He turned his cheerful baby face towards her as he continued warbling along to the sound of the music!
"Waaaaaahh aaahhh maaamaaa eeewaaa!"
Talia froze. What the hell did she just pick up here??? Was this a demon changeling? Was he going to kill her???
She pulled over to the side of the road and stopped the car. Cradling her head in her hands, she leaned against the steering wheel and took a few deep breaths.
Calm down Talia. Calm down.
It's just a child singing to 'Raining Wolves'. Just calm down.
"It's raining wolves," the song continued to fill in the space between her and the boy. "Aroooooh it's raining wolves!"
"Waaeee wooo baaa maaaa waaaaa wooo mama." He sang along, giggling at the same time.
Bracing herself as best she could, Talia sneaked a glance at the boy.
He turned to her with a smile.
BOOM!!! CLAP, CLAP!!! BOOOOOM!!!
Instantly, the boy clambered over to her and latched onto her body, hiding his face into her shoulder.
Talia gasped, not daring to breathe. She quivered with panic but held herself still.
Fortunately, her training kicked in. She was a vet tech. It was her job to nurse and care for animals. She just had to try and remember that this little changeling demon was a dog at one point.
If she continued to think of him as one of her little charges at the animal hospital, she would be fine.
And besides, he wasn't doing anything more than just clutching onto her and burying his face into her body. It wasn't like he was going to bite her or anything.
She hoped.
He had done the same thing before, when he had jumped on her lap after the thunder had boomed so loudly that it had scared him.
But he was a dog then!
Now, he was a human child.
The boy latched onto Talia, completely naked and shivering from the cold.
Without his fur to keep him warm, he was rapidly losing body heat.
Reacting with instinct, Talia grabbed the towel and covered his tiny body. He snuggled instinctively further into her body and the towel, seeking warmth.
She sat there for a few minutes longer, expecting something horrible to happen.
Nothing happened aside from the women belting the song out in their strong female voices and the electric violins pelting out from the speakers.
The boy began to settle down and warbled softly to himself a few words that sounded suspiciously like "raining wolves".
He yawned a couple of times and began nodding off to the sound of music inside the car intermingled with the sound of thunder outside in the pouring sky.
She pulled the towel up over his head to cover him better and that was when she noticed he had a tiny charm on a silver chain around his neck.
It was no wonder she hadn't seen it earlier. The chain was made of platinum and fairly thin. His puppy fur was so long it had covered up the chain.
Talia picked up the charm and carefully inspected it.
One side had a name: Devin Blaxtone. That must be the boy's name! The other side had a local phone number.
Talia closed her eyes and heaved a sigh. Thank God this child had a family and she could at least reach his parents.
She tapped on the steering wheel and commanded the computer to call the number on Cedric's chain.
Please please please! Don't let the storm knock out the power or the cell phone networks.
Talia was still praying to everything holy when a curt male voice came on the line.
"Yes?"
"Uh…Hi. I'm calling because I picked up a little boy—"
"You have Devin! Do not hurt him. How much money for his safe return?"
"No, you don't understand—"
"I said how much money."
"I don't want any money!" Her voice rose along with her flaring temper.
What was wrong with this man?
"If it's not money you want then name your price."
Talia scowled. "Look, I don't want anything from you. Just tell me where you are and I will bring the boy to you."
"…you are breaking up…"
"I said tell me where you are and I'll bring him to you."
"…"
"Hello? Hello? Are you there?" She called out, hoping for a response.
When silence greeted her insistent calling, she groaned out loud and disconnected the line.
The storm had most likely knocked out a cell tower. Perhaps if she moved a bit further out of the storm's path, she could try establishing a new connection.
Talia started up the car and continued moving in a north-east direction, trying to escape the path of the hurricane which was moving due west.
As she drove, she tried calling back a few more times, but no one picked up and there was no voice mail to leave a message.
Who, in this modern day and age, did not provide a message inbox so people could leave a message if they couldn't get through???
Sighing with frustration, she continued moving away from the storm and towards the safety of the neighboring state.
Mississippi, here we come.
======
On the other side of the line, Cedric Blaxtone was tearing out his hair. He felt as if he was stuck on a heart-stopping roller coaster ride going up and down and up and down with no way to get off.
He had returned from his desperate tear through the woods of his estate, empty-handed.
Even though the sky was a dark stormy mass of thunder clouds, it was still broad daylight which meant he risked being seen in his wolf form just to search for the boy.
He was dripping wet and frustrated as hell. After drying himself and changing into the clothes that his manservant had laid out, Cedric had been out of his mind, sending every single person out into the storm to look for the boy.
That was when he had received the call from the woman.
Once he had gotten the call and heard that Devin was with her, Cedric felt at once, a deep relief commingled with savage fury.
Thank God he was not wandering alone out there in the hurricane, but how dare she exploit the weaknesses of a child!!!
Cedric's proud handsome face grew cold, a twitch began working on his cheek.
Everyone knew his family had money, and everyone always wanted a piece of that money. There was no reason to take a child that young other than for ransom.
He had tried offering the woman money only to be rejected. Then he had tried bribing her with other things, but she seemed adamant about not wanting any of that either.
He tried to recall what she had said right before thunder and lightning had hit somewhere, causing the power to cut off for his region.
"Look…from you…I will…bring the boy…"
It was obvious she wanted something from him, but the phone had cut off before she could tell him exactly what she was trying to extort from him.
Damn the storm!!!
The power had completely shut down at that point in the conversation.
He was left sitting in the dark holding a dead phone and wondering if he should shape shift back into wolf form so he could go find her.
Merde!
Cedric threw the phone onto the desk and growled with frustration. He closed his eyes and clenched his fists to the sides of his head.
Where the hell could the two of them possibly go? He had no idea where to even begin the search!
He pounded the armrest of his leather desk chair.
"Damn it!!!"
Within a couple of minutes of the power outage, Hubert had appeared with a battery-powered lantern and placed it on top of his desk.
A serving maid approached with a tray holding a pot of hot tea and a delicate bone china cup and saucer. She poured the tea and placed it in front of Cedric.
With the serving maid and the hot tea came warmth and civility. With Hubert and the light came a glow of reasoned logic.
It made more sense to just remain inside and wait for the power to be restored so he could call her back.
Even if the hurricane had blown out the connection point on her end and he couldn't reach her, if the woman wanted his money that badly, she would find a way to contact him.
There was no reason for his men to risk their lives looking for a child in the middle of a pounding hurricane when that child had already been found.
Cedric looked up at the manservant from his desk.
"Call the guardsmen back and have them take shelter from the rain."
"Yes, Your Grace."
"How well does this place hold up to a hurricane, Hubert?" Cedric rubbed his brow as he took a sip of the hot jasmine tea.
He had bought this place only months ago and knew so little about it. Hubert was the one who had done all the research on the place along with all purchase details.
"It will hold up, Sir. The building is built on top of a small hill, and it is four stories tall. If the water level rises, we can go to the fourth floor and stay there until the water recedes."
Cedric Blaxtone nodded. His manservant had gotten everyone ready to evacuate the hurricane, but then Devin went missing and there was no choice but to remain and look for him.
Cedric could barely stand the terror of not knowing where Devin was.
The only glimmer of light that Cedric could cling onto was the fact that the boy was in the hands of an adult who could protect him. He wasn't out there alone in the middle of a hurricane with a levee that was overflowing and threatening to breech.
If that happened, even if the child managed to find shelter somewhere, the water would come pouring into the city and he would have so easily drowned.
The thought made him break out in a sweat of panic.
Cedric didn't care at this point if the woman wanted something from him.
As long as she keep the boy safe until she could get whatever extortion she wanted from Cedric, he would be more than happy to pay her whatever she asked for.