“I know I’ve said it before, but you are a brave girl, Anastasia. I know that Gregory and Annabelle are very proud of you. Hell, I’m proud of you. I’ve always thought of you as a daughter to me. When I helped Gregory and Annabelle escape that village I lost my wife and young son.” He stared out from the mouth of the cave they had set up camp in.
“I didn’t know that Tony, I’m so sorry.”
He nodded and she knew he swallowed back the pain. “It was a dark time for me, and had it not been for Gregory I may have never come back from it. He was a great man.”
“Yes, he was.” She agreed pushing back the memory of him. She had to stay focused, she couldn’t afford to lose herself in the grief now. “I'm going to go and scout ahead. See if I can’t pick up some tracks.”
“I’ll come with you.” He turned to Andrew. “Stay here. No one goes off alone. We are going to go and scout ahead, we will be back shortly.”
“Got you Tony.” He replied and moved to help finish setting up camp.
They turned to walk deeper into the caverns. Neither wanted to risk attracting unwanted attention by using a torch, so they did their best to squint in the dark and relied on any noises to alert them.
The caves were damp and even Anastasia began to feel a bit claustrophobic and she had never been one who was bothered by small spaces. As a child, she had done what she could to hide in the smallest ones she could find.
The stench of Sulphur surrounded them and they continued to push on. About two miles in, Kaley suddenly growled low in her chest and they started to hear the noises. Footsteps were just ahead, and she could see the light bouncing from torches that were being carried through the tunnels.
“This way.” She immediately recognized Maximus’s voice, and she drew her sword.
Tony gently touched her shoulder and she could see him put his finger to his lips signaling her to be silent. They crept up to the edge of the tunnel and saw the Brute filled cavern just ahead. Nearly six-dozen Brutes stood in the dimly lit room. Crates of weapons lined the walls and Anastasia saw a robed man standing in front of the crowd. Maximus moved to stand next to him.
“It is time, my children.” He was addressing them as a proud father. “Worlds will begin falling at our feet. We will gather weapons and dispose of anyone who stands in our way!” He raised his fist in the air and the Brutes began to growl in agreement. “This world is not like ours, they have created weapons that can kill from a distance.” He pulled a gun from a holster at his waist. “The majority of the population is foolishly afraid of these tools, so there won’t be much of a fight should you come into contact with one. We will take what we want and then we will own them just as we will own those who are in our world!”
Her stomach churned at the sound of his voice. She couldn’t believe she hadn’t put two and two together. Vincent had visited her when she had lived with Mitch. He had introduced himself as Mitch’s business partner and Anastasia had never even given him another thought. He had always bothered her and she had never wanted to be around when he came to visit but Mitch had always forced her to be. She now knew why. Vincent had been checking up on her to make sure she was still there every time he came to visit. She had been being spied on and she had never even known it.
“You will stick to the shadows.” He continued. “We do not want to alert anyone just yet, kill anyone who sees you.”
The Brutes grunted in response. “Maximus will be staying behind in order to ensure we continue on with our goals on this side. I will lead the rest of you to the warehouse where we will be meeting my contact. He will have more of these weapons for us, and we will begin talking about future plans for the city of Seattle.”
Anastasia’s blood ran cold. They weren’t just going into her world; they were going to her city as well!
“Shall we?” Vincent smiled and waved his hand. The blue swirling light of a portal opened behind him and the Brutes began pouring through.
Anastasia was so stunned by all the Brutes that she didn’t even notice he hadn’t used a vial to open it.
“We wait until the numbers are thinned.” Tony whispered. “Then we go for them.” He nodded towards Maximus and Vincent.
She nodded in agreement. Even if they went back for the other Fighters, and were able to get back in time, they wouldn’t stand a chance against the Brute force that stood before them.
They waited as she watched four-dozen Brutes pour into the city she had once called home.
Tony touched her shoulder and unsheathed his sword and together with Kaley, they plunged into the cavern.
“What’s this then?” She heard Vincent ask amused.
Anastasia threw herself on the nearest Brute and smiled with a sick satisfaction as it fell to the ground within seconds. She threw her dirk at another and knew without looking that it had met its target. She pounced on it and ripped the knife free before taking down another of the beasts.
She looked up just in time to see the look of worry on Vincent’s face as he watched her fight. You better be afraid you bastard, she thought to herself.
“Deal with her.” He said to Maximus and then headed for the portal.
“With pleasure.” Maximus smiled and pulled his sword out.
She lunged for him.
“It won’t stay open long!” She heard Tony yell.
“I know!” Her sword clashed with Maximus’ and they began to fight. She dodged a slice from his blade and then she dodged one from his.
“Isn’t this ironic? That we end up back here.” Maximus yelled over the sound of the portal.
“The irony will be when I bury my sword in your chest, you arrogant prick.”
Maximus laughed and dodged her. She spun and kicked him in the chest knocking him close to the portal.
She saw the fear in his eyes as he turned to look behind him and then back at her. She knew what he was going to do before he turned and crawled into the portal.
“Go Anastasia! I will hold them!” Tony yelled as he and Kaley continued fighting the last few Brutes who remained.
“I’ll be back girl.” She smiled at the large cat and nodded towards Tony.
“Give them hell Anastasia.”
She stepped through the portal and was gone.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Another murder. Dakota stood distancing himself from the gruesome scene before him. He didn’t need anyone to tell him who his latest victim was. Edgar Jackson had been first in line for state senate. He had already shown quite an increase in polls and was practically uncontested. Or had been anyways.
The man’s head had been bashed in but there were no weapons at the scene. He knew that the medical examiner would need to do a full autopsy before presenting his report, but Dakota already knew what it would read. If it were anything like the other murders that had been taking place over the last month, then it would show finger marks on the skull, as if someone had caved it in with their bare hands. There would be no fingerprints and the case would be unsolved.
There appeared to be no pattern to the victims and so far, the only connections he had were that three, now four he corrected himself, had been high ranking city or state officials. The others appeared to be random as if to throw the trail off of the actual targets. It wasn’t until this last death that he had started putting those pieces together.
They were up to thirty-five deaths in the last sixty days. People were panicked and the media was having a field day with it.
“This is just insane.” Mitchell stood next to him staring down at the body.
Dakota looked to his partner. He looked as if he had aged twenty years in the last month. He could relate.
“I'm going to head downtown.” Dakota turned and headed for his car. “I’ll meet you at the station.”
“Yeah.” Mitchell nodded and Dakota knew he hadn’t really heard him. The deaths were taking a larger toll on his partner then he wanted to admit.
Dakota climbed into his car and headed for downtown. He knew who his first suspec
t was going to be, and he hoped that now there was enough blood behind it that he could get a search warrant. There was only one man who stood to gain anything from these linked deaths and Dakota had been looking for any reason to bring the bastard down. It was well past time he paid Mitch Carter a visit.
“Ah Dakota. It’s nice of you to drop by.” Mitch stood from his desk as a leggy blonde assistant walked Dakota in. Mitch stretched his hand out and Dakota ignored it.
“This isn’t a social call, Carter.”
“Well then.” He laughed and lowered his hand. “What can I help you with, Detective?”
“Where were you last night between midnight and four a.m.?”
“What exactly am I being accused of?”
“Nothing.” Yet, he added silently. “Just answer the question, please.”
“Ask my assistant, we were working all night.” The lilt of his voice made Dakota’s stomach turn. Working my ass, he thought to himself. Everyone knew Mitch was a bastard with a reputation for ‘working’ late with his assistants, who he went through like most men went through good scotch.
“I will.” He turned to leave in order to talk to the assistant.
“Your father would be proud of you Dakota, following in his footsteps. Don’t follow to closely though, I would hate for anything to happen to you too.”
Dakota’s blood began to boil as he turned around. The son of a bitch had balls, that’s for sure. “You will never mention my father again, Mitch.”
“I'm only concerned for your safety, Dakota. Wouldn’t want your mother to have to face the evils of the world without her son to watch over her.”
Dakota was nose to nose with Mitch in seconds, his hand clenching into a fist in order to prevent himself from grabbing the asshole by the throat. “You do not speak of my mother, or my father, Mitch. Don’t leave town.” He added before turning and then stormed out of the office.
The assistant had been all too willing to back up his alibi. They had been in his office until four thirty that morning when he drove her back to her apartment and dropped her off. She had winked at him and then handed him a post it with her phone number on it in case he needed to get in contact with her again. Day or night she had added.
It was nearly midnight before he was unlocking the door to his apartment. He had taken a stop at the bar down the street and spent three hours drinking himself numb enough that he might be able to fall asleep tonight.
“Dakota? Is that you?” He heard his mother’s sleepy voice behind him and he turned trying his best to put a smile on his face. She stood half asleep in the doorway to her apartment that sat right across the hall from his.
“Hi mom, it was a late night, I’m sorry I woke you.”
“Dakota George Parker.” His mother used his full name and he knew she could smell the scotch on his breath. “Have you been drinking?”
“I had a few.”
“How many is a few?”
“It was a long day mom.” He pushed his door open and then turned to face her again. “I had a run in with Mitch today.”
He couldn’t tell her the details or that he suspected he had been involved with one of his cases, but he could at least let her know he had seen him.
He watched as the anger crossed her face. They had both suspected he had not only been behind Anastasia’s disappearance, although Mitch maintained that she had run away, but that he had been the man who orchestrated George Parkers death.
“I hope you find something that locks that son of a bitch up for good.” Elizabeth rarely cussed and it didn’t sound right coming from her. Dakota smiled and kissed her lightly wrinkled cheek.
“Me too, mom. I love you.”
“I love you too, Dakota. And no more drinking alone.”
“Yes, mom.” He paused fear momentarily gripping his heart. “I'm going to drive you to work tomorrow.” And from now on he added silently.
“Dakota, that’s not necessary. The hospital is only two blocks away.”
“I have an open morning.” He lied. “We can leave a little early and grab some breakfast.” He walked into his apartment and shut the door not giving her the chance to decline his offer. He watched through the peephole as she closed her door behind her.
That night Dakota dreamt of Ana. They were back in her room before her father burst in. He had sat on the bed facing her gently touching her bruised cheek. In his dream he had kissed her then, as he had wanted to do for so many years. He loved her and had been afraid to tell her. They had been so young and he had foolishly believed there would be time. After graduation maybe, once he had gotten her away from Mitch and Monica. If only he had known then how wrong he had been.
He took a moment soaking up every bit of her face. The way her hair curled softly around it when she actually let it down. She had kept it in a bun all the time and although she never admitted it, he knew it was so Mitch wouldn’t be able to grab it as easily.
Suddenly, Mitch had burst in and she was being ripped away from him. He yelled but she disappeared from his sight, just as she always did.
Dakota sat up in bed drenched in sweat. No matter how many years passed, or how many girls he dated he could never forget her face. Months had gone by when he drowned himself in women rather than alcohol. He tried so hard to forget her, to forget the anger he felt at himself for not being able to save her.
It didn’t matter that he had been a teenager, he should have made her leave with them that night. Begged her to come with them so that they could have kept her safe. But his pride hadn’t let him. When she chose to stay with Mitch it had felt as if a dagger had been shoved into his back.
He stood and walked to his bathroom. He splashed cold water on his face and glanced at his watch. Four a.m. Perfect. Rather than go back to bed where his ghosts could find him, he made a pot of coffee and stood staring out his window at the night sky.
He saw the blue light flash in the alley below him just as it had the last night he had seen Silvan at the bar. When he had found the matchbook. Suddenly there were gigantic men running out of it. He saw the swords and dropped his cup running for the door. He grabbed his gun and bounded down the stairs and into the alley barefoot, just in time to see that these were no men, they were beasts. He now knew who had been behind the murders. No man could have crushed those skulls, but these monsters could have. Pale as paper they came out, some with large bones sticking from their noses and other various muscled body parts, others covered head to toe in what looked to be brands.
Dakota ducked behind the dumpster to avoid being seen and watched as dozens of them poured into the street, his streets. He knew he couldn’t take them all on so he stayed put until the crowd began to thin. They lined up and then a man came from the light.
“Get to the warehouse and wait for me there. I have some business to attend to.” The man’s voice sunk into Dakota’s mind. Hadn’t he heard that voice before? He started to stand when the monsters began to march away. He stood and pointed his gun at the robed man.
“Stop, and order them to stop as well. You are under arrest.”
The man laughed at him. “Lower your weapon, boy.”
Dakota’s arm didn’t move.
The man moved closer and Dakota saw who was under the hood. “Mr. Price?” He had been Mitch’s business partner when he and Anastasia had been kids. He remembered seeing him visiting throughout the years and then suddenly the visits had stopped. Dakota had never paid him any thought.
“Why if it isn’t little Dakota Parker. Things have just taken an interesting turn.” He bared white teeth at Dakota and then flung his arm out to knock him against the wall. “No, leave him. We may need him. He will prove a nice distraction if we are followed.”
Dazed, Dakota stared at the man and the beasts as they walked away. A younger man crawled from the light and scrambled to his feet to chase after them. Dakota started to stand, but he was knocked down again as one last person came through the light before it disappeared. He felt the weight of a
body on top of him and he immediately attacked. He rolled his assaulter over onto their back and was rearing a fist back when he stopped.
“Ana?” His jaw dropped as he stared into blue eyes he knew as well as his own.
“Dakota?” He heard her whisper.
He jumped to his feet and stared at her. She was different, harder then she had been but he would have recognized her anywhere. She had two knives and a gun in the waistband of skintight leather pants. She wore leather boots up to her knees and a body-hugging vest. She had retrieved a sword from the ground and stood there like a woman on a mission.
It took him a moment to realize that her mission may not have been the same one he was on. He lifted his gun and pointed it at her.
“Put the sword away, Anastasia.”
“Dakota I don’t have time for this! They are getting away.”
“You’re not going anywhere until you tell me what the hell is going on.”
“Dakota, please.” She was frustrated and ten years ago he would have let her get away with not telling him everything, but no more. Especially when he wasn’t sure she was real to begin with. Where the hell had she been? How hard had he hit his head? Was he still dreaming?
Anastasia had been just as surprised to see Dakota as he had been to see her but she was angry that Maximus, the Brutes and their leader were getting away.
“Dammit, Dakota! People have died to get me this far. You have to let me go after them!”
“I don’t even know who they are. I'm certainly not letting you go after them until I know what’s going on. You can either come with me and fill me in, or I can cuff you and take you down to the station.”
She could see the resolution on his face and knew he wasn’t going to cave. He had always been stubborn but the years had clearly made him more so. Anastasia knew that she could leave, she knew that he wouldn’t be a match for her magic but she also knew she would never hurt him. She looked beyond him and into the darkness. The Brutes were already gone and it was unlikely she would find them now. Especially not in the dark in a city she barely knew anymore.
The Phoenix (The Prophecy #1) Page 11