Free Breanna by Karen Nichols Page B

security you’ve provided them for events. I’m so proud of both of you. Is Nick there?”
    Jase groaned, mouthing the words. I warned you!
    He jerked his head to the handset and waited.
    “Mom, I need help with a little problem,” Jase began as Nick lifted the handset 74
    and held it to his ear.
    “Good evening, Miss Annie. How goes the pottery?”
    “Beautifully. I love painting and pouring porcelain and ceramics,” she nodded at her choice and kept painting. “So what do you need? Because if Jase is calling, it’s because you both want something.”
    “You’re too clever for us,” Nick chuckled.
    “I have a picture I’m going to send you but I have to…..I need information from years ago and you might have some friends who can help,” Jase chose his words carefully. “The only thing is….if you honestly and absolutely do not have faith in this person, don’t bring this up to whoever you might talk to.”
    “Jason, you’re making me uncomfortable,” Annie Bishop said slowly, laying the brush aside and straightening on the stool she used in front of the large wooden table.
    “This is where the mother in me starts to ask if you’re in some kind of trouble I should be aware of.”
    “What do you know about the Fae?”
    “You mean as in history or….specifically? I have several friends who would know much more because it’s who they are,” she answered thoughtfully. “What specifically do you need to know?”
    “I’m working on shooting you a photo, mom. Her name is Breanna Cooper,” he lifted his phone and tapped some buttons. “Only the Cooper isn’t her birth name. I traced it back to North Carolina just before she was born and the name of her parents were listed as…..”

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    “Hannah and Jeffrey O’Connor,” Annie Bishop whispered the names, her head shaking as she peered at the beautiful woman in the photo. She didn’t see the stark concern on the faces of the boys she’d raised so closely together.
    “How do you know that?”
    “Because it was a very, very…horrible….thing that happened. There was a mass….oh, god and I mean mass….murder is too clean a word for it,” she said viciously, a tone Jase had never heard from his mother. “Extermination.”
    “How do you know this from a photo?” Nick demanded, barely remembering who he was speaking to. “I’m sorry. Really…..” Annie Bishop heard far more in the men she had called her sons, even when only one was hers. And this woman, this Fae had touched something in them both.
    “I know from the photo because I remember the pictures. I remember the story.
    This photo is the identical image of the…..their queen. It became a….a haunting, sad story that was impossible to forget and it has become a focal point in their history.
    Demons were responsible, but no one ever had a clear answer to why. Rumor had it that a seer had been consulted and a princess would be born that would stop the animosity between the Fae and demons. Of course, knowing seers, the answers were vague and demons do not like to be told to behave themselves. When the other members of their clan heard what happened, they arrived from Ireland and hunted the demons who’d destroyed the small town. The mourning went on for months,” she swallowed. “What are you involved in, Jase? Is this something to do with business?”
    “Did you see the news about the fire in Newburg?” 76
    “They said it was arson. A nice café….”
    “Breanna owned the building. The café was her business. Someone’s trying to kill her and we need information,” Jase told her firmly. “How do you know this stuff?” Annie shrugged and remembered she was on the phone. “History. Friends.
    People who mourn given days for given reasons,” she sighed. “Humans, no matter the form or DNA, aren’t always nice. Is she alright? Your…..friend.”
    “Angry. Sad. Her parents were supposedly killed in another arson about six weeks back,” Nick answered for