by Olivia March
Gwen’s bubble of contentment, if it could be called that, didn’t last long this time. It felt as if she’d just closed her eyes before being startled awake by that noise. Every human on Earth was intimately acquainted with the sound now, a sound like the hissing of a thousand snakes. A sign of approaching Scourge and judging by the volume, they were way too close. That the sound broadcast their presence didn’t seem to bother the Scourge. They knew humans were no match against their greater physical strength and they delighted in the terror the cacophony caused their victims.
And it was definitely terror that had Gwen in its grip now. Terror for Evelyn and for herself but mostly for her child. The Scourge had no use for babies or really young children. The fractured, gore-filled images of dead and dismembered children would haunt humanity forever. Gwen lived in terror every day of not being able to save her daughter from that fate.
She couldn’t tell how close they were but judging from the volume of the hissing, Scourge were already in the building with them. Though it was no doubt pointless, she had to attempt an escape. Quickly gathering all their things, Gwen got Evelyn up and strapped to her chest and shouldered their belongings. Her sweet girl slept on, lulled by her false belief Mommy would always be able to protect her and keep her safe. Looking at Evelyn’s beautiful little face, Gwen felt the crushing weight of her failure pressing down on her chest. The enemy was about to knock down the door and all she had to protect her daughter was the switchblade in her pocket, and her own body. Gwen would sacrifice her life in a second if that would save her daughter but life wasn’t that fair now, if it had ever been.
Their only chance was the window. The desk still blocked the door but that wouldn’t stall the Scourge for more than a moment or two. The deafening hissing paralyzed Gwen for a few precious moments. That cursed sound came from right outside the door. Stifling a whimper, she dashed to the window and frantically pushed, trying to shove it open, but it wouldn’t budge. They were stuck, the enemy at the door and their only escape route no escape at all.
Gwen slid down the wall and clutched Evelyn tightly. Her poor baby, with only a few short months of life to her name, would die with her tonight. How cruel it was for the night to have started off so well, only to end in agony and death. All she could hope for now was that these Scourge wouldn’t want to linger for a prolonged torture and would finish them quickly. The alternative was too horrible to contemplate.
Smash. Thunk. Smash. She didn’t look up but heard the assault on the door begin. They must have sensed this room was occupied. Gwen could feel their eagerness for blood with every slash and every cut into the door. Evelyn began to fidget in her arms but Gwen held her tightly. On some level Evelyn probably sensed the threat coming. If she was a brave woman, Gwen would take Evelyn’s life herself before those monsters had a chance. But Gwen knew she didn’t have the courage to end her own sweet baby’s life.
Thunk, smash…and this time she heard a crash as well. Something powered through the door and hit the desk inside. This was it then. Gwen started praying at that moment. Not for mercy—that would take a miracle. She prayed only for a swift death, for the both of them. And that when they died, they’d see each other again for whatever came next.
Chapter Two
Helion stood at the head of his men, satisfaction running through him. A battle was just what he needed to shake off the annoyance and disgust he’d felt when he’d met the “mayor” of this town. The pale, flabby male had attempted to treat him like a subordinate. Him! Helion snorted derisively. He was a Keeper Commander, a prince of his people, but above all he was a warrior. Seeing that tiny little man hiding away under the protection of dozens of guards while his people died in droves elicited nothing but scorn from Helion. Where Helion came from, leaders actually led and they protected their people with ferocity. Adding to the sin of his cowardice, the mayor also had the nerve to act as if Helion and his men were his to command, ordering them to kill the Scourge then leave the planet.
“Don’t let the puny human throw you off tonight, Commander,” Lord Elanon said in his usual languid tone. “He’s a weak male and he knows it. All his commands were bluster from prey that know a predator is staring it down.”
Helion gave Elanon a sideways glance. He was a cousin of sorts, however many times removed. But whereas Helion was a Commander, Elanon was in the diplomatic corp. And he’d narrowly managed to keep Helion from running his sword through that worm of a mayor. But that was Elanon’s job, to liaise with whatever government representatives could still be found and clear the way with diplomacy for Keeper engagements.
Some planets were more accepting of Keeper aid than others, of course. This backwater planet called Earth viewed the Keepers as being nearly as bad as the Scourge, unwelcome intruders who were a danger to their race. Helion shook his head at the ignorance. The Keepers didn’t attack the little humans, not unless they were forced to defend themselves. On the contrary, they’d actually saved countless humans from dying at the end of a Scourge blade and in return got nothing save hostility, suspicion and a grudging acceptance of their presence from the planet’s various governments. He snorted.
“I’m not concerned about that scum, cousin. My men and I will put fear in the shriveled hearts of the Scourge this night. Their blood will water the ground and dull our armor before the night is out. But it will be done my way. No cowardly human male gives orders to me and mine. Were it up to me, my blade would already be wet with the mayor’s blood to start the battle.”
“That’s why you’re a Commander and I’m a diplomat, cousin,” Elanon replied ruefully, bumping his shoulder against Helion’s. “I will deal with the mayor and his puny minions. Don’t give him another thought, just rid this town of the creatures plaguing it. I’ve seen the bodies of too many women and children already. The Scourge need to pay for that obscenity.”
Helion assessed Elanon’s grim profile and nodded in agreement. He too had seen the bodies. Tonight he’d return the favor and show them how little mercy the Keepers had for their enemies.
“Get going then, Lord Elanon. We have killing to get on with. Keep those human weaklings in check before I do it for you.”
Helion returned Elanon’s bow and turned to his men. His Keepers looked grim and ready, their golden armor begging to be dirtied with the blood of the Scourge. Helion knew to outsiders the Scourge looked more evil, more intimidating even. Nothing was as black and white as that, however. For all the difference in appearance, the Keepers met and even exceeded the savagery of the Scourge in battle. The difference was their motivation.
“Report, Braith,” he called out, motioning forward his best scout. He had business with the enemy tonight and was eager to begin.
“I’ve located a large troop of Scourge systematically running through this town called Louisville, Kentucky, looking for humans to kill and enslave. The humans in this town, like all the others we’ve seen on this planet, have gone to ground and hidden as well as they were able. So we have a clear field for engagement.”
Helion grimaced, finding this behavior disgusting—people should fight for their homes and lives against evil. But he supposed humans as a whole were too fragile and physically weak to take on a rancid enemy like the Scourge, so some allowances must be made. So he nodded to Braith and gestured for him to rejoin the ranks before turning to his shielder.
“Stegen, has the perimeter been raised?” Helion asked, his tone promising punishment if the answer was no.
“Yes, Commander. No Scourge within ten miles of us can escape the net,” Stegen replied calmly.
“And how many Scourge will have the honor of dying on our blades tonight, Mithrain?” Helion asked another, his icy white brow cocked. He had no doubt the losses for the Scourge would be great tonight. No matter how many there were, all would die, there could be no doubt. But when Mithrain didn’t answer him right away, Helion turned to him sharply, both brows lifted now.
“Commander…” Mithrain hesitated, uneasy. “
I count about three hundred Scourge.”
Mithrain’s special ability was detecting life forces in living beings. In a sense he was a tracker—he could sense the life force, identify the race, the gender. It was a rare and special gift among his people, one Helion took full advantage of.
“Just three hundred, Mithrain? That’s no challenge for us—why the look of concern?”
This was asked by a bored-looking Keeper, Tohran. A lazy Keeper to be sure but in battle there was none better than he with the short swords. Except perhaps me, Helion thought. Tohran was his second in command, for very good, very deadly reasons.
“Commander, it appears there are two humans inside the containment field.” Mithrain offered this news with clear dread, as well he might.
Helion stared Mithrain, cold fury whipping through his veins like a hurricane and blending with his battle bloodlust.
“Two humans? You said this area was clear for containment! You know how important it is that we keep humans outside the field. They will hinder the use of our abilities and special skills, ones that could easily snuff out the life of any human within range.”
“I’m sorry, Commander, the area was clear a few minutes ago. They must have wandered in before Stegen closed the containment field,” Mithrain replied, his words and expression, normally so reserved, showing absolute trepidation.
Helion gritted his teeth for a moment, then shrugged.
“No matter, if they do die it will only be two of them. Taking down three hundred Scourge is worth the sacrifice, but tell the men to be on the lookout for the humans and try to avoid killing them. No doubt they will cower and hide somewhere while we fight, which might save their lives.”
Helion turned away to begin issuing attack orders but turned back when Mithrain called out to him.
“I’m sorry, Commander, I didn’t speak clearly. It’s not two males who slipped through the barrier…” Mithrain had to stop for a moment to swallow after Helion swung back around fully and pinned him with a livid gaze. “It’s two human females, Commander. One likely an adult and the other a female infant. I almost didn’t register them both as the bigger female has the smaller one close to her chest.”
A muscle pulsed in Helion’s cheek, a sign of the tempest building inside him. A female and a baby inside the containment field. For all his scorn of the males on this planet, like any other Keeper, Helion had a deep respect for women and children. With regret he made the decision that the vicious full-on attack he had planned was no longer possible. He couldn’t risk the lives of the females. They needed to be retrieved and taken to safety.
“Where are these females, Mithrain?” he asked, his voice hard-edged with frustration.
“Apologies, Commander, but they’re due east, about a mile out,” came the reply.
“Due east…” Helion repeated grimly.
“Yes, Commander, the child and the woman are sitting between us and the Scourge. And the fiends are moving fast in our direction.”
In other words, the Scourge would soon overtake the females and lady protect them if they were found. What the Scourge did to women was an abomination and what they did to children…
“Keepers, to arms! Waste no time, we lightstep to the females now. Find them and protect them with your lives. Kill every Scourge you see but save those innocents.”
Without hesitation Helion lightstepped due east, confident his men would be at his back but not willing to wait for them. He had enemies to slaughter and females to save. He heard the disgusting calling card of the Scourge long before he saw them and increased his speed, eager to engage them. The ugly creatures were swarming a large, austere building, no doubt looking for the two females. Scourge were like hounds—they could scent fear and smell victims.
The escalation in their sounds told Helion they had found their victims and were going in for the kill. He lightstepped right up to the front of the building and felt his men arrive with him. A herd of Scourge saw them arrive and screamed their defiance. Helion responded with a cruel smile.
“Kill them all,” he ordered, extending his long sword. “Mithrain, lead me to the females.”
Following Mithrain closely, Helion and his men cut a bloody swath through the massing Scourge. Helion’s sword sliced through body after body, blood and entrails flying and heads rolling. His men were just as merciless, dismembering Scourge left and right, severing arms and legs and heads with cold ruthlessness. Mithrain held a steady pace, cutting through the Scourge with lightning-fast shots from his bow, unerringly striking vitals as he raced through the doors and down the crowded halls of the building, the two fighting their way to the corridor that led to the women.
“Commander, at least forty Scourge are massed outside the room with the females inside. They’re breaking through the door!”
Helion roared ferociously, redoubling his efforts to cut down every Scourge scum in the hall before they could harm the women. Mithrain and the rest of the guard stepped up their attacks as well, taking down enemy after enemy. They strained to reach the door, tearing through the Scourge with brutal efficiency to the end of the hall just in time to see the door to the room hiding the females give way completely. Helion’s rage escalated as he saw the door shatter inward under the Scourge assault. Seeing the lust on the faces of his enemies inched that rage even higher.
“No mercy!” he roared, lightstepping exactly into the middle of the Scourge horde as they raced into the room for the kill. He sliced savagely through fiend after fiend, their blood splashing like rain over him and his men. It soaked his hair and entrails slimed his armor, dulling its gleam. His men jumped in and got their share, not stopping until every Scourge in the hall and inside the room was slaughtered like cattle. Only then did the red haze of berserker rage fall from him and let him take stock of the situation.
The relief he felt when he saw the females unharmed, still crouched on the ground but untouched, surprised him. He didn’t expect to feel so strongly about the well-being of these humans. He respected their protected status as woman and infant but this feeling went beyond that. Seeing the little human female, cowering but unmarked and still breathing, sent a wave of elation rolling through his body. He and his men had made it. Made it by the skin of their teeth but they’d managed to save two lives.
He waited a moment for the female to acknowledge him and his men, but she did not. She stayed where she was, clutching her offspring in a tight, desperate grip, her head down as though she still awaited a death blow. He had no time for this timidity.
“Female, you are safe now. Stand and speak with me.”
Still she didn’t respond. Helion wondered if she could even hear him, or if her fear had completely paralyzed her. Helion grunted then, slightly annoyed by the girl’s timidity. He supposed her near-death experience was some excuse but he had work to do. He didn’t have time to tiptoe around the small female and her offspring nor did he want to terrify them further. He walked closer and the girl must have sensed the movement, because she clutched her daughter and scrambled awkwardly to her feet, quickly backing away from him.
Helion stopped advancing and allowed her a moment to observe he was no threat to her. He watched as she raised her eyes higher, and higher, and higher, until they finally met his own. Whatever she saw there made her flinch and Helion barely managed to refrain from rolling his eyes. Twenty Keepers were inside this room but she’d looked only at him, noticed only him, and even then the tang of her fear nearly overwhelmed him.
Helion took his time observing the female, just as she was him. What he saw was disturbing. This female would have stood no chance against the Scourge, not even one who was half-dead and missing limbs. Five foot nothing, malnourished, judging by the sagging clothes, and sleep deprived, judging by the bruised-looking skin under her eyes. This one had clearly been on the run with her child for a while, perhaps not knowing where to find a Keeper-secured refugee camp for her kind. Her hair would no doubt be pleasing when clean—it looked to have the color
of fire. And the eyes currently gazing at him in horror were an interesting shade of blue with a starburst of gold in the center. Strapped to her chest, the girl child was all but hidden from view by the wrappings and her mother’s protective arms.
“Please…” came a soft whisper.
He realized she’d spoken and brought himself to attention. For a moment he didn’t process the words, too busy noting how husky her voice was and how different it was from that of Keeper females. It was a pleasant sound really, running along his sensitive ears with a soothing resonance. Then what she’d actually said finally penetrated and he stiffened.
“Please what, female?” he asked quietly.
“Please don’t hurt us,” came the reply as the woman clutched her daughter even tighter. He could tell holding eye contact with him was a significant struggle for her, but she maintained it. Helion would have respected her for that if he wasn’t so offended she thought he would harm a female and her babe.
“If we could just leave…” she continued.
Helion cocked a brow at that, incredulous. Did the woman really think he’d allow a helpless woman and child to wander around this Scourge-infested city alone? She was under his protection now and he took the responsibility seriously.
“Leave to where, female? This city is crawling with Scourge battalions. There’s one dying outside this hovel as we speak. Where is it that you wish to go?”
The woman was skittish, he noted, shifting her weight a few times and roving her gaze over his face, as though looking for something. There had been a touch of mockery in his question, and no little arrogance, so her instincts were spot-on.