~~
Reece
~~
I knew what I needed to do. I knew what was expected of me. Even though I didn't want to be the one doing this, I knew that there was no one other than me that could accomplish this task. I just hated that it needed to be done in the first place.
The kids were still with my mom and Trinity's mom. They had taken Zachary, Zander, Zayden and Zaley with them to the water park. My little sister Ivy and my Little Bunny's little sister Olivia were just a few months younger than our quadruplets. Even though these kids were technically from three generations in the same family, thanks to my mom marrying Trinity's grandfather, they were all about the same age. In fact, the most recent generation, my children, were all older than their aunts.
It was an interesting family dynamic if you thought about it. But the kids didn't seem to care. They would laugh about it later, about the curiosity of it all, but they were just happy to have other kids their same age. I mean, there had been a lot born around that time again. Almost all of our guards had kids within months of our youngest ones being born. That had been the first time that had happened since we had been pregnant with Reagan and Rika.
When I was ready to go and find my Little Bunny, I knew that she would be in our room. That was on the top floor of the highest tower in the castle. That had been our room since this place had been remodeled with Fae magic. I remember quite clearly the day that my Little Bunny and Valerian had used their magic to make this place. That had also been the day that I learned about the ley lines that crossed underneath the lands that my family had owned.
.....
So many memories were within these walls. So much has happened to us over the last twenty years. Actually, the twenty year anniversary of the day that we first met was coming up so soon. I would need to do something special to celebrate it with her. Because meeting my Little Bunny was definitely something that I wanted to celebrate.
I found my wife in our room. She was just coming out of her massive walk in closet. She was changing into something more comfortable to wear around the house, which I approved of. Twenty years together and I didn't care if she was dressed up or looking like a bum. It didn't change who she was at all.
“Hey, baby.” I called out to her when I came into the room. She knew right away that something was wrong.
“You never call me baby.” She glared at me. “Not unless you are trying to break bad news to me. So, what is it? What is happening?” She knew better than to trust my fake positivity. She would see through it and me in a heartbeat.
“OK. OK. You're right, I have something I need to talk to you about. Come on, sit down. I think that you should be sitting down for this one.”
I took my Little Bunny's hand and walked her over to the couch that was sitting near the doors to the balcony. We would often sit here and just watch the sky change colors when we were content and had nothing else to do.
I could tell that my Little Bunny was waiting for the ball to drop. She was nervous, but not scared. She would take whatever it was that I said in stride. She wasn't going to let it destroy her, but she was going to worry about it still. And when she heard the whole story, she would then start working on a solution. That would be something that we worked on together. I wasn't going to leave it all up to her.
“Alright, Fido, what's going on?” The moment that she was sitting down she asked for the details. I hadn't even had the chance to sit yet.
“Well, I just got the quarterly reports, as you know. And there was something disturbing that I found out during that meeting.”
“Disturbing how?” She looked at me with cautious eyes as she tilted her head, waiting for the answer.
“Well, Trinity, I was listening to the report from western Europe when I found out that there had been a few murders that have taken place. He reported that there were three of them that have happened in the last couple of months. They weren't in the same city, so they didn't seem connected at first. But when he brought me the information I didn't see it as a coincidence.”
“That is so heartbreaking.” She was shaking her head. Even after all of these years of ruling her kingdom, she was still so emotionally affected at times. “There seems to be so much death and destruction in the world lately. You know, just today, during lunch with Juniper, I saw a news report that said that there is a serial killer, or a group of killers that are plaguing Europe and Asia? They said that there has been a string of murders over the last few months. That is just horrible. And here I find out about three more.”
“What did you just say?” I felt like her words were a blow to my gut. If what she was saying was true, then I had even more bad news for her.
“You heard me just fine, Reece.” She shook her head and rolled her eyes at me. “There have been several murders in the last few months.”
“Like maybe eighteen murders or so?” I couldn't believe that this was happening. Or that it was making global news like this. Some of these places where the members of my kingdom had been killed were very tiny communities. It would not be likely that they would publicize what was happening. Not unless there was a larger entity that was working with them to try and figure this all out.
“I don't know. I don't recall them saying how many murders that there has been. It just stated that there had been a string of murders. Why do you think that there were eighteen?” She was getting worried now. I could hear it in her voice. She knew that I was about to drop something big on her. Something that was going to destroy the rest of her day.
“Well, Little Bunny, that wasn't the only report that said that there had been a string of deaths. I heard it from several of them. And in total, between the different districts, there have been eighteen members of our kingdom murdered. They were primarily shifters, so they were strong. Still, something or someone managed to kill them. And I do not think that this is something that we can afford to overlook. This is too important and too sensitive of a topic.”
“Agreed.” She nodded her head just a little bit as she steeled her resolve. “We need to take care of this right away. We need to find out who is targeting our people and why. And most of all, we need to stop them. We need to save the future victims of this person, or group of people. Whoever they are, wherever they are, I will find them, and I will punish them.”
The look in my wife's eyes right now was one that I only saw when she was angry and serious. She was pissed off about these people. She wanted to stop them and save more innocent lives. And she would do it too. I had complete faith in my wife. She was smart, capable, and most of all, determined.
“Alright, Little Bunny, let's gather the others. I think we need to have a meeting with more than just us. And when we're done with that, we can decide where to go from here.” I started to get up from the couch so that I could lead her out of the room.
“Wait, Reece.” She snapped at me. It was like she thought I was moving too quickly, here. “We can't have that discussion unless we have the files from the murders that have taken place.”
“I know that.” I smiled at her. “I have already requested them. However, we have Rawlynne and Jackson at our disposal. They will come in handy during this investigation. Given that their Trinity-given talents include finding hidden information. They will most likely have it all pulled up and ready for us before the local police in those various locations could even pull their files.” I had a plan. I always did. Well, almost always.
“Fine. We will call the meeting, but I don't want it to happen until after dinner. The kids will all be home soon, and I won't miss out on hearing about the tour from Reagan and Rika. Today was a big day for them, and I won't make them feel like it isn't as important to us as it was to them.”
“Alright, that is fine. It will give time for the others to get here. I will have them all meet us in your office after dinner.” My Little Bunny had a point here. We owed Reagan and Rika our undivided attention. I don't care that they were eighteen and going off to college, that didn't make them any less our children than they were when they were under the age of eighteen. The meeting could wait a couple of hours, that wouldn't make that much of a difference anyway.
