“I trust Saul,” Ray said. “I don’t think he’d put us in danger. He knows what he’s doing.”
“I second that,” Paul said.
Penny looked back and forth between them and shrugged, defeated. She helped Paul get Kara into the back of the car, stretching her out and allowing enough room for Paul to stay in the back with her.
“I feel like we’re abandoning the fight,” Ray said a she got in behind the wheel.
“If Saul said to get out of here, I’m listening to him,” Paul said. “For right now, looking after Kara is top priority.”
“I know. But still…”
Penny got into the passenger seat and closed the door. Ray saw that she was still trembling. She hadn’t yet gotten used to the fact that they had all somehow gotten involved in this odd drama—in the middle of something that went far beyond what they had all been taught was normal as they had grown up.
He reached out and gave her hand a squeeze as he pulled the patrol car out onto the road.
In the back seat, Kara remained motionless as thin rivulets of blood continued to roll down her neck.
5
Once the Marked had followed his orders and taken Kara away, Saul turned towards the barn. He saw Dominiscus, lying on the ground several feet away. Polyxia slowly walked towards the fallen giant, closed her eyes, and took in a deep breath.
“He’s dead,” she said. Her voice was laced with awe and, Saul thought, sorrow. He didn’t blame her. He could only imagine what it was like to spend centuries with someone and then find them dead almost inexplicably.
“So then where are the others?” Saul asked.
Polyxia looked around slowly, seeing the same thing Saul was seeing. Other than the fallen body of Dominiscus, there was no one else here. Signs of the Guard’s presence were fairly easy to spot, however. Saul slowly approached one of the wavering shapeless forms that Kara and the Marked had seen earlier. He reached out his hand to touch it but was stopped by Polyxia.
“Don’t,” she said. “It’s a safety measure. Sort of like an electric fence. If you touch it, you’ll be immobilized.”
“How do we get past it?” he asked.
Polyxia walked up to Saul and held her hands out. Her fingers came within two inches of the hazy force field. She clapped her hands together once and then made a slight clicking noise in her throat. With another loud clap, the field stopped swarming and disintegrated.
“This worries me,” Polyxia said.
“What?”
“This is too easy. Too simple. I feel that we’re being set up.”
“If Jill is in that barn,” Saul said, “then I will take my chances. If the Marked were able to kill Dominiscus without much trouble, it says something about the Guard’s state while in mortal form.”
“This is an ambush,” Polyxia argued. “I am also fairly certain that there is some sort of magic coming from that barn.”
“It doesn’t matter,” Saul said. “If the Guard wants me dead, they’ll keep trying and trying. I might as well let them have their chance now. I want this over with. I want my sister out of there, one way or the other.”
“Very well,” Polyxia said, and started walking towards the barn.
Saul followed her, noticing the eerie stillness to everything around them. Even without Polyxia's ability to pick up the signs of magic, Saul could tell that there was certainly something amiss about the barn.
“Jill?” he called out, wanting to make sure his sister was in there before he went willingly walking into one of the Guard’s traps.
Jill answered back from the other side of the barn walls. It was the first time Saul had ever heard his sister broken. It stirred up more than just compassion—it stirred up rage.
“Saul! In here!”
Saul blazed by Polyxia and made his way to the barn. The large open doorway, which looked as if it had not actually held a door for quite some time, was on the far right. Saul made his way to it and as he neared it, he could actually see Jill. She was hanging from a set of crisscrossed rafters overhead, strung up like livestock waiting to be gutted.
Saul stepped through the doorway. As he did, he felt like something had punched him in the guts. And then he felt himself being thrown backwards. He crashed through a tangle of underbrush ten feet away from the barn, looking back towards the structure in confusion.
“Another trap,” Polyxia said. “Again, it is simple enough for me to disengage, but it makes me wonder why they would even bother.”
Saul got to his feet, slightly dizzy and coughing. He walked slowly to the barn and looked around cautiously, waiting for the of the Guard to appear. He stood by, taking in their surroundings as best he could while he recovered, waiting for Polyxia to help him thwart another of the Guard’s safety measures.
Saul watched as the old witch placed her hands on the barn’s doorframe and began to hum. She rubbed her palms over the rough surface of the frame as if she were attempting to polish it. Saul smelled something like burning ozone and then heard a soft snap, like the breaking of a twig.
“It’s safe now,” Polyxia said.
Saul wasted no time, running into the barn and directly to Jill. If there were any other traps set in place, they remained silent and unseen.
“Are you okay?” Saul asked.
“Yes. Just embarrassed. And scared.”
“It’s okay,” Saul said. He worked with the knots that were tied along her wrists, loosening them as quickly as he could. Behind him, Polyxia kept a watchful eye on the forests, looking out through the doorway. When Saul slid the ropes from Jill’s wrists, she let out a deep sigh of relief and started rubbing her forearms. There were cuts and abrasions all along her forearms where the ropes had dug into her flesh.
“Do you know where they are?” Saul asked.
“No idea. But this is all…I don’t know…it seems way too easy. They wouldn’t just let you come in here and get me, you know. They’re up to something.”
“I’m sure they are,” Saul replied. “But why put off the inevitable? If they want a fight, let them have it. I’m done with waiting.”
“Saul, that’s foolish,” Jill admonished.
“Finally,” Polyxia muttered. “Another voice of reason.”
“Let’s just get you back home,” Saul said, helping to steady Jill as she took her first steps towards the barn door.
“I heard gunshots,” Jill said. “What was that all about?”
“It seems that Kara and the Marked were attacked by Dominiscus. Luckily for us, they got the best of him.”
“So that leaves only four of them,” Jill said. Suddenly, her demeanor seemed to shift. She seemed hopeful—almost happy.
They stepped out of the barn and headed back towards the road where the Marked had carried Kara out. Saul guessed they had about a mile to walk and he knew that there were a million ways that the Guard could use the forests to their advantage. But he tried not to think about that; for the time being, he was more concerned with getting Jill to safety.
Saul couldn’t help but concern himself with the Guard after three steps forward. The forest seemed to explode with motion, the branches of every tree whipping in a frenzied wind that came out of nowhere. The wind was immense, pressing against them hard enough to nearly knock Polyxia down. She had to brace herself against the side of the barn to keep from falling. Saul kept his arm around Jill as he leaned into the wind. He tried stepping forward but found the task impossible. All he could do was watch as the forest came alive around them.
The remaining members of the Guard appeared from the very foliage and trees that surrounded them. It was as if they had been one with the forest and were now being pulled out of it, taking up their flesh forms again.
As Jill had pointed out earlier, there were indeed only four Guards remaining: Magdeline, Moorcheh, Aimon, and Benali. But even with their numbers knocked down considerably, they were still a threatening group.
“You just can’t stay away from me, can you?” M
agdeline drawled, eyeing Saul.
“I believe it’s the other way around,” Saul smirked. “You couldn’t make me stay by your side on your own so you had to use my sister as bait. That seems rather desperate to me.”
Magdeline snarled at him. The four members of the Guard had them flanked in a semi-circle, trapping them against the barn. As Saul took in the situation, he noticed that Moorcheh seemed rather preoccupied. He was casting glances over his shoulder, looking back and forth from Saul, Jill, and Polyxia and then back to the forest behind them.
Saul figured it was the best time to try to work things out to his advantage. That, of course, meant enraging and taunting the Guard while they were in their mortal shells. He figured that if he could get enough of an emotional response out of them, he could cause them to act carelessly.
“I have to wonder,” Saul said, “what it must feel like to have one of your more powerful members killed by mere human weapons. Dominiscus is behind you in those woods with about a dozen holes in him. It seemed the Marked made easy work out of him.”
“Perhaps,” Benali said. “And I’ll be sure to inflict pain on his behalf, as well.”
“Then let’s get started,” Saul said.
Aimon and Moorcheh came forward first, walking with speed. Saul noticed how Magdeline and Benali stayed behind, still in their flanking positions. They had thought this out and planned well. It made Saul grow a bit nervous. Just how many steps ahead were they?
But still, Moorcheh had a look of concern on his face. As he came forward, he seemed to hesitate a bit.
Saul looked back, further beyond Magdeline and Benali and saw something that made his heart soar and sink all at once.
He saw Nikki. Behind her, Gestalt and Paula followed like shadows.
If they can somehow catch the Guard from behind, Saul thought, we have a chance.
Nikki caught Saul’s eyes and offered a sleek and confident smile. She knelt to the ground and then – with a speed and grace that would have had Magdeline snarl in jealousy – pounced.
Nikki sailed through the air towards Magdeline and before the two women collided, Saul yelled out a distracting cry and went barreling towards Aimon.
In the next few moments, the forests of Red Creek echoed with the thunder of a fight unlike any other the place had ever seen.
6
Nikki’s body tensed with anticipation as she came down towards Magdeline. When she hit the bitch in her back, it was exquisite. The cry of surprise the once-godlike seductress let out made it so much better.
Nikki drove both of her knees into the small of Magdeline’s back and pinned her to the ground. Both women went skidding across the forest floor, leaves and twigs flying. Wasting no time, Nikki wrapped her hands around Magdeline’s throat. She remembered an afternoon several months back when she had been tasked with beheading several vampires in the Bentons’ front yard. She didn’t think anything would give her more pleasure in the world than ripping Magdeline’s head off.
But Magdeline was much stronger than Nikki had been expecting. Even as Nikki started to apply pressure to her neck, Magdeline was getting to her feet, carrying Nikki’s weight as if it were nothing. Not wanting to give Magdeline the advantage of such a quick recovery, Nikki released her neck, dropped to the ground, and delivered a sweeping kick. Magdeline stumbled but didn’t fall. She wheeled around and screamed in fury.
Magdeline threw a fierce punch which Nikki blocked. Nikki followed with a counter-punch which Magdeline simply dodged. Both women fought hard against one another, each blow blocked or evaded as they jockeyed for the best position. Nikki did her best not to show her surprise at how brutally strong Magdeline was. Each time she managed to fend one of her blows, it felt like her arms were going to snap under Magdeline’s strength.
As they fought, Nikki saw that Gestalt and Paula were keeping Benali busy, allowing her one-on-one time with Magdeline. Meanwhile, Saul was fighting with Aimon while Polyxia and Jill fought Moorcheh. Each battle was well-fought, with each side landing a blow only to be countered by the other. The sounds of hard punches hitting flesh were almost chorus-like in the woods, each noise bouncing from the trees like a battle on some long-ago ancient battleground.
Nikki did her best to not worry about Saul or Jill. She knew they could handle themselves. What she was most worried about was the fact that Gestalt had proven to be rather cocky when they had fought him several days ago. She knew that he could easily slip up and misjudge the power of his opponent.
No sooner had this thought crossed Nikki’s mind than she heard Gestalt let out a great whoosh of air as he was blasted in the solar plexus by a hard double-handed blow from Benali. Gestalt dropped to a knee, hitching for breath and doing everything he could to recover.
And that was when Benali turned his malicious attention to the much weaker and now highly vulnerable Paula. While Paula had held her own with the help of Gestalt, Nikki didn’t think she’s last very long on her own.
Distracted, Nikki missed a block and was leveled by a hard right hand from Magdeline. Nikki left her feet but she managed to land in a back roll five feet away, popping back up and taking up her guard instantly. Her jaw was aching, like someone had driven a nail through the joints.
In that amount of time, she saw that Benali had pounced on Paula. Her screams tore through the forest and, for just a moment, caught the attention of each member of the Benton clan and the Guard alike.
There was a tearing sound, rough and ragged, and then a wet cough that was cut short. The moment the coughing noise stopped, Gestalt was back to his feet, sprinting towards Benali. He launched himself in the air, as if pushed by the scream that erupted from his mouth. He struck Benali dead center, pushing the entity from Paula. They both went tumbling to the ground in a melee of arms and legs, attacking one another.
But Nikki’s eyes weren’t on the two fighting men. Instead, her eyes remained on Paula. Even from where Nikki stood she could see that there was a tremendous amount of blood; there was so much that Nikki couldn’t tell where it was coming from. Paula wasn’t moving.
In front of Nikki, Magdeline took advantage of the distraction yet again and landed another massive blow. This one landed directly along the right side of Nikki’s face and sent her spinning hard to the right. She tasted blood in her mouth and felt anger rise up in her stomach like fire. She tried getting back up, but Magedline was there again. She kicked Nikki hard in the ribs. For a moment, Nikki thought Magdeline’s foot had actually gone through her. The ground was suddenly very far below her as Nikki went sailing upward. She came down with a thud and saw that Jill and Saul were faring no better.
Saul was in a Romanesque hold with Aimon while Jill was doing her best to fend off Moorcheh. Polyxia was leaning against the cabin, holding her side, which was bleeding. Things weren’t lost yet, but they certainly weren’t looking very good.
The fact that she wasn’t yet dead was enough motivation to make Nikki get back up and go after Magdeline once again. But when she threw the first blow, she knew that all of her strength wasn’t behind it. She was drained, she was tired, and she was beginning to fear that she might not make it out of these woods alive.
7
Saul knew that Paula was dead. The noise of Benali tearing out her throat had been unmistakable. Even if she was a fully formed Rogue, such a wound would be fatal, especially when dealt by someone as strong as Benali. But it wasn’t Paula’s death that he was most worried about; it was the fact that Gestalt was now fighting with nothing more than blind fury. And he was presently getting his ass kicked by Benali.
But Saul couldn’t worry about that—not right now. He was busy with Aimon and although the demon had taken on a mortal shell, he was still extremely strong. Saul had not faced an adversary with this sort of strength in a very long time. Still, he had the advantage of knowing that Aimon, being a member of the Guard, didn’t think he could lose. The Guard had always lived with the assumption that they were more powerful than any other entity
on the planet. Saul hoped that such egotism would mean that Aimon would get overly relaxed if he perceived himself to hold the upper hand.
Saul feigned weakness, faltering in his hold as they wrestled for control. Aimon took the bait, wrenching an arm tight around Saul’s neck. As Aimon took this hold, Saul took a moment to observe what was happening around him. Jill was managing to hold her own against Moorcheh—not winning, but not losing the fight, either. But Nikki and Gestalt were getting beaten rather badly. He also knew that Polyxia had been injured by Magdeline in some fashion but he wasn’t exactly sure what had happened.
Saul had to be quick. He hated to do it, but he knew that his group would need to retreat. They needed to gather their wits and regroup. But first, they needed to get the hell out of here.
He allowed himself to relax a bit more, letting Aimon think that he had essentially won. He waited for Aimon to tense up for the blow that, Aimon surely though, would destroy Saul. Saul felt the demon’s muscles tensing around his neck and took his cue.
Saul channeled all of his strength into reaching back and grabbing Aimon by the shoulders. He then leaned over and made a hard throwing motion. The demon went sailing through the air, colliding with the side of the barn so hard than many of the boards popped loose from the frame. Saul then picked up one of the loose boards and dashed over to where Magdeline was currently kicking at a prostate Nikki. He drew back and smashed Magdeline in the back, sending the seductress to the ground. When she rolled over, he picked the board up and sent it sailing down, aimed for her heart.
Magdeline rolled away just in time. Instead of tearing through her chest, the board crushed her forearm. She wailed as Saul picked up Nikki and went running for Polyxia. He wasn’t able to gather them both up, so he had to place Nikki on the ground, hobbling along beside him.
“Gestalt,” Saul yelled. “Run. Now. Calm yourself and run to where you once hid from me!”
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