“Guys, this is Faith. Faith, this is Emeric and David.”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you.” David smiled at her.
“Same here.” Faith gave him a wink, and then turned to me. “What took you so long?”
“Just meeting these two.” I gave Emeric a glance, and he looked at the ground in embarrassment.
“Sorry,” he mumbled.
“Whatever, just don’t let it happen again. I might not be so lucky next time.” She gave me a light punch on the arm. “So, where to?”
“I’m not sure. Do you guys know the area?” I asked Emeric and David.
“Obviously not.” David laughed. “If we did, I don’t think we would have cut through an abandoned town.”
“Well, where were you going then?” Faith asked them.
“Simms Hill,” Emeric replied. “A friend of mine told me that there was supposed to be an empty house up there. It’s in the middle of nowhere, so there shouldn’t be any of those damn creatures.”
“Do you mind if we join you? We’re trying to get to a safe place so we can locate our friends,” I said.
“Mind?” Emeric laughed. “I was going to beg you to come.”
“Perfect! Let’s…” My sentence was interrupted by a low, menacing growl. All four of us spun around to see three more Rogues slinking from the Connecticut River. These were different, though. Each of them stood on only two feet, but their knees were bowed back like a dog’s, and their snouts were shortened to mix with a human face that was unrecognizable as the human it actually was. Each had a pair of deep-set, translucent, red eyes. They were all extremely muscular and had five very distinguishable fingers on each hand that ended in sharp, claw-like nails. All of them had most of their clothes on, but the exposed skin still showed scattered patches of dark grey fur.
“Code blue,” Faith whispered as she backed away from the Rogues.
“You think?” I said sarcastically. Code blue meant that Rogues had been spotted.
“What are you guys going to do?” David asked in a fit of panic.
“You think they can shift without the moonlight?” Faith asked me, ignoring David.
“By the looks of them, I’d say they all have total control.”
“Maybe we could talk to them.”
“No way. The Jagers don’t let Rogues gain full control unless they are on their side,” I said as I began backing away. “These guys are our enemies, and they will not spare us.”
“What are you guys going to do?” David asked again.
“We are going to try to survive,” Faith finally responded to him. “As long as you listen to everything we tell you to do, we’ll all live a little longer.”
“Okay, what do I do?” His voice was becoming extremely edgy.
“When I say go, you run as fast as you can back into the town hall,” I whispered.
“Got it!” he yelled and ran towards the building.
“No, David, not now!” Emeric called after him. “Come back!” The Rogues began to bark and howl; they were on the hunt now.
“Too late, Emeric!” Faith yelled. “Run!” The three of us bolted after David as the Rogues galloped toward us. David made it to the town hall and was, surprisingly, able to jump up and pull himself through the window. The rest of us weren’t far behind, and we all made it inside just as the Rogues caught up. At first, they all tried to get through the small opening at the same time, but then one of them let out a loud growl, and the other two backed away submissively. The apparent leader snarled once more before running around to the back of the building. Then, one of the other two jumped up and was able to get half of its body inside before ultimately getting stuck. With its teeth snapping and claws thrashing, the Rogue struggled to pull itself all the way inside the building.
“Trevor!” Faith yelled from the hallway. I hadn’t noticed that I was now the only one left in the room. “Hurry, let’s go!” I gave the Rogue one last glance as I ran out of the room. It had finally managed to get itself all the way through the window, but it fell face first onto the floor, giving me just enough time to race into the hallway and up a flight of stairs. Faith was waiting for me at the top, and she led us down another hallway and into a room at the front of the building. Once inside, Emeric and David slammed the door closed and started to pile furniture in front of it.
“What are we going to do?” David asked nervously as he and Emeric shoved a dresser in front of the door. Faith turned to me and waited for my answer.
“We just have to hold them off as long as possible and hope that we can kill them with these stakes,” I replied after a few seconds of thought. Suddenly, something very large slammed into the door, and all of the furniture in front of it was pushed back a few inches.
“This isn’t going to hold them for long,” Faith said. “Get ready for a fight, Trevor.”
“All right, Emeric and David need to get away from the door. Faith, give me another stake.” Everyone did as I said, and we were as ready as we could be.
After a few more bashes into the door, one of the Rogues was able to stick its hand inside the room, and it began to claw at the wall. I quickly lifted one of the stakes and prepared to drive it through the Rogue’s forearm, but there was a sudden deafening bang, and the arm flew out of the room.
“What the hell was that?!” David cried from the corner of the room.
“Could the other Angels have found us?” Faith asked me. “That sounded like a shotgun.” Before I could answer, two more loud bangs rang through the building, and one of the Rogues let out a sharp yelp. It was quiet after that. Then, I heard two sets of footsteps walking toward our room.
“Hello?” a young, confident voice called out. “Are you okay in there?”
“Help me move this stuff,” I ordered quickly before answering the man outside. “We are now, thanks to you.” We all moved the furniture as fast as we could, and then we opened the door and rushed into the hallway. Two men stood in front of us. One was tall with black hair, and the other was of average height with bronze-colored hair. A shotgun and two dead Rogues were lying at their feet.
“Thank you so much,” Faith said earnestly. “I don’t think we would have been able to stop them.”
“Glad to help,” the tall man said. “I’m Lukas, by the way, and this is Theron.” We exchanged hellos and introduced ourselves, but then David let out a shriek.
“What is it?” I asked fearfully.
“The third Rogue isn’t here!” David said as he swayed back and forth. He had to grab the wall for support.
“It’s okay, we have a weapon now,” I reassured him.
“Actually,” Theron said, “we just used the last of the ammo for the gun.” David let out another shriek of terror. “Calm down, buddy; I saw the Rogue running south out of town when I got here.”
“Did you see it, too?” Emeric asked Lukas.
“No, Theron and I just met outside. Pretty coincidental, eh?” He let out a short laugh. “What are the chances a group of random people would meet up in some abandoned town?”
“Pretty low, I suppose.”
Lukas winked at me and turned around. “Let’s get out of this place,” he said as he walked over to the stairs. The rest of us followed as he continued talking. “So, where are you guys headed?”
“We were about to go to Simms Hill,” I replied as we climbed out of the window. “Emeric heard there was supposed to be a safe house there.”
“Perfect!” Theron said. “Mind if I tag along? I have nowhere to go.”
“Same here,” Lukas added in.
“The more the merrier.” Faith smiled at them. “All we need is a map.” Lukas put up a finger to tell us to hold on, then, he reached into his back pocket and pulled out a folded piece of paper.
“Street map of Vermont,” he said, handing it to me. “Good thing you found me, eh?”
“Sure,” I said hesitantly. Something about him made me feel a bit uneasy, but I ignored it and scanned the map for direction
s to Simms Hill. “All right, follow me.” I walked forward, and my band of nomads trailed right behind me.
***
Jason (Present Day)-
By the time Trevor had finished his story, it had gotten very late. David was still passed out on the couch, so the rest of the men decided to sleep in the living room with him. Although Peter, Taddi, and Winston had wanted me to sleep in the closed-off room, I insisted that Faith have it, and I sleep in the loft. They reluctantly gave in on the condition that all three of them could take turns keeping watch over me. I fell asleep quickly and dreamt of nothing.
Chapter 12
Treachery
“How could this have happened?” Peter was yelling from the main floor when I woke up. “How did we not hear or smell anything?” I jumped up and ran to the balcony of the loft to see what was going on. The three Dahmshed and the two Angels were all standing in the kitchen. I couldn’t see where the other humans had gone, and that scared me a little. If something had gotten them, it would mean something could just as easily get me.
“Great, Peter, you woke him up,” Taddi scolded him as she glided across the room and up the stairs.
“What’s going on?” I asked. “Where are the others?”
“And a good morning to you, too!” She laughed. “They’re all right below us in the living room, but there was a bit of an incident last night.”
“What happened? Did someone find us?” A million other possibilities ran through my head, but I wasn’t able to get them out before Taddi began to explain.
“Kind of,” she said hesitantly. “Winston was doing a sweep of the area and found Rogue markings. Unfortunately, they led him so far away that he had to turn back.”
“The moon wasn’t out last night, though, was it?”
“No, it wasn’t, but if a Rogue is fully matured, it has total control. It could shift during the day if it wanted to.”
“So, what are we doing about this?”
“That’s what we’re trying to figure out,” she explained. “We think it’s the Rogue that ran away from the humans in Bloomfield, but it could be trying to lead us into a trap, so we’ve been thinking about leaving you with Trevor and Faith.”
“No, we’re not!” Peter yelled as he appeared at my side. “They are no substitute for three Dahmshed! And, could you imagine what Aderes would do if she found out we left Jason alone with a possible…”
“Calm down, Peter,” Taddi interrupted him. “I couldn’t see anything out of the ordinary in any of them.”
“Not now that they all calmed down!” he snapped back.
“All of them had heightened heart rates last night.”
“Probably because he figured out that we weren’t on his side, and he was nervous!” Peter shook his head furiously. “How could you be so willing to leave Jason with these people, even if one of them wasn’t possibly trying to kill him?”
“Because!” Taddi interrupted again. “If that Rogue tells his friends, we could be in a whole lot more trouble than just leaving Jason with some humans. And, they’re not just any humans; they’re humans that are trained to fight and kill Dahmshed and Rogues.”
“That may be, but give me one good reason all of us should go.” Peter crossed his arms defiantly.
“They wouldn’t expect us all to go, so they’d set a trap meant for only one or two of us. It will be much less dangerous if all three of us are there,” she said smugly.
“Do I get a say in this?” I asked carefully. They both looked at me oddly.
“Yeah, I guess so,” Taddi replied.
“I think all three of you should go.” Peter tried to butt in, but I continued. “No one will know where I am unless that Rogue tells someone, so no one will be coming here to get me unless you don’t go after the Rogue.”
“Exactly!” Taddi tapped Peter on the shoulder with the back of her hand.
“You’re still forgetting that one of the humans could be after you,” Peter said after a few seconds of thought.
“And that’s what Trevor and Faith are for,” I retorted quickly. “I can stay in the loft with them, and the other humans can stay downstairs. We’ll be able to see an attack way before it gets to us.”
“It’s the only way to do this, Peter,” Taddi persuaded him. “I know it’s extremely risky, but it will keep Jason safer.”
Peter finally gave in. “Aderes is going to kill us, but you give an impressive argument.”
“Awesome!” Taddi smiled. “I’ll go help Trevor and Faith get ready.” She flung her red hair into Peter’s face as she walked past him and down the stairs.
“Well, that was easier than I thought it would have been,” I said.
“Don’t worry, Jason; this isn’t over yet.” He winked at me and trailed after Taddi. I had no idea what he had meant, but I couldn’t think about that now. I was about to be left alone with a weak group of humans, and possibly something that wanted me dead. The only thing I could do now was hope that I was right about Trevor and Faith being able to protect me, or we would all be dead soon.
“Jason!” Winston called to me from the kitchen. “Could you please come down ’ere?”
“Yeah, sure, I’ll be right there.” I ran down the stairs in the corner of the loft. Emeric, Lukas, Theron, and David were sitting around the fireplace. David was awake now, but he looked like he could pass out again at any moment. I waved at the group as I passed by and entered the kitchen area. Peter and Taddi were nowhere in sight.
“’ello lad, you get a good night’s sleep?” Winston asked me.
“It wasn’t bad.” I couldn’t help but smile when I saw his bright face.
“Glad to ’ear it!” He turned around and grabbed a plate off the counter. “I made you some breakfast, by the way.”
“Thanks.” I took the plate from him and sat at a small table where Trevor and Faith were already sitting. “How are you two doing?”
“Not gonna lie,” Trevor said. “I’m a bit nervous.”
“You’re nervous now that the Dahmshed are leaving?” Faith laughed. “You are an odd one.” She obviously wasn’t going to be swayed that she had really met good Dahmshed.
“Were you paying attention at all this morning? If Falko comes when we’re alone, every single one of us is screwed,” Trevor protested. Peter, Taddi, and Winston had apparently informed them of everything that had happened over the past couple of days.
“If I may,” Winston interrupted. “Falko would be able to kill us all even if there were ten Dahmshed ’ere, but neither he nor anyone else will be coming. I am sure of that.”
“I am hoping very much that you are right,” Trevor laughed halfheartedly. I was able to take a few bites of my breakfast, which seemed to be some kind of wild animal, before the bedroom door flew open to reveal Peter.
“Can we see Faith and Trevor in here, please?” Trevor got up immediately, but Faith rolled her eyes before following him. I couldn’t understand why she wouldn’t trust Peter, Taddi, and especially Winston. They hadn’t killed her yet, and I was a witness to prove that they were good.
“So, Jason,” Winston said as he sat down across from me. “Are you sure you’re okay with this? One of us can stay with you.”
“I’m fine, Winston. Trevor and Faith will be plenty of protection for me while you’re gone. Plus, all three of you might be needed out there.”
“But if you feel any inclination that you might want one of us to stay, please speak up.”
“Winston…”
“I want you to feel as safe as possible. Two would probably be more than enough to follow the Rogue markings.”
“Winston…”
“Even if you’re not sure if you feel safe or not, one of us could…”
“Winston!” I finally yelled. All of the men in the living room turned to look at us. I lowered my voice. “Trust me, Winston, if I really felt that one of you should stay with me, I would have said so already. Don’t worry about it.”
“All right, then.
” He got up from his seat. “I won’t give it another thought.”
“Thank you.” He smiled at me and walked over to the counter. I was able to finish my breakfast by the time Trevor and Faith left the bedroom, and Winston was called in.
“Everything is set up,” Trevor said as he sat down next to me. “They’ll be leaving once they talk to Winston.”
“Do you have any other weapons besides those stakes?” I asked him.
“I’m going to make some crosses right now.” Faith walked to the front door. “I’ll be back before they leave.” She left the house but returned five minutes later with a bundle of sticks. Peter, Taddi, and Winston walked out of the bedroom shortly after her return.
“Could you three please join us in the living room?” Peter asked Trevor, Faith, and me.
“Definitely,” Trevor replied. He seemed nowhere near as nervous as he had been.
Peter stood in the middle of the room to address everyone.
“As you all know, we have been talking about leaving to follow a Rogue. The final verdict is that all three Dahmshed will go, and Trevor and Faith will be left to guard the rest of you.”
“What?!” David blurted out. “How can two humans do the same job as three Dahmshed?!”
“Nothing will happen while we’re gone, David. I can promise you that.”
“How can you promise that when you won’t even be here?!”
“Trevor and Faith will be perfectly adequate to protect you from danger.” Peter smiled calmly. “We have gone over every possible threat and believe they will be able to handle them. But enough talk. We need to leave before the Rogue can do any real damage. We should be back before nightfall.”
He motioned for the other two Dahmshed to follow him, and they walked over to the front door. I jumped to my feet and had to hold myself back from running after them. I was suddenly very nervous about them leaving, but I couldn’t say anything now; my decision was made. Peter let the others through the door first before turning to me. He gave me a nod and a wink and left me alone with the other humans.
Descendant: The Protector (The Descendant Series) Page 17