Broken (The Siren Series #1)

by L. A. Griffiths

  “You know what to do.” she replied to Sophia.

  “What’s going on? What are those noises?” I looked up at Rhea’s face.

  Rhea pulled me in tighter and spoke quietly in my ear. “Ellie the house is surrounded.”

  “What?” I quickly pulled away from her and ran to the nearest window. Out in the darkness, there were the same faceless monsters that attacked me. They were standing outside of the main gates, waiting.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Outside in the dark were the foul smell creatures that Rhea called; leaches. Many of them waited patiently outside the main gates. Then one of the monsters stepped in through the gate. A scream ripped through my head but there was no pain, I watched in amazement as the house gargoyles screeched to life. They flew from their perches and picked up the creature into the air and with a team effort pulled it apart showering its body parts onto the others. The leaches screamed as one of their own was ripped apart before them. More of the gargoyles swooped down and disemboweled the leaches with one slash of their great talons. I then had to turn away from the bloodshed.

  “How did they know I was here?” I asked. “Where did those gargoyles come from?”

  “It’s due to Sophia.” Rhea pointed.

  I looked over at Sophia who was now sitting crossed legged on the marbled floor. Her eyes started to glow a bright white, and around the house a bright white barrier formed, protecting us from the faceless creatures.

  “Ellie go upstairs please, you will be safe there.” Rhea asked.

  “No I’m not going anywhere! I’ll be safer with you.” I protested.

  “Fine, stay close then.” said Rhea.

  Sophia was still sitting on the floor with bright white eyes staring into nothingness. She had a dead look to her face, there was no emotion.

  “Is she ok? I asked. From Sophia there was a white radiance ebbing around her. It was so beautiful. The lights spun playfully around Sophia growing brighter with every second.

  “It’s beautiful” I said I awe.

  I reached out slowly and tried to touch the white lights that jetted around her.

  “Ellie, no!” Rhea screamed.

  I looked over at Rhea while still reaching out to the playful white beams. My hand gently touched the ebbing radiance. The white aura around Sophia turned red, and I was blown back. I was thrown through the air and landed hard on the marble floor. My vision was blurred and I could hardly breathe. I tried to catch my breath while my heart beat fast in my chest. I could hear someone shouting my name. A blurred silhouette came running towards me. It was Rhea. She bent down and slowly got me to my feet. She placed her hand over my chest and I felt a warm heat flow through me.

  “What was that?” I said as I tried to catch my breath.

  “I’m so sorry Ellie I should have told you,” she said. “Are you hurt?”

  “I’m fine thanks but what didn’t..,” Then it quickly came to me “How’s Sophia? Is she ok?” I asked.

  “She’s.” Rhea was cut off.

  There was a sound above, loud and sharp, like breaking glass. Something was hitting the house loud and hard, the building began to shake with force. The large chandelier above us started to swing violently above us. The ear shattering noise surrounded the entire house. Outside, loud shrill screams could be heard. The noise pierced through my skull, the pain was unbearable. After a few seconds the noise was gone.

  “What’s that?” I asked.

  “The barriers down Ellie.” said Rhea grimly.

  “Then cannot she do another one?” I looked over at Sophia who was lying face down on the floor. I rushed over to her. She was unconscious.

  “Sophia, wake up!” I said, slightly shaking her. “She’s not waking up Rhea, what do we do?” I yelled.

  I looked up at Rhea hoping she would do something. Rhea stared at something behind me. Her eyes full of anger. I spun my head around and spotted the faceless leaches. There were four of them standing inside the house, all of them were panting heavily.

  “Ellie!” Rhea called to me.

  I tried to drag Sophia away but she was too heavy. Rhea reached out and pulled both of us out of the oncoming path with an invisible force.

  “Ellie go upstairs, now!” Rhea shouted.

  I looked at Sophia who was sill unconscious. I could not leave Rhea all to fight them all. The pack of four faceless creatures stalked towards Rhea.

  “How dare you enter my home!” Rhea yelled at them.

  I watched Rhea conjure a blinding white light. She threw it from her hands and it exploded. Sending them spiraling off into different directions. I ran towards the stairs and was stopped by more of the creatures. They came flooding in from outside. If I left Rhea and Sophia they would be killed. One leach came towards me with it’s discolor red claws outstretched.

  I quickly backed up from the disgusting creature and bumped into the small table behind me. I turned to it and grabbed the white crystal vase and smashed it over its head. It shattered in my hands and sent him down to the floor. I saw Rhea in the corner of my eye fighting five of them at once. I rushed over to her but I felt something grab my leg, before I could do anything, I was pulled down to the floor by the injured creature.

  He swiftly got up and towered over me. I tried to get to my feet, but the leach leaned over me and punched me across the face. There was a rush pain. The familiar taste of blood entered my mouth and I spat it out onto his face. The monster took out something in his pocket while more faceless leaches rushed over to me and pinned me to the floor. I winced in pain, while their long talon nails dug into my flesh. The pain began to burn.

  One of them began to lick its blood covered claws, and enjoyed it. The leach again dug his nails into my skin and drew more blood. I screamed in pain and tried to fight against them. More of the leaches started to dig into my skin and lapped up the liquid from their sharp talons.

  The first leach held in its hand, a needle filled with what looked like black fluid. My heart started to beat fast, my breathing was rapid. I could not move. I was stuck. Closer and closer the needle came towards my bare flesh.

  “No, don’t!” I yelled.

  The thought of needles brought me back to being in the hospital after the crash. Kate, it was my fault, all this was my fault. I should have died. Blood was being drained by the leaches, slowly their black tongues began licking at the freshly cut wounds while pinning me down. No, no. Everything was building to a point where I thought I might explode. The pain, I could not bear it anymore.

  I took a deep breath and screamed with all the energy I had left. The disgusting creatures around me were blown away and the needle shattered in its hand. The ground around me split apart that traveled across the room and up the walls. The house violently shook and the walls began to crumble and fall to the floor. The house was falling apart slowly around me. The glass in the house had shattered all at once showering me with its pieces. Parts of the ceiling fell to the floor breaking the clean marble floor. The stairs began to crumble and the tapestries fell to the ground broken and ripped by the glass. Electricity started to spark from every light fixture, sending the whole chandelier down to the floor with a great big crash, scattering its diamonds in every direction.

  I was panting heavily, still reeling from the energy scream that I created.

  I looked over at to find Rhea. She was pinned down by falling debris. I could not tell if she was moving, but more parts of the mansion started to fall to the floor. One of the surviving creatures ran towards me but was quickly killed by one of the giant pillars that supported the second floor. I covered my head and curled up in a ball as something broke through the ceiling and came crashing down.

  Chapter Nineteen

  I opened my eyes to darkness. My body was pinned to the ground. Slowly, I tried to move but pain vibrated up and down my arm. I pushed out with my uninjured hand, and I could hear debris fall onto one another. I shifted awkwardly onto my knees and stood up. The mansion was gone. It was completely
torn down. The ceiling was gone, scattered around me in little and big chunks. There was a large amount of dust in the air which I waved away from my face. I could not recognize anything, the only thing standing was the front door, and that was only just hanging on by its hinges. The stairs were completely gone and I could not see the black marble floor.

  “Rhea!?” I shouted out.

  I climbed my way over to where I last saw Rhea. There were mounts of fallen debris around and I didn’t know where to start.

  I yelled again “Rhea!”

  Carefully I got down onto my knees and started to clear away the mess. My forearms stung from the cuts the leaches had inflicted onto me. It disgusted me that they fed from me and it seems like they enjoyed it. I didn’t have time to think about that, I got back to the mount of debris that lay before me. My heart soared into the air when I could see a hand. I quickly moved the fallen piles to see it was Sophia.

  “Sophia, wake up!” Her forehead had a deep gash to it and blood was flowing freely.

  Sophia’s eye slowly opened to shock. Her eyes were wide with fear. I was about to talk when something grabbed me tightly around the neck and pulled me up on my feet. Without warning, I felt a sharp pain in my neck and the whole world became dizzy and hazy. Something had hold of me while deeper and deeper I fell into darkness.