by D. N. Hoxa
That was impressive. “There must be a good story behind that.”
Franky smiled. “I’ll tell you all about it once we’re out of here.”
“This will work,” Crystal said. She was dying to get on the way already. “My father will help us, too. He’s not strong, but he can buy things for us. Everything we need. We won’t have to leave the motel at all.” That was indeed very convenient—except I didn’t trust in her father. Oscar had been the father of a witch, too. He’d traded all of us for her freedom.
I turned to Elisa. “There’s no other way. The sooner we get going, the faster we’ll get there.” And the faster we’d find out if this would really work.
I took my time to think some more while they threw ideas around on how to be more careful, but there was nothing else I could come up with, except Eddie. Since he wasn’t going to help us anymore, the choices were very limited. I just hoped the trailer Elisa and Franky were going to steal would fit us all.
Seventeen
Holy cow, we were doing it. We rushed around the house to clean up any mess we’d made, hoping that whoever owned the house would get a maid in there first, before arriving. That way, all our traces would be erased—assuming he’d have no reason to suspect and search for a magic trail. If that happened, we’d be…well, we were already in deep shit. I couldn’t see it getting any worse, to be honest.
Elisa and Frank had left almost twenty minutes ago. There was no way I’d fall unconscious in those moments. My heart was galloping in my chest, my stomach a mess, my nerves almost completely fried.
When the trailer arrived, Maddy called, “They’re here!”
We weren’t sure how to disable the protective spells, or how long it would take without Eddie’s guys, so we decided to have Elisa and Frank wait for us in front of the gates. Chances were, as soon as we walked out, the spells would alert the owner, but thinking about that was going to mess me up even more, so I didn’t.
After asking everybody twice if they were sure they’d left everything in place, we ran down the pathway toward the main gates. I felt like I was floating on air, and images of the ECU waiting for us instead of Elisa and Frank, or the demons.
But when I saw the trailer, I almost passed out. How did Elisa think that would fit us? It was small! The doors to the trailer were open. Thank God it was empty.
“Sit on each other’s laps!” I shouted. That was the only way I could hope to even close the doors behind them.
By some miracle, the lock clicked in place on the first try, and I hurried to the front. Elisa was in the driver’s seat and I practically sat on Franky’s lap.
“Go, go, go!” I shouted again, but Elisa was already driving.
This is good, I reminded myself, trying to calm my nerves a bit. They’d gotten the trailer, hopefully without trouble, and we were on the way. It was just an hour. One hour. What could go wrong?
Nothing did for half an hour, right until we arrived in Long Island City.
Then, we saw the soldiers.
They wore dark clothes, as dark as the night. Had it not been for the headlights, we would have missed them completely. They were at the other side of the road, two in each corner, looking around and waiting. Almost as if they were waiting for us. As if somebody had tipped them off and they knew we were coming.
Panic set my chest on fire. I couldn’t bring myself to say a thing while Elisa turned the trailer around as fast as she could without being too obvious.
“They probably have the whole place surrounded,” Franky whispered. “Are they looking for us?”
“They’re on a killing spree, remember? They’re looking for witches like you to shoot,” Elisa spit, hitting the steering wheel with all her strength. My mind was working, trying to find a solution as I looked at the side mirror, at the soldiers and the car they’d stopped. They were chatting with the driver as if they were old friends. Just how many of them were around this place?
“There,” Franky said, pointing at an alley between two four-story buildings.
“Those fuckers are everywhere!” Elisa shouted as she turned the car on the other side of the road. There were four more soldiers, checking every car that passed them by twice. There was no way we could go through them without getting noticed.
“This was a mistake,” Franky whispered, breathing heavily like he was about to have a heart attack. “I don’t want to go back there, I don’t. I really don’t.”
“Nobody’s going back.” Elisa turned the headlights off after memorizing the narrow alley. It was empty save for some garbage the trailer easily rode over until we reached the metal fence. “Scarlet, what are you thinking?”
I was thinking the only thing that could be thought. “Remember what you said?” I asked her. “Your spell is going to shield us for only so long, if they don’t stop us first.” Which was going to happen. Absolutely no doubt about it. “If we stick together, we’ll make finding us a breeze.”
“So we separate,” Elisa whispered, her eyes widening with the realization.
I jumped out and ran to the back of the trailer. When I pulled the doors open, some of the witches inside screamed. I hoped in, almost falling on my face because there was no place to even stand there. Elisa and Franky came behind us. The scared faces looking up at me made me sick to my stomach. These people had been through so much, and now they weren’t going to even get a chance at freedom? Not a possibility.
“The ECU is all over this place, and they’re checking every car that passes them by. If they suspect us and we need to start a fight, Elisa won’t be able to maintain the shield she has on us. It’s why we need to separate into twos, and run as far and as fast as possible. That way, you’re going to be much harder to find.” My heart bled with every word I spoke. I knew how I sounded to them—a heartless bitch, but there really wasn’t any other choice. We took a chance, made a plan, and it didn’t work. We needed to improvise, and nothing else made sense.
“We’re going to die!” they shouted, and some began to cry.
“Nobody is going to die! Run and find a place to hide, somewhere far away from here. As far as possible, and really fast. As soon as you step out of the trailer, my spell will no longer shield you. Alone, it will be easier to keep under the radar because all of you know what to watch out for now,” Elisa said. “We’re going to get you back.”
“We will,” I reassured them. “We’re defeated right now, but we will get back together one way or the other, I promise you.”
“You’ll go two at a time. Keep your heads down and don’t stop for anything. Just run until you’re safe, and wait. Wait for us,” Elisa said, but she didn’t sound very hopeful.
“What if they catch us?” Maddy asked, putting another imaginary knife right through my stomach.
“Nobody is going to catch you, okay? I’m going to distract them. When I leave, wait for two minutes, and then go. No more than two at a time, okay? And stay as far away from each other as possible.”
“I don’t want to leave you guys!”
“This is stupid. We’re stronger together!”
“We’ll be fine. They’ll find us again. Come on!”
I tuned them all out and turned to Elisa because I couldn’t stand to see the tears on their faces, or the fear in their eyes. It was too much.
“You’re going to get yourself killed,” she whispered at me.
“Call Eddie. Tell him I’m in danger. If he wants the dragon for himself, he’s going to have to come for me. And find them, okay? Just…find them when this is over.”
“I’m coming with you, you stupid bitch! And when I die, it’ll be all your fault!” she shouted, jumping off the trailer after me.
“Stand back, Elisa. They need you more than I do.” I looked at the others in the trailer again. “Remember, two minutes. Start your count right now.”
I turned around and I ran toward the street.
The math was pretty simple. Twenty-seven people for one. When I made it to the main street, I let the imaginary
block I’d put on my magic loose before I had the chance to think and back down. This was the right thing to do, the only thing that was going to work. I ran across the street as fast as I could, then continued west. The farther I could take the soldiers from the trailer, the better chance the others had at escaping. My heart beat loudly in my ears. I took in deep breaths and focused on the people around me.
On the soldiers standing at an intersection—all six of them. I ran to them like they were my saviors, not my doom. I was impossible to miss in the midst of people walking slowly, so they noticed me much sooner than I’d have liked. Pulling out my sword, I slowed down my step a bit so they could see it. That should have been enough. Now, every solider in the area was going to come after me.
Calling for my magic, I raised my hands and blew wind at the three stepping forward, raising their weapons. I was still fifteen feet away, so they didn’t fall back far, and they regained their balance in a few seconds. The first gunshot pierced the air just as I’d started spinning my magic around my body. People began to scream, but they’d seen others like me already. If not them specifically, then others. Everybody already knew we existed, yet nobody wanted to admit it for some reason. I was way past trying to hide now.
The soldiers didn’t bother with their guns for long. Two of them charged me, the werewolves in their midst, and the other four were chanting fast, but their spells didn’t reach through my shield. A couple steps away from the angry wolves coming at me with their knives and fists, I jumped up in the air, spinning with my sword raised, aiming for their throats. I was way past trying not to kill people, too.
Something…strange happened. It could have been the adrenaline and my imagination, but I stayed up in the air for much longer than was possible. And my shield didn’t just go up with me. It stretched from the ground and around me, cocooning me in strong wind while I spun, almost in slow motion. The soldiers made it to me before I’d landed, which by my calculations, was wrong. But it was right in that I had enough time to adjust my arm and slam the blade onto the wolf on my left—right above his head. By the time my feet touched the ground again, the other wolf swung his arm toward the side of my neck, in his hand a knife with a very thin blade. I ducked and spun with my leg out, but he jumped out the way before I could kick his feet from under him. The mini tornado moving around my body wasn’t something he was used to, so I used it to my advantage to hit him in the chest as many times as I could. Too bad I’d have to put the tornado down to use my magic, and right now, I couldn’t afford that. Besides, there was no way to cause a better scene, get as many eyes on me as possible. To get all the city’s attention. My sword went through the wolf’s chest and he let go of his knife. Putting my foot on his stomach, I pushed him off, and he stepped back, but didn’t fall. Instead, with his arms raised, he growled and came for me again. As I spun to kick him off me, I thought I saw something going on behind me. Fighting. In a rush to finish off the wolf, I moved a split second too late and his fist connected with my jaw. His strength made my entire body vibrate, but while I came back up, I kicked his feet from under him and ran the blade of my sword across his neck before he hit the ground completely. In his place jumped four more soldiers. So they’d stopped trying to spell me, and were now joining the action.
There were no guns in their hands, so I took a (not very) calculated risk, dropped my shield, and pushed them back. I really needed to see what was going on behind me, and when I did look back, I almost passed out. Elisa was in the middle of three soldiers, three already on the ground, and she was fighting them with all she had.
“Fuck!” I shouted and ran back to her. The sidewalk was empty—the people watching the fight were on the other side of the road. No cars passed by, either, but I couldn’t check if more soldiers were coming because as soon as I reached Elisa, I had to turn my back to her and fight the soldiers coming for me. My magic spun around me, but the witch soldiers had given up on spells. They had knives and all kinds of sharp objects in their hands, and they didn’t give me a second to breathe. They charged me all at once and hit and stabbed me more times than I could count in less than a minute. All I had was a sword and my fists, because the dragon was useless against them. They weren’t demons, trying to suck my powers. I had no idea how to make the lightning sword come to life without being at the very edge.
My entire body hurt, but the pain was dulled by the adrenaline rushing through my veins. I could hear Elisa chanting as she jumped up and down, and that gave me some strength to continue to fight, even though I couldn’t see the light at the end of the tunnel. I could see no way out.
Even so, I still believed this had been worth it, and as soon as I landed a punch on one of the soldiers, I felt even better. Why? Because I’d punched him with my left hand, with the dragon wings around my knuckles, and he flew back like he’d been hit by a freaking werewolf. From then on, I focused on my fist more—anything that could cause damage.
By some miracle, when I hit one of them in the chest, he fell back and gave me enough time to jump. This was a neat trick I’d never really noticed before, and while I came down this time, I calculated the time correctly. But I wasn’t aiming to hurt them with my weapons. As I got closer to the ground, I crouched and hit it with my knees. It was a matter of a split second here: let go of my shield, and blow out as much magic as my body could produce.
It worked like a freaking spell. The witch soldiers fell on their backs, all four of them. I ran between two of them, and kicked the one on my left in the face. For the other, I had no time for a kick, so I had to push my sword right through his Adam’s apple. It was the only way to make sure he wouldn’t be back up again. I was going to do the same to the other before he got up, but then someone grabbed me from behind, and put a knife right between my shoulder blades. Pain paralyzed me. A scream left my lips. My knees buckled and I lost sight of my surroundings for a second.
The soldier behind me had time to walk in front of me, grab my face in his hands and slam my nose to his knee. If my nose got broken at this rate, no amount of healing spells was going to keep it from deforming. The pain worked in getting my focus back after the initial shock. My shield was already gone, but my magic waited right under my skin, at my fingertips, and all I had to do was release it with a scream. The scream was an attempt to get rid of some of the pain, but I wasn’t sure if it worked, because while the soldier in front of me flew back and hit the ground, another grabbed me by the hair and put his arm around my neck. Black dots filled my vision and I saw the soldiers ahead reach for their guns. With the last string of energy, I summoned my magic yet again to protect me from their bullets, but air was barely getting through my throat, and at that rate, I was going to lose consciousness before the minute was over.
I tried to elbow the guy holding me back but his abs were made of steel and he smelled of…of vampire. Dead but not-quite-dead meat. My elbows were going to be useless but my instincts had already taken over me, and all my hands could do was try to loosen the grip of steel he had around my neck. I almost wished the demons would come. I almost wished they’d suck at my magic, only to make the dragon come to life.
But before that happened, the vampire holding me back let go of me. I had no time to take in a deep breath because the other three soldiers were coming for me, one of them shooting, the other two kicking me as hard as they could on my sides. They were trying to get me to lower my shield for just a second so a single bullet could get through to me.
Heavy chanting began behind me, a familiar spell, but not quite. My back began to numb at a very unhealthy rate, but the soldiers stopped attacking me, too. The more air slipped down my throat, the more aware I was of what was happening. Elisa was chanting the dark magic she’d chanted in the hospital against the demons. I’d seen one of their hands turn black, and the same thing was happening to the soldiers in front of me. Their necks were filling with black veins quickly, and they didn’t seem like they could breathe at all. My back was still numb, but it didn’t spread
like I feared. It occurred to me just how strong that magic she threw was. I’d had my shield up all along and Elisa’s spell had still gotten through my tornado, just enough to numb me. It occurred to me that I could be the reason she lost her life—just like the three soldiers in front of me lost theirs at my hand—and the sword in it. Too many lives, a voice in my head said. Too many wasted lives.
When I turned around, I found Elisa on her knees, chanting Hedge magic again. Her hands shook as she held onto her shield, the four soldiers in front of her chanting furiously. I ran forward, letting go of mine. Hers was going to protect me just fine, and all I needed was a second. I stepped in front of her and blew out my magic. My body screamed in protest. I was in no condition to use this much magic and still stand, but I was a stubborn little thing. I refused to go down.
The soldiers fell back, but there was no time to try and finish them off. Grabbing Elisa by the shoulders, I pulled her up and ran across the street toward the crowd. It was our safest bet to hide among others. The ECU wouldn’t dare to hurt other paranormals because of us. I hoped so with all my heart.
But hoping didn’t get things done, it seemed. Someone grabbed Elisa and pulled her from my arms. By the time I turned, she’d punched the guy in the face, but he wasn’t a soldier. Suddenly, the noise in my ears cleared and I could hear the gunshots. I realized the guy in front of us wore a crisp black suit, and had an AK-47 in his hand.
It was Eddie’s man. He’d come through.
Crying now was probably not a smart idea, but dammit, I wanted to.
“There’s a car down the street. Get to it,” the man spit, wiping the blood off his nose, courtesy of Elisa’s fist, before he turned around and ran across the street. There, about ten ECU soldiers were shooting and chanting at a big, black van that had stopped in the middle of the street on its side. It was going to block the ECU to our view if we moved just a few more steps.
“Run!” Elisa shouted, but her left leg didn’t seem to be working. Putting my hand around her waist, I dragged her forward.
