When we got to the door, there were four people inside waiting with machine guns to fire on whoever entered. However, we didn’t need to open it for Trinity to take them out. I watched as the muscles in her lifeless arm rapidly reconstructed and her skin grew back. She rubbed her shoulder and swung it around, testing the range of motion, before smashing the door in with a powerful kick.
Trinity still had her earpiece in, the small receiver stuffed in the front of her sports bra. She reported our location as we quickly made our way down the hallway, check rooms for more enemies. It helped that I could sense our unseen assailants, moving the process along much faster.
I almost had a heart attack when we unexpectedly ran into the group of soldiers who were on the mission with us. I hadn’t noticed them with my sixth sense because they were such a low threat, and I wasn’t paying close enough attention. However, it was weird because I had noticed our enemies who were regular people. It made me wonder if my ability could sense intentions – somehow knowing that the soldiers were on our side. Though I had no way to test that out right now.
Trinity was quick to take command of the situation, speaking to Reynolds. “Weaver is underground. Take your group and clear the top floor while we look for a way down.”
The leader nodded without hesitation and we all headed to the foyer at the entrance where two large staircases led to the upper floor. As their team was making their way up the stairs, the front door burst into flames and Zayden walked right through them. I knew it was him, but he was unrecognizable as the tall skinny guy I was used to seeing. His entire body was one giant humanoid flame – bright white, with blue fire radiating off him. I could barely make out the outline of his physical body, with the separation between him and the fire being almost indistinguishable, but I was quickly glad for that since it was obvious all his clothes were completely destroyed. Whoever he had fought must have been threatening enough to push him to use the full extent of his powers. I suspected it had been whoever was using electricity earlier.
The soldiers had hesitated when he burst through the door, but then continued upstairs as if they were well familiar with Zayden’s hellish form. Since he could control flames, the ones on the door didn’t catch the rest of the house of fire, instead quickly burning themselves out.
A light-gray wolf suddenly appeared in a doorway to a room off to the side, growling at us. Trinity immediately grabbed me by the wrist again and took off straight for the beast. The wolf quickly turned around leading us through a series of connected rooms, before stopping in front of a bookshelf. Ava turned into a shadow and slipped into it.
When she popped back out, she spoke. “Definitely a secret passageway, but I have no idea how to open it.”
Trinity nodded and then reared up for a powerful side kick. I expected her foot to go right through the back of the bookshelf, but the wood was thicker than it looked. The entire thing snapped instead, and she reached her fingers into the crack to rip the two halves apart. The passageway was well furnished, as if it was meant to be a part of the house all along. However, once we turned a corner, it ended at a bare concrete stairwell going deep into the ground.
The three of us dashed down the stairs, arriving at a steel door. Trinity gave it a swift three kicks, and finally it bent enough for her last kick to break its hinges. It fell onto the ground with a loud ricocheting thud, revealing a long bare concrete hallway. Ava turned into a shadow and went on ahead to check out the area. Now that we were this far, Trinity slowed down, becoming more cautious.
“Do you sense anything?” She wondered quietly, reducing her walking pace even more.
The fact that she had spoken to me left me surprised briefly. She hadn’t even looked at me since the attack officially started. When I hesitated, she glanced back at me with a questioning look. She seemed to misinterpret my expression. “What’s wrong?” She whispered urgently.
I quickly shook my head. “Nothing. Hold on a second.” She stopped, and I closed my eyes to really focus on my sixth sense. I could feel Ava slipping through walls as she investigated the small maze underneath the house. I could sense Zayden still upstairs on the first floor, keeping guard from any unexpected backup. Zane was outside the mansion – I could even sense his small army of predators working their way around the perimeter to make sure it was secure. And then there was the team of soldiers upstairs. It appeared they were done with their sweep, heading back to the foyer where Zayden waited.
However, for some reason I couldn’t sense anything down here with us underneath the house. I focused on Ava again, wondering how I could be missing something. Were we really alone down here? She was still moving quickly, slipping into another one of the small rooms.
Unexpectedly, her presence almost vanished – it was like she was a cluster of steam that sudden evaporated. I could barely sense her.
Gasping, my eyes flew open, and I took off into a sprint down the hall. Trinity was quickly at my side, matching my pace. I explained urgently in a whisper. “Shadow’s in trouble!”
I saw the sudden stress in her eyes, and she looked away from me, training her gaze ahead of her. I knew I was holding her back, but she had to follow my lead since she didn’t know where to go. We quickly made our way through the hallways as I tried to get us closer to where I had last detected her presence.
Finally, as we rounded a corner, we found her…sort of. There was a layer of black mist on the floor just outside another steel door. Trinity gasped when she saw it, halting in her tracks.
“I think she’s still alive,” I quickly whispered, pointing with my finger. “Look.” The black smoke was moving slightly, very slowly pulling back in on itself. After a few more seconds, it began to speed up, and collected into a shadowy form lying on its side.
Trinity walked up to the humanoid shape tentatively, but it was obvious Ava wasn’t responsive. Still, I could sense her presence, which meant she was still alive. Standing up, she stood to face the door, and spoke to me. “What do you sense inside?” She whispered.
I focused as hard as I could and finally made out the faint presence of two targets. “There’s two, but I can barely feel them…it’s almost like…”
She looked back at me, catching my eye. “Like what?” She asked softly.
I sighed. “Like they aren’t a threat at all. But that can’t be right.”
Trinity’s brow furrowed. “It’s probably the Shield Maiden. She can block a lot of things, including bullets and radio transmissions. She’s definitely blocking my ability, because I can’t sense them at all. So, maybe she’s blocking your ability too.”
I stared at her in surprise. “Then how are we supposed to defeat them if our powers are useless?”
She shrugged, the movement causing me to briefly focus on her exposed shoulders and blue hair. “We really don’t have any other options. We have to try. I guess I’ll just break down the door and toss you in. Hopefully you’ll come out on top. That’s the best we can do right now.”
I gawked at her. “Are you serious? You’re just going to throw me to wolves and hope for the best?”
“What did you think was going to happen?” She hissed. “It’s not like we can abandon our mission. At least, definitely not now. You’ll never see the light of day again if you sabotage this by wimping out.”
“That’s better than dying!” I hissed back.
She turned towards me and crossed her arms over her sports bra. I tried not to look down at her chest as she continued. “You were fine with dying not even an hour ago.”
“That was different!” I retorted.
“How?” She demanded.
“I was doing it for you! To protect you!”
Her eyes narrowed. “Look, you’re the only one who can defeat this guy. If you don’t go in there and try, then I’ll have to…and we both know how that’s going to turn out. So, at the end of the day it’s either you or me. Now choose.”
I hesitated as I considered what she was saying. She was right. I knew
she was obligated to see this through. There was no going back now. The time for retreating was long gone. I sighed and let my head fall. “Fine.”
She dropped her arms, turning around in a swift motion, and kicked the door hard. Unlike the first steel door, this one wasn’t as thick, and with one additional kick it flew into the room, landing with a hard thud. The moment I saw Weaver, with a little girl no older than ten sitting in his lap, Trinity screamed a blood curdling, tortured noise.
I looked at her in shock, as I saw the skin on her arms and torso quickly oozing blood and her black pants becoming soaked in it. Weaver was already doing it. He was killing her, ripping her blood right out of her body.
Infuriated, I bolted straight for him. He quickly shifted his gaze to me, and the moment I heard Trinity’s screams stop I felt him rip my blood out of me. It froze me in my tracks, my anger suddenly gone.
Unexpectedly, I was apathetic, like a switch had flipped in my brain. I looked at the crimson fluid as it started coming out, not feeling a thing. It didn’t hurt, even though he was pulling it straight out of my arms, legs, and torso. However, as I watched with indifference, it didn’t saturate my clothes like Trinity’s had. Instead, it defied gravity, coming out and up into the air.
Suddenly, I had a flashback of earlier that day, and I remembered killing all those people at the mall. I hadn’t done it on purpose. It had been a complete accident. But I hadn’t felt any remorse as I watched my blood go out of control and slice everyone up. I had felt dead inside. All my emotions muted.
Just like I felt now.
Without lifting a finger, I took control of my blood and watched it shift in the air at my will. The moment the thought for it to move appeared in my mind, the blood obeyed. There was no in between from thinking to doing. An instantaneous thought-to-action process.
I looked at Weaver as his face lost all color like he had seen a ghost. He began to say something, but was interrupted by being impaled with twenty tendrils of my blood. There was something satisfying about killing him, a sensation that warmed me to the core.
Huh, I thought to myself. I guess I still had a heart after all. I had skipped over the girl, who was now screaming in terror. I briefly wondered if I really did have a split personality, but then immediately knew that wasn’t true. My brain had protected me, by giving me temporary amnesia, but I was still me. Just a very emotionally dead me.
I walked up to the shrieking girl, who was unable to escape off the dead man’s lap since my blood had her trapped. I reached up and grabbed her by the hair, my fingers holding it roughly at the scalp. I briefly noticed it was blonde. I then turned around and began dragging her like it was nothing – like she weighed nothing. I knew I wasn’t really hurting her, because she had her hands firmly grasped around my wrist supporting her own weight. Rather, she was just terrified.
I didn’t care.
When I got to the doorway, I noticed that Ava was sitting up in her physical form – she had finally recovered. She looked at me, saw my dead eyes – my blank expression, and leaned away slightly with wide eyes. I ignored her as I bent down and picked up Trinity with one arm, tossing her limp body over my shoulder, again like it was nothing – like she weighed nothing. The blood on her skin and clothing felt extremely warm against my body.
I then dragged the girl down the hallway, passing Ava without looking at her. I could sense her behind me. She hesitated, and then followed after me, keeping her distance. I wondered briefly why she was so unsure, but then realized I still had a good deal of my blood outside my body. It was hovering in the air around me, swaying as if responding to some undetectable wind.
In my earpiece, I heard Ava speak to everyone. “Mission accomplished. We’re coming out. Succubus needs a sacrifice. Anyone available?”
Zane’s voice responded. “I have someone. Mauled, but still alive. Meet in the foyer.”
“Copy.” She hesitated then. I knew, since she was behind me. Finally, she spoke again, barely in a whisper. “Also…Incubus is activated. Tread with extreme caution…He doesn’t look very happy.”
It was quiet on the other line for a few long seconds, before Zane finally responded, “Copy,” followed by Reynolds echoing the same response.
Once we entered the foyer area, the screaming girl in tow, I saw that Zayden had returned to normal. He was wearing a pair of black boxer briefs – I realized someone probably had spare clothes for him in case this kind of thing happened. Unlike the expression he normal wore, he was very reserved when he saw me.
Everyone was gathered around now that the mission was over. As promised, a man lay at Zane’s feet, seemingly unconscious. His face was almost unrecognizable, mauled, also as promised. I held up the girl first, lifting her right off the ground by her hair, again like it was nothing. She wasn’t crying now, just whimpering. I had my blood wrapped around her waist and legs, so that her weight was supported in multiple places rather than just her scalp.
In a monotone voice, I spoke. “I’d prefer we didn’t kill this.” I paused. “I’m sure she can be useful.” I then sat her on the ground, sensing that Ava was ready to take over the babysitting. As I walked over to Trinity’s ‘sacrifice’ everyone else backed away, including Zane.
I gently laid her down next to the unconscious body, unsure of how to get her to use her abilities while unconscious. But then I realized she was already, as the guy’s life slowly drained away. I wondered how she knew to drain his life. If she was completely unconscious, then why not just drain all our lives? Yet she seemed to still be in control. Somehow her body knew.
The moment her red eyes popped open, my emotions flooded back with a rush. I took a deep breath, and slowly pulled my blood inside me. Her eyes widened as she saw it. Once I was done, she slowly sat up, finding her face really close to mine from my crouched position next to her waist.
“Are you okay?” I asked quietly.
She nodded slowly, her expression uncertain. I saw that her arms and torso were still covered in her own blood, although a lot of it had disappeared, probably wiped off onto my clothing.
I abruptly stood then and reached out a hand. She took it tentatively, and I hoisted her to her feet. She appeared shocked. “Jeez, you seem a little stronger.”
I just shrugged. “Seems that way.”
She finally risked taking her eyes off me to look at Reynolds. “Did you call it in?”
The guy nodded, his voice gruff. “A cleanup team is on the way. We will stay behind to help out, but your group is being picked up momentarily.” He then paused, glancing at me still staring at her, before looking at Trinity again. “Well done. We didn’t lose anyone.”
She nodded, and then spoke to everyone. “Alright, I need to stay behind for a minute. Shadow you’re with me. Alpha and Devil, take Incubus to the pickup location. I’ll be there shortly.”
“I’d prefer not,” I said loudly. I wasn’t sure why I was speaking my mind, but I felt it make everyone extremely uncomfortable as the tension in the room rose tenfold.
Trinity’s head snapped towards me, and her voice was cautious. “Jake,” she began, failing to use my codename. “No questions asked, remember?” There was something else in her tone…not a threat, but a warning. A warning to obey.
I stared at her for a few seconds, before finally lowering my gaze. “Right.”
She sighed like she had been holding her breath, and then slowly backed away before turning to go talk to Reynolds again. Really, it sounded like everyone had been holding their breath. I wasn’t exactly sure why.
I felt Zane gently rest his hand on my shoulder, so I looked up at him. His face was reserved as he spoke. “Come on. You did a good job. Let’s get ready to go back.”
“Sure…” I turned and followed him through the charred doorframe, glancing over my shoulder at Trinity. She was looking at me, and there was something in her expression that bothered me. She seemed…afraid.
Chapter 5: Feelings
As we walked down the steps from
the mansion, Zane in front of me and Zayden close behind, I wondered why everyone was so on edge. I thought about asking, but then decided against it for right now. I looked around at all the destruction, hardly believing this was all really happening. It seemed so surreal. Dead bodies were everywhere. A few of Zane’s animals lingered too.
As we were walking through the front yard, a woman unexpectedly appeared out from behind a bush. My first thought was that I was surprised I hadn’t noticed her, but then I realized I hadn’t been focusing on anything, thinking the fight was over. She stared at me, locking eyes, her gaze forcing my mind to become cloudy and confused.
Unexpectedly, I woke up in an empty room with a glass wall to my left. There was a door in front of me. I looked down to see my wrists in handcuffs, secured by a chain to a familiar metal table. A voice on the intercom suddenly spoke, yelling.
“Yes or no!”
Confused, I quickly responded. “Umm, yes?”
I waited for him to say something else, but he didn’t. Instead the door opened up in front of me, and I was shocked to see Trinity skip in with a big grin on her face. She was wearing the same small shorts and top from earlier. I was briefly mesmerized by her toned abs. I had almost forgotten how little fat she had on her, except for her chest, surprised again that her six-pack was clearly visible even though she wasn’t flexing.
Her red eyes were excited as she clapped her hands together. “Yay! Fresh meat! Jacob Knight, right? I like that name!”
“Jake,” I automatically corrected her. Had she forgotten already?
“Hmm, testy are we? No matter! I’m Trinity – Trinity for short!” She gave me a huge grin, like her joke was actually funny. “Come with me and I’ll introduce you to everyone.”
I hesitated, surprised by her statement. I already knew everyone. Was she introducing me to a different group? As I was about to ask, she reached down and grabbed the chain. With a quick tug, it snapped in two, reminding me how unnaturally strong she was.
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