Scarred Protector(33)

             “Come on, I’ll take you back. We need to get out of here. If the others find Heath, they’ll bring him back so we can deal with him.”

“He attacked me, Suzie. I fear he’ll try to kill himself for what he did. You have to stop him.”

Suzie picked her up and plunged down the mountainside until they were at the entrance of the cave. When they got inside, Georgia ran over and hugged her niece. Genia, Calloue, and Namid were there, too, but Luke and Namid’s colleagues were still out searching.

“Let’s get you back to town. The others can sort Heath out,” Namid said, as they walked toward the cave entrance.

She didn’t want people to sort him out like he was some hooligan. This was Heath, who she knew to be a proud and wonderful man in the best way. Only he wasn’t human, and neither was the darkness within him. As they went to leave the cave, Charles entered with another man. Her skin crawled and the hair went up on the back of her neck as she looked at him. She assumed the other man was a Midworlder as well, though he looked more like a model than a fighter in his fancy suit. The hatred in eyes matched Charles’, and it was obvious that he was a cold-blooded fighter, when required of him. Another enemy they didn’t need right now.

Suzie moved forward to confront them.

“Charles. Can’t say we’re happy to see you again. I thought that was you I saw earlier, Sayell. Consorting with the lowlife now, are you? Oh, sorry. Ridge said that’s the only sort you’re friends with.”

Charles sneered, and Evie took Aunt Georgia’s hand in hers. She had seen Midworlders fight before, and it wasn’t a pleasant sight. It just ended up with everyone getting hurt.

“I’m not interested in another fight. We just want the girl. Heath has left, and from what I can gather from her mind, he tried to rape her. Even you have to admit they’re not exactly a perfectly bonded pair. Interesting. I couldn’t read her before. You fixed her up for us, didn’t you? It’s quite convenient because now we can take her to Pergor. I’m sure she will denounce him and come with us after his unbecoming behavior.”



             “Over my dead body would I go with either of you.” Evie shouted. The name Sayell rang a bell with her. Heath had said he was the one who had attacked Nicole. Evie didn’t like the way he looked at her. His smirk made her skin crawl as she shivered. Then, she noticed the little weasel of a man standing next to them. He was so far from being a Midworlder, she wondered what he was doing with them. He looked pale and sick and tugged on Charles’ shirt sleeve like an impatient child.

“Never mind her. With Heath gone, get the woman. She can fly, too. I saw her outside,” the man said, pointing to Suzie.



What was going on here? Didn’t he realize Charles and Sayell could fly as well?

“Are you prepared to give us what we want?” Charles said to the man.

The man shook his head and fidgeted, banging his fingers against his lips repeatedly and almost jumping from one foot to another.

“Then leave us to negotiate. You’ll get what you want in a minute.”

The little man backed away, mumbling to himself and rubbing his swollen abdomen with one of his hands.

Namid walked forward. “Seems your little friend is a bit unstable. You’re outnumbered, so I suggest you let us pass. Evie is not denouncing Heath, and unless she does, you can’t touch her. We’ll find her bonded partner soon enough.”

“Of course you may pass, but I should warn you our little friend wants him dead. He assures us he has a way to kill Heath. We’ll see who finds him first.” Charles stood aside and bowed to let them through.



             Genia strode up to him. “If your friend has the ability to kill a Midworlder, then it’s your duty to both sides to tell Homeworld. If this planet is not safe for us, we will have to find another,” Genia said.

“You deal with your own problems, and we can look after him,” Charles answered.

Evie didn’t want to leave without Heath but would have to trust the others to find him and bring him back. As they left the cave, she looked to the sky to see if she could see any sign of Heath. Of course, there was none, but she hated to think of him out there struggling with the darkness alone. The ring, which she had left inside, was all she had left of him at the moment. She turned back to the cave entrance to go retrieve her bag.

Before getting far she was grabbed from behind by the little man who had accompanied Charles. He had her around the waist and was holding a knife to her throat. She could feel the point digging in and the warmth of blood trickling down her neck.

“Help,” she managed to get the word out before he pushed the blade deeper. The others turned back but stopped.

“I’ll kill her, don’t think I won’t. I don’t care about her, but I need the blood of one of these winged ones. It’s your choice, Charles,” the little man yelled.

Then everything happened so fast. Namid dived forward and pushed her aside. Aunt Georgia was there and caught her before she hit the ground. Evie turned around and saw the man had slashed Namid across the chest. Suzie dived on the man and pinned him to the floor. There was no sign of Sayell or Charles. The bastards had fled when their little friend started to misbehave. Evie looked up, but it was too dark to see where they might have gone. They would not give up so easily and would still be watching. Her whole body ached, and she wanted Heath so much she thought her heart would physically break in two. She wondered if he felt the same or was still controlled by the hate of the darkness.



             “I think we should get back to Namid’s place so we can find out what the fuck is going on here,” Suzie said.

Evie agreed with Suzie. One reason being that she just wanted to be somewhere safe, and a cave on a mountainside just didn’t cut it. The other reason was that she was feeling like shit. They all bundled in the car. She cuddled up to Aunt Georgia and was glad the creepy guy, Arthur, was in the other car. Namid was quiet, but she hoped it wasn’t due to the blood loss. She tried to hold back the tears, but it didn’t work. She didn’t want anyone to die because of her. Everything was going wrong.

Back at the house, Aunt Georgia helped her inside. The others followed behind. Namid was helped by Zen and Luke, who placed him on the kitchen table, while Genia put a cushion under his head. The blood was still soaking into the front of his shirt. Last time, they had used the darkness inside her to remove whatever this was from Heath, but that wasn’t an option. She had never believed she would want the darkness back, but right now she did.

Arthur was tied to a chair, and if she had had the energy Evie would have beaten the information out of him. Her stomach heaved, and she made her way to the bathroom because she could no longer keep the contents of her stomach down. After she flushed the toilet, she sat on the floor with her back against the wall. Her chest hurt, and her body ached. In the back of her mind, she had a feeling about what was happening to her but wouldn’t say anything for now. If what she thought was true, there would be nothing they could do anyway. Sometimes, no matter what you wanted, the past comes back to haunt you.



             When she walked back in the other room, the men were applying new dressings to Namid’s chest. Genia and Calloue were working together to try to help him. Genia placed her hands on Namid’s chest and Calloue was chanting. The bleeding was slowing but not stopping completely. Genia peered across at Arthur. They needed him to tell them what was going on. Genia stood before him and closed her eyes. When she opened them again, Evie thought she saw pity for the little man in Genia’s expression.

“I cannot read your mind, Arthur, but I can see inside your body. You’re dying. I sense whatever was on the blade is within your body as well. It’s killing you.”

Arthur twitched and glanced away at the floor.

“I am a healer and could ease your pain, if you let me,” Genia said, as she placed her hand on his arm.

Arthur looked at her hand and then up into her eyes. He was crying. Evie thought he just looked frightened and small now. Maybe he could see his end was near.

“Awhen promised us immortal life. All we needed was the blood of a being from another world to mix with the crystals.”



“Whatever these crystals are, they’re poisoning your body, and your organs are failing. You also have cancer in your bowel, but I believe you already knew that. Is it the crystal on the knife?”

“I was unworthy of the great gift Awhen offered.”

Evie tried to remember whether she knew the name Awhen. It sounded Egyptian, but she couldn’t be sure. She didn’t need an Egyptian deity as an enemy, in addition to all the others.



“You have seen we’re not human. Maybe we can offer you another gift in return for you telling us about these crystals,” Genia asked.

There was a gleam in Arthur’s eyes, and Evie knew Genia had him. He was on his last leg, and he knew it.



             “There is a vial sewn into the lining of my jacket. It’s all we have left. At first, when we took it, I received the visions of Awhen. He told me to find a being from another world. Then my followers and I started to get sick and knew we were running out of time.”