by Jenn Vakey
People lined the edge of it. The main path let out here. Assuming the person who set off the bomb gave them directions, this would be where they came in.
“If they were standing there waiting, not soon enough,” he answered. “Stay with me, baby.”
I looked over to meet his eye. My big tough man was worried, and I couldn’t blame him. I was too. The bomb had shaken me more than I wanted to admit. Now our home was about to be attacked. We had no way of knowing what we were about to face.
“I’m always with you.”
“Incoming!” someone yelled from behind us. “Main path, moving fast. Hovercrafts.”
Footsteps pounded toward us from the direction the voice had come from. I didn’t look. Not until I saw a body move into the space beside me.
Prestyn.
“It looks like the hovercrafts are dropping them off and turning back,” he said, out of breath. “Their either going back for more or keeping them outside of the wards so we don’t get our hands on them.”
Oh, how I hoped it was the second option.
“How long?” Rhydian asked.
Prestyn blew out a breath. “Minutes. Around two dozen.”
I would never understand how a matter of minutes could both feel like an eternity, yet still fly by. We stood, braced and ready. Watching the entrance as a wave of thundering footfalls started to grow louder.
They were here.
A mass of black flowed out of the woods and rushed toward us. Half of our people surged ahead to meet them. Though I wanted to take everything I was feeling out on these people who were invading our home, I hung back. Watching their movements and looking for any surprises. We had no way of knowing if they had more bombs on them. They had to be kept away from the buildings. Not that any of our people needed to be told. The moment some of them started to break away from the main group, those who had waited alongside us were moving.
Rhydian stayed close as we ran ahead to meet the fight.
There were two men fighting Jaron. When we started to move in that direction, one of them took notice. His eyes moved from Rhydian to me. He smiled, and I understood why. We’d met him that morning. He was the younger of the two Sentry that had brought us the bags. The one I was certain had recognized me.
Leaving Jaron and the Sentry, he raised his baton and charged us. The poor man must not have had any idea what he was up against. I doubt he could see more than a prince and a woman. I almost felt bad for him. Almost.
Rhydian and I moved together flawlessly as we met his attack. The Sentry swung his arm down, aiming for Rhydian’s head. Hoping to take the bigger threat out first. Rhydian’s staff connected with it and I struck, my baston slamming into the side of his ribs.
Every time one of us blocked, the other attacked. Even when a second Sentry joined the fray. For every blow they did manage to land, we met them back with four.
Rhydian swung his staff low and knocked the legs out from under one of the men. His friend backed up several paces, almost at an awkward run. I thought for a moment he was retreating, not wanting to be taken down like the one Rhydian was moments away from knocking out.
Then I saw it.
The man reached for something on his belt and lifted up a gun. Before I could react. My mind felt like it was being torn open by a wailing scream.
The banshee gun.
All around us, people started to drop. I locked my legs as I fought against it. My body shook from the effort. My hands that were still fisted around my bastons did nothing to block the sound as I pressed them to my ears.
The Sentry behind him were rallying, though. It was like it only affected people in the direction it was pointed. They would come for us as soon as it stopped. I had to be ready.
Just when I felt my body start to fail under me, a mass of red hair flew toward the man with the gun. He held his baton up and swung it at Aarys as she neared him. The girl caught his wrist in mid motion, then took hold of his shirt and threw him. The sound tapered off as he flew at least ten feet, the gun hitting the ground with a loud crack.
Watching a grown man be thrown like he was nothing by a teenage girl distracted the awaiting Sentry just long enough for us to pull ourselves back together. It also made some of them a little more hesitant to engage us hand to hand. Especially when they watched the root of a tree push out of the ground and wrap around the man Aarys had thrown, pinning him in place.
Joury had a pretty awesome ability.
It was then that things started to change. Like they had received an unspoken command, a large group of the Sentry put their batons away and pulled out guns. A section of the ones who hadn’t switched turned and ran back toward the path.
Were they retreating? Whatever it was, this was planned. This wasn’t just a group of men sent in and told to do as they wished. And that worried me.
But the guns the others now held didn’t let the thought linger. They were too far away to attack. Not before they could get a shot off.
I watched almost in slow motion as one of the Sentry shifted his stance and aimed his gun at me. I didn’t know how to handle this. My bastons couldn't stop a bullet. Did I rush him and hope to take him down before he could fire more than once?
It wasn’t a decision I had to make. Rhydian was at my side in a moment, and the gun flew out of the man’s hand. As shots started to ring out, I saw a second do the same. Then a third. Our people with telekinesis doing what they could. From a cry of pain I heard, others weren’t so lucky.
The Sentry who had just lost his gun to Rhydian screamed a battle cry and ran toward me, his baton in hand again. I ducked under his attempted blow and nailed him in the back. It hardly seemed to faze him. It did give me time to see that Rhydian was no longer with me. He was halfway down the field fighting another Sentry. Around us I could see people down. Some of theirs, but more of ours.
I pushed down the emotions as I met the Sentry’s attack again. It was after the third hit I delivered that I realized why he was hardly reacting. The man was wearing something under his Sentry jumpsuit. For some reason, that pissed me off even more.
“You evil...” I struck his arm. “Murdering…” I struck his side. “Bastard!”
The last strike was to the back of his knee. Body armor or not, his leg buckled and he dropped down. I could have easily ended it there. One single blow to the head. But I was too angry. I wanted him to hurt.
I looked to our people again that were motionless on the ground. Syrus, a man who had been on my team in Eden, was the closest to me. I looked to his chest to find it still rising and falling. I thought he had maybe just been knocked out. That is until I saw the dart in his left shoulder.
He had been shot, but not by a bullet. He’d been taken down by a tranquilizer.
What the hell?
Not that I was at all upset by this. I just had to hope he wasn’t the only one. But why tranq our people instead of killing us? It didn’t make sense.
In my distraction, I missed the Sentry make it nearly to his feet. No more wasting time.
He growled at me and dove, planning on knocking me to the ground. I shifted at the last moment and put all of my energy into one final blow to the back of his head.
That was when I saw that bodies weren’t only down on the training field. Some of the Sentry had made it into the center of camp.
I didn’t wait. I ran toward the dorm just in time to see a Sentry grab a woman by her hair and pull her from behind the other side of the building. It was Nysa, the mother of a young Tainted girl who had come in about a month ago.
Nysa screamed and reached back, digging her nails into the man’s hand to try to break his hold. I ran faster. Before I could reach them, a blonde blur flew through the air and slammed into the man’s leg. Growling and digging his teeth in in his own attempt to save Nysa.
It worked. The man yelled, dropping his hold on her as he turned to see what had happened. Kip released his hold and growled. Just before he could go after him again, the man swung h
is leg forward and planted a boot in the side of his neck.
Kip yelped, and I saw red.
“Hey!” I yelled, storming toward him. “You don’t kick my dog!”
I shifted both bastons to my left hand as I moved. He twisted and pulled his arm up like he was going to hit me. I didn’t give him a chance. Knocking my bastons against his raised wrist, I grabbed the other and started to pull energy from him. I didn’t use my succubus abilities in a fight unless it was necessary. This man had just pissed me off.
I waited until he had dropped to his knees before letting go and cracking my bastons across his head. As he fell, I looked to Nysa. She was shaken but unharmed.
“Get somewhere safe,” I said, then turned and continued into the center of camp.
There were two men across camp fighting a single Sentry. He couldn’t have been the only one to make it this far. There were at least four of our people down, and those were just the ones out in the open. There had to be more.
I only made it about ten feet before the sound of a child screaming pulled my attention to the right. In the opposite direction of the schoolhouse. Far from where any child should be.
Breaking into a run, I followed the sound toward the meeting hall. I was just passing it when a black object off to the side caught my attention. My feet slid on the dirt as I turned, moving toward the man standing near the storage building. His back was to me, blocking me from what he was facing. That’s where the now soft whimpering sound was coming from.
“Hey,” I called out to get his attention. He was in for a world of pain if he thought he could do anything to one of our children.
When the man jerked around to face me, I skidded to a halt. He had his arm wrapped around a young girl, holding her in front of him like she was a shield. A pretty little blonde girl. She was new, but I had met her this morning. What was her name?
“Isley,” I said, addressing the child. Her wet eyes were on me, pleading. The man growled and jerked her back into him in an attempt to get my focus. To make sure I knew what was at stake if I tried anything.
“Let her go,” I told him. “She’s just a child.”
“Is she just a child?” he asked, his voice low and gravelly.
No. She wasn’t.
I shifted my bastons back into one hand slowly, as if I were surrendering. I held them up in front of me and dropped my gaze to Isley. Making sure she was watching. When I had her attention, I looked to my free hand in front of me and gently wiggled my fingers.
She looked frightened when I met her pretty green eyes again. She understood what I was asking. I knew she was a smart little thing. But that fear was still so strong.
“It’s okay,” I said. To him it looked like I was doing nothing more than trying to soothe a frightened child. But she knew it was me giving her permission. Telling her I would take care of her.
A tear rolled down her cheek as she moved her hands up to hold his arm. He didn’t react, his attention still on me. Not until flames erupted from her small fingers that were pressed to his sleeve.
The Sentry screamed and shoved Isley away. She stumbled and fell to the ground, clawing at it as she moved herself against the building.
In his attempt to put the flames out, he didn’t even see me coming before I swung my baston up and hit his chin with such force that it snapped his head back. He crumpled.
I swept my gaze from side to side to make sure no one else was coming, then dropped down in front of Isley. My eyes scanned her quickly. I couldn’t see any injuries.
“Good girl,” I said, cupping her cheek to make her look at me. “You did such a good job, sweetheart. I’m so proud of you.”
She sniffled and nodded timidly. “He said I was the princess. That he was going to take me back to Eden. I’m not a princess.”
The air left my lungs on a whoosh, and I had to bite the inside of my cheek to keep from cursing in front of the scared child. I hadn’t noticed it before. Not until she mentioned it. The blonde hair and green eyes. They weren’t the same shade as Linley’s, but it wasn’t much lighter. They were even the same age.
No, this couldn’t be happening.
“I know you’re not,” I said as calmly as I could. “Let’s get you to the schoolhouse with the others. Why aren’t you there?”
Isley wiped her face with the back of her hand and let me pull her up. “I wanted to find my mommy and daddy. I was scared.”
I nodded. I couldn’t fault her for that. Being in a new place must have been frightening enough. Then this happened.
Making sure Isley knew not to leave my side, we walked cautiously back out. People could be seen running between buildings. The sounds in the air made it very clear this wasn’t over yet.
We made it to the dining hall before another Sentry emerged. Isley screamed, hiding behind me as he ran for us. He wasn’t coming for me. He was after her.
They were looking for Princess Myrah. Linley.
I didn’t bother fighting. I needed to get her out of here where she would be safe. Draining and dropping the man, I reached down and picked Isley up and started running toward the schoolhouse.
“Get the damn wards up!” I yelled to no one in particular. I wasn’t sure how many people of ours were down, but there were more than I would have liked to see. If the Sentry managed to get another wave in before the wards were in place, we might not survive this day.
I barged through the schoolhouse door, not really knowing where I was going. Isley pointed to the corner. They must have ran through everything with the parents earlier. Either that or they made it a point to ensure the children all knew where to go.
Sure enough, there was a large metal door in the floor of the closet in the corner. Placing Isley down beside me, I banged my fist against it.
“It’s Leeya,” I said as loudly as I dared. I didn’t want to risk drawing any of the Sentry in here. Not if the door would be open.
After a few clattering sounds, the large door pushed up and revealed a worried looking Naiya. Her eyes moved from me to Isley and she sighed, but that tension never left her. Something in that look made my stomach turn. There was just as much concern as there was a question.
“Linley’s here, isn’t she?” I asked.
She swallowed, and I already knew the answer. “Meral said she was with you when my shift started,” she said. “She said you were going to take her to see your new house.” She paused, tears clouding her eyes. “She isn’t with you?”
I grabbed Isley and handed her down, doing everything I could to suppress my panic. The Sentry were after Linley, and I had no idea where she was.
“I’ll find her,” I said. I jumped up and was already moving through the open door before the locks of the bomb shelter sounded.
Rhydian should know about this, but I didn’t have time to stop and find him. She said something about the new house. That left only one place she should be.
Hopefully.
My heart was pounding staccato as I ran as fast as I could across camp toward the part of the woods that would take me to the waterfall. I wanted to believe that she was safe if she was really out here. It was so far away from everything else.
But with every step, that seemed less and less likely.
Sounds from ahead pushed me to move faster. Voices. Laughter. It pulled me forward until I was bursting into the clearing. What I found made me want to hurt someone.
Linley was standing with her back to the river, her terrified eyes landing on me instantly. There were two Sentry in front of her. They didn’t notice my entrance, too distracted by the glowing orbs floating around them, but they were close to her. Too close.
Gripping my bastons, I ran for them. I was going to make them bleed for scaring my girl like this.
I was still several yards away when something hard came out of nowhere and slammed into me. Knocking me off my feet and sending me flying into a tree. The impact knocked one of my bastons from my hand and made my head spin. I shook it, clearing my thought
s. Seeing the Sentry coming just in time to raise my remaining baston and block the foot that was shooting toward me.
With my position on the ground with my back to a tree, I didn’t have room to maneuver. He was too close. I couldn’t get the momentum needed for my hits to do anything. All I could manage was blocking each time he tried to kick me. They were coming so quickly that it wasn’t giving me time to attempt to shift and get away from the tree so I could get to my feet.
Linley screamed.
It was all I needed. I didn’t block the next kick, crying out when it connected with my ribs. It was all I could do to drop my arm down and lock his leg in place against my body so I could grab his ankle and drain him.
