by A McKay
The next section of the page was addressed to Zach, and Slade let him read it to himself for he knew it would be just as hard as it was for him. Zach closed the book when he was done, and looked at Slade. “His letter…” Slade cut him off. The loss of a father was hard enough, and to relive the death was even harder.
“It was meant for you, not me.” He nodded his head and they had a moment of silence, and then looked at the vampire.
“Cletus, what are we?” Slade asked him not sure of what he was totally. Well he knew now he was a guardian, the protector of the land, but that didn’t tell them what they could do.
“You don’t know yet,” Cletus said, “but you are the future of our world, and no one knows where guardians came from, for the ancient tribe was very secretive. All we know as a society is that you are here to protect our kind and every kind out there.”
Zach jumped in the discussion, “What is this weapon, I am getting sick of this weapon shit.”
“I am sorry; I do not know this weapon.”
* * *
They pulled into a warehouse that the vampires used for special occasions. The warehouse didn’t really stand out, it had blacked out windows on the top to block any ones sight and walls were build from concrete bricks, probably to keep the noises of their screaming victims inside the building.
There was so much that they didn’t know yet, so much they wanted to learn. One thing was clear though, the agency wasn’t able to track them from the library. They haven’t seen the dragon in awhile either. She existed; Slade knew that much.
They put the still asleep female on a cot that they located at the end of the warehouse. Her wounds seemed to have healed pretty nicely, and Slade was sure that she was going to be fine. Usually surgery was required, but when Cletus checked her, he said she would be ok. He spat on her wound, saying the wound would heal faster. Not only did they have the venom, but also they had spit that would close wounds that they created.
Zach started to pull blankets off that crates that they asked for, which were placed there minutes before they got there. Slade looked at the pile of what appeared to be junk, as Zach rubbed his hands together and started to pull pieces out. He first pulled what looked to be a regular antenna. Slade had no clue what he ordered due to him and Cletus working with the girl at the time.
“We need to rip out the back seats,” Zach ordered, Slade grabbed a wrench from the tool chest and walked over to him. Slade guessed he could take orders for now from him, after all he did know more about the Jeep than Slade cared to know. Slade unbolted to bolts in the back of the seat, taking the two bolts in the front of the seat, with the seat loose Slade wiggled it until it turned sideways and was able to be pulled out.
He grabbed a platform and re-bolted the platform in the same holes. Slade went to the crates and opened the next crate. He didn’t have a clue what was in that crate either, but he heard Zach starting to grunt, as he was putting the parts together.
“Dude I am going to see if the girl is healing okay,” Slade said knowing he didn’t really need to, but he thought he’d leave this job to Zach since it was his. He didn’t really reply. Slade just heard a grunt and a cutting torch lit. At that moment, Slade just hoped the Jeep would still exist by the end of night. No longer was he going to worry about the next day, for if things got rough, he would sacrifice himself to save Zach.
The girl was lying on the cot; the color of skin was warming back up to a normal tone. If he was a doctor he would predict she would wake up any moment, he was hoping she wouldn’t freak. Her body twitched and her eyes flickered. Soon they opened, her gentle eyes staring deeply into Slades.
“What happened?” she asked not being scared of the giant at the time.
“You were shot, but your okay now.” Slade tried to sound like there was no worry about it, but something told him she saw right through his pathetic attempt. Her eyes darted back and forth figuring out where she was.
“This isn’t a hospital,” she said not so much worried, but more of a conclusion.
“No, these men,” Slade paused for a moment trying to figure a way to break it to her without her freaking out.
“They want me, after they saw me with you, so now I have to go with you.” It amazed him how he just invited her to join the fight. A fight he first didn’t want anyone to join. Slade just blinked at her, wondering if this was a common occurrence for her
“Sorry, but,” she cut Slade off with her hand on his chest.
“That’s fine, I’ve had a boring life,” she started to sit up. Slade tried to stop her, but he knew that she needed to start moving to be totally healed. She wasn’t probably going to listen anyway. “Why doesn’t the bullet hole hurt?” She looked down at the dressing that was on her shoulder, and Slade peeled the bandages off, seeing the wound totally healed.
“You had some help from something you wouldn’t think would exist.”
“Try me,” she said.
“Vampires,” her eyes understood as she rose, she rotated her arm in a circle her bones cracking slightly but healed. “You don’t seem surprised,” Slade, asked get a little worried that maybe she came down with a fever or something.
“I was shot by guys dressed in black trench coats, and woke up in a warehouse, really what else could surprise me?” She asked her voice rising in tone.
“Sorry,” Slade said again, not wanting to drag another victim into this drama, but he had bigger things to worry about.
“So, where we going next…” she paused for a moment, “um I didn’t get your name.”
“Slade and that is Zach,” Slade looked back and saw him loose his balance and fall off the top of the Jeep, and land with a thump.
“Fuck, that hurt,” Zach said re climbing back up to the top of the Jeep.
“Nice to meet you Slade, I am Gabrielle.”
“Gabrielle, again I apologize for dragging you into this mess but let me try to explain to you how this mess began.” Slade explained the details of what happened in just the past week, the changes they were going through and the possibility of creatures living among them.
“Sounds like you need a vacation,” she said her eyes wide with wonder. . “Slade, can I ask where we need to go now?”
“You can, but I don’t think you will like the answer.” She just looked at him waiting for an answer. “First we need to find some nymphs that seduced us earlier this week, plant a tracker, and follow them until they lead us to the secret kingdom. Possibly be attacked by a dragon again, and no doubt have agents looking for us in every city out there.”
“Don’t forget to tell her that we need to walk through hell to get there.” Zach said cleaning his hands off with a rag. Slade taking a large breath, he didn’t want them to be introduced yet.
“Zach this is Gabrielle”
“Nice to meet you, I’m the brains of this operation.” Slade ignored the smart-ass comment getting use to his actions.
“Likewise”
“Slade you ready?”
Slade looked at him confused for a bit, “You done already?”
“Yeah, it took five hours,” he looked at Slade as if he lost his mind a little bit.
Slade looked at his watch, “Oh, shit we must have got carried away talking about our week.”
“I know it’s totally wicked isn’t it.” He winked at Gabrielle; a smile crept up on her face.
Slade followed Zach and walked with him to the Jeep, and saw the new mud tires on the Jeep; the hole in the roof was a hatch. It reminded him of being in the army again; he opened the back door and climbed into his seat. Slade didn’t see such lights and computers since he left the agency. “What do we got now?”
“I can pretty much do anything back here,” Zach said looking at all the switches
“You don’t know all the switches yet do you?” Slade asked with a straight face.
“Not a fucking clue, but when I ordered it they said it was needed.” Slade sighed at his answer and got into the driver seat. Sla
de went to turn the key but there was no key to turn. Slade bent his head over the steering wheel and noticed a fingerprint was needed. Slade stuck his thumb on the button/scanner and the vehicle roared to life. Then it quieted to a murmur. Zach was already playing on the computer.
“Sweet,” he said from the back.
“How did you figure all this out?” Slade asked knowing he didn’t know that much about vehicles to do all this work.
“I have studied a lot,” he said his chin lifting like Slade insulted him. Slade was about to apologize, then his eyes wandered to a book on the floor. Slade went to grab it, as Gabrielle was getting into the passenger seat. “You don’t need to look at that.”
Slade turned the pages, “instructions?” Slade laughed at him.
“Okay, so maybe I studied it while doing it, watch this.”
He hit a button, and all the lights turned on and flashers were lit up with the sirens that started to wail. He turned them just as quick if not quicker, after the echo came back to them. “Ok, it is pretty sweet.” Slade gunned the engine, the vehicle shaking in excitement, “Alright ladies and gentlemen buckle up, we have a good distance to cover, and I feel the need. The need,” Slade was cut off by Zach.
“Lame, but the need for speed,” Slade put the Jeep into gear, and left some black marks on the floor of the warehouse.
12They pulled up to the club that was closed with the sun still high above. The club looked vacant not much of place to be at during the daytime. Slade looked at the clock and it read at just a little bit past three, about the time people should have been starting to arrive. There was no movement though, no getting the club ready for the night.
Zach was about to get up and storm the club. "Hold it, look at that car,” Slade pointed to a corvette that was under a shading tree. "I bet you that’s their car, and if they have those bouncers again, the ones that are possibly real giants I don’t want to get caught.”
"I see, hey, I got an idea." Zach's finger did a twitching thing. Slade watched it wave back and forth that reminded him of a mother yelling at their kid. He opened a hidden compartment that was under his seat and pulled out a black box. "Let's put a tracer on their car." He sounded as if he just got a new batman toy back so many years ago when they actually pretended to fight. Now the secret assassins weren’t pretend anymore.
He sighed for he already had that planned, but he let Zach have the credit. "Gabrielle can you go over there and put this on their car? We won’t let anything happen; we just don’t want to be seen."
A smile formed on her face, “Already demanding I see,” as she took the device and walked over to the car.
She had a small purse that she dropped by the trunk of the car. While picking her items up she slipped a tracer under the bumper, thankfully not looking suspicious. When she got back up the two nymphs were standing by the back end of their car. Slade and Zach could hear them talking through the roof hatch that was slid open.
"What are you doing?" A nymph asked. Not able to tell which one was speaking for their faces were turned away from them drove Slade’s fingers tapping the steering wheel.
"Sorry, my purse tumbled.” She said not looking at the nymph in the eyes.
“Did she put the tracer on already,” Zach asked, as the tension in the car grew as thick as ice. Summers Rain, the darker nymph was looking at the vehicle trying to stare through the glass. Both men started to get nervous. "I hope she doesn't see us." Zach said looking straight at the nymphs. Slade concentrated on the scene in front of him, ignoring him.
As he watched, something made him stare at Rose Petal. He opened the door and before he knew it, he was stepping out. "Slade come back." He heard before he slammed the door shut, the nymphs staring at him as he came walking up. His sunglasses covering his eyes as he approached them letting him see their true beauty.
"It's you," Summers Rain was the first one to speak, now turned as the door closed.
"Yeah, and that is my girl, not yours." He said that even got Gabrielle to stare at him hard.
"Why shouldn't…," Rose Petal began to move closer to him, her hand reaching behind her dress, but was cut off with a bang and a pellet from the concrete flying up.
"Maybe you remember Zach," He said knowing that he was standing up through the sunroof and his rifle ready to kill at a moment’s notice.
“I don’t miss twice,” Zach said. The tension-building making Slade even feel the stare down between Zach and the nymphs.
"What do you want?" She asked as she put her hands back calmly in front of her revealing no intent to shoot them probably with a small pistol in her back.
"It looks to me, you, correction; I should say we were going somewhere.” He looked at the vehicle. The car was a pure muscle machine; the sleek lines curved and leveled out in the light of the sun. The color shifted between blue and purple as the eye flowed from the arched hood to the flat trunk. It was a car made to be driven fast along a long stretch of highway. Chrome hubcaps centered on the wheels. The soft top was currently stowed in the back, offering open air to the two gorgeous women. Butter smooth leather bucket seats sat nestled in the middle of the car, a gearshift sitting between the seats.
"Slade we have company." As soon as he said that, he knew or at least he thought he knew who it was. That meant the Sanctum was coming. He didn't expect the funnel cloud coming down in front of them, his sunglasses not blocking her glamour. As the winds stopped, the female dragon that almost killed them showed herself, a growl escaped her, making all that stood there back up a step.
Slade couldn’t help but smile, seeing such force, such power made his rod get hard. He wanted to right there bend her over and do her in front of all to see his glorious movements. No longer did he care about humans, the fire in her needed to be shared with him. He was about to take his shirt off when he shook his head clear, the nymphs eyes glistened white and they turned quickly from him to look at the dragon. She walked through the invisible line that separated the party.
The nymphs backed up and knelt down bowing to her. The dragon looked at them and then back at the two males. Then to Zach that had the sniper gun pointing surly at her head. "Leave Nymphs!" she said. “You dare aim that toy at me, I will make you pay in due time.” She hissed the command to Zach, Zach putting the rifle down not trusting it anymore. The nymphs jumped up and went to their car not starting it yet.
"Please enjoy those humans, we did already." Summers Rain shot in making the situation worse than it was already. He wanted to say something, but the stare he received from the dragon in human form stopped him in his tracks.
“Nymphs, you might have enjoyed them in their human form, but they are now fully empowered.” She took a deep smell like a cocaine addict, “They are Guardians." The nymphs stared at both of them and then at each other.
"No wonder, they survived,” they giggled. “Don’t tell me they will be coming back with you to the kingdom?” A growl escaped the dragon again, the giggling and chatting stopped instantly. He could hear the engine rumbling like a well-fed cat just before the vehicle took off spinning its tires.
"Dumb nymphs saying too much, or was this their plan. We will have to kill you all now." Phoenix said as plain as day.
"Why?” Gabrielle asked finally coming out of shock. Pure strength poured from Phoenix, making Slade surprised that Gabrielle even raised her voice to the tall yet gorgeous assassin. The dragon growled again and spun to face her. He took a sniff and a huff of anger escaped the dragon.
"You dare..." she stopped when her eyes met Gabrielle's eyes, making Gabrielle collapse.
“You two protecting her?" She asked as she turned back to Slade.
"Yes, she is under our protection, and if you harm her, we will kill you.” He said ready to grab the knife on a flinch. His mind cleared, the bitch had to try to enchant him, to become a zombie under her control. She probably had powers equal to the nymphs, no wonder he wanted to rail her.
"You dare without controlling the thing you searc
h for,” her gaze went to their weapons, “but your weapons and vehicle will not work in the kingdom. Make sure you bring the wench.”
“Are you talking about the weapon we seek, tell us what this weapon is.” She was silence with the changing she did to her true form. Slade’s eyes finally saw through the winds and saw her beautiful form, making him wonder if she was getting weaker. Her body was enormous, a skyscraper turned sideways. Her scales seemed to be made of gold, her eyes of rubies. Her claws looked almost diamond like; everything on her was a treat to see.
He looked back at Zach, who was scratching his head, and then ducked back into the Jeep. The dragon flew away not looking back. Slade took a breath and eyed the sky that once had her there. “What the fuck,” his voice changed from the softness to a yell. “Does everyone know about this weapon but me?”
“I don’t,” Zach yelled from the open Jeep.
“Shut up!” His stare went to the Jeep and then back to Gabrielle who now made a sound of disgust. “Gabrielle lets fly," He said seeing her starting to get up confused but okay. Running for the Jeep, he was going to give the engine a work out. The doors slammed, and a radio indicating tornado warnings.
"Funnel clouds are going over the city as we speak, please take cover." Sirens blew around the city to warn citizens of the severe weather in the beautiful clear sky. He couldn’t help but laugh. He gunned the engine barely waiting for Zach to sit back down on his seat. He followed the skid marks around the corner knowing which way the nymphs went.
He now not only wanted to catch the nymphs for the secrets but how they were tied to the dragon as well. It was getting more complicated as they dug deeper into the web. He started to slow down, he couldn’t figure out which way they went. “I need that GPS up now." As soon as he spoke, the GPS had two shapes on the program. The Nymphs were taking a highway, as the speakers gave their route.
