by Steve McHugh
After making it to the sixth rock formation, Layla motioned for everyone to wait, and stepped out from behind it. It was maybe five hundred feet to the house, and she wanted to know if Elias was watching. But when nothing happened, she motioned for everyone to keep going, and they ran toward more rock formations.
“This is easier than I’d expected,” Remy said. “I like it easy.” He paused. “Don’t you say a word, Kase.”
Kase smiled and mimed her lips being zipped shut.
Layla looked over at the second group, who were running toward the rear of the manor, while Chloe looked toward the first, who were going toward the front.
An explosion made the ground shake, and everyone dropped to the ground.
“The front assault group is scattering for cover,” Chloe said. “Mines. They’re going to have to go through slowly, leaving them sitting ducks. We need to get Elias’s attention.”
Tommy removed his buzzing phone from his pocket. “Not a good time, Harry.”
Harry said something that stopped Tommy from ending the call, instead putting him on speaker, before turning the volume down as low as possible to still be able to hear what Harry had to say.
“Right, I’ve just spoken to Grayson about the ogre,” Harry said. “Brako wasn’t the ogre who destroyed the Dorset LOA office. He wasn’t old enough. He’s an adolescent.”
The group shared an expression of horror. “You mean there’s another one around here?”
“They live for a few hundred years, so yes. And it’ll be old. And really big.”
“Thanks for the info,” Tommy said and hung up. “Right, change of plan.”
“I’m going to get rid of the mines,” Layla said. “I can do it from a distance.”
Tommy nodded, although he did so reluctantly. “Kase, can you get the front squad to pull back to here? Remy, I need you to get everyone in the rear squad prepared for a really big—”
Tommy never finished his sentence, as the ground shook, and for a moment Layla thought that it was another mine, but this time it was accompanied by an almighty roar as part of a rock formation exploded, followed quickly by a second, showering the squad behind the manor with rock and dirt, leaving only huge holes in the ground.
“It’s a cave system,” Layla whispered.
An ogre pulled itself out of the first hole and batted away the closest agent, who flew a few dozen feet toward a second ogre, which was emerging from where the next explosion had occurred. That one was smaller than the first, about the same size as Brako, but it still took hold of the dazed agent and tore him in half, tossing each part aside as if they were waste paper.
“We’ve got a female adult and a made adolescent ogre to deal with,” Tommy shouted. He roared and changed into his werewolf beast form mid-stride, before sprinting over to help the remaining members of the team. Kase did the same and ran to help those behind the minefield, waving them over to the trees. They would need everyone they could find to destroy the two ogres.
“Go, Remy, we’ll be fine,” Chloe told him, and he was off toward the ogres like a shot, dodging the pieces of rock that the smaller of the two threw at him.
“Can they beat them?” Layla asked.
The first and biggest ogre wore some sort of metal armor that covered a large part of her arms and torso. She was easily twenty feet high; her companion was maybe half that. Her skin was black and red, as if a burn had been allowed to fester.
“We need to go,” Chloe snapped. “They’ll be fine, but we won’t be if we stay here.”
Layla nodded and they ran together toward the mines, keeping just inside the trees in case someone took a shot from the house. When they were close enough, Layla concentrated and reached out with her power to sense the mines.
“There are six,” she said, scanning the entire front of the house. “I can feel them in the ground.”
“Can you disarm them?” Chloe asked.
Layla used her power to take hold of the mines, but she had no idea whether or not doing anything to them would cause them to explode. “I can pinpoint where the mines are while people run over, but doing more than that without knowledge of mines is going to cause a mess. I’ve got hold of each of them though, just in case any detonate, but if you want your people here, you’d best hurry.”
“You ready?” Chloe asked.
Layla made sure she had hold of the mines and nodded. She told Chloe the exact locations of the mines. Having to concentrate on six different parts of the front of the house at once was hard work, but she gritted her teeth and focused until all of Tommy’s people were beside them.
“What do we do with the mines?” Chloe asked after telling all but two of the agents to go help Tommy and the rest of the group. “That side door to the house is barred. Any chance you could do something about that?”
Layla pulled at the mines, taking them out of the ground, but keeping the triggers firmly in place. She moved them slowly toward the barred door, making sure the top of each mine faced the door. “Everyone should take a step back.”
She waited for everyone to move, before doing the same and releasing the triggers. The mines tore through the wood and most of the wall surrounding the door in an instant, making enough noise to shake the ground.
“They know where we’re coming in,” Tim, one of the two agents, said. He was just over six feet tall and had the large build of a boxer.
The second agent was a woman by the name of Jane, who was shorter than Layla, but had eyes that darted around constantly, as if she was always expecting something to jump out. Layla hadn’t spent much time with either of them, but she knew them well enough to say hi.
Jane sniffed the air. “I can’t smell anything inside. Too much smoke.”
The four of them made their way toward the hole in the side of the house, and once the agents were certain the room beyond was clear, they went in, with Chloe and Layla following behind.
The house itself was barren, with no pictures or furniture anywhere to be seen. The pair moved through the room and out of the open door into a second, larger room that mimicked the first in terms of its appearance.
As they left the second room and entered a hallway, the sounds of battle outside became louder. Roars of murderous intent were punctuated by cries and shouts from those fighting back.
With Chloe leading the way, the four of them remained low and moved slowly through the building. Chloe paused at the end of the hallway and looked around the doorway. She motioned for Layla and the two agents to stay still and crept into the room. And the door slammed shut.
Layla and the agents rushed to the door and tried to open it, but it was locked. Layla used her power to try to move the lock, but she couldn’t get a grip on it and it took her a few seconds to realize the door lock wasn’t real. There were metal tubes that ran from the door into the wall, keeping it in place. She changed the direction of her power and pushed with everything she had. The door was ripped from its housing and flung into the room at high speed, breaking apart as it hit the far wall.
Before Layla could enter the room, a smoke canister exploded a few feet in front of the trio. Several shots were fired, striking Tim and Jane. They dropped to the ground. Layla wasn’t sure whether they were alive or dead.
Reyes was inside the room, standing close to the window. She smiled as the smoke cleared and aimed a semi-automatic rifle at Layla’s head.
Layla saw that both Tim and Jane had bullet holes in their heads. They had both been dead before they hit the ground.
“Can’t have anyone getting in the way.”
“You didn’t need to kill anyone.”
Reyes shrugged. “You might want to get used to people you love dying. There’s going to be a lot of it going on outside.” She smiled.
“Where is Chloe?”
“Wait and see,” Reyes said with a chuckle. “You’ll see her before she dies.” She glanced out of the window. “The fight isn’t going well for your people. You’ve hurt the younger ogre, but
the mother is tougher, bigger, and stronger. You know what it’s like to be stronger than the men around you, don’t you? I wonder if you’re strong enough to save them all from being torn apart.”
“I have no idea what you’re blathering on about. But you’re going to tell me what I need to know, or I’m going to make you tell me.”
Reyes laughed. “You’re not a killer. Not even much of a fighter. You know how to fight in your head, but you don’t have the motivation to really fight, to keep going until one of you is dead. You’ll learn over time, I’m sure.”
“You’re not going to shoot me.”
“You’re right, I’m not. But the second I feel your power starting to influence anything metal, I pull the trigger and one round goes through your head.”
The fighting continued to rage outside, and Layla wanted to go help, to make sure that her friends were safe. She wanted to fight Reyes. To hurt her. But Chloe was missing, and finding her was Layla’s first priority.
“Where is Chloe?” she asked again.
“I told you to have some patience.”
After a few seconds, a part of the floor silently moved aside, revealing a path down under the house, lit by small torches placed on the ceiling.
“You first,” Reyes said, waving the muzzle of the rifle toward the hole.
Layla tentatively stepped forward and began to descend the path, eventually finding herself in a tunnel wide enough for two to walk side by side and just under seven feet high.
“Keep walking,” Reyes said from behind Layla.
Layla did as Reyes commanded, until she came to two different tunnels ahead.
“Left,” Reyes snapped.
Layla continued and after a hundred feet began to hear voices somewhere ahead. Another hundred feet and it began to sound more like one person shouting at someone who didn’t speak. The closer Layla got to the voice, the more she knew it was Elias, and she hoped that Chloe was okay. A burning anger began to bubble up inside of her at the thought of Chloe being hurt.
Calm yourself, Rosa said inside her head. Losing control of your emotions means losing control of Terhal. Despite your victory over her, a loss of control over your emotions will still allow her to be free. And now is not the time to release her.
Layla pushed the anger aside and continued toward the voice, eventually walking into a large chamber. It was a few dozen feet high and wide enough to park several cars with ease. There were several beds against one wall and a stove against the far wall, next to a small fridge. But all of that paled in comparison to the cage that was close to the chamber’s entrance. A cage with a semi-conscious Chloe inside.
“What did you do to her?” Layla demanded, running to the cage, trying to get her friend’s attention.
“Tranquillizer,” Elias told her. He sat in the center of the chamber, next to a small fire. “I needed to split you up. Can’t have two umbra running around fighting us. Frankly, I wish I’d thought of it when we had her in the farmhouse. I guess my anger at her existence overrode common sense.” He motioned to a chair opposite him. “Please, sit.”
Layla did as Elias asked, not wanting to fight until she knew that she had a better chance of winning than she had at that moment.
“I’m going to kill Chloe,” Elias said. “She took Dara, and that needs to be paid back. But you needn’t die with her. I was going to kill you, but I’ve changed my mind. You’re going to be what stops Nergal from killing me. You’re going to be my insurance policy. If you come quietly, if you come with me to Nergal, I’ll see that those friends of yours who are still alive aren’t hunted down and slaughtered for their defiance.”
Layla glanced between Reyes and Elias. “I’m not going to help you after you kill Chloe. That’s never going to happen.”
Elias hurled a glass at the wall beside Chloe’s cage. “Look, you little shit, you either work with me or die.”
“Then I die. But at least I die knowing I didn’t help you do a damn thing.” Layla took a deep breath and felt a calmness flow through her body. She should have been scared. Terrified. But for some reason, she felt quite peaceful.
“Then everyone you know will die,” Reyes said with a smirk.
“We’ll die fighting then.”
Reyes stepped up to Layla and raised the butt of her rifle, ready to strike.
Layla put up a hand as if to stop the blow, but instead manipulated the metal of the rifle and forced it to fire. The bullet roared inside the chamber, and Reyes screamed as the blast damaged her ears. Layla was on her feet in an instant, taking hold of the rifle and pushing Reyes back toward the cage, before striking her in the face with the weapon, knocking her to the ground.
Layla spun toward Elias, aiming the rifle at him, ready to pull the trigger, but hoping it wouldn’t come to that. “Surrender,” she said.
“Shoot me,” he told her.
She paused.
“You can’t shoot me, can you? You’re not a killer. Not like those people you call friends. They’re trained to kill. You? You’re a university student and the daughter of a mass murderer. Even if you could find it in yourself to pull that trigger, you don’t actually want to.”
“On your knees, hands on your head.”
Elias laughed. “Pull the trigger.”
Layla’s finger quivered above the trigger. She’d practiced using firearms while staying at the mansion, and her father had trained her in their use when she was a child, but she’d never thought she’d actually have to use one against someone.
There was a noise behind Layla, and for a moment it sounded like Reyes was getting back to her feet. She moved so that she could keep both Elias and Reyes in her line of sight, but quickly discovered that it was Chloe, removing the keys from Reyes’s jeans and unlocking the cage.
The large metal lock fell to the floor and Chloe pushed open the cage door, stepping over Reyes, who was beginning to stir. She walked over to Layla and placed a hand on the barrel. “No one is expecting you to shoot anyone,” she told Layla. “It’s fine.”
Layla allowed Chloe to take the rifle from her, which Chloe quickly aimed at Elias and shot him twice in the chest. Elias collapsed to the ground, just before Reyes dove into Chloe, tackling her and knocking the rifle aside.
Before Layla could intervene, Elias was back on his feet. “Guess it takes a bit more than being shot to kill me.”
Reyes leaped back toward Elias with impossible agility.
“She’s an umbra too,” Chloe said.
“We don’t all get flashy powers,” Reyes snapped.
Chloe reached over and took Layla’s hand, squeezing it slightly.
“Ah, how sweet, the last moments of friendship,” Reyes said.
Chloe released Layla’s hand and blasted energy at the rock above the heads of Reyes and Elias. “Run!”
Layla didn’t need telling twice, and the pair of them sprinted past the collapsing roof and into the tunnel as Elias’s screams of anger echoed around them.
38
“Are they dead?” Layla asked after she and Chloe had been running down the tunnel for a few minutes.
“No idea. Don’t care.”
Layla was surprised that she also didn’t have a problem with it. She did not care if Elias was dead or alive. She felt like she should be ashamed of even thinking it, but Elias had murdered or tried to destroy everything and everyone she loved. The state of his health was not something she gave a crap about.
A huge explosion sounded behind them, spurring them on further into the snaking tunnel, until they found themselves in a cavernous chamber, several times larger than the one they’d been in. There were lamps on the wall, the electric cables joined to a generator in the corner.
“What is this place?” Chloe asked, looking around.
Layla took a step and the smell of meat struck her, but it was mixed with something else, something she couldn’t quite remember. A few seconds later the memory of being outside of the ogre’s cell hit her like a truck.
&nb
sp; “We need to leave. Now,” she said, slightly panicked by this realization.
“Where are we?” Chloe asked.
“You’re in an ogre’s lair,” Elias said as he ran around the corner of the tunnel. His face was covered in blood, which had also drenched his normally white shirt. “The ogres aren’t here right now, but I think I could cripple you both and let you wait for them to come have their fun. They’ll probably be exhausted from killing your friends, so it might take you a few days to finally die.”
“I assume it’s just you now?” Chloe asked.
“Reyes died in the collapse. It’s not something I’ll waste tears over, but it is an annoyance. She could have cheered me on while I killed you both.”
Chloe cracked her fingers. “We’re not going to die in here. But you might.”
Elias laughed. “Come try.”
Chloe rushed toward Elias, with Layla just behind, and threw a punch, which Elias avoided, landing one of his own to Chloe’s ribs. He turned and kicked Layla in the stomach, knocking her to the ground, before punching Chloe in the side of the face, sending her to the dirt.
“You’re just not good enough. I wonder how much killing Reyes took out of you. Can you still use your power?”
Chloe swiped her leg out toward Elias’s, forcing him to step back into Layla’s path. Layla shot up from the ground, launching herself at Elias, grabbing hold of his arm, and getting her legs around his neck, dragging Elias to the ground in a flying armbar. She locked his arm in place and wrenched it back, breaking the limb but Elias refused to drop. He used his good arm to lift Layla and smashed her down on the floor.
Darkness swarmed Layla’s vision as her head struck the ground. Elias picked her up to do it again when Chloe tackled him, taking him down. Layla fell onto her back, the air knocked out of her, and rolled onto her front, forcing herself back to a standing position as Elias beat on Chloe.
Layla ran back into the fray, and avoiding a kick from Elias, planted one of her own into his stomach, just as Chloe spun around and kicked him in the side of the head.
