Defender's Blood The Birth and The Battle (Urban Fantasy)

by A. K. Michaels

  *****

  In the safe room, Alex screamed as she saw a flash of Zach in amongst the fighting mess of bodies on the monitors.

  Irina put her arm around her shoulders. “It’s okay, Alex, he’s an incredible fighter. Vlad and Dmitri are there – look – they’re fighting together.”

  Alex couldn’t get a proper breath and her voice came out haltingly. “I can see that, Irina, but they’re going straight for that huge Demon! Fuck fuck fuck, please make sure they’re all right – GOD, ARE YOU LISTENING TO ME!” Alex’s throat hurt after she roared upwards to the ceiling – hoping God was in fact listening.

  Scott was watching everything, having never seen such carnage in his life. It was a bloodbath. He tried to keep track of Zach and the other three and only caught glimpses. All four Vampires were not just good fighters, they were warriors. He was in awe at how they worked together as a unit and decimated anything around or in front of them.

  Alex closed her eyes and started praying. “God, please hear me – keep our men safe. I know you are listening, I know it, you have to help them. Michael – send Michael to watch over them. Please, you have to listen to me!”

  Alex was crying softly, and the fear and utter panic in her voice was like a knife in Irina’s chest.

  There was a shimmer in the room and suddenly Michael stood with two other Angels. Irina let out a gasp and Scott growled loudly – Alex placed a hand on his arm. “It’s okay Scott, this is Michael – he’s an Angel …”

  “No shit,” Scott interjected.

  “You heard me?” she whispered.

  The large Angel spoke in his unique melodic voice. “I did – I’ve brought two of my brothers. We weren’t exactly told not to come but it was discouraged, so not everyone wanted to. I’m sorry about that, Alex, but the three of us are here and we will help.”

  Alex nodded her head. Why had God not let every fucking one of His Angels come?

  She was beginning to feel like Zach, he wasn’t keen on the man upstairs and she could see why … He was fickle with people’s lives. She was sure He had the power on His own to finish this, but He wouldn’t – surely He should.

  She shook her head. “Thank you, Michael. Zach is going after the large Demon – I’m scared.” She hiccupped, not realising she was still crying.

  Michael walked over to her and lay a hand on the top of her head. Calmness swept through her – she was amazed – and Michael smiled down at her. “Okay, Alex. I will go and help your mate.”

  Once more Michael disappeared without another word, he did that all the time and it annoyed Alex. He could actually say goodbye once in a while. She turned back to watch the monitors.

  *****

  Zach was nearly at the Demon, with Vlad and Dmitri flanking it while Devon watched his back. The huge being was full of power, it was emanating from it together with the most disgusting smell that had ever assaulted Zach’s nostrils.

  They saw flashes of fur as Emily and Sam’s Wolves attacked the Demon. Sam’s large Wolf leapt high into the air as Emily’s darted behind, trying to attack the Demon’s heels.

  They watched in abject horror as Sam was caught mid-air and utterly crushed, blood and gore erupting from every orifice, before being thrown away like a dirty rag. Emily’s roar of pain as she saw her mate destroyed would stay with all of them for a very long time.

  Zach stepped forward. “Emily! No!”

  His words were lost in the noise of the battle and he could only watch as Emily tried to reach her mate. The Demon raised one of its very large feet which landed on Emily’s hindquarters. With their enhanced abilities, they all heard the bones break, the internal organs being obliterated, before she too lay dead – a bloodied and broken mess.

  Zach’s heart ached as he saw the two gentle Wolves lying next to one another, in death as they were in life ... together.

  He turned to the large Demon once more, it raised its head and roared. Zach, Vlad and Dmitri attacked – swords and blades flew through the air with frightening speed and cut through the flesh.

  Every cut released more of the smell of the beast. Zach was finding it hard not to throw up. It stood above them, a good three feet taller than even Dmitri, much larger than the ones they had already dispatched. Once their blades left its flesh, the wounds closed and healed in front of their eyes.

  They kept attacking and it lashed out with its huge arms. Vlad went flying through the air and landed amongst an ongoing fight between Wolves and humans – he moved fast, not wanting to get caught up in another skirmish. His head was ringing, he didn’t think he had been hit so hard before. He made his way back to the beast and joined Zach and Dmitri. They were getting nowhere, the beast healed every wound that they managed to give it.

  They heard noises behind them, above the roar of the battle that was going on. They didn’t look to see what it was. They were now fighting to survive this thing in front of them.

  Dmitri moved back and then ran at the beast. He used the bodies of fallen humans to launch himself into the air. He landed on the back of the Demon and tried to get his arms around its neck. The beast reached back and plucked him off as if he was a child, and threw him far into the horde around them. He landed with a sickening thud and lay still.

  Zach roared and flew forward, his sword moving faster than the human eye could follow. He was managing to land good blows and he pulled out his throwing knives. Everything was enchanted with spells from Tatiana. He threw them with such force that they went straight through into the body of the beast. It’s roar of pain was a welcome sound to his ears. Finally – finally they were hurting it.

  Not enough though, as the Demon pulled one out and threw it in Zach’s direction with force. Zach was distracted by one of the Demon’s human minions, his body turned to the side as his sword took the head off the human before him.

  Suddenly, he was flying through the air – pushed violently by Devon, who took the blade meant for Zach. The angle of the blade and the power that had been behind it completely took the Elite Guard’s head off. His shocked face stared at Zach as it fell to the ground, a second before his body.

  Zach turned back towards the Demon, bending to pick up the blade that had killed Devon. He hurled it with all his strength and this time the blade bit deep, completely entering the Demon’s body. Its resulting roar of pain was little consolation for the death of Devon.

  Vlad was enraged – seeing his Elite Guard cut down in front of him had his blood at boiling point. He brought every blade he had about his body, launched them at the beast with all his strength. The beast staggered back and they launched at it together. They went for its legs and chopped, stabbed and attacked with all their might.

  Finally, it fell to its knees and they took up position on either side of it. As one they raised their sword arms, Zach coming from the back and Vlad coming from the front. They propelled their swords towards its neck at the same time – the swords met in the middle and the head was completely severed.

  The body fell forward and Vlad had to jump out of its way.

  Zach took a breath and dearly wanted to rest, but the battle going on around him denied him that. Vlad grabbed his arm and pulled him towards where Dmitri laid. They chopped and stabbed their way to the large body on the ground. Vlad knelt and felt his neck – a pulse – he was alive, but he didn’t know how badly hurt his friend was.

  Vlad and Zach took up positions either side of Dmitri, to fight and to protect their fallen comrade.

  *****

  In the safe room, the three sat in front of the monitors watching what would unfold with the Angels. They could see the fights now in the streets, Vampires and Wolves ripping into the bodies of the humans. Blood soaked the streets and Alex couldn’t comprehend the amount of devastation being visited upon her home.

  They saw Duncan and his unit fighting out front of the building and fear went through her. She hoped he didn’t get hurt. The thought that the fight was right outside
where she was hadn’t computed in her brain yet. His huge Wolf was tearing through the humans that came at him, he made it look easy but she knew it wasn’t.

  Irina shouted, “Look – look, the Angels are attacking – jeez, look at that!”

  The Angels appeared on the outskirts of town. They lifted into the air on their huge white and silver wings. They flew low over the battle below them and how or what they did, nobody knew, but bodies started to fall where they stood. A Wolf leapt at a human in front of him and before he made contact, the body had dropped and he went flying past it. It landed and looked behind with a shake of its head, wondering what was going on.

  The Angels continued on, bodies falling beneath their wings. It was a sight that no living being had ever seen – the devastation was absolute.

  They reached the point where Vlad and Zach were fighting, covered in blood and defending their fallen friend. Zach raised his sword to take the head off a human in front of him and he swung with all his might. Before the sword made contact, the body had collapsed. Zach looked around and saw bodies everywhere, then he heard the beat of wings and looked up.

  Michael was flying low and two other Angels were flying with him. Everything fell beneath them. Zach let out a long breath – thank fuck. Soon the only things standing of the enemy were several Demons. One at the very rear was huge, far bigger than the one they had fought.

  “Holy fuck!” Zach spat out.

  “I agree,” Vlad put in. “I don’t know about you, Zach, but I’m awfully glad those guys showed up.”

  Zach didn’t particularly like Michael but he had to agree, there was no way they could have taken that largest Demon.

  The smaller Demons were dispatched quickly and the three Angels swept towards the large one at the back. It was still standing though, and the Angels closed in. They took up position around it, not unlike the way that he and his friends had. This worried Zach. If it was going to take three Angels to put this thing down, maybe, just maybe, they wouldn’t be able to. He sincerely hoped they could – he knew that if they didn’t then they were in serious trouble.

  Vlad was shouting over his comms link. “Report – all units REPORT!” He pressed his hand to his ear, listening to reports coming in. No other hostiles had been spotted, good. There were a lot of injuries, an awful lot, some serious. A few had died, though Vlad was astonished at how few, thank the gods.

  Duncan’s unit was still fighting a group outside the Security Building. Vlad shouted over the comms, “Any units near the Security Building – get your asses down there to help Duncan’s unit, they are under heavy contact from hostiles. Repeat, help Duncan’s unit at the Security Building.”

  *****

  Alex relaxed for a second. She could see Zach and Vlad was next to him. The Angels had obliterated the enemy, apart from a gigantic Demon at the back.

  Scott made the cameras zoom in on the Angels. “Fuck!” he cursed. They were looking at a huge beast which dwarfed the Angels, all three now surrounding it.

  Alex swore – not at what she was seeing on the screen, but at the pain in her belly. “No no no no no … not now!”

  Irina could sense something wrong and turned to her friend. Scott turned also, his nose twitching. Suddenly there was a gush of liquid on the seat and underneath where Alex sat.

  “You have GOT to be fucking kidding me!” Scott was cursing – Alex’s waters had broken.

  Irina took over. “Alex, come on babe, let’s get you cleaned up and in some clean clothes, then you can have a lie down.”

  Alex’s heart was nearly beating out of her chest. This can’t be happening – not here – not now.

  “Vlad! Vlad! It’s Scott, can you hear me?” Scott heard only static. He watched the monitors, looking at the Angels surrounding the huge beast … then he saw Zach running forward.

  “Oh no man, you shouldn’t be doing that!” he shouted to nobody in particular. Vlad was running behind him and Scott’s heart sank. What did they think they were doing?

  Chapter 24

  Scott couldn’t drag his eyes from the monitor. “Vlad! Vlad, can you hear me?” He still only heard static.

  Vlad reached Zach and did something that Scott was amazed at – he grappled him to the ground. Zach was fighting to regain his feet and now Scott could hear Vlad over the comms.

  “No Zach – you have to stop, Alex needs you alive. Zach, for fuck’s sake listen to me! If you die, Alex dies. Stop!”

  The fight seemed to leave Zach and he rose to his feet, shaking his head.

  They stood watching the battle between the Angels and the huge beast, then Dmitri appeared behind them. “Thank fuck – I thought we had lost you, big man,” Vlad said.

  Dmitri still looked dazed, injured but with some blood and rest he would be fine. He didn’t say anything, just looked around them at all the bodies lying dead and the Angels in front.

  “Vlad, can you hear me now?” Scott spoke into the comms link.

  Vlad shook his head and then pressed his hand to his ear. “Scott? Is that you?”

  Scott all but cried. “Oh thank fuck, Vlad I’ve been trying to reach you. It’s Alex – her waters have broken.”

  Vlad shouted. “What? Can today get any worse!”

  Scott smiled at Vlad’s sense of humour – weird. “Yes, Irina’s with her just now, getting her cleaned up and then she’s going to put her to bed. It’s not safe to leave here yet though, there’s still fighting outside in the town.”

  He could hear Vlad cursing over the comms link. On screen he saw him turn to Zach. He heard the conversation clearly, “Zach – ZACH, listen to me!”

  Zach turned his head away from the Angels circling the huge Demon. “It’s Alex – her waters have broken. I’ve got Scott on the comm, he says it’s not safe to leave the room yet, there’s still fighting in the streets and outside the building.”

  Zach snarled. The face Scott saw on the monitor was nothing but pure rage. “Come on, we need to make it safe, she needs to get to David!” Zach roared.

  Scott watched as Zach took off back towards the town. He only saw him move in the sense that one moment he was on the monitor in front of him ... the next he was not. Vlad and Dmitri took off after Zach. Scott continued to watch the Angels circling the Demon and his stomach clenched tight. He zoomed in and he was sure he saw blood marring their perfect wings.

  *****

  Zach’s mind was racing. Alex needed him – his babies needed him. He only had one purpose now and that was to kill everything that stood in his way. He reached the outskirts of town and there were still a few small skirmishes. The Vampires and Wolves in attendance had it well under control and the fighting would soon be over there, so he continued on.

  Farther in, there was more fighting. Roaring, he flung himself at anybody that shouldn’t be there. His sword arm grew heavy as he slashed and cut his way through. Vlad and Dmitri were now at his sides, both fighting like the deadly machines that they were.

  They made it to the street outside the Security Building, a full scale battle seemed to be going on. Duncan was in the thick of it, biting and fighting his way through a mass of bodies. Zach saw him leap and his mouth opened wide – he caught a human in his great maw and ripped the head clean off.

  Zach started fighting his way through, bodies falling all around him. He was covered in blood, not one part of him or his clothing was not drenched. Vlad and Dmitri were keeping pace with him and soon the numbers fell.

  At one point, other Vampires and Wolves got out of the way of these three. Their fighting was intense and brutal, giving no quarter to anyone. If the humans were there, then they were going to die. No thought went into it, they just fought and killed and didn’t even seem to feel the few blows struck at them with silver knives and blades.

  It was down to about two dozen when Duncan joined the other three in the middle. His great Wolf head reared back and he roared like a full grown lion, though the size of his Wolf made a
lion look like a kitten. Then the four of them took up positions with their backs to each other. They leapt forward as one force and totally destroyed the last of the hostiles. Blood, gore and body parts flew all around them until none were left standing.

  Zach’s head fell forward, his body ached from tip to toe, his sword arm hung heavy at his side. He took a steadying breath and turned towards the building. He ran in and straight towards David’s scent. He found him attending some injuries in the field hospital set up in the building.

  He grabbed his arm and David protested. “Zach – I’m stitching this man up here, what’s wrong?”

  Zach growled down at the human, “Alex’s waters broke – come with me. It’s not a question, David!”

  David grabbed a medical bag and half-ran after Zach, he had no option as Zach was pulling on him and he had to run to try and keep from falling. Zach opened his mouth and roared, “Tatiana – Alexina needs you!”

  His stride didn’t falter, he knew the Fairy would come. When they reached the hallway at the bottom of the stairs, the door was already opening and Scott stood with a large sword in his hand, just in case. As they reached the door, Zach could hear footsteps behind him. The lightness of the feet told him it was Tatiana. Behind her he could hear Vlad, no doubt coming to check on Irina.

  Irina was sitting on the side of the bed beside a very pale Alex. As soon as she saw Vlad coming down the hallway, she ran to him. He enveloped her in his arms and kissed her deeply. He then went to the monitors – there was still a battle with the Angels and Demon going on and he had to make sure it was defeated.

  David went immediately to Alex – what he saw visibly scared him. She lifted the cover that was over her and he saw blood. Lots of it.

  “I’ve not got any experience with all this pregnancy business but I’m sure this isn’t good.” She tried to smile but she didn’t have the strength.

  David’s eyes went wide – fuck, she was losing a lot of blood. “I need to get her to an operating room – stat!”

  Zach was now at Alex’s head, stroking her hair and leaving red streaks in it from his blood-soaked hands. “I think you need to clean up, my Vampire – you’re covered in blood.” Her voice was so low he was sure no human ears would have heard her. He smiled and kissed her gently and when he pulled back noticed he had transferred even more blood onto her. He snarled, got up and went into the sink in the newly-partitioned toilet. He cleaned his hands and face as best he could, doing so quickly so he could get back to Alex.