The voice called me Tristan. Maybe that’s why she thinks my name is Tristan.”

  “This voice—who was it?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “The voice you speak of is from the spiritual realm,” Uncle Eis said from the kitchen. “It is quite possible that it was the voice of her god,” Apparently he had been listening in this whole time. He took a few steps into the living room. “Perhaps that is why she has reason to believe your name is Tristan.”

  “The voice said, ‘From now on you will be known as Tristan.’”

  “Then there’s your angle. By posing as the name of Tristan, you can easily gain her trust, making her more vulnerable to believing anything you tell her,” he said wisely. His words were genius.

  “But she remembers that Bodaway attacked her in her room. She won’t trust him if he just changes his name,” Aaron said.

  “I wasn’t suggesting just changing your name. Changing your physical appearance to not look like an outsider is more of a guarantee. Your Native hair is a dead giveaway, don’t you think? Not to mention the reddishness of your eyes. Perhaps if you were to alter those, she wouldn’t recognize you.” My uncle made sense.

  “That’s not a bad idea. It’s a start,” I said, gripping my hair.

  “Don’t do it, Bodaway. Your hair is your pride. It’s apart of the Covenant, a bond between our god and his people, us,” James lashed out.

  “I trimmed my hair. It’s not that big of a deal,” Aaron said, trying to ease the pressure of the situation.

  “That’s because you’re not as devoted as I am to the Covenant,” James said to Aaron. He refocused his attention on me. “Don’t tell me you’re actually considering cutting your hair?”

  “If it gets the job done, then so be it. We have less than one month to execute her. Some things must go,” I said. James sighed loudly and began to pace the floor in disgust. I looked up to Uncle Eis and asked, “Do you have hair clippers or scissors?”

  “Yes, nephew. Check the bathroom upstairs. They should be in the drawer above the sink.”

  “Great,” I uttered and left my clan downstairs. I heard James barking and disagreeing with Aaron and Uncle Eis. Alope seemed to not care, much like Liyah.

  There, in the drawer above the sink, lay black hair clippers. I grabbed them and plugged the cord into the wall outlet. Without much thought, I began to slowly cut my precious black hair. It had to be done. Father was counting on me to bring back the head of the Awakened Reborn. My clan had to see me do whatever was necessary for the hunt. And I had to prove to myself that I could do this. However, part of me didn’t want to. Maybe it was because I felt some level of sympathy for Natalie. Rubbish! I had to do it!

  The sound of the clippers buzzed next to my ear as I watched my thick black hair flow to the white tile floor or my shoulders. Before long, my beautiful Native hair was gone. Nothing was left but the image of someone I didn’t recognize. I glanced up to take a look at the new me.

  I looked … normal.

  In the mirror was a regular American boy with short black hair. I didn’t want to believe that it was me, but it was— the element of fire, Bodaway, the name my father had given me before my mother died.

  Tristan was just the name of the small boy who had burned to death by my hand. The voice had called me Tristan. Natalie knew me as Tristan. Henceforth, then, my name would be Tristan.

  “Bodaway!” Uncle Eis called out. “Are you finished yet?” A hot shower and a half hour later, I gazed into the mirror at my new look, unplugging the cord of the hair clippers from the wall outlet.

  I sensed Aaron and Liyah behind the house. I decided to unveil my new look to Uncle Eis, Alope, and James first. I took small steps down the stairs and walked in on their conversation. Everyone immediately stopped talking. Alope’s eyes widened with shock. She smiled slightly. Uncle Eis gasped. James stood up and stared me down. He touched my short hair, horrified.

  “Bodaway, you actually did it,” he spat. He had believed that I wouldn’t go through with it.

  “No longer am I Bodaway,” I uttered to James, gazing into the surprised glare on his face. “My name is Lakota, Tristan Lakota.”

  5

  The Castleton Park Mall Encounter

  TRISTAN, TRISTAN LAKOTA. IT WAS catchy. The name of Bodaway—the name of a killer— was no more. It almost felt like I’d turned over a new leaf, starting over with a new life, but the hunt remained the same. I was to kill the Awakened Reborn as instructed by my father and our lord god, Lucian. I didn’t want to disappoint them.

  The new name didn’t change much, but within me, it eased my conscience, as though my name was in remembrance of the small boy who had burned to death by my hand. As long as I was known as Tristan, I felt I was honoring him. They thought that it was exceptional for an Anglo name. Alope loved it. Immediately, she began to call me Tris for short. I guessed she thought it was a cute nickname.

  It had now been three days since my last encounter with Natalie Schultz in downtown of Blackfalls. They decided to trail her movements around the university campus. Today was unusual due to the division of our hideout places. We discovered that Blackfalls University was divided up into four sections with the Manchester Library in the middle. James took the center of the campus and walked the streets as if he was a student, carrying his dual blades in a black backpack. Aaron took the south section and sat on one of the park benches. Liyah took the north and watched the dormitories area. Alope took the east, securing the Greek houses and keeping a close eye on the Kappa Omega sorority house, or KW for short. She believed Natalie would be coming from and going to the house throughout the day. I was left with the west side of campus, where most of the commuting students parked.

  The afternoon was warm, and the sun beamed down upon the scorching concrete. I parked my car near the main entrance of the lot and stole a parking pass from another vehicle whose driver side window was rolled down. I leaned against the hot metal and soaked in the warmth, controlling the heat swarming around me. My dark spirits patrolled nearby as I kept a close eye on all the students walking to and from their vehicles—nothing too exciting, to say the least.

  Nothing happened most of the day, yet we waited.

  Every now and then, I received a text message from one of the others: “This is pointless!” “Anything yet?” They doubted me, even Alope. James didn’t. He was determined to kill her—but I wasn’t so sure anymore. To be frank, I wasn’t so sure about anything. Maybe the Awakened Reborn had frightened me in a way that had drained my confidence as a Naiche warrior. Either way, I simply didn’t care enough. I believed James suspected my apathy and longed to take the lead of the hunt.

  Hours had passed with still no sign of her. Then I sensed a familiar energy signal approaching from the east. As I veered right, Alope walked along the sidewalk. The petite girl smiled, looking oddly happy about something. “Tris—Tristan,” she said with a hint of confusion.

  “Yeah, that’s right,” I said with an attitude.

  “I like it. It’s cute.”

  “Shouldn’t you be east of here? What if she happens to walk through Greek row?”

  “Don’t get all serious with me. Nothing has happened all day, and I’m tired. Let’s go. We can look again tomorrow,” Alope whined.

  I quickly rolled my eyes at her behavior. “Maybe you’re right. I’m hungry.”

  So we left. They returned to Uncle Eis’s house. James, who had been obsessed with catching Natalie in the open, was disgusted with the nega
tive results of our hunt. Twice she had beaten me, and twice I had run like a coward. He wasn’t happy with me. Aaron’s smart mouth comments didn’t help either. If he kept this up, then I would fight him myself just to shut him up. I still hadn’t forgotten about what he did in Woodland.

  “We should rethink our game plan, maybe follow other leads—visit other parts of Blackfalls that Natalie Schultz might go to on a daily basis,” James suggested. He seemed to be taking charge of the hunt, his confidence in me dwindling enough to not even bother with asking me for a plan. I didn’t necessarily blame him.

  “Alope and I can check the local mall—you know, snoop around and talk to some of the other girls in her sorority,” Liyah offered.

  “Good, we might need to know that. Also, we probably need to follow her.”

  “I could check out her siblings. I mean, she has two sisters, right?” Aaron asked.

  “Yes,” Liyah answered. Everyone seemed to be chiming in but me. I secluded myself. Emotionally, I was detached from the hunt because of my past two failures. Maybe this was one hunt we couldn’t beat without the help of another clan.

  “I’ll revisit the mansion in Cobblestone Manor. Either way, we need to find a vulnerable area in her life. When we find that, she will be ours,” James said in a dark tone. He sinisterly smiled and had a somewhat satisfied grin on his face. I assumed he thought he would kill Natalie himself.

  “And what about Bodaway, ugh … I mean Tristan? He hasn’t got the opportunity to use his new identity yet,” Aaron said.

  I glared at each one of them, feeling like a push over, amounting to nothing but a huge disappointment. I uttered the first thought that popped into my mind. “I’ll keep checking at the school. I’m bound to see her.”

  “Okay,” James agreed; I could tell he would agree to anything right now.

  “Besides, it would be hard for her to spot me with my new look.” As those words left my mouth, I couldn’t help but run my fingers through my hair. I wasn’t used to the feeling of having shorter hair.