by J L Lawrence
Guilt and sorrow were written on Xander’s face, and Kate knew beyond a doubt that he’d die to protect her and Angie. They’d become a real team, like her old one, despite every obstacle and improbability.
She pushed her fear aside and focused on the fight to come. If she and Angie stayed back to back, they might have a good shot at staying alive. At least until Gregory could get free.
She’d also have to keep Xander from doing anything stupid. Like getting distracted and getting himself killed to save her. She hadn’t known him long, but she considered him a partner like Angie, maybe more. He’d become essential in her life, and she couldn’t fulfill her destiny without his help.
The next few minutes were excruciating, as each second ticked off the clock.
The sky continued to get darker, and the rain drops became the size of dimes stinging their skin. The time for fighting was fast approaching.
She began to sense the demon energy being pushed toward the shield. The sword in her hand became heavier, so she tightened her grip. The rain had made everything slippery. Her boots sunk into the mud every time she held her feet still for even a few seconds. This would definitely limit their movement.
She could hear every second tick off her watch. Tick tock. Tick tock. It was taunting her.
Everything she’d learned the past two days started to replay inside her mind. She prayed it was enough to keep her and Angie alive. Angie linked in to her mind, and they began working out several strategies to buy time and survive.
“Do you think Xavier will help us if it gets bad?” Angie was scared, truly scared, for the first time in her life.
“I’m not sure. His emotions were completely out of whack for the short time he was here earlier. I can only imagine how hard it would be for him to fight in that condition. It depends on his strength and ability to control those emotions.” Kate tried to send calming energy to her, but she didn’t have much to spare.
Malevolent energy seeped in and grew in power. The shield began to crack. It was like watching an earthquake as the fissure formed and spread, weakening the entire invisible shield. The weight of the negative energy began to seep through the cracks. To a weaker person, it would have caused a sense of helplessness or despair.
Angie’s eyes held sorrow, like Xander’s had earlier. “I’m sorry, Angie, I didn’t understand what I was dragging you into. Stay at my back.”
“I’m not sorry; this is where we were both meant to be. This is our time for whatever fate has in store. You know I’m a big believer in fate.”
Kate was attuned to the energy as the shield began to fail. Things were definitely not stacking up in their favor.
Kate shared Angie’s nervousness, but also admired her amazing courage. They would face this together, and it would work out okay like always. She hoped. They linked hands briefly for solidarity, and the simplicity of needing the contact, and shared a smile of encouragement.
The shield was falling. It was time. Xander’s mind was going crazy. Kate tried to connect with him, but he was all over the place. He was trying over and over to reach Gregory.
* * *
Xander tried to stay calm. They were going to be surrounded, no doubt. He could feel Kate reaching out to him and did his best to calm her. “Xavier, what the hell is going on?”
“Zane says Braxus is giving up his energy to break the shield and bring in the stormy weather. It is probably a gift for his faithful servant Fury. We’ve never seen anything like it. In all of history, the demon leader has never been willing to use an ounce of power before the Rising. Fury did one hell of a sales job. This mother is either one cocky son of a bitch and using some new strategies to exploit our weaknesses or he has some inside information to make himself certain this plan will work.”
Xander knew Xavier was trying to control his own panic. “Get your ass down here and help. I can’t fight a bunch of demons and protect the girls by myself.” Xander was on the balls of his feet. “I’ll do what I can.” Xavier cut their connection, but didn’t come out of the shadows.
“Xavier!” Xander yelled angrily, but received no response. “Damn it! I swear if anything happens to them I will never speak to you again!”
* * *
Kate wasn’t sure what was worse: the final seconds counting down, Xander’s absolute fury at Xavier, or the fact she was probably going to get her best friend injured or worse.
The shield crackled. Energy levels waned, then popped. The demons burst through. They poured in from every direction.
She braced for the attack.
Here they come. I hope we survive.
Hysteria and mayhem ensued.
Kate stayed back to back with Angie. They danced in a circle, with the demons surrounding them. The creatures were hideous. Many had razor sharp teeth, black soulless eyes, and an odor of decay. They tripped every alarm in Kate’s body.
The energy inside her tried to battle back against the onslaught of negative energy. It took everything she had not to vomit from being in their proximity.
At first, they were trying each other as if it were a choreographed dance. The demons advanced, and they retreated. Then they would advance, and the demons would retreat. But neither side attacked.
Why? There was no logical explanation. They were waiting for a signal and toying with them in the meantime.
A massive, red-eyed demon cried out an advancement order. The creature stood well over seven feet tall and had a tattooed face.
The demons started closing in quickly, like they were running out of time. Maybe this Braxus wasn’t the all-powerful being they thought; maybe he was only using his energy for a limited length of time. Without him bringing in the dark, the demons would go up in smoke. If only she knew how to bring in the sun.
Approximately twenty demons surrounded them with swords and axes drawn. Thank goodness they don’t believe in guns. Or at least they didn’t for the moment. Who knew what to expect with demons?
Kate tried to hold her ground by kicking, punching, thrusting, and ducking. Her body was drenched, and it took double the effort to move. All her efforts only killed one. Crap!
Xander fought them off right and left, but he was covered up. They were trying hard to hold their formation, but the demons were trying just as hard to separate them, recognizing their weakness.
* * *
Xander killed as many as he could, but he couldn’t risk moving too far from Kate. Once the demons realized this, he became a sitting duck, with limited movement. But he wasn’t going down easy. He ducked the sword of one, blocked a kick from another, and felt pain radiate down his arm as another sword swiped his shoulder. Luckily, the wound wasn’t too deep. Without help soon, they weren’t going to make it out of this one. Abandoning his sword, Xander focused on energy blasts to back them away. Magical traces and his power supply didn’t concern him at the moment. Obviously, the demons knew their location.
Some of the demons aiming for the girls disappeared through a portal. Xavier was trying to help by setting up portals, and Zane was trying to get rid of the darkness. But that would take too long.
“Xavier, get your ass out here now or she’ll die!” Xander roared. He reclaimed his sword and cut off a demon’s head. He was ready to kill Xavier himself. He checked on Kate again and found her covered with demons.
* * *
The air was smoky and thick with sweat and blood. Metal hitting metal, flesh hitting flesh. It seemed hopeless. Kate couldn’t hang onto Angie, and they were separated. She plugged into Angie’s mind to keep tabs, but she had to stay alive, too.
She continued fighting, but was wearing down. The demons’ strength was much greater than hers. Two demons headed toward her. She blocked the sword of one, but the second one knocked her feet out from under her. Definitely not a good position. She kicked the first one back and tried to get up.
The second demon in front of her sneered and laughed. He swung his sword toward her neck. She rolled to the right and shoved her small sw
ord into his heart. The sneering demon sunk to his knees as she jumped to her feet.
Kate pulled it out of its chest and sliced the demon’s head off. She tried to take in her surroundings, but there was too much smoke and fog. She couldn’t see Xander anymore, and Angie was too far away.
She ran in Angie’s direction and finally saw her clearly. Another demon was coming for Angie from behind. Kate froze. He was too close. She screamed at Angie to watch out, but the sword was already on its way down.
Kate’s lungs shut down, and rage flowed through her entire body. She could feel her mental barriers come down, and power flowed. For a split second, the sword froze in midair.
The demon’s eyes widened in surprise. He quickly shook it off and took another swing. But, his sword met another sword. In the next instant, the demon’s head went flying through the air, and he erupted into a pile of ash.
Xavier stood at the rim of the shadows, his face covered with fury, the sword he’d used to decapitate the demon gripped loosely in his hand. Angie swiftly turned to face her next opponent. Kate breathed a momentary sigh of relief, then faced her next battle. With Xavier now fighting by their sides, the odds began to change.
Now the demons were dwindling, and spots of light appeared in the dark sky. Zane was moving back the darkness. Still, they were only holding steady without the full light. She wanted to get back to Angie, but too many demons still blocked her path.
Kate wished she could have stopped and watched the brothers fight side by side. What little she could see had been amazing. There were no missteps between them, only perfect synchronization. Their swords whistled, and their aim had been true. The fluidity in their motions was astonishing as they took down demon after demon. Unfortunately, there seemed to be a steady supply of demons coming at them.
She finally made it back to Angie. They were using a lot of what Gregory had taught them to take down demons. What seemed like hours had, in truth, only been a few minutes.
With a sudden bright flash of light, Gregory was there, and things finally started turning in favor of the good guys. Gregory, Xavier, and Xander formed a triangle around her and Angie, so they could have a break. Once Gregory arrived and Zane started pushing back more and more of the darkness, the demons started retreating.
Just when she thought they were winning, another flash of light brought another group of demons that appeared different. They were a military unit holding strict formations, and had none of the demon madness she’d witnessed in the others.
The man at the front, and their obvious leader, sneered in her direction. “Do you really think you can beat my army, little girl? As for you morons, it’s been too long since our last encounter.” His gaze was focused on Xander.
Oh shit!
Fury. It had to be. He was surprisingly good-looking, with shortly cropped, pitch black hair, and his eyes were a bright green. He had strong facial features and tanned skin. His appearance was deceiving. If Xander’s stories were true, there was no way to defeat him. If Zane didn’t remove the dark cover, they’d die.
Xander was wounded, but met his stare. “This is the Mystic. You cannot destroy her. For that matter, as I recall, you couldn’t destroy me. Why don’t you run back home to your master and give him a message for me?”
Fury’s laugh was almost musical. He was nothing like the others. “What would that be, my old friend?”
“Tell him to go screw himself, and he’s not laying a hand on the Mystic. She will kill him at the proper place and time, as all of those have before her. You may have him fooled but not me. You don’t care about her. You want revenge. Sorry to disappoint, but your days are numbered. The sun is on our side. Even if you tried to launch an attack, you’d all burn.”
Kate had to admit she was impressed with his bravado. She wasn’t feeling too sure herself. He looked like he could kill pretty quickly and efficiently.
Without responding, Fury smiled with a lazy grin. He never intended to fight this time. He knew they’d take the upper hand. He’d been feeling them out to see how powerful they were, and what it would take to defeat them. He’d sacrificed his own army to test them. She could feel his silent message to all of them that they would meet again soon.
The sun started breaking through the rest of the clouds.
“By the way, Xavier,” Fury said smugly. “Lily was gullible and quite the fool. Of course, if you had kept her happy at home, maybe she wouldn’t have run across my path. She was a lovely little piece of ass. I’ll be seeing you.”
Xavier’s face was a mask. He flung out his hand and connected with a portal. His pain swamped the fear inside her. A bright flash of light surrounded Fury and sucked him inside. His rage was evident. Xavier had taken the upper hand in this battle and, for the moment, they’d bought some time. Fury was flung to another place through the portal. If they were lucky, maybe one of the shadow warriors would kill him for them.
Once the rest of the demons saw Fury flying through the portal and felt the light start to fall upon their skin, they ran. But Xavier and Zane were ready for them. With Gregory and Xander herding them like cattle, Xavier opened a portal into which most of the demons disappeared. None of them would survive.
Kate caught a brief glimpse of one of the massive warriors on the other side of the portal. He gave her a respectful nod. The portal closed.
The fight was over.
“Who was that and what was that? And what the hell just happened?” Kate sat down on the ground as the sun warmed her soaked body.
“That was Zane, leader of the Shadow Warriors,” Xavier replied. Though he looked devastated, he hadn’t disappeared into the Shadows with them. “He has a great deal of respect for you and your destiny. He’s extremely powerful, but bound to the shadows. Xander can tell you more about them later.” He walked over to Angie to check her wounds. Gregory glared.
Kate couldn’t endure any more drama, and Xavier was full of guilt for arriving so late in the fight. She was impressed at the way he was holding it together for now.
The energy inside her pounded out of control again. Fury may not have won, but he’d weakened her. The moment Xavier and Angie came into contact, electricity roared again. They jumped apart in confusion. It hit hard, Kate dropped to her knees from the impact. She didn’t know what to make of it, but it was obviously upsetting Xavier.
His hand trembled as he reached down to heal Angie’s more severe wounds. He made sure everyone was all right and looked once more in Angie’s direction with a weird expression on his face. He stepped away from them and nodded. “I better go give Zane a hand.” He disappeared, and so did the extra electrical pulses.
Kate could feel Angie’s confusion, but the most important thing was that they’d lived to fight another day. Sure, they all had cuts, scrapes, and bruises. They would be sore the next several days, but they’d survived. It wasn’t perfect by any means.
But they’d established themselves as worthy opponents, so Braxus would probably not waste that much energy again. He had to prepare for the Rising, too. From now on, he’d leave it to his assassins to keep trying. Not a great thought, but better than fighting Braxus until she was ready, much further in the future. She had to become the Mystic first.
Xander held onto Kate so tight she could hardly breathe. He kissed every inch of her face and cradled her head in his hands. Kate sensed his absolute terror that he could’ve lost her before the Rising even began. She also noticed his anger at the Council for allowing all of this to happen, and he was still irritated at Xavier for taking too long to step in and help. They were all dealing with their emotions as the adrenaline began to fade.
She wanted to believe he cared for her. She didn’t want to be his responsibility. She needed more, but was that even possible with their current path? She’d begun to realize that it was worth the risk.
He continued to whisper words of encouragement. She gripped him tightly, trying to help dispel his fears and hers. She rested her cheek against his, the tremo
rs inside him calmed. Overcome with emotion and energy, she pulled him forcefully down to her mouth, to help him see she was safe now, and with him for however long they lived. Peace began to seep into her soul once again.
* * *
Gregory sat down quietly beside Angie and handed her a drink. He began to rub her shoulders, and for once she had no scathing remarks. She absently took a drink, still watching Kate, and wondered about her own fate and crazy reaction to Xavier. Her face scrunched up, and she spit the drink out. “Ugh, what the hell is this?” She wiped her mouth and glared at him.
Laughing, Gregory rubbed his face and shook his head. “Herbal tea. Please tell me you’ve had tea before?”
“I’m from the South; we drink sweet tea, not this healthy crap.”
“Drink it anyway. We use it a lot in the magical communities to help us heal faster, and we definitely have some rough days ahead.” He paused and looked over at Kate and Xander. A small smile played across his face, but his eyes looked sad. “They’re pretty great together aren’t they? Of course, they both have to admit it first.”
“Yeah, together they’ll be able to do anything. I truly believe that. She’ll win in the end.” Angie knew if there was any way for Kate to win and survive, she’d find it.
“You sound pretty sure.” Gregory looked at her questioningly.
Angie sighed and shrugged her shoulders. “Can’t explain it, but I know she’ll find the way. Not for herself, but for mankind and for Xander. It’s the way she’s built.”
Angie was finally connecting to Gregory. Above all, they loved their friends and would help them complete this journey. He always protected her. She couldn’t completely dismiss the electric connection to Xavier, but what did it matter? He’d never come out of the shadows completely, and Gregory was here.
