Rambler (Brothers of Chaos)

Phoenix didn’t even bother getting up and shutting the light off. Sometimes, she slept with the light on to stave off the nightmares but she had a feeling it wouldn’t help her tonight. She hated being this upset. Her past always came back when she was in this mood.

She tried to close her eyes but images from her past flashed behind her eyelids. As always, they were just bits and pieces and she couldn’t understand what they meant but the images sucked her in deeper tonight then they had in the past. She fell into a deepening doze and somewhere in her mind, the door that had been locked all this time, suddenly cracked open.

The vortex sucked her in deeper and her memories returned in living color. For the first time in twelve years, she saw her mother’s face. She remembered her mother’s voice and the look of horror in her mother’s eyes when the car pulled up beside them on the street.

Phoenix began tossing and turning as she fought it all. She could see clear as day the face of the man who called out, “Hello Shelby. I told you when you left, I would find you one day. I guess today is that day.”

“What the hell do you want here Burr?” her mother asked as she pushed her small daughter behind her.

“Odin wants you back. He sent me to bring you home,” Burr told her as he opened the car door.

Her mother backed them both up. “Tell Odin, you couldn’t find me and that he should leave me the hell alone.”

Burr shook his head. “You know I can’t lie to my brother kiddo. You never should have left him in the first place. He was going to make you his queen. You broke his heart.”

Her mother laughed out loud but there was no mirth in it. “He’d have to have a heart first and you and I both know he’s a cold hearted bastard. He only wanted me because I told him no.”

“Who the fuck are you?” Growled Mac from behind them.

Shelby turned to look at him and she missed seeing Burr pull his weapon out but Phoenix saw it and she screamed when the shot rang out.

Mac fell forward and pulled Phoenix down with him.

Burr grabbed Shelby and pulled her toward the car, kicking and screaming the entire way. He shoved her in the backseat and Burr had just opened the front door when the driver yelled at him about how they needed to take the girl with them as leverage to control Shelby.

Phoenix looked up just as Burr fired the gun again, and then rushed her. He grabbed her up by the arm and dragged her toward the car. She remembered trying to hold on to Mac’s vest and then she lost her grip as the patch she tore loose. Burr threw her into the car.

Shelby gathered her up into her arms and held her tight. Phoenix felt her blood drench them both as Shelby pressed against the head wound her daughter had.

They drove for hours before the vehicle stopped again. She was then ripped from her mother’s arms and Burr began walking her into the heat of the desert. She stumbled behind him for about fifteen minutes before he stopped and turned to her. “I got what I came for. I don’t need to carry you back with me. It’s probably best I leave you here.” He pulled a rope out of his back pocket.

Phoenix kept backing away from the man but Burr grabbed her by the neck and yanked her closer. He slapped her hard and she fell to the ground. “Odin wants your mother alive but he won’t want you. All you are is a reminder that she had a life without him.” He began to wrap the rope around her neck tightly.

Phoenix began to choke and Burr laughed. “Aww… too tight? Well, there’s no reason to make you suffer that much. You’ll die either way.” He grabbed the gun out of his belt and hit her head hard with the barrel.

Phoenix crumbled to the ground. That was all she could remember.

She woke up with a voiceless scream as she had so often in the past. She was soaked in sweat and the room stank with her fear. She slowly moved her gaze around the room and for a moment, she didn’t know where she was. Then she remembered where she was and she crawled out of bed then rushed to the corner of the room. She curled up as tight as she could to protect herself and sat there watching the door.

She usually screamed at some point during her nightmares and she couldn’t believe she hadn’t done it this time as well. But the longer she sat here the more she was convinced she hadn’t because no one came busting through the door to confront her.

Minutes or hours passed, she didn’t really know how long she sat there. Her body grew cold as the memories of that day faded into the background. The last memory in her mind was her mother shouting as Burr pulled her out of the car. He dragged her away as her mother screamed her name and that scream echoed in her memory.

It was barely dawn when Rambler opened the door and peeked into her room. He felt surprised when he didn’t see her asleep on the bed. He stepped inside and saw the bedding was strewn all over and he quickly looked around the entire room. He skimmed it so fast, he almost missed her all curled up in the corner of the room.

He rushed over to her and knelt down beside her. That was when he saw the vacant stare in her eyes. “Phoenix, are you all right?” he asked her. When she didn’t answer him, he reached out for her. His first touch didn’t seem to faze her but he took note of how cold her skin felt. He grabbed the blanket from the floor beside the bed and wrapped it around her as he pulled her to him. He sat down and hauled her into his lap, rubbing her upper arms while calling out her name. “Phoenix, can you hear me? I need you to come back.” He kept telling her… For twenty minutes, he spoke to her.

Finally, she whispered brokenly, “I-I think m-my name is Phoebe. But I like Phoenix better. A Phoenix rises from the dead, Moon told me this is why he named me that… I think I died out in that desert that day.”

Rambler gasped and held her close to his body. She was still so cold. Her voice sounded flat like she didn’t care and she spoke of death like it was nothing to fear. He didn’t know what happened in the hours since he left but something had. Did she remember something?

He looked up as he heard a noise by the door and saw Thunder standing there. His president looked at the scene with little or no expression in his face. He stared at his daughter for a moment then turned and walked down the hall. Rambler snarled at the other man’s actions and looked down at Phoenix.

She was staring at the door. She had seen her father turn away from her yet again, and he had to wonder how much more this poor girl could take. He tipped her head up so he could see her eyes and then he asked, “Are you all right?”

Phoenix shivered and shook her head. “I never should have come here. Please let me go. I can’t stay here anymore. He doesn’t want me. Please let me go.”

“I wish I could,” he mumbled. She kept shivering in his arms and Rambler almost wished he could.

After Thunder walked away and she went silent for a long while, she whispered, “I remembered.”

“What?” He frowned at her.

“I remembered that day.” She looked up at him with tears in her eyes. “Mac died because he was protecting me and my mom. He was trying to stop someone from forcing us into a car. This man had a gun in his hand and I was so scared he was going to shoot my mom. He told her he was there to take her back where he said she belonged but my mom didn’t want to go with him.”

Rambler froze as she whispered the events of that day. He didn’t want to distract her but he needed more details. “Who? Who was trying to kidnap you and your mom?”

“A man she called Burr. He was the man with the snake tattoo.” She was barely whispering now.

It was a whisper but he heard her name their attacker.

“We were out shopping. I don’t remember what we were shopping for but I remember buying paper plates and colored napkins. I was so excited but I can’t remember why.” She paused and frowned. “There was some kind of party the next day I think.”

“It was a birthday party,” he told her. “Your birthday party. You were going to be nine the next day.”

She looked up at him in surprise. “Really?”

Rambler nodded. “Yup. Your mom was getting last minute birthday stuff. You were supposed to pick up the cake too, if I remember correctly.”

Phoenix shrugged. “That’s how he knew where we would be.”

“What?” He froze.

“Burr said he was waiting for us in front of the bakery because he knew we would be there to pick up the cake.”

Rambler didn’t believe in coincidence and he had to wonder how Burr knew the girls would be after a cake that day. He felt her shivering and tightened the blanket around her shoulders. “Are you okay?” he wanted to know.

“I’m cold.” She whimpered. “And I’m tired.” She shook her head. “I think I liked it better before I remembered. I was so scared that day. I don’t want to remember anymore. I just wanted to sleep.” She laid her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes. “Remembering hurts too much.” She whispered as she dozed.

Rambler held her for a few minutes then laid her on the bed. He covered her up and listened as she whimpered. When he left, she was laying ever so still, almost as if she were afraid to move.

He walked to the door and went down the hall. He headed over to the huge coffee pot and poured himself a cup of coffee. Then he went over to a table near where Thunder and a few of the other brothers were sitting. Bearcat, Sinner, Hunter and Taz were all there but no one was talking like they usually did. Damn, he had her talking until Thunder rejected her yet again.

Rambler left her resting on the bed and walked into the man room to get some breakfast. Phoenix refused to come with him and he didn’t push the issue. He could see she was still trying to process whatever it was she had remembered.

Thunder just glared at him as he sipped his coffee. “Well, what the hell happened this morning? Why were you sitting on the floor with her on your lap? You couldn’t even wait to fuck her?”

Rambler snapped his head up to glare at the other man. “What the hell are you accusing me of, old man?”

“I saw her bed. It must have been a good time last night. I told you to watch her, not bed her.” Thunder growled.

“You old bastard. I didn’t sleep with your daughter!” Rambler seethed. “I found her that way when I checked on her. She was so zoned out I don’t think she even knew where she was.”

“What was her problem?” Bearcat frowned.

Rambler looked over him. “You remember how she told us she didn’t remember what happened the day Mac died?”

Bearcat nodded. Looking over at Thunder he quickly looked back at the VP. “I remember and I believed her at the time.”

Rambler nodded. “Last night, when I showed her where she would sleep, she asked me to leave the lights on. She said she has nightmares and they involved screaming but she said she never remembers them the next morning. I think she remembered them this morning and it scared the hell out of her. I think she saw everything that happened that day.” Rambler turned to look at Thunder. “Do you know a man named Burr? He might have a blue snake tattooed on his wrist.”