by M. Barnette
Well, all of them but Bells. He'd politely declined.
She tramped out into the screen of the trees, just in case Chet was faking it. He'd spied on both her and Anya, just wanting to catch a glimpse of their ‘girl parts’ as he said.
* * * *
Icy fingers danced down his spine and he snapped awake, searching the area. There was no visible movement, but he knew they were out there. Anyone within sight of Bells might have seen his blue eyes shifting toward grey as he scanned the darkness
He rolled to his feet, the gunbelt that had been on the porch beside him back around his hips, fingers tying the cord around his thigh as he shoved open the door of the house.
"Wake up, we've got company coming."
The lingering miasma of emotion in the house threatened to choke him. The fear of the dark as it closed in on a pair of young girls. A father's helpless rage at God for taking his daughters, a mother's bitter tears, both of them knowing they were also dying, following their precious babies into the embrace of death.
He crushed the flow of emotions, letting the burning ice in his veins override it, using the danger of the moment to help him cope with the lingering ghosts.
"Wake up!” he repeated more urgently, feeling the chill searing through his nerves, galvanizing him as the power of his Warrior's Fire rose to bonfire heat.
Hawk came barreling down the stairs, his shotgun gripped in his hands, face a mask of calm.
Anya was on her feet quickly, her shoulder holster sliding onto her body. “Where's Nikki?"
Dal rolled up out of the recliner and pulled on his gunbelt.
Chet, rubbing sleep from his eyes, stood up. “What's going on?"
The silence was shattered by a roar of gunfire. Chet was knocked sprawling by the smaller man as the windows behind them erupted into shards of glass.
"I'll find her, deal with our guests!” Bells ordered as he bolted for the back door, bits of glass falling out of his hair and off his jacket as he ran. His cheek was sliced, he didn't feel it. He was in combat mode, nerves and muscles attuned to battle, unaware of minor injuries.
And any wound that didn't trigger what resided at the core of his soul was minor.
He didn't bother with the three steps down from the kitchen porch, hitting the ground at a flat out run, tatters of blue mist sliding from him as he accelerated. In his heightened state, with the Dragon straining at the bonds of its chains, he caught the faint sound of her running through the woods toward the house. He saw her as she reached the edge of the forest and Bells skidded to a stop, both arms around her as he slid, pulling her down to the ground back into the trees.
"We're under attack. I want you to stay right here and don't make any noise,” he whispered.
"What about the others!"
"I'm going back to help them. But I want you to stay right here. I mean it!"
* * * *
Nikki glared at him. He had a lot of gall telling her what to do when it was her family in danger. “I'm perfectly capable of defending myself,” she hissed.
It was as if she hadn't spoken. He pushed her down flat in the leaves.. “Stay here!” he ordered, pressing her shoulder to emphasize his point.
He was gone in a flash, staying low, running and keeping to the cover of the trees, heading back toward the house. And he was moving faster than either Dal or even Hawk could manage, and without any trace of the Immortal form they believed him to have.
"Men,” she muttered angrily and started crawling toward the farmhouse. Her friends were in trouble and they'd need her help.
Screams of pain ripped through the darkness from somewhere at the front of the building. She didn't know the voice, but the following roar of rage she knew.
Dal. He'd unleashed the Tiger at the heart of his soul. Nikki hurried toward the house. If Dal was being the Tiger they were in serious trouble.
There was another burst of gunfire, followed by three sharp reports. A revolver, and she knew it was Bells and his antique handgun.
She left the tree cover at a run, heading for the back of the farmhouse, pressing herself tightly to the wall she peered inside.
The room was empty.
Jamming her pistol back into the holster at her side, she caught hold of the glassless window frame and hauled herself into the house, pausing to listen for any noise once she was inside. There were the sounds of a desperate scuffle somewhere beyond the closed door on the other side of the room and she hurried over to push it open.
Anya was fighting with one of the filthy beasts who'd attacked them. There was no sign of the men.
Typical, Nikki told herself silently as she hurried to her friend's assistance.
The man wasn't a Ranger—thank God—but he was a big, and he had Anya's wrists gripped tightly in his fists, keeping the small woman from stabbing him with the Bowie knife in her right hand. Snarling, Anya kneed him in the groin and his grip loosened enough for her to pull away.
Taking that as her cue, Nikki shot him at point-blank range.
"Come on, we need to help the guys!” Anya said, turning to run down the hall toward the front of the house, pausing only long enough to grab her pistol from the floor.
"No!” Nikki grabbed her arm, “We go out the back. Into the woods. You can't risk the baby!"
"Nikki, they killed Chet. We've got to get some payback for that!"
"You're sure he's dead? Where is he?"
"The living room."
Nikki didn't wait, she shoved past Anya and ran, coming to an abrupt stop when she saw Chet. His eyes were open, staring, glassy. She couldn't help him, he was already gone, killed by a five round burst of gunfire.
Nikki bit her lip against the tears that tried to form. Chet had been an idiot. But he'd been their lovable idiot. And this was no time to mourn him. Later she could cry. Not now.
Anya ran past her to look out one of the shattered windows. They could hear gunshots, but they were growing more distant. The men leading their attackers away, drawing fire so the girls could escape.
"Let's get out of here,” Nikki said to Anya.
There was a hammering exchange of gunfire, assault rifles, and the boom of shotguns, the sharper report of a revolver.
"Hawk and Bells can't be killed, right?” Anya asked.
"No."
"Dal?"
"He's tough and he's fast."
Anya nodded, looking close to tears. “He told me he loves me,” she said quietly, her tone sweetly bitter. “I don't want to leave them, Nikki. Let's just wait here."
Nikki gazed out into the darkness. Across the yard somewhere in the trees, the men were fighting a group that vastly outnumbered them if the exchanges of gunfire were any indication. Even from here she could see muzzle flashes in the darkness.
"Maybe if we get into the truck and make a run for it, we can pick up the guys,” she suggested.
Anya shook her head “That old truck won't outrun those Hummers they're driving."
Nikki frowned, then a wicked glitter entered her eyes. “Those are civilian Hummers. I think I can drive one of them. Doctor Keller had a Hummer and he taught me drive it the weekend we went to Daytona Beach."
"We'll need food, though,” Anya said. She turned to go back into the kitchen for one of the crates, the front door banging shut behind them both, Nikki hurrying in Anya's wake.
Nikki heard Anya's gasp of surprise as she entered the kitchen, and her hand dropped for the pistol at her side.
Rangers! Nikki's mind supplied as she saw the men.
The gunshot was almost as loud as Anya's scream.
* * * *
Bells was pinned down behind the cover of a large boulder. His right leg was bloody, a bullet in his thigh making the leg ache and twitch in spasms as his body reacted to the intrusion of an object in his flesh.
He didn't have the luxury of time to dig it out. The two other men were out there somewhere, probably in as bad, if not a worse situation than he was in at the moment.
If Nikki
had just stayed where he left her, she might escape the notice of the men searching for them. They'd carefully led the hunt away from the house, taking the vicious killers on a run into the nighted forest. The three of them could see.
The men were hampered by the need to move slowly and use vision enhancing gear.
There were five of them searching for where he'd gone to ground. Three had night vision goggles, which almost gave them a level playing field with the Immortal.
Almost.
Bells saw the beam of a flashlight in the dark. A feral smile curled his lips. He heard someone order one of the idiots without the night vision goggles to shut it off.
Too late.
He raised the .357 and popped off a casual shot into the dark.
There was the satisfying sound of a scream, followed by a thud and some rather creative cursing.
Now that they had something else to think about, he scrambled back from cover, got to his feet, and ran.
It was too dark beneath the trees for the men to see him.
But he could see them just fine.
Jumping, he caught the bottom branch of a tree and scrambled up, running out along the branch with the same ease a squirrel would have shown, making only a bit more noise than the rodent would have. At the limit of the area that would bear his weight he make the leap, taking him to the next tree. No human could have made such a jump, but the blond made it look easy as walking down a sidewalk. A second jump and he was in the tree directly above the group of men. He caught the limb with a scrape of sound, a jangle of bells, and cursed himself silently for the sloppy landing.
"What was that?” one of them asked, looking up, his night vision goggles giving him a clear image of what was above them.
There was a man in the tree.
It was the last thing he saw.
His trio of companions didn't even see that much.
Bells took off running, whipping his katana back into the scabbard so that the gleam of the blade couldn't give away his position.
A round robin of gunfire sent him veering over to his right, following the noise.
Piercing right to the center of his very soul, Bells heard a scream from back toward the house.
Anya, his mind identified, as he came to a skidding stop.
Dal and Hawk could take care of themselves. They had planned to be bait anyway. But there were two women he needed to save. And an inept twenty-year-old who needed his aid.
Bells turned around and ran, the fire of his Warrior's Heart finally igniting into a conflagration closer to the fires of Hell than anything natural.
* * * *
Nikki opened her mouth to scream, but a powerful body slammed into her, driving her into the wall. A paw gripped her wrist, immobilizing the hand holding her pistol and driving the breath out of her.
Anya did scream. Loud and clear as she kept kicking and trying to bite the man who'd tackled her, the auburn haired woman fighting like a wildcat for her freedom.
"You didn't get far, did you, slut?” the man in the black leather of an Imperial Ranger snarled into her face. He was huge, and Nikki recognized him, her heart sinking.
"Keane!"
"That's right, baby, did you miss my cock?” the man growled, his breath hot and stinking in her face.
"Not as much as you're going to miss your balls!” she snarled, driving her knee into his groin.
The man bellowed, letting Nikki go, staggering back. She took two steps toward Anya, intending to help her friend, but Keane's hand shot out, grabbing her arm.
"That you pay for, bitch!"
His eyes were burning red, the berserker rage of the Grizzly that lived at the center of his soul coming alive. A hand raised, Keane ready to show the woman the error of her ways.
The front door of the house shattered inward and Nikki saw Bells come up from a combat roll, the katana in his right hand, revolver in his left, a nimbus of pallid bluish light wreathing him.
"Someone wants to die!” There was a deep growl in the blond's voice, a menacing velvet reverberation to the tones. His eyes blazed, their color nearly black, flickers of preternatural fire coming to life and whirling around him.
Keane shoved Nikki aside, and she fell onto the coffee table with a punishing impact that drove her breath away.
Coughing, gasping for air, she struggled to her feet, looking for her pistol or a weapon she could use against Anya's assailant. The pair of them were rolling around on the floor, the woman giving a good accounting of herself, but the man was overpowering her by sheer weight and strength.
Grinning fiercely, madder than a wet bobcat, Nikki picked up part of the broken coffee table and smashed it across the back of the man's skull while the battle between Bells and Keane was joined.
* * * *
Bells saw what Nikki had just done and shouted, “Both of you get the hell out of here!"
The women bolted for the back door.
"Fuck you!” Keane snarled, going for the smaller man.
Bells dodged the man's open handed swipe, the hazy outline of a bear's rending claws as clearly visible as the huge phantom bear that was towering over him. He could see the nimbus of blue light that surrounded him, the Dragon coming close to the surface. It wasn't much, but it would offer him a small amount of protection from the Grizzly he faced. Much as he would have liked to set the Dragon free, even this much was risky.
Bells swept the edge of his sword for the bear-man's body, the large beast moving faster than anyone would have credited as being possible.
Roaring, Keane rushed him, taking Bells off his feet.
Bells's katana spun out of his hand as they hit the railing of the stairs and crashed though it, the blond trapped beneath the Ranger who was even bigger than Hawk and strong as the creature dwelling in the center of his soul.
A hand closed around his left wrist, the other man's fist going for his throat as they battled. Bells didn't even bother trying to keep the hand from his neck, his right hand going for the larger man's unprotected face. He slammed the base of his palm into the man's nose, snapping the bone.
Howling in rage, Keane let go of Bells’ neck to slam his fist into the blond's face.
Stars danced in Bells’ vision, the glimmerings of blue winking out, the Dragon retreating, sulking because he would not let it free. He could taste blood in his mouth.
It was time to pull out all the stops.
He twisted, legs kicking, a knee impacting the bigger man's stomach as he exerted strength far greater than would have been humanly possible for a man of his size. Muscle tore in his bullet pierced thigh, he didn't care. He'd heal.
A scream from outside added fuel to his anger, and he wrenched away from the Grizzly's grip, driving a knee into the Ranger's side, shattering bones. He tore his left hand free of the bear's paw and shot the man point blank.
He was running before the body hit the floor, scooping up his katana as he went, hitting the back door with such force it exploded off its hinges as matchstick sized bits.
Nikki was on the ground, her expression showing how dazed she was. Anya was battling an assailant three times her size.
The blond hit the man with every ounce of power at his disposal. There was a sharp crack as bone broke and the Ranger collapsed.
"Move!” he shouted at the women, his revolver dropping into the holster, the restraining loop sliding over the hammer. Grabbing Nikki off the ground, he pushed her toward the truck, then saw it had four flat tires. Swearing luridly he spun around, liquid ice burning down his spine as he stepped in front of Nikki. He snarled out another oath as a bullet nailed him, the armored jacket he was wearing stopping it from penetrating, spreading the impact across a broad area directly over his spine. It staggered him, but he reached for Anya, shoving her aside.
The second bullet missed her by scant inches as she fell sprawling in the dirt.
"RUN!” he barked at both women, shoving Nikki toward the tree cover before he hauled Anya bodily from the ground and pushed
her after the chestnut-haired woman.
* * * *
Nikki didn't argue, not with her ears still ringing from the punishing backhand she'd taken across the face. She could taste blood in her mouth, and her vision was replete with bright points of light like the afterimages of a camera's flash.
But even that couldn't hide what she'd seen as Bells pushed she and Anya toward the trees. His eyes glowed like blacklight, the irises and pupils swallowed by the maelstrom of power seething through him.
Inhuman. Unearthly. And heart-wrenchingly beautiful. Her breath caught in her throat.
Anya threw an arm around Nikki. “Come on! Run!"
They bolted for the trees as a few shots rang out, the bullets screaming past them.
Neither of them glanced back to see what made the man who'd been shooting at them scream. They both knew it was Bells exacting punishment on the Ranger.
"Jesus!” Anya gasped as they reached the tree cover, stumbling in the dark. The moon was going down and they were rapidly losing the faint trace of light that had existed.
Anya tripped and they both fell, Nikki coming up hard against a tree root as they tumbled down the slope. On hands and knees the pair scrambled farther from the house, finding a shallow hollow in the slope and pressing themselves as far in as they could get.
"How did they find us?” Anya gasped, her whisper harsh as she tried to draw breath.
"I don't know. Maybe they saw the tracks the truck left in the weeds,” Nikki replied, winded from her fall.
"I'm scared,” Anya said, huddling deeper into the hole.
"Me, too,” Nikki admitted. She turned around to peer over the rim of their hiding place, watching for any sign they'd been followed. They'd both lost their guns in the last fight, and she didn't even have a knife. Her hand scrabbled around in the dirt looking for a stone or a sturdy piece of branch, anything that might serve as a weapon.
"Do you still have your knife?"
"No. I dropped it somewhere,” Anya whispered tensely. She too started searching through the leaves for something to use as a weapon.