Chosen (The Chosen Few Trilogy #1)

by Leadbeater, David

  “It’s nothing,” she said to my back.

  I felt weak. I stared at Lucy’s window. I couldn’t look at Lysette. How much more could I take?

  The answer came immediately.

  The house alarms went off. Hoarse shouts of warning came from the front and side gardens. Someone in the kitchen shouted out:

  “We’re under attack!”

  Fuck.

  40

  YORK, ENGLAND

  “Move!” I said, and then tried to stem my panic. One thing was certain- we Chosen had trained together. We’d be better off fighting together.

  I saw Mai fall through the kitchen door, out into the garden.

  I cast around quickly. Lysette stayed behind me, as she’d been taught. Her power wasn’t combative. Ken stumbled around, his lack of trousers and guilty expression making him look decidedly un-cool. Belinda tugged the leather trousers over her hips, then buttoned them together over her crotch, before zipping up with a little leap.

  “Lysette, stay back!” She was the leader we needed. “Ken, at my side. Logan, behind us. Don’t panic, Logan, just focus.”

  I nodded. I hadn’t learned to harness my power yet. Indeed, I’d barely had time to adjust to its existence. I might attack a single enemy and accidentally knock the house down.

  As she passed me, Belinda whispered, “We must talk later. Please.”

  I managed a half-hearted nod. Alfresco lap dance aside, she was still my possibility. We walked towards the house. At that moment two ugly looking beasts stepped into the garden, presumably hunting Mai, who lay dazed on the ground.

  My jaw dropped. Demons.

  “Wayclearers,” Belinda said without breaking stride. “Remember what Eliza told us. They are weak.”

  Weak, I thought, and bloody ugly. Both demons were about five-five, with stubby cloven hooves that kicked up divots from the garden as they walked, and wicked looking curved claws that ended in scimitar-like nails. Their heads were large in proportion to their chunky bodies, and their faces twisted maliciously in the half-dark. Yellow light seeped from slitted eyes and reflected off racks of dripping fangs. When one snarled it tore away half its own cheek.

  Mai scrabbled away from them on her back. Belinda stepped in, waited for one of the demons to move, then ducked under its attack and struck into its soft belly. This was followed by a strike to the neck and a chop that sounded like a tree being felled. The demon went straight down, unconscious.

  “We need weapons,” she said, not even breathing hard as she broke the demons neck with her boot. When she turned and saw Lysette and me regarding her in outright shock she smiled.

  “Get real Chosen,” she said. “Training is over. This is kill or be killed from here on in.”

  Ken ran and leapt at the second demon, catching it under the chin with a mid-air uppercut. Its snarl was cut off by a choked gurgle as it landed hard, already dead.

  “Dude,” he whispered in respect of his own skill.

  Belinda helped Mai to her feet. I glanced up towards Lucy’s window. Call it luck or instinct or a paternal sixth-sense, I don’t know, but I was looking at my daughter standing at the window, staring down at us.

  “Lucy!” I cried. “Wait there! I’m coming!”

  Another demon blocked our path. Without breaking stride I called on my power until it shimmered around me. That took half a second. A moment later I flung it with all my will, thinking: punch!

  My power struck the demon like an F15. Even Belinda cringed when the beast barreled backwards faster than sight and impacted with the side of the house in a cloud of mortar and pulverized bone and brick fragment.

  The demon disintegrated. Bricks cascaded from the wall, leaving a demon-size hole. When I sprinted into the kitchen I saw that several blocks had exploded inside as well, one of them striking another demon full in the face and destroying its tusks and fangs.

  Score two to Logan! The demon was down on its knees, making a horrible gurgling noise. Mai seemed to float across the floor as she moved with incredible speed to its side. A second later she had broken its neck. I hadn’t even had time to draw breath.

  “Control it!” Belinda hissed at me.

  The kitchen was a melee. A pitch battle. I saw a guard yank open the fridge door and slam it into the face of a lunging demon. I saw Myleene throw our prized coffee machine at the crazy Hierarchy demon- Dementia. I saw Jade pinned to the floor by two demons suddenly pivot and rise up into a handstand, kicking out at both demons and sending them crashing into kitchen furniture.

  Only winner here’s IKEA! I thought.

  Belinda said, “We four stick together. We get Lucy first. If the crisis preparations were followed then Giles has Devon and the Trevochet’s hidden away, and they are helping us from concealment. Now, go.”

  She turned quickly to Lysette. “Sorry, but you’ll have to stick with us.”

  I skirted the chaotic struggle, but as I slipped out the kitchen and into the corridor I heard a scream. I whipped around just as Dementia leaped upon Myleene. Dementia’s white hair flicked and whipped like it had a mind of its own, its braids of flesh and bone slicing into the demon-bitch’s own hatred-filled face.

  “Nowwwwww, Myleeeeeneee,” I heard her slur. “Dieeeeee.”

  I gathered power, but in less than a split second Dementia wrenched Myleene’s right arm from its socket and threw it across the floor. Blood fountained and flowed and Myleene’s screech was so high we barely heard it. I threw a strike at Dementia, but the bitch was fast, hellishly fast, ripping open Myleene’s throat with switchblade nails and twisting away from my blast in a movement that defied the eye.

  Myleene lay face up, unseeing, already dead.

  We stared at the scene, aghast.

  “Go!” Belinda recovered, making the Commander’s decision in a flash. She chose, and we followed, up the dimly lit corridor and the stairs at its end, my face strained and white with horror. Mai and Belinda dispatched three demons along the way. Mai said they were probably searching for Devon Summers, our shield.

  “We risk getting trapped along here,” Mai pointed out as we ran.

  “There’s a way out through the library,” Belinda said, over her shoulder.

  “The library’s downstairs.”

  “We’ll make it,” Belinda started to slow.

  We moved along the second floor corridor, stopping outside Lucy’s room. Belinda shouted her name, then pushed the door open and my daughter rushed out into my arms, tearful and shaking.

  “Lucy!” I held her and stroked her hair and thought God, why can’t we just be allowed some time together!

  Mai cried, “Look out!”

  I looked over the top of Lucy’s head to see a demon rushing towards us. Ken stepped forwards to meet it without fear, rushing it with a shoulder charge. It fell to the floor, snarling, and Ken stumbled too, tangled up in its flailing limbs. The demon made a noise like a pressure hose as it turned on him, fangs and jaws gnashing, drools of acid slowly dribbling from its mouth and chin. Within a second Mai was beside Ken. She took hold of the demons skull and smashed it three times into the wall until I heard the sound of destroyed bones.

  Mai flung the body away, and then held out a hand to Ken.

  Belinda was looking calmly back the way we came. “I wish I knew where everyone was,” she said with a calculating frown.

  Ken said, “I feel naked without a weapon.”

  Everyone blinked at him. To our knowledge he’d never used a weapon.

  “Poor Myleene,” Lysette began, but Belinda cut her off. “Don’t,” the blonde girl said. “First we survive, then we grieve. Let’s get through this night first.”

  She led the way back. I draped an arm over Lucy’s shoulder and held her close, comforting her as best I could. I was desperate to say something, desperate to talk, but not now. Not like this.

  Once downstairs we heard sounds of combat burst from the kitchen. A demon came tearing down the corridor towards us, brandishing a sword which it swung
at Ken, our rear guard. It was then I realized just how dumb these beasts were as its sword got stuck in the plaster wall. The thing stared up at its jammed sword, then looked back at us. You could almost hear it going oops!

  Ken kicked and punched and finished the thing off. Then he wrenched the sword free. From beneath curly blonde locks he eyed Belinda.

  “Suddenly…I feel better.” He swung the weapon as if he’d been a sword master even before he’d learned to surf.

  “Keep it then,” Belinda hurried towards the back of the house, heading, I presumed, for the library. As we drew closer, however, we heard more sounds of combat.

  “Bastards are in the library,” Belinda hissed in anger. She closed her eyes for a few seconds, then decided. “No choice. We go on.”

  And we did. We followed her because she was our leader. We followed her because, even having witnessed the unmatched skills of Tanya Jordan and the elves, we still trusted her with our lives.

  The library was ten times more frantic than the kitchen. Dozens of demons fought against Kisami, Eleanor, Jade and Tanya Jordan. With disbelief I watched Jade perform a literal dance of death, weaving in and out of the enemy, punching and kicking with decisive strikes and leaving a pile of dead in her wake. I saw Jondal gesturing and Ashka jabbing her fingers, but their opponents did little more than flinch. Thank God for Devon Summers. Undaunted though, both destroyers unsheathed swords and attacked with infernal precision.

  Kisami slipped and fell, falling luckily beyond Ashka’s swing. The deadly blade sliced so close though it took off a slither of his hair. Transfixed, I watched as it separated and drifted up through the air, fluttering apart like a shattered dream. Kisami’s luck ended there though. Ashka stepped onto his thigh, pinning him to the spot with her vicious weight. Then she upended the sword over his heaving chest.

  The Destroyer plunged the sword down. I almost cried when I saw Eleanor throw herself across Kisami’s chest and take the sword into her own body. The elf reared up in agony, her eyes wide, then slumped lifelessly.

  “No!”

  I flung a blast at Ashka. The impact knocked her back, but only a few feet. She must have absorbed most of the energy somehow.

  A thought struck me. Our crisis plan was flawed. If Johnny was here now, then together we could end this.

  I cast around. Bodies fought and struggled and slipped and leapt from one wall of the library to the next. Demons and humans used chairs and sofas to gain advantage and even climbed the bookcase walls to fight. Tanya Jordan performed a lethal ballet right in the thick of it, sending demons sprawling to left and right, and leaving none alive as she danced right back over them, a dripping stiletto in her hand.

  I pushed Lucy behind me and backed right up to the wall. A scream sent my eyes searching and I saw two of our house guards torn apart. Jondal struck at Tanya using magic as well as metal, but all his strength combined barely kept him alive. I think that Tanya would have killed him right then if not for the death of Eleanor, which had destroyed everyone’s concentration.

  Then, suddenly, Ashka was there! Coming straight at us. Belinda stepped in front of me, Ken at her side. I moved to the centre. This was our formation. When Ashka struck we all flinched. I got the faintest mental image of the world in ruin, but I recovered immediately.

  “Fuck you, bitch,” I heard Ken say. He poised to leap at her, but then several things happened at once. Dementia came barging through the library door, covered in blood. The vampire, Mai, reacted instantly and leapt onto the demon’s back. Mai sunk her teeth into Dementia’s neck and bit down. Blood welled up in torrents. Dementia squealed and barreled through us, twisting and turning, trying to throw Mai off, but the vampire hung on, even digging her nails deep into her enemy’s arms to stay in place.

  Vengeful strength from Mai, desperate strength, heroic and stupid and everything we needed right now.

  Ken, distracted, only managed to evade Ashka’s sword when Belinda shoved him aside. But Belinda was suddenly exposed as the sword came down on her skull.

  I almost screamed. Power exploded from me. But I was a second late. The sword struck.

  But Belinda caught the blade between her hands! The room seemed to stop and stare in awe. Almost in the praying position, Belinda smiled right back into Ashka’s blazing eyes.

  “Not this time, bitch.”

  My power, reckless, slammed into everyone, and I mean everyone. Those nearest me staggered to their knees, those further away were rocked and buffeted as if caught in a strong wind. I gritted my teeth and tried to focus. Yes, I had been reckless, but I had been trying to save Belinda’s life.

  Ashka leapt away, leaving her sword behind.

  Dementia screamed, and then, still with Mai on her back, managed to flip herself over, landing heavily on the floor with Mai trapped underneath.

  Mai heaved weakly, the breath crushed out of her. Dementia spun and kicked and clawed, now lying atop the vampire.

  Ken jabbed the sword at the demon’s ribs but she twisted and rolled away, disappearing among a tangle of legs and bodies.

  This time, Ken helped a grateful Mai to her feet. “Just needed a big weapon,” he said with a cheeky grin.

  Ashka rose slowly to her feet. I braced myself, fighting off the whisper of fear that crept through my brain.

  There was a moment when the room stilled. A breathless, timeless instant when we all took stock. I saw the chance of my death and the fast-approaching moment when I would stand and fight and live or die alongside my new friends, together.

  Then something seemed to pass among what remained of our enemies. Four demons, plus Dementia, Jondal, and Ashka. Suddenly, with snarls of hatred, all the demons broke a far window. Two of them sacrificed themselves by distracting Tanya and Ken. A third died on jagged shards of reinforced glass as it leapt through the opening. The fourth cut itself to pieces widening the gap.

  Dementia and then both Destroyers stepped over its still twitching body out into the dark, boundless night.

  “Until New Babylon!” Ashka cried out as they departed.

  We were left bleeding and disheveled, stunned survivors, standing uncertainly, staring at each other with haunted expressions.

  Belinda, our leader, took charge, rallying us into the conference room before we started dwelling on the bodies of the dead.

  Lucy laid her head on my shoulder as Ceriden and Felicia and Giles brought in the people they had been guarding- the Trevochet’s, Devon, and Holly.

  “We lost Myleene,” Ken said, his voice strangled with grief. “And most of the house guard.”

  “Myleene,” Giles’ face fell apart, and tears welled up in his eyes.

  “Eleanor died,” Lucy said in a small voice that wrenched at my heart.

  Desolation filled the room.

  “You know who’s to blame for this!” Ken slammed a fist onto the table, his eyes crazy. “That fucking traitorous bastard. “ He turned fiercely on us. “The one who gave away our location. And released Jondal.”

  Giles cast a murderous glance around the room. “Lock the doors,” he said. “No one leaves. I don’t care how long this takes.”

  His eyes came to rest upon the person to my right.

  “Lysette?”

  41

  YORK, ENGLAND

  Giles opened Myleene’s laptop and, after a respectful moment, logged onto the website that would give him Kinkade’s latest updates.

  I turned to Lysette. “I’ll go first, Lysette. No worries.”

  She smiled. “Thanks, Logan. You won’t feel a thing.”

  As Lysette worked I allowed my eyes to wander. I saw tension and fear in many faces, confusion in a few, and disinterest in others. I didn’t envy Lysette’s task, not after what she’d told me earlier about herself.

  “Done,” Lysette murmured. “You’re okay.”

  “Thanks.”

  “Next?”

  Whilst Lysette worked I fought my inner warning system that said I should remain alert because something ha
d to happen, and took a moment to focus on Lucy. Gently, I put a finger under her chin and lifted her head.

  “Hey, kiddo.”

  “I’m not a kid,” she said. “You’re a …” she blinked. “Hey, I’m…” She pulled away from me and looked her watch. “Dad, I’m sixteen!”

  It took me a second to understand. It was getting on for five in the morning. Today was Lucy’s sixteenth birthday.

  “Not that’s old,” I laughed. “How do you feel about a bus pass?”

  I heard Lysette move on to someone else.

  “Never be as old as you, wrinkly,” she mock punched me, and it was like before. Me teasing her. She was haranguing me about my ‘old’ age. I felt a sudden urge to take her away, to celebrate her birthday properly, just to let her live once more in this teetering old world.

  “I’ve come of age,” Lucy said, and a veil fell over her eyes. I felt my heart pause. An odd way of phrasing for a sixteen year old.

  “Time to let yourself live,” I said.

  “I…I want to, dad. I feel. . . different.”

  I tried to ignore the tension that continued to thicken around us.

  I noticed Tanya Jordan sitting forward in her chair. “I overheard,” she said with a smile. “But then I was listening,” she shrugged at me. “Sixteen is big. One of the biggest. We wrinkley’s tend to forget.”

  Lucy turned a smile on her that was reminiscent of a sunrise illuminating a dark valley. “See. Tanya knows.”

  “Big changes,” Tanya spoke mainly to me. “You think this Gorgoroth guy’s hard to handle; you wait ‘til Lucy turns eighteen.”

  Lucy looked at me and laughed, her eyes twinkling.

  “When this is over,” I said. “We’ll go away somewhere, just you and me, Luce. For as long as you want. Or until the money runs out. Hell, Logan’s Tours has probably gone under by now anyway.”

  “What about school?”

  Lysette said, “Next.”

  “We’re about to save the world.We’ll get you schooling later.”

  I saw a brief opening in those iron shutters. “Promise?”