by Amira Rain
Several minutes of fighting went by, and I realized that our Angels and Angel lions and wolves were more than holding their own.
This was going to be a hell of a fight, that I knew, and now, to my extreme dismay, North Haven Gifteds were joining the fray, streaming into the clearing already zapping. They apparently had a few levitators, too, I saw, as a few Angel lions immediately went flying into the air.
Skirting a fine line between protecting Dylan to the best of my abilities and trying to conserve my supernatural energy, I fought on, dropping four Gifteds who'd all simultaneously begun charging Dylan, zapping away. Alternating hands, I zapped them one right after another, not needing any longer than probably a second-and-a-half to do it.
However, just a few moments later, a sound rose above all others, above all the snarling wolves, the roaring lions, and the yelling Gifteds and Angels. It was a sound that I not only heard, but felt, certain that a tremor had actually rippled through the ground beneath my feet. The sound had been a thunderous roar, a near-deafening roar. It had come from the southwest. And something about it made me think that the tide of the battle would soon be turning, and not in a way I was going to like.
CHAPTER THREE
Within seconds, a massive lion charged into the clearing, knocking down at least a dozen Angel lions like bowling pins in the process. Wolves snarled; lions roared; but above the din, I could still hear Dylan's voice.
"Bring him down! Now! Do it!"
A few Angel wolves tussling with North Haven lions had somehow gotten in between Dylan and me, seemingly within an instant, and I couldn't see him very well anymore, but I had no doubt who he'd been shouting to. If anyone was going to bring down the lion who'd just joined the fight, it was going to be me.
By this point in my soldiering career, I was stronger than several Angels put together. I was maybe even a stronger zapper than Dylan himself, no small thing considering that he was one of the strongest sorcerers in the nation, though I was never sure about this.
Some battles, it seemed clear that my zaps were more powerful, but other times, Dylan would continue dropping enemies long after my zapping stream had become thin. This was because the supernatural power of the average Angel didn't deplete at the same rate as the power of the average Gifted.
With my zapping stream not having become thin yet, I immediately went to work on the large lion, who I could tell was the leader of the North Haven pride. Something about his mighty roar told me that, as had his incredible strength. Even while I was actively zapping him, he still continued to fight, clamping his jaws around a wolf's throat and shaking him like a rag doll.
Astonished, I zapped him with my other palm, astonished further still when he not only didn't go down, but instead, separated the wolf's head from his body with one powerful snap of his jaws even while my electrical stream was hitting him squarely in the side.
With Dylan shouting at me again, I dashed closer to the lion, thinking that at a distance of maybe some forty-odd feet, I was just simply too far away to have my zaps be very effective. I even questioned whether or not I'd actually hit him, but the sky was just beginning to lighten with the approach of dawn, making it easier for me to see, and I was pretty sure that my zaps had indeed connected with the lion's body.
After ducking to avoid a Gifted zap that had come my way, I sent a zap over to the lion again, this time at least stunning him, making him stagger for a moment. But before I could take advantage of this brief weakness by zapping him again, I saw out of the corner of my eye three Gifteds and a lion coming at Dylan, and he was having a hard time fending them off, zapping with alternate hands but not hitting his targets on account of ducking to avoid zaps from them.
Knowing I had to act fast, I whirled to face them, double zapping the charging lion even while I did so. Stopped dead in his tracks, he went down, tumbling head over heels because of the speed he'd been traveling.
The lion hadn't even come to a stop when I myself was zapped. Where the zap had come from, I had no idea, but it didn't even matter. It could have even been "friendly fire." While I dropped to the ground, writhing in pain, I still had enough awareness to realize that the battlefield had become increasingly chaotic.
All the roaring, snarling, and yelling had intensified, and with my eyes rolling back in my head, I was still able to catch a glimpse of a decapitated Angel lion not ten feet away from me. His glowing red eyes had dimmed in his head, which rested just next to the carnage of his torso.
I only remained on the ground for a few seconds. I'd been zapped before, several times, and I'd become fairly adept at shaking off the pain. Once I was up, my main focus was locating Dylan, as always, and I did so just in the nick of time, as the massive lion with the thunderous roar began charging across the clearing toward him. Dylan, along with several other Angels, was trying to zap the lion to the ground, but each zap just momentarily slowed the lion instead of stopping him.
Awestruck by the lion's resiliency and strength, I double zapped him, finally making him stumble, roaring in pain. Not a second later, I whipped my face toward Dylan, who was at least twenty feet away from me now, which was far too far for my comfort.
"Keep zapping that lion! I'm coming!"
I began dashing over to Dylan, desperate to protect him from any harm, but before I could reach him, a Gifted behind him got him with a powerful zap.
"No!"
I'd yelled so loudly I'd actually hurt my own ears.
With a strangled cry, Dylan immediately dropped to the ground. Still running, I raised a palm and zapped the Gifted who'd zapped him, satisfied when she immediately dropped to the ground like he'd done, her pale blonde hair glinting in the very first rays of the sun.
Once I reached him, I hauled Dylan up from the ground, telling him to retreat back to the last copse of trees we'd passed before entering the clearing.
Shaking his head while already zapping an approaching lion, Dylan said, “No. I won't retreat. Not yet, anyway. Just keep fighting."
I'd actually never seen him retreat from a fight yet, although I often wished that he would. I honestly wished that he'd never fight at all. Even though he was an incredibly powerful sorcerer and always helped our side a great deal, I felt it was just too risky for me, personally, to have him on the battlefield. If he were killed, I'd never see my family again. And he could be killed at any minute.
I was hell-bent on making sure that never happened, though. With all thoughts of conserving my strength having flown out the window, I zapped at all Gifteds and North Haven lions near Dylan and me while he shook off the effects of his zap. At the same time, alternating hands, I zapped at the leader of the North Haven lions, who had apparently become sidetracked by a particularly ferocious Angel wolf on his way over to Dylan and me.
Realizing that my supernatural strength was fading, I powered my way through the next fifteen or twenty minutes of the fight, aiding and defending Dylan, while all around us, Angel fighters fell. Periodically, new waves of red-eyed sorcerers and lions poured in from the north, but additional North Haven lions were streaming into the fight from the south as well.
The sun, a blazing golden orange, was rising into a pale pink sky by this point, but instead of energizing me, this sight somehow only added to a rising tide of panic that was constricting my throat, turning my shouts to Dylan into feeble croaks.
Gifteds were still zapping at me left and right, but I managed to avoid every current of electricity, joining Dylan in firing return zaps. Strangely and curiously, the North Haven lions seemed to be mostly staying away from me now, or staying away from Dylan, I couldn't tell which. Or, the majority of the lions were staying away, anyway. The largest one, their leader, was still trying to make his way over to us, killing our wolves and lions as he went.
He was fairly close now. And I was getting tired, so tired that my zaps were markedly dimming each time I shot one. I knew I was going to have to leave the fight soon, something I'd had to do only a couple of times in the past. Bu
t I knew that if I remained much longer, I was going to become a liability to Dylan rather than an asset. Maybe that point had even come already.
My only solace was that the North Haven Gifteds seemed to be fading just as quickly. Some of them had staggered off to the tree line to the south already. Others were unconscious, being dragged to safety by their lions.
As weary as I was becoming, I still managed to raise my voice to a shout, back-to-back with Dylan, while we both continued to zap our opponents. "I'm not going to be able to last much longer, Dylan! We've got to take the upper hand or retreat!"
In my mind's eye, I could see the faces of my family members, hazy and indistinct, but clear enough to add an ache in my heart to the panicky chest tightness I was now experiencing.
After a grunt of exertion, probably while shooting a zap, Dylan responded. "We won't retreat! Not yet! Just keep fighting if you want to see your family!"
If I wanted to see my family. As if I didn't want that with every fiber of my being. As if Dylan didn't know that.
Experiencing a strange mix of increasing exhaustion and heart-pumping panic at the same time, I did continue fighting, zapping with streams maybe only half as bright as Dylan's. But after only a minute or so, I spotted the leader of the North Haven lions beginning to charge over. He'd finished decapitating an especially fierce Angel lion that had been keeping him occupied.
Immediately throwing myself in front of Dylan, I yelled a single word, my voice hoarse and pleading. "No!"
At that moment, I received my second zap of the battle, and this one made me see stars. I went down with darkness starting to overtake the pinpricks of light dancing in front of my eyes. The sharp scent of crushed, trampled grass filled my nose.
Just before the pinpricks of light dancing in front of my light were obliterated by darkness completely, three words floated through my mind, causing me more pain that the electricity coursing through my body ever could. It's all over. I was never going to see my family alive ever again.
In my unconsciousness, I dreamed of them. I dreamed of them all around our long, honey-oak kitchen table, celebrating Danny's seventh birthday just two weeks before the Angels had attacked. Danny smiled, then blew out the candles on the dinosaur-shaped birthday cake my mom had made for him.
This dream segued into a hazy vision of my mom in her favorite bright pink apron, taking a slightly-burned pie out of the oven. Always attempting to get a perfectly golden browned crust, she tended to slightly burn pies a lot.
With a few strands of her brown hair framing her heart-shaped face, she set the pie on a rack, then looked over at me with a smile.
"There. It's not so bad."
It's not so bad. It's not so bad. As the dream faded, her words echoed in my mind, lulling me into total oblivion.
However long later, I came to with a feeble cry, confused as to where I was, confused as to whether I was even dead or alive.
I felt something encasing me, something fairly hard, confining. I hoped it wasn't dirt. Dirt didn't usually move rhythmically, though. Dirt didn't usually move in a rhythm of someone walking.
Moaning softly, I opened my eyes and found myself looking into the bluest eyes I'd ever seen. They matched the sky far above them, which was a perfect robin's egg blue.
The owner of the eyes, a man with very strong arms, from what it felt like, offered me the slightest of smiles.
"Hello."
Not having a clue who he was but having a feeling I should fear him, I thrashed, trying to break free from his hold.
Still walking, he just held me even tighter, though, and spoke in a low voice. "Don't be afraid. Just rest. I've got you now."
CHAPTER FOUR
I must have fallen unconscious again. One moment, I was struggling against the strong arms that restrained me, and the next, it was all dark again. It was all nothing. I didn't dream this time, though. I just slept, very hard apparently, because when I next opened my eyes, the sun was high in the sky. Through sheer curtains that covered windows directly across from me, beyond my toes, I could see it.
I could also see that a plush, sage green blanket covered my feet. It covered my whole body, actually. I was in a bed. Whose bed and in whose bedroom, I had no clue. I was soon to find out, though. The sound of someone softly coughing made me whip my face to the right, and I saw a man slowly pushing the door open, entering the room.
It was the man with the sky blue eyes. The man who'd been carrying me from wherever I'd come from. With my head feeling as if it were stuffed with cotton, I couldn't even recall. With his expression revealing genuine-seeming concern, the man took a seat in a chair bedside my bed.
"I was hoping you'd be awake by now. I've been checking. I wanted to just let you keep sleeping, but the longer you did, the more worried I got, to tell you the truth."
The man's voice was deep and pleasingly clear in tone. I didn't know what to say in response, so I said nothing. I was honestly having a hard enough time forming thoughts, let alone turning those thoughts into words that might come out of my mouth.
After another quiet cough, the man spoke again. "I had one of our Gifteds, a woman who's also a registered nurse, take your vitals and look you over real quick, and she said you seemed to be just fine...maybe just a classic case of 'Gifted over-exertion requiring rest.' But how do you feel? You okay?"
I didn't know if I was okay. Looking at the man, with the side of my face pressed into a pillow, I had no idea just what the hell I was. I knew what the blue-eyed man was, though. He was somewhere in his early-to-mid thirties, and he was absolutely drop-dead gorgeous. He was a perfect specimen of a man.
With broad shoulders, thick, dark hair that was slightly longish and wavy, and an incredibly handsome, strong-jawed face, he was almost impossibly attractive. When he'd entered the room, I'd also seen that he was tall, a few inches over six feet maybe, and every millimeter of that height appeared to be composed of long, lean muscle. And then, on top of everything else, there was the matter of his sky blue eyes. Deep-set, black-lashed, and framed by dark brows, they were quite possibly the most beautiful eyes I'd ever seen in my life.
Again, like earlier, before I'd passed out again, I began to wonder if I was dead. Maybe in Heaven. At any rate, no matter where I was, my companion in possible paradise seemed to be awaiting some sort of a response from me. A response to some question that I couldn't quite recall, not even a second after he'd asked it.
However, after another second or two, which I'd spent just trying to get the gears of my brain to turn, I managed to ask a couple of questions of my own. "Where am I? Whose...whose bed am I in?"
Just like he'd done earlier, when he'd been carrying me, carrying me somewhere, wherever somewhere even was, the blue-eyed man offered me the hint of a smile. "You're in my bed. I hope it's comfortable enough."
His bed. His bed. Suddenly, anger overtook my bewilderment and confusion.
Beneath the sage green blanket, my hands curled into fists, seemingly of their own accord.
"How dare you. How dare you just...just put me right in your bed."
With his slight smile having faded, the man now lifted his broad shoulders in a shrug, frowning a bit.
"Well...there are only two bedrooms and two beds in this house, and the other bed, all the animals like to sleep in, especially the cats, and it's pretty covered in fur at the moment...as it usually is. So, it was either put you in my bed, or take the risk of you waking up even angrier, having some kind of possible violent allergy attack.
“My Gifted nurse didn't think was a very good idea, not knowing your medical history. Don't worry, though...I may be the leader of the North Haven lions, but I'm not above doing a load of laundry. The sheets you've been sleeping on were washed just last night."
"Go away."
The blue-eyed man frowned even harder. "I beg your pardon?"
Vacillating between anger and a vague, rising sense of embarrassment, and with my head still feeling like it was stuffed with cotton, I fou
ght to think clearly but found the task nearly impossible.
"I'm just...I'm really confused right now. I don't want you here. I don't want your stupid eyes...." Feeling as if I were getting lost in his "stupid" eyes, I struggled to prop myself up on my elbows. "I just don't want your dumb face...." With my own face warming, I wasn't quite sure what I didn't want. "Please just go. At least, don't look at me right now."
With a faint sigh, the man abruptly stood. "Tell you what. How about if I go and make you a cup of coffee and something to eat. And in the meantime, you can collect your thoughts and freshen up if you'd like. There are towels and clean clothes for you in the master bathroom. When I come back, maybe we can talk a bit more."
Now sitting up fully, I folded my arms across my chest. "You're damned right about that. Maybe. Maybe we can talk a bit more. After I've had a chance to collect my thoughts. That was your first mistake, by the way...not giving me a chance to collect my thoughts before you came in here."