The Protectors (Hybrid Book 2)

by TJ Hines

  “Kinsey!” Will yelled at me before tossing me a knife or it could have been a machete for all I knew. I just knew that it was long and sharp. Tyler took that opportunity to stab Will right through the leg.

  “WILL!!!” I screamed. I had to get to him. The blade landed right outside of my reach. I struggled and struggled to get to it and hold off Abby. I was starting to lose strength. I was about five seconds from letting Abby eat me when I huge white wolf barreled into her. Caleb! Oh, thank you.

  I got back to my feet and came up behind Caleb and Abby, stroking Caleb as I went to make sure he knew who I was. He was so soft and warm. Abby was on the ground oozing black blood from her neck. I hated what had to be done but she was a monster now and not one of the good ones. She was a ravenous killing machine that would never stop. She had to be put down, but I didn't think I could do it. Caleb sensing I was having problems ending the life of my former friend transitioned back to his normal self and took the machete from me. He ended Abby’s life; however, I guess her real-life ended when she became that monster.

  I kissed him on the cheek and ran for Will. Will was still fighting but he was much slower, and Tyler was just taunting him at this point. I threw a fireball at Tyler and that time it connected. It gave Will enough time to get up and start on the offensive again. I was about ten feet from them when a man who looked a lot like Tyler walked in front of me.

  “Hello Kinsey,” the man said staring at me with cold, lifeless eyes.

  “Who are you? What do you want?” I asked.

  “I am Carrow, your uncle. And it’s not what I want. It's more about what I need. And that would be you,” he said smiling down at me.

  “Well, I’m a little busy at the moment so why don’t you go screw yourself.”

  I darted past him on my way to Will who was on the ground in front of Tyler. But he reached out to stop me. His hands were cold like ice and I shivered at his touch. While Alec was oddly captivating, Carrow was much more sinister. Alec would manipulate you into jumping off the cliff whereas Carrow would just push you. He was dressed all in black. If they liked to wear the colors that corresponded to the lore that meant that he was the third horseman of the Apocalypse and Alec was the first. Baelin must have been War, the second horsemen of the Apocalypse. At least I could put names to the people who wanted to kidnap me and use me for evil. Always good to know names. That way you have something to curse when you are sitting alone in a room awaiting doomsday.

  “Not so fast little girl. We haven’t finished our conversation.”

  “I’m fairly certain we have. I remember the conversation verbatim because it was like three seconds ago. I said go screw yourself. Which means the conversation is over where I come from.”

  “Such a filthy little mouth. What I wouldn’t give to teach you a lesson. Tyler! Finish her play toy,” he directed.

  “Tyler!” I yelled. “Stop. Leave him alone. It’s me you want not him.”

  “That’s true but I really don’t like him so there’s that,” he said right before stabbing him in the chest.

  “NO!!!” I screamed. I tried to break free from Carrow but couldn’t. I did the only thing I could think of at the moment to get free. I kneed him between the legs which made him howl in pain and let go of me. There was no way I was going to get away from him for long, but I had to try. Will needed me. On the way, I touched every corpse I could see that wasn’t decapitated, saying Resurgemus as I went. You can’t make a headless body rise. It’s not possible. I figured if I could put the undead in between me and Carrow I might have a chance to get Will out of danger and then I could focus on my uncle. I directed the undead to surround Carrow, which they immediately did.

  I finally made it to Tyler and threw another fireball at him. He deflected it easily.

  “Go, Kinsey! Get away from him,” Will said barely more than a whisper.

  “I’m not leaving you,” I said as I started pulling Will away from Tyler.

  I was about to use my magic to levitate Will and get him away from Tyler quicker, but I thought better of it because I might need the last of my strength to fight Tyler off.

  “Help!!” I screamed hoping that someone would be able to come to our rescue.

  “Kinsey, you should really join us now voluntarily. It will be better for you that way.”

  “No thanks. I’m good.”

  Tyler was walking leisurely towards us like he had all the time in the world.

  Will was losing so much blood. He wasn’t going to make it unless I got him away from Tyler.

  “I hate you! If he dies, I will end you.” I took my belt off and made a tourniquet out of it to staunch some of the blood loss coming from his leg. I had to get Jack or Emily. They could fix him. I knew they could. I had to end this with Tyler so that I could get Will to the pond where my family was fighting.

  “You can’t really blame me, can you? You are the reason he is dying. If you would have come with us nothing would have happened to your precious Will.”

  “Shut up!” I threw another fireball which I knew he would easily deflect again. And he did. I didn’t know what to do. I couldn’t leave Will but if I didn’t, they would kill him. If I went with them, they would use me to start the Apocalypse that would end the world as we knew it and billions of innocent people would die. What was I supposed to do?

  I cried over Will whose breath was getting shallower by the minute. I felt so helpless and small. My mothers' voice entered my mind from our conversation earlier. You can do this! She believed in me. My family and friends were doing all this for me. To keep me safe. Caleb, Emily, Jack, all the Protectors, and Will were putting their lives on the line so that Hell didn’t get their hands on me. I wouldn’t give up. I was stronger than Hell. I could fight them off, get Will help, and make them leave my home for good. I had too.

  My plan was simple. Beat the bad guys and save the good guys. Easy peasy. I called forth my necromancer powers and brought the two groups that I had risen to me. This was going to have to work because it was the only idea I had. Getting help for Will was priority one. So, I had to keep Tyler and Uncle Carrow busy. I would command the walking dead horde to attack Tyler and Carrow while I used the last of my magic to levitate Will down to where Emily was on the other side of the pond. I had to stay strong and keep my attention on Will or I risked him falling into the pond. And in his condition, he was not going to be able to swim at least not well enough to make it to the side.

  You can do this, Kinsey. I sent the dead horde straight into Tyler and Carrow. I knew that they would be defeated easy, but I just needed enough time to get Will to safety. I focused all my magical energy on moving Will safely to Emily. Volito. I really should have practiced this spell more before trying to levitate a passed-out man. Over. A. Flipping. Pond.

  I could hear my walking dead army being cut down by Tyler and my uncle. But I refused to focus on anything but Will at the moment. I had him a little over halfway over the pond when Tyler grabbed my shoulder. He tried to turn me around to face him, but I fought him off enough to get Will a little further. You can do this Kinsey just a little bit more.

  Tyler, realizing what I was doing, pushed me to the ground breaking my concentration.

  “Will!!!”

  Ensley must have heard my screams for help inside where he was guarding Addison and became my one-man rescue team. He was close enough to Will to swim out in the pond and pull Will back to shore. Will was safe.

  “Whatever. He’s still a dead man. And you are mine now,” he said as he licked the length of my neck. That’s nasty. I can’t believe I ever let him touch me much less kiss me.

  “Still more of a man than you.”

  Tyler lifted me up and turned me around, so I was facing him. “We will be together forever now.”

  “I would rather die.”

  “I’m sure that can be arranged once you help start the Apocalypse, of course.”

  Carrow came up behind Tyler no worse for wear, unfortunately. I was hopi
ng my walking dead army would do a little more damage. “Son bring her. It’s almost dawn. We need to go,” he said as he walked through a shimmery opening that must have been a veil between the realms.

  “Son? You mean you are his son?” I asked Tyler.

  “Yes, and I’m as powerful as you.”

  “That’s disgusting. I made out with my cousin,” I said gagging.

  “Oh, shut up! You loved every minute of it.”

  “I wouldn’t have if I had known you were my uncle’s son. You freak!”

  Tyler had had enough of my smart mouth I suppose because he punched me in it. Then he jumped on top of me hitting me more as he screamed that I would love him and be with him always. He didn’t know it, but this was my plan. I planned to sacrifice myself to stop the Apocalypse from happening and to keep my family safe. I knew I only had to get Tyler in a rage, and he would kill me. He had an awful temper that he couldn’t control.

  He kept hitting me until everything went black.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  I wasn’t sure if I was alive or dead. I could see Caleb holding my body and rocking me ever so gently while he cried. I didn’t want to die but it was the only solution I knew to keep my family safe and the Apocalypse from starting. I kept watching the events unfold around me. Jack made it to me next. Drew, Natalie, and the rest of the protectors realized what was going on and ran for me. Last but not least Addison ran out of my house screaming my name over and over. That’s when she appeared to me again.

  “Honey,” my mom said. “You can’t give up. I know you think this is the easiest solution because I’ve been where you are right now. But it’s not the solution. Your uncles will continue to come after your family and friends. They will seek revenge and you won’t be there to help stop them. You have to be strong and stay and fight with your family.”

  “But I’m so tired. And I can’t handle this new world.”

  “Yes, you can Kinsey Elizabeth Adams. You can do this. Lean on your family when you need to and remember don’t trust the Council.” And just like she appeared, Dominique vanished.

  I couldn’t leave my family unprotected especially if my mom was right and my uncles would be coming for revenge. I had to get back in my body. The problem was I wasn’t sure exactly how to do that. I tried to think of any kind of information I might have read about something like this and the only thing I could come up with was all of the movies where the actor had like an out of body experience. The way they came back was by joining their ghost-like body with their physical body. So, I tried that.

  I gasped for air as soon as my body came back together. Coughing from the lack of oxygen flowing through my body.

  “Kinsey!” I heard Caleb scream my name.

  “Stop being so loud. I have a headache.” Everything from the way Caleb was holding me, to the smells all around me was overstimulating to my senses causing my head to hurt. Of course, my head could also be hurting from the pounding that Tyler put on me.

  “Tyler?”

  “Dead, Kinz. And so were you.”

  “I guess it didn’t take. I couldn’t leave you guys.”

  Everyone around me was crying, hopefully, tears of joy but you never know. After my mom’s final warning about the Council, I had to stop and wonder if all the Protectors were on my side or on the Councils. I would have to talk to Jack about that later.

  “Will?”

  “Ensley and Emily are working on him now. It doesn’t look good. But I know nothing about this world so I might be wrong,” Addison said coming to sit by Caleb.

  Jack took charge then and started ordering people around. “Natalie, help me with my arm and then go look after Ella and Peyton. Drew, Donte, Rhys, and Sam find a spot to burn the bodies, except for ours of course. We will have to take them to the Mortis Causa for a proper Protector burial. Addison will you help me with Marshall once Natalie fixes my arm. And Caleb, stay with Kinsey. I will be back to fix her wounds soon.”

  Everyone took off to do their assigned jobs. Jack was such a leader. I could never be a leader like that. He could prioritize, plan, and strategize without breaking a sweat. I had problems figuring out what clothes I wanted to wear each day.

  “That was not cool Kinsey. I thought I had lost you. My whole world came to a grinding halt. Never do that to me again,’ Caleb said before gently hugging me again. “Seriously I don't know if I want to kiss you or shove you off a bridge.”

  “Can I pick?”

  Caleb leaned down and gently pressed his lips against mine because he was afraid he would hurt me, but I didn’t care about that I was so happy that he was okay and that I was okay that I needed to feel him. I needed to be kissed. With passion and longing. And most importantly love. I needed him to know that he was my world and that I loved him more than words. There was no way I could stay Switzerland after the night I had. I knew it was Caleb since Thanksgiving, I just didn’t want to hurt Will because I loved him too just not in the same way anymore.

  Caleb was a little taken aback by my urgency, but it didn’t take him long to figure out what I needed. He knew me so well. He was my crazy and I was his stable. He was my rock and would always be.

  The pain started to set in eventually, so Caleb called Jack back to heal me. My body felt like it had been run over repeatedly. I am sure my face looked like a mess. I didn’t even want to think about it. Jack and Addison got to me within a few minutes.

  They had been treating Marshall. It was going to be slow going with him because he got bit by a vamp and they had to get the poison out of his system before it killed him. It was very complicated from what Jack said but he had done it once before so he had high hopes that it would be successful a second time.

  While he was healing my injuries, he told me about Peyton, one of the newer protectors, and Ella. Peyton had been flung in the air by a demon and he hit Ella who was helping Drew take down a hell hound. Both of them crashed together causing Ella to hit her head on a rock when she fell and Peyton to break his leg.

  “Addison, can you go get me some gauze from the clinic please?” Jack asked.

  “Sure.”

  He waited for her to walk back in the house before saying “We need to talk about Addison.”

  “What about her? Did she get hurt again?”

  “No, physically she is fine. And I am trying to keep her as busy as possible right now. However, I am worried about all this trauma around her. I’m afraid it’s going to set her healing back. I know someone who can fix it for her by erasing all her memories of us. We can send her back to school and she would be safe.”

  “No, you can’t. That’s cruel.”

  “Is it Kinsey? Isn’t it crueler to have her suffer from the trauma as it repeats in her head constantly? Plus, our world isn’t safe for humans.”

  “But how do we know my uncles won’t come for her. They know who she is. Alec saw her with me at the portal. I’m sure Tyler told his dad about her. We can’t leave her unprotected.”

  “Kinsey’s right it’s too dangerous for her to be unguarded,” Ensley said coming out of the house in time to figure out what we were talking about. He handed the gauze to Jack.

  “Let’s table this discussion for a later day,” Jack said before returning his attention back to my wounds. I had cuts and bruises all over every inch of my body from the fights with Abby and Tyler. I was actually shocked I was still awake with as much pain as I was in.

  “Deal,” I told him because I was too tired to fight with him.

  “We are going to need brimstone to finish healing these wounds, Kinsey.”

  “Whoa there bro. I am not going to Hell. I just fought almost to the death to keep from going there.”

  “No. We can get it elsewhere. Synthetic but it will have to do. The Council owns a lab that produces it.”

  “Will is going to need a lot and soon if he has any hope of recovery,” stated Ensley.

  “Damn, okay. I was hoping to keep this off the Council’s radar, but I guess that’s o
ut of the question now. I will have to send two of you to get it. We need to keep Kinsey coming into her dark powers a secret a little longer until I have a better plan.”

  “I’ll go,” Caleb said.

  “No, you have to stay close to Kinsey in case her uncles try to dreamwalk her subconscious. Ensley stays too because I need help with the wounded and he’s good for Addison.”

  “Drew is not going to want to leave Ella with her being injured,” Ensley said.

  “So, who does that leave that can go. Natalie, Donte, Rhys, and Sam.”

  “Donte and Natalie are trustworthy,” Caleb said before adjusting me in his arms.

  “Caleb go tell Donte to meet Natalie out front so they can go to the Council and get a brimstone order. Ensley go take over for Natalie and let her know. I am going to check on Marshall and then go help Emily with Will. Kinsey, you need to get some rest soon. So please go lie down.”

  “I will soon. I want to pay my respects to the fallen Protectors.”

  Caleb picked me up and carried me around the property so I could see the damage firsthand. It was horrible. The barn was burnt to ash. It was actually still smoldering in spots. My house had seen better days. The whole front of it was smashed in but thankfully the sprinkler system kicked in and all of the second floor and part of the main level was somewhat intact. Caleb said not to worry because Jack would have it fixed soon.

  I left Caleb shortly after that so that he could go help Drew, Rhys, and Sam with moving the bodies down to the barn area. I told him about the two protectors that died when I transitioned. He said I shouldn’t blame myself for that, but I did. I mean how could I not. If they wouldn’t have stayed to protect me, they would still be alive. He said they made their choice. I just shook my head.