In Pursuit of Light

by Sarah B Meadows

  “Brad, I need you to pull the bullets out,” I say desperately. He turns in his seat and takes in the amount of blood that’s seeping from her. He swallows deeply - not from the sight of blood, even though there’s just so much of it, but from fear, his fear for her life. He gently places his large left hand over her stomach and gets to work extracting the metal bullets from her. He retrieves the first one, dropping it to the floor, then pulls the remaining two out, dropping them too before running his eyes over me, looking concerned.

  He turns back to the steering wheel as I get to work healing her, intent on knitting all the tissue, muscles, stomach lining and skin back together. Once done, I pull her closer, checking for her pulse once again. Her heart beats strong and steady and it’s almost as though she’s just sleeping. As I stay focused on her, I feel her pulse falter, just once, and my own heart follows the same pattern. But just like that, the anomaly is gone and her heart returns to its even cadence. I turn her head to me and hold her close, wondering what the fuck we do now. Just then, Jack’s parting words begin to ring through my head on repeat. JUST WAIT FOR MATT.....

  Chapter Forty-Seven

  Matt

  Kia’s body lays covered in blood by the wide-open front door and moonlight pours in, illuminating her body. My legs can’t seem to move fast enough to get to her. Seb pulls her into his arms as I instinctively throw a shield up outside the house. Energy pushes against the barrier, testing its strength, but I hold strong.

  Seb tries to speak to Kia, but she curls herself tighter into a ball. More energy dives against my shield, harder, drawing my attention away from them. I turn my focus out the front door and my heart falters. They haven’t reached the stone drive, but they are swarming the grass that surrounds it. I see three Gjinns, a dozen black-eyed humanoid beings that I recognise from my visions with Kia, with relatively normal looking men bringing up the rear. And, in at the centre of it all, is one of the men that tortured Kia. He’s as tall as Rolland, though his build isn’t as broad around the shoulders and he doesn’t have the chiseled look that defines Rolland. He has a slight dip in his step as he prowls toward my shield, smiling venomously like he’s already got Kia within his grasp. I rake my eyes over him, taking in his short buzzed dark hair and clean-cut face that shows his rough skin in the glow of the moonlight. Dark eyes find mine, looking for weakness.

  I thrust more energy into my shield, spurred on by his taunting look. Too many months have I stood by and watched this piece of scum touch Kia, unable to do anything about it. The only way he’ll get to her now is over my dead body. I hear Seb behind me, but I keep my focus on the man trying to get to Kia. I can feel the Gjinn’s combined energy pushing at my shield, trying to force their way through, working with the black-eyed beings who are trying to suck power from it.

  Rolland’s voice shouts from behind, but I still don’t turn my attention away from what’s happening outside, keeping my focus purely on holding them off. More energy is sucked from my shield, yanking at my hand as the dark-haired man runs his fingers over it as though he’s tasting it through touch. Energy slams into me from my back, moving through my arms, down my legs, comforting me with reassurance. It flows through my hand, pulling hard and, using me as a conduit, it shoots out from me, adding to my shield.

  The shield changes from its translucent white, to the multicoloured, swirling brightness that Kia made when she transferred her energy through it before. The extra power in the shield shoves all the beings at least ten yards back from the stone drive. As I feel the power stir within me, it calms my racing heart and eases the tension from round my shoulders. I immediately recognise it as Kia’s, which confuses me, making me want to turn to see her, but I can’t as my body feels like it’s hardening to stone.

  “I sorry, Matt.” I’m finally hearing her, which causes my heart to race. Why is she sorry?

  “You have nothing to be sorry for, Kia. It’s us who have failed you,” I point out.

  “I lonely.” Her silvery tone slips through my mind, reminding me of softly lapping waves. I feel her emotions leak through to my heart as though she was standing inside me - remorse and sadness engulfs us.

  “So much darkness. I thought I would lose myself to it.” Her voice sounds foreign, curling in certain places as it trickles through my mind, raising the hairs on my neck. What is she talking about?

  “It never stops. Never. I needed-” Kia tries to continue, but it sounds like she’s struggling. More of her emotions course into my heart and it feels almost like guilt.

  “Needed comfort. Something hold onto.” Her words still don’t make sense.

  Is this why she came to the front door? To look for comfort?

  “Searched everywhere. But everything dark and shut off.”

  I frown, trying to figure out her words. “Kia, what are you talking about?” I ask tentatively.

  “Then I find you.” Her voice is so quiet, but I grab onto her words like a lifeline.

  Then a vision floats across my mind - it’s me, sleeping in my bed and I see what could be described as perhaps the ghostly shape of Kia stepping up to me. She sits beside me on the bed, running her small fingers through my hair.

  “Your mind beautiful, open, full- same need have in me.” Her voice lightens slightly, then more remorse falls over me like someone has poured a bucket of it over my head, trying to drown me.

  “Kia, it’s okay,” I try to ease gently.

  “Went in you and found comfort I look for.” Her voice becomes a little steadier, though her emotions are still heavy, weighing my heart down. The vision she’s showing me moves as the ghost-like shape of her seeps into my head, caressing it, then dissipates, along with the image.

  “Feeling you, everything darkness and pain, made breath work,” her voice breaks again, curling with her unusual accent. Another vision slides across my mind, showing one of the times I stood and watched her being burnt with a branding iron. Her scream pierces my ears and I feel tears begin to slide unbidden down my cheeks.

  “Kia, it’s me who did wrong, not you, I should’ve spoken to the guys sooner. Got you out of there sooner. It’s my fault you suffered for so long,” I elucidate, feeling more tears slide down my cheeks. “Let me make it up to you!” I appeal, hoping she’ll forgive me.

  “There much pain, Matt,” her voice begs me to listen to her. More tears pour out and I’m not sure if I’m breathing anymore.

  “Sebastian will heal you, but you need to stay with us and go back to your body,” I implore with every ounce of my soul.

  “He not keep heal me. Every count, more his energy flow in me, connect deeper, like you and Rolland. I hear thoughts, then he hear me, like Rolland,” her voice urges me to understand.

  “Kia, it doesn’t matter, all we want is for you to be safe, healed, and to get you home,” I tell her desperately.

  “I not remember home or any people there.” I feel her heartbreak as she confesses to me. “All I know you. Rolland, Sebastian, Jack, Brad. Even Gerry. He cares you all and sits heavy in his mind when he dreams.” Her words become slightly cracked as her emotions overwhelm her.

  “Kia, Rolland needs you. I need you. Sebastian would not think twice to heal you, even if it meant him being connected to you for the rest of his existence.” Keeping my tone firm, I try to rein in some of my own emotions, but with the treacherous tears flowing, I fool no one.

  But she doesn’t listen to my words as she continues pouring her heart out into mine. “I feel spreading, Matt. And now spreads through Rolland.” My heart falls into my stomach at her words.

  Like a puppet, she turns my head from the mob outside the front door to look inside the house. To my right, Rolland has Jack pinned up against the wall, strangling him. Rolland’s eyes are black with no light left within them. He looks demented, his sole thought being to kill Jack. Kia shows me another image of Rolland’s eyes turning black before Kia’s face looms within his view, settling his eyes back to their usual deep blue. Guilt and sadness are al
l Kia feels as she blames herself for Rolland’s behaviour.

  She turns my head back to the beings outside, drawing my focus back to the man who runs his hand over my shield again. He isn’t smiling anymore though. The house shakes beneath my feet, and a look of determination crosses over the man’s face.

  “If stay. They come. I not take Rolland from me. It is he part of me, like you. Feelings for you, Rolland and Sebastian too much. You all I know. If take you, my mind and heart not accept, if do to you, what they to me.” Kia’s words become desperate, pleading almost.

  “I DON’T CARE, KIA!” I shout back to her, trying to get her to see sense. “All I know is that I need you, Rolland needs you. You can’t leave us!”

  I can feel her intentions. She’s leaving to go somewhere that she can’t be followed.

  “KIA!!!” I can’t breathe. Her energy stays within me, keeping the shield up, but her presence within my mind disperses, leaving a silence in its wake. I feel empty, even though her energy still flows through my hand, keeping the shield up.

  The house shakes again under my feet and noise returns to my ears.

  “Matt,” Jack’s crackling voice comes from my right. I turn and find him carrying Rolland over his right shoulder. Red fingerprints mark his neck deeply from where Rolland strangled him, and his eyes are slightly red too, full of emotions that make my stomach turn.

  My hand begins to tremble from the onslaught of reality. Rolland losing it with Jack. Jack breaking his mask. Kia leaving. And the beings that will stop at nothing to get to her.

  Jack speaks clearly to me, knowing I’m desperately holding on to my last thread of sanity. “We need to get to Brad’s truck, Matt. Rolland is fine and so are you. Just take a deep breath and focus on each step, alright?” Jack requests tentatively.

  I’ve never heard him speak like that before, but I nod as more tears keep flowing like an unattended water faucet. I drag air into my lungs and focus on moving my feet. Jack passes me, stepping out of the front door, so I follow him. My shield changes colour as I feel more of Kia’s energy flow through it.

  Suddenly the colours of my shield stop swirling, deepening into a dense blue, and obscuring the beings from seeing us. Jack’s head lifts to watch the shield change as he continues down the stone steps, then turns right toward the back of the house. The house has been destroyed on either side from explosions, and I feel something hit the shield hard, but it doesn’t falter.

  Keeping my focus on Jack’s back, I take a steadying breath to calm my pounding heart. Moving my hand to pull the shield with us, it doesn’t budge, but stays in place at the front of the house, holding the beings back. As we round the last corner and I spot Brad’s truck waiting.

  Chapter Forty-Eight

  Brad

  Keeping an eye on the side mirror, my foot is twitching, ready to get the hell out of here. It’s one thing talking about fighting a Gjinn; it’s another seeing three of them outside your front door. Not to mention the hoard of creepy black-eyed beings that look similar to the one I was fighting at the building Rolland found Kia in.

  I glance to my right at the house, taking in the damage made by the grenades that managed to get passed Matt’s shield from above. Rolland’s room on the second floor has crumbled down within itself, the majority of being what fell on Kia and me. Moving my gaze to look at Seb in the rear-view mirror, I find he’s calmed slightly since healing Kia. For a minute there, I honestly wondered if he had completely cracked. Not that he’s an unemotional guy, but he holds his feelings close to his chest, much like Jack does, hiding them behind a mask. To see Seb breaking as he did was downright concerning. I watch him as he tucks Kia tight to his chest, before kissing her crown then burying his nose deep in her hair. His face has calmed, but not his eyes. He worries for Rolland and about Jack’s words - wait for Matt; he didn’t say wait for the rest of us.

  Movement catches my eyes in the side mirror, and I see two figures illuminated by the light, just visible from the moon behind the clouds. One looks a lot taller and broader at the shoulder than the other. My heart begins to pound slightly and my grip on the steering wheel tightens a fraction, but Matt hasn’t returned, so we can’t leave. Silver hair catches in the moonlight, easing my heart slightly as I make out Jack, who has Rolland slumped over his shoulder. Shit. What the fuck happened?

  As they draw nearer, Matt leaves Jack’s side and heads around to the passenger front seat. Jack continues to the driver’s side and opens the door behind me, setting Rolland’s body down inside, as Matt opens the passenger door and climbs in. After Rolland is settled, Jack pauses for a few moments before speaking to Seb in a voice that sounds strained, almost as though he’s got a sore throat. “Keep them together, and within sight of each other. I do not think she will wake. If she does, tell her to stay with him.” Jack sucks in a breath as though he’s struggling to breathe. He closes the door before opening mine and his face looks... wrong. His eyes are slightly red, not the cool crisp blue I know them to be, his neck is sporting a heavy red bruise that looks to be getting worse, and there’s a roughness around his features that just doesn’t look right on him.

  “Head to Rolland’s farm. Only stop for fuel. I will grab your bags and find you along the route.” His voice strains as he forces each word out with intention, purpose, and past the pain in his throat. I nod in acknowledgement, ready to get heck out of here. “Take the dirt road you had put in.” With those final scratchy words, he closes the door and vanishes.

  Putting the truck into four-wheel drive, I start across the back garden, heading to the dirt road that leads to the back roads. Matt’s uneven breathing beside me catches my attention, but I keep my focus on finding the dirt road. After a few minutes, my mind starts wondering if maybe those creepy beings might have blocked our back exit too. But then I find the bumpy dirt road and fortunately we don’t run into anyone. The road finally opens onto a single-track back road, allowing me to pick up some speed.

  My thoughts turn from Jack’s throat, to Rolland’s unconscious form in the back, and finally settle on Matt’s erratic breathing which he can’t seem to get under control, even though he’s trying his hardest. It’s worrisome. I flick my gaze to Seb in the back, but he’s settled so far back into the shadows that I can’t see his face.

  “Matt, there’s a bottle of water in the glove box, try and have a drink for me, Brother,” I encourage, keeping my eyes on the road. He doesn’t move for a few moments but eventually leans forward to find the bottle. His hands are shaking badly, though it’s uncertain whether it’s from shock or the amount of energy he used to hold the shield in place around the house.

  Wishing I had something to calm his nerves, I try talking to him in the tone I’ve used with Gerry in the past. “Kia is in the back in Seb’s arms, not in theirs. The bullets are out, and he has already healed the wounds, she just needs rest.” I glance over at him as he screws the lid back on the bottle. “Rolland’s fine. He just needs to wake up. Nothing has changed.” I push as much energy into my voice as possible, trying to ease some of his shaking.

  “Rolland tried to kill Jack.” Matt’s whisper is barely audible as it rushes out of his trembling body. “He filled up with rage like Kia does and strangled him.” Matt tries to pull a breath in to calm his body, but it refuses to listen to him. “She thinks it’s her fault,” he grits out, still leaning forward in his chair. What? When did he speak to her? Rolland tried to strangle Jack? Rolland enjoys a good fight, but I’d never imagine him throttling someone. I scrunch my face up in response to Matt’s words.

  But he’s not done sharing. “She doesn’t remember anything or anyone from her home. All she knows is us.” He tries to even his voice out as he talks, but his breath pulls in at the end. “Every time Seb heals her, he’s connecting to her more deeply, strengthening and growing it, like the connection she has with Rolland.” He takes another breath in. “And me.” He rests his head into his hands, leaning over his knees.

  Glancing up to Seb in
the mirror, I still can’t make out his face where it remains hidden in the shadows. I reach over to Matt and place a hand on his back, hoping to give him a bit of reassurance. Luckily, it seems to help as I hear his breathing finally calm and feel some of the tension ease in his back. After a few miles, Matt finally sits back in his seat, turning to face the window.

  I decide to mind-speak so as not to disturb Matt. “How’s Rolland?” I ask.

  “Just passed out. He had a bad bash to the back of his head, but I’ve already healed it. He may have a bit of a headache when he wakes, but that’s about it,” he comments with an even tone.

  “And Kia?” Silence follows for a long time.

  “Her heart is steady but it’s as though she’s in a deep sleep. Every few minutes it flutters slightly, like hummingbird wings, then evens back out.” Seb’s smoky voice remains even, though it sounds worn out and tired.

  “Try and get some sleep, Seb. It may be your only chance.” With those last words, I turn my full attention back to the road. Worry for Rolland and Kia settles in as my thoughts turn to our home which has been demolished, and I wonder about what actually happened back there between Jack and Rolland. Concern for my Brothers, and Kia, weighs heavily on my shoulders as I begin to question how long we can keep those that hunt her off of our backs.

  With Rolland and Kia both unconscious, Seb full of emotions that are seldom seen on him, Matt having a breakdown, Jack looking like shit, and Gerry still scouting with the boys in London and completely unaware of what’s happened... what a cluster fuck we all find ourselves in.

  As I continue on down the road, I can’t help but wonder how Gerry’s going to react when the news of what went down hits him. Then I begin to wonder... how much more can we all really take?