“Whoa,” Sean remarked when he saw the stalemate. “I didn’t come all this way just to get shot by some dude with a bad attitude.”
“You’re Americans,” the soldier said. Xander supposed it could have been a question, but it sure didn’t feel like it.
“We’re from Tennessee,” Jessica said.
The soldier paused before lowering the weapon. His finger remained perched in the trigger well, and he seemed more than capable of raising the weapon again if threatened.
“It’s a long trip over the pond just to visit jolly ole’ London,” he said. He gestured toward the body behind Xander. “So if you’re not one of them, what are you?”
Xander shrugged. He glanced over his shoulder at his impromptu friends and realized for the first time just how motley a crew they truly were. “We’re the good guys.”
The soldier continued to stare at Xander, his gray eyes piercing into him like daggers.
“We’re the guys who are trying to kill the guys who are trying to burn down London,” Sean said, though even he paused at how convoluted it sounded.
Xander sighed. “I guess you could call us the cavalry.”
The soldier stared at them, though his expression seemed to relax at the sight of Jessica. Though she had the telltale blond hair of a Fire Warrior, her demeanor was certainly something different.
“There’ll be more of them about,” the soldier said. “We need to get inside before they return with reinforcements.”
He turned away and started walking toward a series of townhouses just off the road. Xander turned toward his friends, both of whom just shrugged. As a group, they hurried to catch up to the British soldier.
They entered one of the townhouses, and the soldier glanced outside to make sure no one was around before gently closing the door behind them. Without asking for help, he grabbed the end of a heavy, wooden hallway bench and dragged it in front of the door.
Xander looked around the foyer, living room, and stairway to the upstairs, all of which were visible from their place in the narrow entryway. The place was well kept and looked only recently abandoned. The only things that looked out of place were the large bookshelf that blocked the majority of the living room’s bay window and the recently displaced wooden bench.
“Is this your place?” Xander asked.
The dark-skinned soldier shook his head as he walked past the trio and into the living room. “Of course not. I just don’t figure the owners are really going to mind me using it for a spot.”
The soldier pulled back the thick curtain slightly so he could look out on the street. He glanced both directions down the road before gently replacing it, making certain not to let it waver for fear of letting a passing Fire Warrior know that the house was inhabited.
“I’m Xander,” he said to the soldier’s back. “This is Sean and Jessica. Thanks for saving us back there.”
“Leftenant Wilkes,” the man replied.
“You’re an officer,” Jessica said approvingly.
“What’s your first name?” Sean asked.
Leftenant Wilkes turned away from the window without a smile. “Leftenant.”
“Okay, then,” Sean said. He walked over and took a place on the long couch.
Wilkes’ rifle was still perched in one hand, but he used his other hand to brush the thick ash from his hair. Though they didn’t have any lights within the dark living room, Xander could see the man’s uniform clearer than he did in the smoke and fog outside. He wore a vest of sorts over his camouflaged jacket with a number of pockets along its front. Curved ammunition magazines jutted from the pockets in perfect rows for easy access. A folded knife was clipped to the vest next to his left shoulder. He had a name tag on his uniform but it, along with any rank he might have worn, was almost completely covered by the vest.
He glanced around at the three college students. “So you’re the cavalry? I expected a little more.”
“We’re tougher than we look,” Xander said.
“That’s good because you don’t look like much at all.”
Sean frowned. “You don’t know who or what we are. We could be Fire Warriors, too, for all you know.”
“They’re not Yanks,” he said, pointing to the street beyond the window.
“Come again?”
“I’m not worried about you being some of these Fire Warriors because you’re Americans. They’re not.”
“That’s all it takes for you to trust us?” Sean asked incredulously.
The Leftenant sat on the arm of the couch so he could look down on Sean. “Make no mistake. I don’t trust any of you. But the fact that your friend has blond hair is the only thing you share in common with them. Those things out there are warriors. They aren’t emo kids with their hair hanging in their eyes.”
Xander absently brushed his hair off his forehead.
“They’re not pretty girls from university. And they’re certainly not fat.”
“That’s just mean and uncalled for,” Sean said. “Just for argument’s sake, you know we could just be faking, right? We could have just learned an American accent.”
“And I could still shoot you, if that’s what you’d prefer,” he said, fingering the trigger well of his rifle once more.
“Shut up, Sean,” Xander said.
“Yeah,” Jessica said. “Shut up, Sean.”
“So you’re in the army?” Xander asked, pointing at the uniform and poignantly trying to change the subject.
The man nodded. “I am, or at least was, assigned to First Battalion, Royal Gurkha Rifles.”
“You were stationed here in London?”
“Kent,” the Leftenant corrected.
“Where is the rest of your unit? Where are the soldiers and the tanks?” Jessica asked.
Wilkes shook his head. “I couldn’t tell you. I didn’t exactly come here on official orders. I just got to the city and haven’t exactly found anyone else before you.”
“What are you doing in London, then?” Xander asked.
Wilkes frowned and pointed to the stairwell. “You can all stay the night. Get some rest because tomorrow you’re on your own. If you want food, there’s some in the kitchen.”
Wilkes took his spot by the window and seemed to forget that the trio was still in the room. Taking his cue, Xander led them into the adjoining kitchen and dropped heavily into one of the chairs. The other two sat, and they stared at each other from across the narrow table.
“Let me go ahead and point out the eight-hundred-pound gorilla in the room,” Sean said when he realized no one else was planning on speaking. “That guy’s a real jerk.”
“He needs our help,” Jessica said.
“Were you listening to the same conversation I was?” Sean asked. “He didn’t seem all that interested in having us around.”
Jessica cocked her head to the side as she stared at Sean. “You’re such a boy. If you spent any time working on your social skills, you’d know that he was incredibly sad. Something’s really eating him up.”
“Like what?” Xander asked.
Jessica’s expression softened as she looked at her ex-boyfriend. “He has the same look you do, like someone you love is in trouble. I think he has family here in London.”
A fire was reignited in Xander’s heart. He knew how much pain he was in knowing that Sammy was out there, at the mercy of the Fire Elemental, and there wasn’t anything he could do to help her. He had no doubt that if he were in Wilkes’ shoes, he would have marched straight through London to save her, Fire Warriors be damned.
“I think we should help him,” Jessica said.
“Really, Jessie?” Sean asked. “He doesn’t want our help. Anyway, weren’t you the one that was just telling Xander he needed to grow up? Miss ‘we need to start acting more mature’ is the first to tell us we need to be spontaneous?”
Jessica narrowed her eyes as she shot him a disapproving glare. “Being the good guys means we help people.”
“No,” Sea
n replied emphatically. “Being the good guys means we come to London, kick the crap out of some Fire Warriors, and go back to the Water Elemental. Back me up here, Xander.”
Xander looked away from his friends and glanced over his shoulder toward the living room. Despite the gloom, he could see the silhouetted form of the soldier standing watch near the window.
“I think Jessica’s right. I think this is why we’re here,” he said, without looking back to his friends.
“You’re just taking her side because she has boobs.”
“They’re two of my best arguments,” she said.
“I think we’re supposed to help him,” Xander interrupted before their debate got out of hand. “I think it’s why we were sent here.”
“Like it’s our destiny?” Sean asked. “I didn’t peg you for the destiny type.”
Xander rapped his fingers on the tabletop. “I just found out that I was designed thousands of years ago to be a champion during some cosmic, world-ending battle between psychotic elemental forces. Kind of puts everything in perspective, don’t you think?”
“Point, Xander,” Jessica said with a smirk.
Sean threw his arms up over his head. “Fine, we’ll help out the Brit. We’ll just go marching into the heart of a city completely overrun with Fire Warriors.”
Xander smiled, knowing that Sean was very unlikely to still be angry in the morning. “Go get some sleep, both of you.”
“What about you?” Jessica asked.
“I’m going to stay up for a bit. Don’t worry, I’ll get some sleep.”
Sean got up and stormed out of the room. Xander cringed as he heard his heavy footsteps reverberating on the wooden staircase. Jessica stood beside her chair for a moment after Sean left, staring at her ex-boyfriend. Xander looked up at her and smiled confidently. She returned his smile, albeit sheepishly, before following Sean up the stairs.
Xander sat at the table, cradling his head in his hands. The other two couldn’t possibly understand why he wanted to help the officer. To them, it was merely Xander’s same old spontaneity that they had so recently condemned.
Glancing back into the living room, he saw Wilkes leaning against the window frame. He was a man eagerly searching for his family in the middle of all this chaos. It was no different from what he was trying to do for Sammy. He knew that he would have given anything to free Sammy from the Fire Elemental. In fact, that was exactly what he was doing in London in the first place. Proving himself to the Water Elemental was the only way to gain the power needed to defeat the Fire Elemental. Though through very different methods, he completely understood the Leftenant.
Pushing away from the table, Xander stood and walked into the living room. Despite walking quietly on the carpeted floor, Wilkes turned and looked over at him before he made it across the room.
“Mind if I join you?” he asked.
“I’d prefer you didn’t, but it’s a free world.”
Leftenant Wilkes motioned to the couch against the wall beside him. Xander sat down while Wilkes resumed his watch out the window. The sun had already set, though it was barely noticeable from under the smoky cover of London. Fires still burned in the distance, illuminating the fog. A dense, gloomy gray still hung over the city, darkening the streets beyond the window.
“What’s on your mind, Yank?” Wilkes asked.
“We want to go with you tomorrow,” Xander said.
Wilkes shook his head. “Not going to happen. I don’t need or want your help.”
“We’re tougher than we look.”
The Leftenant turned and put his free hand on his hip. “You might be. I saw what you could do and while I don’t understand it, I’m sure you could handle yourself in a fight. But those other two? They’re not fighters. They’re scared kids. The best thing you can do tomorrow is take them by the hand and take them home. This isn’t a place for people like them.”
“They’re tougher than they look, too.”
Wilkes turned back to the window. “Go home tomorrow. I don’t need your help. Those things out there may be weird, but they’re not bulletproof.”
Wilkes’ comment made Xander’s stomach flutter. He could still see the pool of blood spreading from underneath the Fire Warrior the Leftenant had shot. Though he wasn’t foolish enough to believe Fire Warriors hadn’t been killed—he was pretty sure his aunts and uncles killed a few while he was inside the sorority house in White Halls—it still stunned him to see a dead body.
“Do you have anything else you wanted to ask, mate?”
“You shot those Fire Warriors earlier.”
Wilkes nodded. “That wasn’t much of a question.”
“You said it yourself. They’re not bulletproof. Why didn’t your army just wipe them out?” Xander asked.
The Leftenant shook his head sadly and stared out the window. “You’re absolutely right. They’re not bulletproof. And we did have a lovely army, full of tanks, jets, helicopters, and men with guns.”
Turning, he sat on the edge of the couch, propping up his leg on the cushion. He pinched the bridge of his nose, as though an awful headache was spreading through his forehead. “You may think soldiers are some kind of John Wayne type, but we’re not. Whether we were religious or not, there wasn’t a single man that didn’t know this was the end times. Call it Revelations, Ragnarok, or whatever you’d like. The world was ending.
“When the earthquakes started, they swallowed whole towns. The buildings would fall into massive ravines and disappear forever, taking everyone in the town with them. Then, lava would pour from the gaps and burn away anything that remained. No bullets and guns could stop the ground from shaking. And none of our tanks or jets would stop our families from dying.”
Wilkes wiped soot from his face and, in the darkness, Xander couldn’t be sure that he wasn’t also wiping away a tear. “We had nothing to shoot. We were a strong army without an enemy to fight. We were warriors without a war. When we realized how obsolete we’d become, some of the officers released their soldiers to return home to their families. Most just abandoned their posts.”
He looked at Xander with a stern expression in his gray eyes. “So you’re right. These Fire Warriors—as you call them—aren’t bulletproof. But by the time they arrived, there wasn’t anyone left holding a gun.”
Xander sat in silence, unsure of how to respond. He had lost so much during his fight with the Fire Caste—his parents, his grandfather, and now Sammy was their prisoner—he sometimes had trouble imagining what this war had done to normal people. Supernatural occurrences had become nearly commonplace for the trio of friends but it was still the beginning of Armageddon for those who didn’t know about the Fire Caste.
“My friend thinks you’re here because of family,” Xander said.
Wilkes’ expression turned steely. “I think it’s about time you went to bed.”
Xander nodded and stood. He walked to the hallway and to the base of the stairs before pausing.
“For what it’s worth,” Xander said, “I’m sorry all this is happening.”
Wilkes shrugged. “It’s not your fault.”
Xander cringed but remained silent.
“Go get some rest,” Wilkes continued. “I can’t guarantee when you’ll get another chance to sleep through the night.”
Xander felt nauseated as he walked up the stairs and searched for an empty bedroom.
“That’s impossible,” the Fire Elemental said.
“Improbable, sure,” Sammy said in the reflection, “but clearly not impossible.”
The Elemental swung behind it and connected with the side of a parked car. Its fist left a massive dent in the door, and it slid a few feet into the road.
“Hosts don’t survive the procedure. You can’t exist. How are you still here?”
Sammy smiled at the outburst. “You tell me. You designed me. You made me to be the perfect host, capable of containing the essence of the Fire Elemental. I couldn’t be a normal Fire Warrior, so you mad
e me special. Maybe you made me too special.”
The Elemental opened its mouth to respond but quickly shut it.
“You were going to say it was a problem you’d quickly correct, weren’t you?” she asked. “I know what you’re thinking. I’m in your head. Or you’re in mine, I guess would be more accurate.” She placed her hands on her hips and lifted her chin defiantly. “Except you can’t correct your problem, can you? You don’t have the time to find a new host, which means you’re stuck with me.”
The Elemental sneered at its reflection. “You may exist but you don’t control this body. It’s mine now to do with as I see fit. I’ll use it to put an end to the rule of mankind, and you can’t stop me.”
“But I already have,” Sammy said. “Twice now.”
Sammy held her stern gaze, but she felt the butterflies in her stomach. Influencing her former body was taxing, exhausting to the point that she struggled to maintain her presence. She couldn’t let the Fire Elemental see her wavering resolve.
“You might as well realize that we’re stuck together. Until I figure out a way to get rid of you and reclaim my body, of course.”
The Elemental turned sharply away from the window and outstretched its hands. Flames erupted from its fingertips, setting fire to cars around it. The flames intensified and grew, engulfing the Elemental. It swirled madly, a reflection of the rage boiling within the Elemental. The concrete under its feet melted and boiled under its tantrum, making its footing uneven.
“Master?” a Fire Warrior asked.
The Elemental turned its ire toward the young warrior, who stood some distance away, watching the raging inferno around the naked, blond woman. The man quickly stepped away.
Before the Elemental could focus its blaze on the warrior, it heard Sammy’s derisive laughter from the window. It turned back toward the glass and saw Sammy’s taunting expression.
“I don’t know how you survived being taken as a host, but you’re not in control of this body any longer.”
Sammy felt the malicious glee within the Elemental, and her gaze naturally fell toward the Fire Warrior. Even without acting, Sammy could sense the Elemental’s intent. Closing her eyes, Sammy tried to place herself back within the Elemental. It was physically painful for her to try to stop the Elemental from acting. It seemed like she was pulling on the bumper of a speeding car, trying to keep it from rolling over the edge of a cliff. She had been successful twice so far, but it left her emotionally and physically drained. Sammy could see the Elemental lifting its arm, pointing toward the warrior, but was helpless to stop it.
Water Shaper (World Aflame) Page 9
