Burn the Night

by Jonathan Yanez

  Both knights looked over to Emma.

  “Boys.” Emma rolled her eyes. She also placed her right arm on top of theirs. For a moment, as all three vambraces touched, the glowing of their armor picked up intensity and bathed the room in violet light.

  Emma turned and looked down the training room to where the Ree had already made it to their end. Both Commander Kull and her second’s blades shimmered with green light, much like her mother’s blades had done. Together, the Ree began trotting forward. The weight of their combined steps gently shook the floor of the orbiting space station.

  “Let’s get some,” Frank said as he constructed a rifle Emma didn’t recognize.

  There was no time to focus on what he was doing now. Emma had a charging Commander Kull to worry about. The Ree had almost reached the halfway point of the training floor.

  Emma focused on bringing the recurve bow she had used just earlier that day into her hands. The wish of having more time for practice descended on her, but there was no changing that now. Emma placed her left foot forward and stood sideways.

  She notched a translucent purple arrow in her constructed bow. She pulled the string taut, the end of her arrow caressing her cheek. Commander Kull was crossing the halfway mark. The commander made for a massive target. Her blade was held in her right hand as she closed the distance.

  BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM!

  Frank opened up beside her with his own weapon as he screamed at his enemy. “Come on! Bring it!”

  Emma pushed the noise from her mind as she took one final breath, then exhaled, allowing her arrow to fly. Her target was the commander’s left leg. She imagined an arrow in the Ree’s thigh would be painful but not life threatening.

  The purple projectile whizzed through the air. Before coming into contact with the commander’s leg, the large Ree slashed sideway with her sword, breaking Emma’s construct and protecting herself at the same time.

  Oh, no I didn’t see that coming, Emma said to herself as she readied another arrow. One more chance, then this is going to suck.

  Emma lined up the shot once again, this time drawing the bolt back as far as it would go. Trying to remain calm in the face of the charging Commander Kull was no easy task. Every fiber in Emma’s body screamed at her to get out of the way. Commander Kull was only yards from her now.

  The one thing that kept Emma rooted in her spot was the fact that the closer the commander came, the less likely of a chance she was going to be able to block the incoming arrow.

  A rogue idea hit Emma. Before she could talk herself out of it, she constructed two more arrows on her bow, bringing her grand total to three. She had only ever seen the act used in cartoons, but what the heck? If she could imagine it, she could do it.

  THRUMB!

  Emma let the arrows fly as the whites of Commander Kull’s eyes came into view. The three purple bolts raced toward her in the space of a half second. To attest to the commander’s credit even at point blank range, she managed to bring her block across her body and block two of the three bolts.

  The last arrow struck her high on her left hip. The force was enough to make the commander falter but not completely stop her forward momentum.

  Emma abandoned her long-range attack in favor of her own blade. At the last instant, she sidestepped the attack, avoiding the charging behemoth.

  Commander Kull regained her momentum, swiping to her left. The arrow that struck her in the hip deconstructed, along with Emma’s bow, but the wound remained very real. If the commander was hampered at all from the attack, the only thing she showed was a slight limp.

  Emma danced around the commander’s attacks using Frank’s suggestion to play to her own strength of speed and endurance. The commander was quick for her size. She moved to block Emma’s retreats and swung out with her sword over and over again.

  Emma blocked and parried where she could, but eventually, she had to meet the commander’s force head on. It happened while the commander brought her sword down on Emma’s head. Emma raised her purple blade in a parallel move to block the attack. The two weapons sparked as the commander brought her weight to bear on her opponent.

  Emma gritted her teeth as she absorbed the impact. A tremor of pain ran down her arms as they extended over her own head to hold her weapon sideways and keep the commander’s blade at bay.

  Noises from the battle Frank was fighting played somewhere in the background. Emma could see shapes and movement from his own struggle but nothing more. At the moment, she had larger problems to think about.

  “Submit,” Commander Kull ordered Emma as she muscled down on the handle of her own sword, adding more pressure to Emma’s defense. “Contrary to what you might think, I do not have a desire to kill you, only to humble you in the presence of your betters.”

  19

  Oh no she didn’t, Emma growled to herself in her own head. A second later, she was forced down to a single knee as the pressure from the blade above her head grew. Think, don’t try to meet her power for power, be smarter. You can construct whatever you want.

  Just like the idea to add multiple arrows from her bow came a random image. Emma rolled to her left, allowing the commander’s blade to come down on the spot where she had crouched a moment before.

  Commander Kull’s sword bit deep into the ground. Emma rose to her feet, but instead of an attack, she called a familiar vehicle to mind, constructing it from her vambraces as she remembered its details to the chimney stack.

  WOOT! WOOT!

  The life-size version of Thomas the Train Emma had constructed barreled into Commander Kull so hard, Emma almost felt sorry for her. Almost.

  A line of energy ran from Emma’s vambraces to the rear of the train as she brought it to life. The sheer will to bring something that large and powerful to existence felt like she was lifting a hundred-pound weight on her shoulders.

  Sweat trickled down her brow. It was enough to convince Emma to allow the construct to evaporate. Commander Kull was struggling to her feet on the far end of the mat, spitting a mouthful of blood beside her.

  Even hit by a train, the Ree was dazed but not out of the fight.

  “Oh come on.” Emma rolled her eyes in frustration. “Stay down!”

  Emma was over playing nice. This little show of who had the bigger muscles in the newly formed Alliance had to end. Earth needed saving. At the moment, she felt like she was the only one that cared.

  “Submit,” Emma ordered the Ree as she brought a piano to life in the air above the commander. “Submit or I’m going to go Roadrunner and Wile E. Coyote on your alien butt.”

  The commander fought to her hands and knees, shaking her head. “You’ve won nothing yet with your tricks. You’ve—”

  Emma allowed the piano to fall on the Ree.

  I hope I don’t break any bones. Okay, well, at least no major bones—or Madame Cherub has those Bone Builders she used on my mom, so maybe a few bones wouldn’t be that bad, Emma thought as the piano crashed down on the commander’s back.

  The sight looked more painful than Emma would have liked. The baby grand piano slammed into the commander, flattening her on her stomach. As soon as her construct hit, Emma allowed it to deconstruct instead of leaving it on Commander Kull. She had no desire to cripple the woman.

  Commander Kull lay motionless on her stomach. Emma approached slowly in case it was some kind of trick. It was no trick. A line of blood ran from the Ree’s temple down the side of her face. Her torso still rose and fell, signaling she had only been knocked unconscious by the piano.

  Emma let out a silent praise of thanks. If she had killed the Ree, she didn’t know how she would be able to move on.

  “Nice, work, Jackson,” Frank said from his spot on the opposite side of the training room. “I might have to steal that move and use it later.”

  Emma turned to see one of the most disturbing things she had ever witnessed in her life. The gigantic Ree Frank had been fighting was swaddled like an overgrown baby. A purple blanke
t wrapped him from feet to neck. A pacifier was in his mouth, cutting off any moans or yells. All the Ree could do was glare murder at Frank.

  “You—you swaddled him?” Emma asked, raising her right hand to wipe a thick sheen of sweat off her forehead. “How do you know how to swaddle things?”

  “One of the members of my team adopted a baby flying wolf creature,” Frank said as if it were all supposed to make sense. “His name is Magnus and he loves to be swaddled. I just imagined the pacifier myself. I’ve seen plenty of movies where they give it to the baby to keep him quiet.”

  “What kind of movies are you watching?” Emma raised a brow.

  “The Hallmark Channel has some really quality storylines, especially around the holiday season.” Frank nodded his head along with his own words. He caught Emma’s raised eyebrow. “Don’t judge me, pointy ears. We all have our skeletons in the closet.”

  “Can we be done with this now?” Dean Extile approached with the others. “It’s clear who won. I say we allow Frank and Emma to take their selected team to Earth to deal with the Vilmar issue.”

  “I agree.” Director Trueart motioned to Frank and his giant baby. “Major Wolffe, will you please release our colossus of a Ree?”

  “Of course,” Frank said, dismissing his purple constructs. “I think he might need a changing, though, maybe a burping too.”

  Director Trueart nodded and moved over to speak with the livid Ree who had just been forced to relive his childhood. Emma could hear parts of what the director was telling the giant warrior like “Let it go” and “Your commander needs you.”

  “Well, if we’re done with this, it’s time to head to Earth and engage in the real battle,” General Fox said, voicing what they were all thinking. “We’ll make up our strike team of the three Arilion Knights, and the Ree and the Bracka Emma has worked with in the past. We’ll have our Marines on standby for added support.”

  “Have you been able to locate where this Vilmar ran?” Jace asked, joining the group. He gave both Frank and Emma approving nods. “Seeing all this fighting taking place around me has me itching for some blood.”

  “We have a location where he retreated to,” General Fox informed the group. He gave Emma a long stare. “My Marines will form a perimeter and allow our strike team to go in. If you flush him out, he’ll have nowhere to go this time.”

  “Brilliant.” Director Trueart rejoined the group. He addressed Dean Extile. “If you can, inform the other two recruits they will be leaving on a mission. Have them meet the rest of the team at the teleportation room. I think I should stay here for when Commander Kull comes to her senses. I don’t think she’s going to be in a particularly cheery mood when she comes to.”

  Emma looked over to where the titanic Ree bent over his commanding officer, bringing her to. Emma wasn’t particularly eager to be in the same room when the commander regained her senses either. It appeared she wasn’t the only one.

  “Roger that,” General Fox said.

  “I agree,” Dean Extile said at the same time.

  “Well, let’s go.” Jace led the way from the room. “There are Vilmar and their turned to kill.”

  Emma, Frank, and General Fox followed while the dean went to collect Layga and Jeba for the mission. While the three Arilion Knights and the general made their way to the teleportation room, General Fox gave them further details.

  “We still don’t know for certain if Desmond Dalshire is the only Vilmar in town, but we have to assume for the sake of this mission that he’s working with someone else,” General Fox explained, using his hands to demonstrate his words as the group traveled through the orbiting space station. “We’ve tracked him to an abandoned hospital in Los Angeles called The Linda Vista Community Hospital. It was abandoned after being transitioned from a hospital to an insane asylum.”

  Emma nearly tripped on her own feet as the general relayed the news. “I’m sorry. I thought you said insane asylum.”

  “I did,” General Fox said with unblinking eyes. “Is that a problem, Miss Jackson?”

  “You’re not afraid of a few ghosts and demons, are you?” Jace chuckled in his raspy way of speaking. “You just took on one of the best Ree warriors.”

  “I don’t even like watching scary movies.” Emma swallowed hard, trying to imagine what they would face at an abandoned asylum. “Come on, Frank, back me up here. You’re watching the Hallmark Christmas Channel. You can’t like scary movies either.”

  “What? Who—me?” Frank gave an awkward chuckle, shaking his head at General Fox’s stare. He looked at Emma and addressed her in a low whisper, “I told you that in confidence.”

  “Sorry, how was I supposed to know that?” Emma shrugged. “Next time, you have to tell me when you’re letting me in on a secret.”

  “Humans,” Jace mumbled under his voice.

  “You’ll infiltrate and bring Desmond out and whatever accomplices he’s working with if there are any at all,” General Fox told them. “We’ll teleport directly to our base outside the asylum. It’s time to take care of this vampire alien once and for all.”

  20

  “This food is delicious. Is it a present from the gods of your planet? Such wonderous sustenance must be in response to years of prayer and yearning.” Layga patted her ample stomach area. “What do you call it again?”

  “Uh, you’re eating a cheeseburger,” Emma said, stuffing fries into her mouth even as she did so. “They’re all over the place in this city.”

  “I love cheeseburgers,” Layga said, chomping down on her third unwrapped cheeseburger. “And I also love these things you call fries.”

  Emma, along with Layga and Jeba and the other two knights, had been teleported to an abandoned building two blocks from the asylum. The idea was to wait for the sun to go down, then advance on the building and Desmond Delshire.

  Emma sat with Layga, Jeba, and Jace in an open room with no furniture. The walls were flaking and the floors looked as though they were going to fall through at any moment.

  Frank and General Fox were discussing tactics while they checked in with the rest of the team coordinating the assault.

  A fast food meal had been brought for the rest of the unit, then they were left alone to await the coming darkness.

  Right now, the last rays of the orange sun were descending past the tall buildings of downtown Los Angeles. The area they were in was rundown and mostly deserted. Weeds sprang up around chain link fences and windows were boarded up on every other building.

  It was strange that in a city as alive and full of people as Los Angeles, there were pockets where no one dared to travel. Perhaps this pocket was uninhabited because of the alien resident who had claimed the asylum as his own.

  “Do you eat all your meat like that?” Jeba asked Jace as the Arilion Knight tossed his wrapper of raw meat in the corner of the room they were using for trash.

  “I do. I usually prefer to hunt my own food, but that is a privilege I have not had for a very long time,” Jace said, walking over to the open window.

  “Is that because you were a slave?” Jeba asked without a hint of remorse.

  Emma and Layga froze. They glanced at one another with large eyes.

  Emma had guessed Jace had a past he wanted to keep secret, but she never would have imagined Jeba would know what it was, much less confront him with it.

  All eyes turned to Jace to see what the Were would do. He had his back to them at the moment. Reading his expression was impossible. His body language seemed to sink for a moment. His shoulders lowered and his furry black back arched as if he were letting go of a secret that had burned him for a very long time.

  “How did you know?” Jace asked, still not turning to look at Jeba. If he was angry, his voice didn’t give off a hint of malice. He sounded curious. “I’ve hidden my scars.”

  “Your world lies within traveling distance of my own,” Jeba said as she sat cross-legged on the far end of the room from the window. “I’ve heard stories of th
e planet, Raze. How they’re a brutal people who enslave their own. From what I know of you, it was a guess. You don’t strike me as a carefree elite member of your society.”

  Jace turned his head to the right. He revealed only his profile. His yellow eye shone bright, and his long wolfish snout and mouth wore an uncharacteristic grin in place.

  “When the vambraces chose me, you can imagine the looks on my masters’ faces.” Jace’s grin grew wider. “The pack that owned me and my parents before me finally got what they deserved. I made their exit from this world far too quick in retrospect. The years they beat me pale in comparison to what they did to others.”

  Everything began to make sense to Emma. She was forced to wrap her mind around something so foreign to her she wasn’t sure if she would ever fully understand. How someone could own another person and take it a step further by beating and killing them was an impossible idea to her.

  “What did you do then?” Layga asked. “I mean, after the vambraces chose you and you freed yourself?”

  Jace finally turned around. His muscular arms were crossed over his chest. He leaned backward against the window. The next words he spoke as if they had a foul taste as they exited his lips.

  “With the vambraces, I was suddenly like a celebrity to my kind. The same ones that would have whipped me to do their work wanted to parade me around like their hero.” Jace lifted his left upper lip in a snarl. “They wanted me to stay and be their champion. I refused. They’re not worth saving.”

  “What about the other slaves?” Emma asked, thinking of the injustice being done to them at this very moment. “What about those who are in the same position now that you found yourself in before?”

  “Why do you think I’m here in the first place?” Jace asked, directing his eyes toward Emma. “I’m here to learn and train. I’ll need to be the very strongest I can be before I return to Raze. I will free the slaves, I’ll change my planet, but to do so, I need to be more than I am at this moment. I’ll need to be prepared to take on the army the elite faction on my planet has at their disposal.”