Angels of the Knights

by Valerie Zambito

Marc opened his eyes and although they were his normal color again, he looked quite shaken by the invasion of his body. “I didn’t think he could either.”

  Fallon strained against her bonds. She had to do something! She could not leave now with Emperica and Mordeaux poised on the brink of war! If fighting broke out between these two powerful forces, all of humankind would be lost in the struggle.

  Marc ignored her. “Let’s continue.” He walked back to the circle, but the Anthony Kjin held back.

  “Aren’t you going to remove her restraints?” he asked.

  Marc shook his head. “Not until we are at full power.” He looked at each Kjin in his circle. “Let us continue the Ha’Basin. The chant must be delivered three times to be at full power.”

  With souls forged from the fires beyond, darkness and chaos seal our bond. Oh, King Tyras, show us your might, sever the life of this enemy Knight.”

  This is it, she thought. I now leave earth for the last time. Tears began to trace a slow path down her face. Oh, Kade! Would she forget about him once she was back in Emperica? Could she?

  With souls forged from the fires beyond, darkness and chaos seal our bond. Oh, King Tyras, show us your might, sever the life of this enemy Knight.”

  A sudden breeze began to swirl around the large room. As the chanting grew louder and more fervent, so did the wind. She had to squint her eyes as her long hair whipped around her head.

  They were opening the gateway.

  With souls forged from the fires beyond, darkness and chaos seal our bond. Oh, King Tyras, show us your might, sever the life of this enemy Knight.”

  In the center of the spinning mass, a funneled shaft appeared. From the floor, she felt the strengthening pull of the vortex. Her body slid on the ground toward the swirling eddy, but the chain holding her wrists stopped her momentum. She screamed out at the pain, the metal biting cruelly into her already tender skin.

  She jumped to her feet to try to relieve some of the pressure on her wrists, but her legs were swept out from under her in the growing storm. She floated above the floor now, secured only by her iron tether.

  “We are at full power!” Marc Ellis shouted. “Keep up the chant and at the cost of your lives, do not stop!”

  Marc slipped from the group, still murmuring words under his breath.

  As he neared, she kicked her leg toward his face. She smiled at the small victory as her foot connected with his jaw and he cursed at her.

  She looked back to the center of the room. The gateway was fully open now, and a glowing white light appeared in the middle of the whirlpool. As soon as Marc unlocked her shackles, she would be powerless to fight the strength of the currents and her body would be sucked through. Then, the pain would begin.

  Marc was also having trouble staying on his feet, and he grabbed her chain to anchor himself.

  She tried to kick out at him again, but he was now out of reach of her attacks.

  “It has been nice knowing you, Knight,” he hissed in her ear and lifted a small key to the lock on her wrists.

  Over the tumultuous noise of the wind, Fallon heard the door to the room slam open.

  Several of the Kjin stopped their chant to look, but Marc Ellis screamed at them. “Don’t stop! Do not stop!”

  “A party! I love parties,” said a boisterous voice from the doorway.

  Fallon wanted to cry when she heard the familiar voice. Not the tears of joy for a rescue, but the tears of terror. Her savior did not stand a chance of surviving.

  CHAPTER 19

  Friendship Lost

  Julian! What was he doing here? He was supposed to be on his way to Buffalo.

  The wind started to lesson from the interruption.

  “Keep chanting! I’ll take care of this!” yelled Marc and ran to confront Julian.

  “Julian! It is a Ha’Basin! Get out!” she screamed over the Kjin voices, lost once more in their evil mantra.

  “Full power! I need full power!” ordered Marc.

  In response to the demand, the chant grew louder and the wind stronger.

  Fallon watched as Julian ignited his Aventi and swung at Marc’s charging form. The white blade whistled through the air and inches from Marc’s head…it stopped. The Kjin were at full power. Julian’s Aventi was useless.

  A look of shock crossed his handsome features, and then he shrugged and used his fist instead, sending Marc Ellis flying against the wall.

  He must have realized then the grave danger he was in, but instead of going back out the door, Julian fought the pull of the eddy and used his enhanced strength to sprint around the circle of Kjin to her side.

  “Oh, Julian,” she cried. “You shouldn’t have come.”

  He reached up to grab the chain and floated directly above her body, their faces inches apart. “Of course, I would come.”

  “How did you find me?”

  “I realized that you would need my help more urgently than a trip to Buffalo. When I got back to town, it was impossible to miss the foul energy coming from this building. Well, for an angel as talented as me, anyway,” he teased.

  She smiled through her tears. “We both go, then. Back to Emperica together. It will be just like old times. And, we can see Blane again.”

  He let go of the chain with one hand and shoved his Aventi down her shirt. “No. Just me. You have to continue the fight. I’ll tell Blane you said hello. I love you, Fallon.”

  His other hand came free of the chain, and his body flew toward the opening of the gateway. As he passed through the line of Kjin, he reached out and grabbed one around the neck. The demon screamed out as he followed Julian into the pulsating white light. Upon contact with the purity of an Emperica link, the Kjin was shredded to pieces, and with an agonized scream, both he and Julian disappeared from sight.

  Everything went silent and still, and Fallon’s body fell to the concrete floor.

  It was hard to believe that Julian was gone. Gone for good from this earth he loved so much and with him, he took his infectious smile, her tears, and her will with him. He left her with nothing. She was an empty husk. She could not even bring herself to care when Marc Ellis started cursing and shouting, his mouth full of blood.

  “Couldn’t you idiots stop him? He was one Knight and we were at full power! Now, we need another blackcoat before we can start again!” He started pacing when nobody offered a response. “Tyras is not going to be pleased.” He looked directly at a middle aged Kjin who looked like he would fit right in coaching his child’s soccer team. “Who can we get on such short notice, George?” Instead of answering Marc’s question, the Kjin removed a cell phone from his pocket and began punching in numbers.

  Marc strode to her while the Soccer Dad Kjin tried to solicit another blackcoat. “Any more surprises before we begin again, Knight?”

  She just stared at him blankly. She had nothing left.

  He lifted her chin with one hand and gazed into her vacant eyes as his other hand slowly slipped inside her shirt. She never so much as flinched when he pulled out the Aventi that Julian had given up his human life for her to have. “I will take this. You will have little use for it where you’re going.”

  Fallon’s mouth twitched up in a wide smile. She was standing among the high grasses of a picturesque river valley. Butterflies fluttered freely around the trees and the colorful wild flowers that dotted the landscape as far as the eye could see.

  Although the vista was stunning, Fallon’s smile was not for the beauty of the valley. It was for the man who suddenly appeared at the top of the rise.

  Kade.

  Her brave Kade.

  A dimpled-smile painted his handsome face as his eyes found hers.

  With a yelp, she ran to him, and he threw his head back and laughed before hurrying down into the valley to meet her. Fallon picked up her speed, anxious to be in his arms again.

  She began to cry as she ran. She missed him so much. She could not remember why they had been apart, only that she needed to feel him
again.

  Fallon ran and ran, desperate to reach him before he disappeared from her life again. The muscles in her legs burned, but she ignored the pain, wanting only to close the distance between them. Glancing down for a moment to avoid a rock in her path, she looked back up, and he was gone.

  She stopped and spun around frantically, searching for him. Where did he go? Kade! Kade!

  The realization suddenly came to her that he was gone for good this time, and she knew why. It was her punishment for failing so badly. She invited Kade into her life and it cost her hers. Not only her life, but the lives of untold others who would now suffer at the hands of Kjin she should have been destroying. She selfishly elevated her own desires above the needs of others.

  Still, she wanted to see him again. Father Tomas assured her that love was a gift she should embrace. If only she could see him one last time.

  Kade! I need you!

  “Shh. I am here.”

  Fallon’s eyes popped open and she gasped loudly. But, the furious beating of her heart slowed when she saw that she was still in the warehouse. Her aching arms still stretched over her head in chains.

  It was just a dream. There was no valley. No butterflies. No Kade.

  She slumped a tear-stained cheek against her shoulder. No, not a dream. A nightmare.

  Another anguished gasp tore from her throat and when it did, a familiar smell wafted to her nose. Spicy soap. She swung her head up.

  “I’m here, baby,” he whispered from behind her at her throat.

  “Kade?” she whispered, turning on the chains to get a look at him.

  There he was. Dimpled smile and all. And, now he was going to die just like Julian.

  “Kade, you have to go! There are too many blackcoats. Please, Kade, I could not stand to watch you die.” Not after Julian. And, Father Tomas. And, Anthony.

  “Nobody is going to die,” he told her confidently. “I’m getting you out of here.” Standing from his crouch behind her, he studied the locks around her wrist.

  “How? You don’t have a key.”

  “I happen to know a thing or two about locks. Now, quiet.” From his pocket, he pulled a slender pin and inserted it into the lock. After a few seconds of working it around the mechanism, Fallon heard a click and one handcuff came free. It only took him another few seconds to free the other hand.

  She wanted to rub her wrists, but they were too tender to the touch. She found relief instead by rubbing away the prickling pain shooting up her arms. Nothing ever felt so good in her life. It meant she was alive.

  “How did you get in here?” she asked him.

  He pointed up to the ceiling in the far corner behind her. A duct vent was hanging open. When he helped her to her feet, she threw her arms around his neck. “But, how did you know I was here?”

  Kade scratched his head. “I don’t know exactly. I felt the presence of a large, black cloud hanging over this building, and I knew something evil was happening here. It wasn’t a real cloud, just a feeling I had.” He shook his head. “It was weird.”

  Fallon released her arms and looked at him. My little Intuit. Although he did not have the inner sight to see paranormal activity, he could sense it. “You are a very special man, Kade Royce.”

  He kissed her lips. “Keep that thought until we get out of here. Come on.”

  She stumbled as she tried to take her first steps, but Kade grabbed her before she could fall.

  “I need a chair,” he said, scanning the room.

  “No, we don’t,” she said. She staggered over to the open vent and stood directly beneath it. “I’ll go up first and pull you up.” When she noticed the look on his face, she said, “Just deal with it, Royce.”

  He smiled. “Actually, having a superhuman girlfriend is kind of growing on me.”

  The door banged open.

  “There!” shouted the Soccer Dad Kjin, and three blackcoats piled into the room and sprinted toward them.

  Fallon bent into a crouch and jumped straight into the air and through the open vent. Landing smoothly in the tight space, she leaned back down through the hole and stretched her arm toward Kade. “Hurry! Grab my arm, and I’ll pull you up.”

  Kade jumped, but not high enough to reach her.

  “Kade! Hurry!”

  He jumped again and this time she managed to catch his wrist. She breathed a sigh of relief and with a forceful yank, hauled his body upward.

  But, Kade screamed out before she could pull him all of the way through the opening, and he was ripped out of her grip and slammed to the floor. Then, his body disappeared underneath the flailing arms of the Kjin.

  CHAPTER 20

  Sacrifice

  Without hesitation, Fallon dropped back down through the vent to the ground. With a snarl, she reached down, picked up two of the Kjin by their shirt collars, and threw them off Kade.

  Kade scrambled to his feet and the other two Kjin stepped back, wary now of Fallon.

  Kade was breathing heavy as he put his back against hers. “What are we going to do?” he asked, as the four Kjin regrouped and formed up in front of them.

  “I am going to fight and you are going to get out of here. As long as they haven’t established a Ha’Basin, I can take these four. At least long enough for you to escape.”

  “Are you forgetting something?” he asked her.

  “What?”

  “My conditions? Well, condition, I should say. If you’ll remember, I revoked one of them. You know the white…”

  “Kade! Your life is at stake here!”

  “So is yours, and I’m not leaving you.”

  “What in great Tyras is going on?” It was Marc Ellis, his face a thundercloud as he entered the room followed by the remaining four blackcoats. “Ah, I see my nephew has joined us. How very convenient for me. You see, I was going to visit right after I was finished here. Aren’t you going to say hello to your uncle, Kade?”

  Standing back-to-back, Fallon could not see Kade’s face, but the bitterness in his words was unmistakable. “You are no uncle of mine, demon!”

  Marc Ellis laughed. “This demon has been in your life for as long as you have been alive, young man. You seemed to like me well enough for all these years.”

  “My eyes are now open, demon.”

  “Not for long,” Marc growled at him. “You have no chance at survival, nephew. The Knight is strong, but without her Aventi, she cannot kill the nine of us together.”

  “At least you will die,” Fallon hissed at him and felt immensely pleased when Marc’s features paled. But, he quickly recovered.

  “You are going to need more than the two of you to kill me, my dear.”

  “How about the three of us?”

  Every eye in the room whipped toward the voice coming from the open door behind them.

  Nikki!

  Wearing all white, the angel slammed her Aventi against the Kur on her arm and the room filled with a brilliant white light. It was the most beautiful sight Fallon had ever seen, but she did not have time to enjoy it as the room erupted into battle.

  Together, Fallon and Kade fought the Kjin that rushed to close with them, but it was the formidable angel in white that drew all eyes. Every thrust of her Aventi left a trail of black ash as every Kjin in her path died. Her movements were graceful, but deadly as she moved like a dancer through the room in fulfillment of her oath to the majestic realm of Emperica. She was a warrior Knight in all her wrath.

  “This is the day of the Creator!” she screamed out, thrusting her Aventi into the air. “Your message has been received, Tyras, but you are wrong! Earth is not yours! You dare to declare war on Emperica? I tell you now! We accept! Ephesians 4:27 ‘And give no opportunity to the devil!’ And, so we shall not!”

  Ducking a swing by Marc Ellis, Fallon had to smile at her friend. If Darius was watching now, he would be very proud.

  With renewed faith and a forceful kick to the chest, Fallon sent the Kjin leader flying across the room to land hard on hi
s back. A quick glance at Kade, showed that he was holding his own with the Soccer Dad Kjin. The Anthony Kjin was already lying at his feet unconscious.

  Nikki glided over to join him and touched her Aventi to the once sixteen-year-old altar boy and he vanished in a puff of black debris. She also finished off the Soccer Dad with two lightening quick jabs of her blade—one to his human body and the other to his dark shade.

  It was over.

  All except Marc Ellis.

  Fallon stalked toward him as he scrambled backward on the palms of his hands to escape her.

  “Nikki! Give me your Aventi!” Fallon turned her head briefly to catch the sword out of the air and then fixed her eyes back on the Kjin. “Your days of terror are over.”

  “Mine perhaps, but there will be plenty others vying to take my place.”

  “I’ll kill them, too.”

  “The Kjin are growing stronger. Soon, they will be indestructible. You have won the battle, Knight, but the war has just begun.”

  “You heard my friend. If it is war you seek, we accept.” Fallon raised the sword over her head.

  “Fallon! Don’t!”

  Kade skidded to her side. His face was ashen and all of the resentment of earlier was now gone as he looked down at the uncle he once loved very much.

  “I have to do it, Kade,” she said softly.

  “Is there any other way? Any way to get my real uncle back?” The sorrow in his voice broke her heart.

  “No, not here on earth. But, he will be released to Emperica with the death of his body.”

  Kade ran a hand through his hair, conflicted still.

  She put a hand on his arm. “Marc told me that he was going to take your body after this was over, Kade. If I let him live, he will come after you. He will seek to possess you.”

  After a brief hesitation, he whispered, “Do what you have to do,” and walked away.

  “I’ll do it,” Nikki said and pulled the Aventi from Fallon’s hand. “I don’t want you to be the one who kills the person who he has always known as his uncle.”

  Fallon gave her a grateful smile.