The Warrior - Initiation Driven Subversive Redemption Justice

by Rebecca Royce

  Finally, I could smile. “You’re only saying that because you’re in love with me.”

  He sighed. “I am in love with you, but it doesn’t make it any less true.”

  “I’m sorry I wasted so much time, Chad.”

  The dam broke and the tears flowed down my cheeks. I needed to be brave. I’d tried hard to control them, but it was like my emotions had decided to rule me instead of letting me be in charge.

  Chad strained against his tied up hands. “I waited years to tell you how I felt. You literally had no idea. You felt very strongly for that wolf. If you hadn’t, you wouldn’t be you.” He cleared his throat. “Now cut it out. We’ve got a situation here. I’m feeling what seems like three Vampires. Is that your reading?”

  I blinked a couple of times. Chad was using his authoritative voice, the one he used when he led us in battle. It had the effect of making my tears stop instantly, which I imagined had been what he wanted to happen when he’d done it.

  “I’m feeling three.”

  “Good.” He nodded. “Now, the only the trick will be to get untied and defeat the three Vampires without getting killed by their group of human worshipers.”

  “Yeah…about that. How do you suppose that happened?”

  Chad never got a chance to answer as the door banged open and the three Vampires we’d been sensing sauntered into the room. They were tall, all of them dark-haired, with the prominent veins and red eyes I’d come to expect from the Undead. But they were different, too.

  The Vampires we fought on a regular basis didn’t walk like these three did. What was it? I bit down on my lip as it occurred to me what I was looking at. They walked like gunslingers from Wild West movies. What was the phrase my father used to call it? Oh yes, Spaghetti Westerns.

  The Undead creatures in front of me walked like they were heading out to fight a gunslinger. I looked left and right. Who were they performing for?

  Chad sat up a little straighter, which couldn’t have been easy considering the amount of pain I imagined him to be in.

  “Wow.” The one all the way to the left spoke first. “I haven’t seen a Warrior since we came here forty-six years ago. Have you, Clyde?”

  Clyde, the one in the middle, shook his head and I shivered. Usually, when they didn’t speak it meant they were really, really old, like they’d been made a Vampire before the world ended. They were scary dudes and hard to kill.

  “I haven’t either.” My eyes moved to the Vamp all the way to the right. He had a different accent, not one I’d ever heard before.

  In general, we avoided speaking to the Vampires. We preferred to kill them. Fast.

  “What can we do for you, boys?”

  I gasped at Chad. He was going to engage them in conversation? Was he nuts?

  The Vampire on the left snickered. My eyes got wide at the sound. They could laugh?

  I felt like I was attached to a spinning wheel. Every second that passed, the world shifted and I had to make do with new information that made me feel sick and distorted. Really, if this was some kind of ride, like the ones they’d put out on the square in Genesis every summer, I’d like to get off. I never liked them; they always made me puke.

  “We’re so excited. We’re going to bring you in there and eat you in front of our worshipers. We’ve also collected some Werewolves we’re going to kill for the occasion. Truly, it’s an honor to feed off you.”

  Chad sneered. “It won’t be an honor to stake you through the heart.”

  “What are you doing down here anyway? You’re supposed to be kept around your particular habitats. That’s where all the hunting goes on.”

  I knew Chad was going to say something else provoking so I spoke fast. Sometimes the people around me didn’t care to do too much information gathering. It was like they could only focus on the here and now. But I knew there was power in learning all you could about your enemies. These guys seemed to want to talk. I was inclined to let them.

  “We’re supposed to be kept?” I cleared my throat hoping Chad would take the hint to stay quiet but doubting he would at the same time. “Who is supposed to be keeping us there?”

  The one on the right gasped. “Oh don’t you know yet, sweetie? You’re a game to us. We have all the food we need; we breed you beneath the Earth’s surface and eat whenever we want. But some of us, we like to occasionally hunt, or”—he waved in the general direction of the room—”create these sorts of temples. Human beings are amusements to us. Isaac Icahn saved his own life, and the life of his family, by setting it up this way. We sometimes lose a few numbers when you get a hit or two but generally, we win. It’s like a sport.”

  Chad and I were both silent, but I knew the direction his thoughts had moved in. This was the information the ‘grown ups’ had been mulling over since we’d discovered the underground lairs. Why bother with Warriors at all and how had Isaac Icahn managed the whole thing?

  I shook my head to clear it. This was pivotal intel, which meant I needed to live to deliver it to someone who could do something with it. The middle Vampire—Clyde—the one who didn’t speak, bent over me, his long pointy fingernail tracing the long, jagged scar on my cheek.

  I had survived a Vampire attack and I bore the mark to prove it. I kept my eyes focused on his. No way, no how was I going to be intimidated by the Undead creature standing in front of me. I made my heartbeat stay steady; I made my hands stay loose by my side. I knew it could smell even the smallest amount of fear from me, I knew it could feed on that scent like it would later drink my blood.

  I wasn’t going to give the miserable creature an ounce of satisfaction. It wouldn’t get pleasure from my pain.

  He hauled me to my feet. The one to the left spoke, translating for the one that held me. “Oh, you’re beautiful, all that red hair. The scar only makes you more enticing. I think I will drink from you up on the altar.”

  He shoved me forward as the other two struggled to bring Chad to his feet. I had to give my boyfriend credit. He wasn’t going quietly to his death. Neither was I, and I hoped Chad had cued into that and didn’t think I’d given up.

  I had to hope, even though I wasn’t sure, that I was now immune to Vampire scratches. I’d survived an attack. Never having heard of anyone having it happen to them more than once, I had no idea if the same sickness would overwhelm me now or not.

  Either way, I didn’t want to be drained on an altar of any kind. I shivered at the thought. This whole thing was so unfair. Stuff like this didn’t happen to other people. It wasn’t enough I had to go out on my own six months ago where I had my heart broken after nearly dying countless times?

  Now I had to face a crazy mob of people who worshiped Vampires while fighting for my life against the Undead.

  “Ladies and gentlemen.” The Vampire behind me called out as Clyde, my captor, swung open the door to a chamber. A roar of pleasure swept through the crowd and I gagged. The very idea that these people thought the Undead some kind of Gods absolutely repulsed me.

  The Vampire kept talking. “Tonight, because we love you, we will allow you to witness our immense power by not only draining the wolves we brought you but also to eliminate from the world these horrid people who came to you in a forbidden machine with plans to kill all of you.”

  So that was the story, was it? I shook my head as part of what he’d spoken dawned on me. Wolves? I hadn’t sensed any Werewolves. I often suspected my Werewolf radar was off, but other than Jason and his wolf pack, I hadn’t had any trouble sensing them since.

  I looked around to spot the Werewolves who would be sharing my ultimate doom this evening. I almost doubled over.

  The thing is—I’d convinced myself I would never ever ever see him again. And yet, there he was in what was probably the worst moment of my life. Outside of the day I’d sat on the ground and waited, stupidly for him to show up. Jason Kenwood. The Werewolf who had destroyed my trust in the worst possible way, hung by his wrists from the ceiling. He was unconscious, his head
hanging down to the side, eyes closed. While I could still think, and I knew myself well enough to know that coherent thought was going to rapidly flee my brain any second, I made note of the fifteen other Wolves strung up from the ceiling around him. That would be less than half of his pack. I saw Luna and Autumn, Jason’s sisters, but Andon, their father and Alpha to the pack, was missing. They were all out cold. Less than half of Andon’s pack hung from the ceiling, but every single one of them was a stab in my gut.

  I closed my eyes under the strain of looking at them, even as the Vampire who wanted to end my life pushed me forward.

  My heart betrayed me as I started to fret about how injured Jason and his family actually were. It took a lot to knock out a Werewolf. To kill a Wolf, I had to cut off their head with a machete. How hard would they have to be struck to be so completely passed out?

  I bit down on my bottom lip. What the hell was wrong with me? I should want to see Jason in as much pain as possible. The only thing missing from this scene was his faithless father who had left me, alone, in a Vampire cavern to fight hundreds of the Undead on my own. If Deacon hadn’t turned out to be a good fighter, I would have died.

  I shouldn’t care. But I did. I sighed as my body shook in the Vampire’s strong arms. He would think it was because I was afraid of him. He’d be wrong. I’ve never been so unafraid of the Undead in my life. That just goes to show how screwed up I really am. Seeing my ex-boyfriend had more effect on my nerves than facing death on an altar by a creature that wanted to suck my blood.

  Okay, enough was enough. I was getting out of here now. Throwing my weight backwards, I felt the Vampire stumble. Kicking with my left leg, I used a maneuver Keith had taught us a hundred times but I’d never used before. I took out the creature’s legs. He hit the ground with a thump, and I pulled myself free.

  The Vampire-loving crowd gasped, but they were like flies buzzing around my head. I might not have use of my hands—yet—but I wasn’t defenseless.

  “Rachel!” Chad’s voice caught my attention. “By the altar.”

  I whirled around to look even as my feet carried me toward the altar. I saw what he wanted me to notice. The cocky Vampires had left a fire burning under their decorative death display. They’d really gone for the drama when designing it. It had all the requisite paranormal scenery designs. The altar itself had a giant pentagram drawn on the front of it.

  I wondered if the herd of Vampire worshipers had any idea that was a devil device. We’d had to study this stuff in school. Vampires were real. Werewolves were real. The devil? I had no idea, but I thought there was a good chance the Vampires wanted the poor, stupid people in this room to think that they were worshiping him. Heavens help me; I didn’t have the time for this.

  I pressed up against the flames, letting it scorch my wrist until the rope binding my hands together caught on flame. Wow, I winced and tried not to scream. It hurt—badly. But it loosened my restraints and I pulled free, rubbing at my burned wrists as I went. I had no time for my own pain.

  Not while two of the Vampires roused the crowd to come after me. I really didn’t want to kill any humans.

  Chad hollered as he took down his own Vampire using the same maneuver I had applied earlier. They clearly didn’t learn from each other’s mistakes.

  The room seemed to be moving in slow motion. Jason still hung from the ceiling, Chad fought like I knew he would—strong and brave. The humans screamed as they rushed in my direction, and I knew what I had to do.

  There are moments, in battles, when I find clarity hits me like I’ve always had it. I’ve never discussed it with anyone, this strange occurrence that appears when I need it. For now, I was simply grateful it happened when it did.

  If life generally sucked, you had to take your good moments when they came. Even if they showed up in a moment like the one I was currently enduring.

  Running backwards, I jumped in the air and kicked down hard on the top of the wooden alter. It collapsed under the assault. Grabbing two pieces of wood from the remains, I didn’t bother trying to make a stake.

  I had other plans.

  I didn’t want to kill any of the humans, which meant I was going to have to make them run for their lives.

  Lighting one of the table legs on fire, I ran for the cloth curtains that covered the windows in the hall. In two seconds, I had set the dusty red cloth on fire.

  “Chad, fire!” I screamed drawing his attention to me. “We’re bringing this place down.”

  Screaming at Chad served two purposes. One, it got him motivated to start setting the blaze and two, it let the humans rushing at me know I intended to roast them if they didn’t run like hell.

  Keeping my attention on the task at hand, I bumped and pushed screaming humans away from me as I attacked every piece of spare cloth I could get my hands on with the lit flames. Finally, I swung around, launching the fire into the air to let it land wherever it hit.

  There were Vampires to kill and I was pumped to light them up. They’d kidnapped the wrong Warrior.

  Chapter Seven

  Chad pushed half of a splintered chair leg through one Vampire’s chest. The creature let out a gasp before he hit the floor. I had to smile. Chad had style, especially during a fight.

  I looked to my left and right. “Chad, can you handle the rest of the Undead?”

  He shrugged. “Yes. Why? Do you have better things to do?”

  I whirled around to look at the fires rapidly engulfing the room. “I’ve got to get them all down.”

  Pointing upwards at the hung up Werewolves, I hoped he wouldn’t question me too much about my interest in not letting the lycanthropes burn. I knew I would have to explain it, eventually.

  I moved a couple of chairs around in the smoke filled room and got to work detaching each of the werewolves from the rope that bound their arms and kept them hung from the ceiling. Luna and Autumn were easy to maneuver; they’re about my own size, but Jason and the other guys proved to be harder. I was about to drop one of them when Chad seized the Werewolf from around the waist.

  All the humans had fled, and even though I hadn’t seen him do it, I knew Chad had dealt with the Vamps. If there was one thing I was sure of, it was that Chad could be counted on to handle the killing of the Undead. My asking him if he could had been more of a courtesy than a question.

  He shouted to be heard over the roar of the fire. “Tell me why we’re wasting our time in all this mess helping these monsters when we should be leaving them to burn?”

  “Because these are some of the monsters who saved my life last year.”

  It felt good to say it aloud, even as Chad’s eyes got huge at my announcement. To his credit, he helped me pull all of them down and then out of the building. It took some time, and as we got the last wolf outside, the structure collapsed behind us.

  Coughing like we’d never breathe well again, we lay in the dirt side-by-side.

  Finally, when we’d both regained some normalcy to our inhaling and exhaling, Chad raised his head to look at the still unconscious Wolves lying around us.

  “The next time you want to set fire to a building that we’re inside of, a little heads up would be nice.”

  I lifted my head to look at him. “Gee, sorry, Chad. Next time I’ll tell the Vampires to hold off so I can discuss my game plan with you.”

  He groaned and rolled over. “One of these guys your boyfriend?”

  I sat up stretching my arms over my head. “You’re my boyfriend.”

  “You know what I mean.”

  I got up and moved over to look at the Wolves. They were all breathing fine, so why were they so completely out of it? Had they been drugged? Could you drug a Werewolf?

  “Don’t be surly, Chad. I didn’t plan this.”

  He maneuvered himself slowly until he was next to me. “You still haven’t answered my question.”

  I pointed down at Jason, aware of the flutter seeing him caused my fickle heart. What was the matter with me? Why couldn’
t I simply leave my feelings for him in the past where they belonged?

  I stared up at Chad. His strong, dark features regarded Jason on the ground. He let out a loud exhaled breath. “So this is the guy who you were going to leave us for.”

  He’d said us but he meant ‘me’. Jason was the guy who I was going to leave him for about six months ago. Not that six months ago I’d made any kind of commitment to Chad that meant I couldn’t have left without anyone having any claim to make me stay. Still, his pain crept inside of me where it would take root with all of the other things I stored in my stomach to feel guilty about later.

  It was amazing I could eat anything at all these days.

  “So are you going to leave me for him now?”

  I whirled around until I could see Chad straight on. This was getting ridiculous. I wanted to scream at him. In fact, I opened my mouth to do just that but then I saw it.

  Pain.

  Behind all of his bravado, the guy I had known my entire life was in pain over the fact that I’d just seen and saved Jason’s life. I pursed my lips and tried to find something more appropriate to say than “hey buddy, screw you and your jealous rant.”

  “I didn’t plan this. He’s still the same guy who hurt me, badly. You’re just getting to meet him now. That’s all.”

  He nodded. “All right, then we need to wake him up and get them out of here before the angry humans come at us for killing their ‘gods’.”

  I looked down at the pile of sprawled out Wolves. “They’re pretty out of it.”

  “Uh-huh.”

  Chad kicked Jason hard in the side. I gasped as Jason’s eyes opened suddenly. He groaned and rolled over.

  “Chad, how hard did you kick him?”

  “He’s a Wolf, Rachel. He can handle a lot harder abuse than that. I kicked him hard enough to rouse him.” He shrugged but I could see a glint in his eyes that spoke of satisfaction. “That’s all.”

  Jason shook his head as he looked up at us. “Rachel? What’s going on? Where am I?”

  Chad spoke before I could. “Let’s catch you up fast, Wolf. You know Rachel. I’m Chad. We just saved your worthless being from three Vampires who were going to drain you dry for the amusement of their cult of human followers. You don’t deserve it, but Rachel has a soft heart.”