The man who called himself Raffaele was the first to jump on Antonius and with a tight fist he aimed for Antonius’ face. Antonius jerked back avoiding the hit and with lips drawn back, hurtled on Raffaele, knocking him flat to the ground. Raffaele sprang up with supernatural speed and jumped at Antonius attempting to slug him again right between the eyes. Antonius ducked, avoiding the hit and caught Raffaele by the throat, twisting hard, separating Raffaele’s head from his body with an awful sound.
There were hard hits and painful moans coming from each direction.
Troy grabbed one of Annabel’s thugs by the throat and with a swift kick sent him flying across the room to land against the wall with a loud impact. He growled in agony as his body collapsed to the floor. Troy didn’t give him time to recover as he launched toward the goon and, bending, pulled him up, grabbed his head between his hands like a clamp and twisted hard, severing it from his body in a matter of seconds.
He immediately turned to avoid the girl who was sprinting toward him screaming in anger. She flung her full weight on him. Making contact with him was like hitting a concrete wall; Troy moved slightly but never budged. He stared as she spun around, a dagger gleaming in her hand. She sank the knife deep into Troy’s chest. He collapsed to the floor and she was on him like a wild animal. Antonius was right behind her. He leaned down, and putting his arms around her throat, lifted her completely off of Troy and threw her across the room into Arturo’s strong headlock. She let out a stifled cry and it was over within milliseconds. Antonius reached over Troy and grabbing the hilt of the dagger yanked it out of his chest. Troy was alert and they both knew that he would heal fast.
Antonius turned to face Raffaele, who was much taller and quite husky. Raffaele’s face was dark and his eyes narrowed to slits watching Antonius carefully. He gave Antonius a cold smile that said he would crash Antonius to dust. He obviously didn’t know Antonius’ reputation among immortals as an accomplished warrior who enjoyed a good fight.
Raffaele threw the first blow, hitting Antonius in the middle of his chest, sending him back a few feet. Antonius stumbled but kept his balance. He launched across the room and caught Raffaele with his open fist right in the middle of the face. Blood sputtered from the guy’s nose and mouth, hitting Antonius in the face, but that didn’t stop him.
His next blow caught Raffaele again in the middle of his face, blinding him. Raffaele shook his head and put his hands up, trying to brush the blood away from his eyes, but it was too late. Antonius flung himself with amazing speed, landing simultaneously one fist into the middle of Raffaele’s face and the other into his throat.
Raffaele sank to his knees, choking and moaning with rage, grasping his chest, trying frantically to take a breath.
Antonius didn’t give him any time to recover. He reached down and, lifting this huge man, slammed his fist repeatedly into his face and chest with enormous force. Raffaele groaned with every blow and finally he crumpled to the ground coughing mouthfuls of blood, unable to breathe. Antonius finally had enough; he pulled Raffaele into a tight grip and finished him off.
Giani and Gerard stood back-to-back taking on two thugs, teamwork and technique allowing them to immobilize and finish their opponents. They stood and assessed the damage; five guys and the girl all dead.
Arturo was fighting the one remaining thug, but it didn’t look like he needed any help. He decked the guy right between the eyes, sending him flying across the floor, stunned. The thug moaned in pain when his body crashed against the wall. Since he landed by Gerard’s feet, Gerard bent down and finished him off.
The guys looked around the room; it looked like a war zone. Troy was already healed. He pulled himself upright and rubbed his temples, mumbling to himself.
Antonius walked over and put his hand on Troy’s shoulder. “What is it Troy?”
“What happened to Annabel? She was to meet with these thugs.” Rage flickered through Troy’s eyes.
Antonius shrugged his shoulders and cursed aloud. “There has to be another secret passage,” he said. “I’ve a feeling the bitch saw what was going on. The odds were against her, so she chose to disappear.”
Troy shook his head in disappointment and thanked Antonius for saving his life.
“I think we better get to Sebastian,” he said. Giani ran out the front door and through the hedges, motioning the others to follow.
Sebastian was sitting up, leaning against the wall. He seemed to be completely healed but extremely sluggish and disoriented. The lacerations were almost closed and a few, faint lines remained across his chest. His whole body was a bloody mess, but they knew those wounds would disappear as well.
Sebastian’s eyelids blinked as he struggled to clear his vision. His eyes were filled with confusion as he scanned around him with intensity trying to adjust to his surroundings, still very weak, moving in and out of consciousness. His gaze fell on the guys and he smiled as he recognized his friends.
“What happened?” he muttered.
Troy kneeled next to him. “Let’s get you back to normal and then we can talk.”
“Troy,” Arturo called out. “I’m going down to the cellar to get the Salve out of the fridge.”
Without waiting for a reply he turned and sprinted back into the house.
“Wait…wait…I’m coming with you,” Giani called, darting after Arturo. They were gone but a few seconds, when they returned with two large containers of Salve.
Antonius put his arm around Sebastian’s shoulders and held him up, while Troy forced the Salve down Sebastian’s throat slowly, making sure he ingested a large amount.
They stood in silence, waiting patiently for the Salve to surge through Sebastian’s veins and revitalize him.
Chapter 3
THE AIR WAS COOL. Sebastian took a deep breath and with extra effort drew himself upright. Scorching pain blasted through the back of his head and his face twisted in anguish. His hand moved fast to touch the back of his head. He leaned against the wall, pursing his lips while an excruciating look crossed his eyes. He looked at Troy incredulously and his face hardened.
Troy reached out and put his hand on Sebastian’s shoulder. “What is it?”
“All I can remember is a hard blow on the back of my head sending me to the floor,” Sebastian replied, through clenched teeth. Hesitating, he stared out somewhere in the dark, and finally gazed down at his body in utter disbelief.
“What in bloody hell happened to me?” he asked in shock. “Where are my clothes?”
“It looks like someone cut you really bad,” Antonius grinned ruefully.
Troy gazed at Sebastian with a smile, motioned toward his naked body. “I think you better manifested a pair of jeans for yourself,” he said. “We don’t want to have to look at your ugly naked self for much longer,” he added, chuckling.
Sebastian gave a faint smile and soon enough he was standing there in a new pair of jeans. He took his last sip of Salve in gloomy silence, his mind in turmoil. He drifted away again, trying to recall the details of his awful experience. Suddenly his body went rigid, his mind overwhelmed by the icy grip of realism. He rubbed his wrists forcefully, agonizing over the uncertainty of what took place in that room. Sebastian took a deep breath and stared at Troy, perplexed and alarmed.
“What is it?” Troy asked.
“I remember being alone with Annabel in that awful room,” Sebastian murmured. He shook his head in frustration, voice strained, lips quivering. “I can’t remember what happened, but I have this strange feeling that my life changed utterly and irreversibly,” he murmured.
His face reflected the emptiness, as awareness swept over him recalling the torture chamber. He cursed aloud and pursed his lips again, visualizing the failure of his attempt to get rid of Annabel. He gazed down at his partly naked body now and swallowed hard, face shuddered by mixed emotions.
“How did you end up in that room? Do you remember?” Troy asked.
“It was a trap, Annabel had it all planned
out. I walked right into her trap like a two-year-old. I saw the men in the next room, but didn’t bother with them. I wanted to find Annabel, deal with her quickly and get out before her thugs were alerted. It turned out to be a trap. She was waiting for me, how stupid could I be?” he pursed his lips and cursed. “God! I hate that bitch so much! She makes my skin crawl…” his frustration showed and he took a few steps away from the wall.
Sebastian’s mind was now swirling wildly and his body tensed, remembering that his eagerness to kill Annabel had nearly destroyed him this time around. He couldn’t remember any other occasion in his long immortal life that’d brought him so close to what could've been the end of his life. He ran his hand through his hair as a cold shiver went up his spine. He was so weak he slid back down to lean against the wall.
“Do you want to head home?” Troy asked, watching Sebastian intently. He was sure that he would need a couple of hours to get back to his normal self. In the meantime he would need a lot of help.
“Do you want me to manifest a car?” Antonius asked Troy.
“No…no…” Sebastian interrupted. “I need to walk and think things through. I need the time to recover a bit before we get home,” he murmured anxiously.
“All right then, we’ll walk, lad,” Antonius said with a smile.
“Thanks,” Sebastian replied in a barely audible voice. He was still sitting on the ground, leaning against the wall, taking deep breaths.
“But…what happened to you?” Sebastian asked Troy. “I thought you were on your way when I went into the house.”
“I ran into unforeseen roadblocks,” Troy said, tension straining his voice.
“Like what?”
“When I arrived at the house there were three thugs at the gate preventing me from going inside. They wasted a large amount of time waiting for a fourth person to join them. They were meeting with Annabel to receive a large amount of money to carry out some kind of contract.” Troy looked at Sebastian steadily.
“What kind of contract?”
“I don’t know; they didn’t discuss any details at the gate. As it turned out we didn’t get to hear much of anything, since the meeting never took place,” Troy groaned.
“What in the hell happened in that room with Annabel?” Antonius asked gazing at Sebastian. His voice was filled with apprehension at the memory of Sebastian bound naked against the wall in that icy and dreadful room.
Sebastian closed his eyes, face twisted in torment, trying to remember but he remained silent. The silence dragged out.
Sebastian manifested a shirt to cover his aching torso. Troy and Antonius pulled him to his feet carefully and started to walk away from the house, supporting him on either side. He was still pretty sluggish and the gashes quite obvious and bloody. They wouldn’t go away for a couple more hours. They moved away from the house in short strides.
“How did you guys know that Troy and I were in trouble?” Sebastian asked quietly. “Did Troy call you?” Sebastian stopped walking and watched Antonius with a gratifying look.
“No, as a matter of fact, it was Gabrielle who called,” he said. “The girls were extremely worried about you two and they thought you might need help. I asked Gerard, Giani and Arturo if they wanted to come along and you know how much they love action,” Antonius said smiling.
“First, let me say that I’m sincerely grateful for your help,” Sebastian said, gazing between the guys. “But what happened with the thugs?”
“Oh…there was a short fight and it was all over,” Troy laughed.
“How many are we talking about?”
“Seven of them; six men and one woman against five of us. It was a great fight, trust me; sorry you missed it.” Antonius chuckled in amusement.
Sebastian smiled. “And how did I end up out here?”
“Giani carried you out here to make sure you were safe, because you were still unconscious.” Gerard replied.
“I’m sorry about that,” Sebastian said, swallowing back his grief.
“Let’s go home,” Troy insisted.
As they started to walk again, Arturo paused and, turning, looked back at the house with a puzzled look on his face.
“What is it?” Antonius asked. There was an unusual stillness in the air.
“Well…I was thinking that since we're here, why don’t I stay back and wait, in case Annabel comes back. If she does, I can finish this for Sebastian,” he said. His smile was sinister.
“Oh…I think I like your idea,” said Antonius, with pleasure.
“I’ll stay with him,” Gerard offered.
“All right then. You guys stay here and we’ll take Sebastian home,” Antonius said. “He’s still pretty weak.”
“Are you going to Troy’s or Sebastian’s?” Gerard asked.
“We’re going to my house,” Troy replied. “Arielle went home with Gabrielle. They’re at my house together.”
Antonius, Sebastian, Giani, and Troy disappeared in the dark. Sebastian’s body tensed at the sound of Arielle’s name. His need for her was intensified and he let out a sigh of relief, knowing that he would be with her in a very short time. He suddenly stopped walking again, looking extremely troubled.
“What is it, Sebastian?” Troy asked.
“There's something that really bothers me,” he said, watching his friends carefully. They remained silent, waiting for him to continue.
They were standing in front of poorly-lit café, which was empty except for a man sitting behind the counter reading a book, and he never looked up.
“Can we sit for a minute out here?” Sebastian requested.
“Do you want me to manifest a car?” Troy asked.
“No, like I said before, I want to walk, I need the time,” Sebastian, replied.
Troy nodded and they sat around a small outside table. The table was located at the very far corner of the establishment. The poor lighting from the inside didn’t reach that table. They didn’t want anyone to be able to see Sebastian’s bloody mess.
“I have to clear some things before we get home,” Sebastian murmured. “I’m starting to remember things and I’m not feeling very good about it. I’ve this horrible impression that something happened with Annabel while I was going in and out of consciousness. I have now a vivid picture in my mind of Annabel shredding her clothes off and I do remember feeling her hands touching me in a wild way making my skin crawl.” The dark shadows that crossed his friend’s eyes didn’t escape Sebastian. He noticed Antonius and Giani’s jaw muscles tense but they remained quiet.
“All right, what is it? I had a bad feeling before, but now I’m convinced looking at your faces that something is terribly wrong.” Sebastian drew a deep breath as he waited for an answer.
“You're right, Sebastian, it seemed that a lot more than torture went down in that room.” Troy murmured, avoiding Sebastian’s gaze.
“Well…go on, what are you trying to say?” Sebastian was looking at Troy closely. Troy started to say something, but stopped. The young man had left the counter inside the café and was approaching the group with a smile.
“Good evening or good morning,” he said. “Can I take your orders please?” The guys knew they had to order something while occupying the table so they ordered a round of beers and the man walked back into the cafe.
“Well?” Sebastian was still watching Troy like a hawk.
“When we came into the room, you were unconscious and completely naked,” Troy said.
“What are you saying?” Sebastian asked.
“We’re pretty sure that Annabel did a lot more with you than slice your chest and arms. There was plenty of evidence for us to make that assumption,” Troy replied, his face serious.
Sebastian recoiled and his body stiffened, as Annabel’s words flashed in front of his mind. “I’ll have you one way or another,” that was the last thing he remembered just before he lost consciousness.
Sebastian looked into his friend’s eyes but they remained quiet. Sebastian felt
bile climbing up his throat and cursed aloud with clear fury.
“You can’t be serious,” Sebastian’s eyes now narrowed to slits.
“I am afraid it’s true,” Troy said watching Sebastian’s face attentively.
Sebastian stood still, pale with disbelief. He was having a hard time breathing. He pinched the tip of his nose and took several deep breaths, trying to regain his composure. He cursed aloud with extreme resentment, making his friends quite concerned.
He started mumbling with fury, “It’s my fault…it’s my fault…my big mistake was prolonging the punishment to enjoy seeing Annabel suffer before she died. I should’ve finished her when I had the chance. Why didn’t I do that? When am I ever going to learn? What in the world am I going to do now?” He stopped talking and sat.
He finally looked across the table at his friends and said through clenched teeth, distraught, “What am I going to do now?”
“There's nothing to do,” Antonius said thoughtfully. “You must forget about it and move on with your life until we meet Annabel again.”
He stood, walked around the table to Sebastian, and patted his back genially. “You must go on and wipe this from your mind,” he added.
“I’ve decided to begin remembering Annabel as a lifeless object. That’ll make it easier for me to think or talk about her without using her name,” Sebastian said, teeth clenched.
“Sebastian, there’s a girl at home waiting for you. She’s madly in love with you. She's looking forward to your wedding. You’ve got to forget about tonight—as if it never happened,” Antonius said emphatically. His voice was firm and he continued watching Sebastian, who was looking bewildered. He made a sudden move for his pocket and a deep frown creased his forehead.
“Bloody hell! She has my mobile,” Sebastian said, obviously annoyed.
“No Sebastian, I have your mobile,” Giani said. “I picked it up off the floor.” Giani reached in his pocket, pulled out Sebastian’s mobile, and handed it to him.
Arielle Immortal Resolve (The Immortal Rapture Series Book 8) Page 4