Catee's Grace

by Keith Holmes

  "Cuz if you've got family, I'll let ya live," he explained, nearing ever closer.

  "KILL HIM!" Sasha screamed, slapping both men in the back as she yelled.

  Jahleel groused as she yelled. He didn't need gunfire giving away their location. And he wasn't in the mood to play nice. Before each man could begin to squeeze their triggers, he was upon them. A flurry of masterful strikes disarmed them and delivered them to a painful sleep. With a heavy thud both men fell to the floor.

  "Aww buttercup, you ain't glad to see me again?" he asked, stalking toward Sasha.

  She turned quickly, planning to use Catee as a shield. But rather than a little girl, she found a very angry father.

  Ethan snatched her into his arms, spun her so that her back was to his chest, and filled a fist with her hair. It felt like an instinctual motion to him, though he'd never done it before. It caused Sasha's neck to wrench painfully to one side. The young sorceress cried out in fear and groaned in pain, but Ethan didn't hear the sound of her complaint. All his freshly gifted ears could hear was the sound of blood rushing through her jugular.

  “Ethan no!” Jahleel shouted.

  The young father's eyes fluttered and then shot wide, burning and blood colored. He felt something punch through his gums and felt razor tips in his mouth. The sound of blood pulsing through Sasha's neck seemed to call to him as a siren's song.

  Jahleel inched forward, shaking his head.

  “If you do this it’s done. It’s sealed,” the Knight pleaded. But it was clear that his words fell upon deaf ears.

  Ethan had fought this burgeoning instinct for the entire journey and now he felt like a man who'd held his breath too long.

  "No Daddy," Catee said, stepping to her father’s side.

  Ethan looked to her and his eyes began to soften. But the hunger stiffened him and he tightened his grip on the sorceress.

  "I can't fight anymore," he said, his voice muffled behind new teeth.

  Jahleel reached for his sword.

  Catee reached for her father’s hand. His flesh burned to her touch.

  Ethan yanked back and grunted. Then slowly he lifted his hand before his face. Rage built in his blood-soaked eyes; anger for this fate and he clenched that fist. Then suddenly he cast Sasha aside like a ragdoll.

  She met the wall with a thud and fell to the floor.

  Ethan collapsed to his knees as Catee rushed into him. But as she threw her arms around his neck, it burned and he recoiled.

  “oh no… oh no Daddy… oh no,” she lamented.

  Ethan's eyes found the floor in requiem, then he lifted them to his daughter.

  “You can fix me later baby,” he said hopefully. “We have to find Mommy right now though. Where’s Mommy?”

  Jahleel’s eyes bolted up as he awaited the child’s answer, hopes of a reunion with Ethan’s wife pushing aside his sadness for the moment.

  “Her's here,” Catee answered, casting a hand in the direction where Tara’s spirit hovered.

  Ethan didn’t understand. “I know she’s here Catee, but where? We have to save her too.”

  Catee took a breath before looking into her father’s eyes, speaking as slowly and clearly as she could.

  “Her's here with us Daddy,” the little one replied.

  “I’ll find her Ethan. You have to get Catee out of here,” Jahleel said, looking to Sasha as she began to stir.

  “You’ll need me,” the young father insisted.

  “She needs you. Take her to safety. The farm. I’ll meet you there with Tara.”

  Ethan frowned. “You’re a good man Jahleel. Forgive me for ever doubting that.”

  “Adthair Brealomn Ethan Moyer.”

  The two friends nodded to each other and then Ethan turned to his daughter. “There are men outside baby… men that will try to hurt us. I need for you to follow me but if I tell you to stay back, you have to stay back and be very quiet and still okay?”

  “You’ll protect me Daddy. I know you will,” she nodded.

  "I promise, I will," he said and then he stood, instinctively reaching for her hand, only to quickly withdraw it.

  Jahleel watched them go and then turned to Sasha as she began to groan to life. He slapped her on the cheeks a few times to rouse her fully. “Where is she?" he demanded.

  CHAPTER FIFTY-EIGHT

  "She gives of herself willingly!" Claudia pronounced as the gathering became disjointed and whispers kicked up. "It is so that she may serve you, all of you!"

  But before the coven could consider the ramifications on what they'd witnessed, the hissing, chaotic pool's water calmed. Slowly a new creature began to emerge.

  As Claudia had, the creature arose until its feet stood upon the water. Green eyes speckled with yellow looked upon the Great Mother. Joli's alabaster skin had become utterly black and embossed with jagged scales. At each of her ribs there was a tentacle. Her teeth had become pointed. Aside from a familiar, feminine silhouette and a mane of wet, dark hair, the High Priestess was hardly discernable to her former self. She lifted a hand and pointed an elongated talon at Claudia. "Mha N'kra a'ga. S'g chu blish mha."

  I have accepted your offering Sidhe. What is it that you bid of me?

  "My lord? Why have you taken this form?" Claudia asked warily.

  "Tu s'g chu suk s'g tzeach," it smirked. That you may look upon your betrayal.

  The Great Mother's head drooped and she averted her gaze. But before she could claim her dark blessing, a thunder pounded against the chantry doors, nearly driving them from their hinges. The old dragon turned to the sound.

  "Aegkslicch," it hissed and smirked.

  Claudia looked to her husband with a start. Her powers were in manipulation and obfuscation. She nor her sisters could stand against a Vigilant. Her eye twitched as she watched the knight ram into those doors again, starting to buckle. Her dark blessing would have to wait until next year.

  “I beseech thee Gourkiel… destroy my enemies!” she said, lament lacing her voice.

  One of the sliding doors burst in two pieces and Jahleel stepped into the room. He'd expected a room full of backstabbing occultists. He found instead one of the very beasts his order existed to hunt and kill. Their gazes met, neither afraid, both filled with desire for the other's blood. The dragon gave a curt nod.

  "Jha," it said. Granted.

  Jahleel readied his sword. The dragon stepped from the pool to reveal canine-like legs that ended in a razor-talon raptor's foot. It lowered its head, heavy claws clicking across the stones as it began to charge.

  A shoulder block sent the knight flying across the room, but he was Taranu and his agility was second to none. Though he hadn't dodged the dragon's attack, he allowed its energy to push him, falling to his back to send it flying with his legs. The dragon crashed hard across the room as the witches cowered.

  The moment the dragon was distracted, Jahleel scanned the room. But the women had bunched into tight groups. His eyes set on the dragon, he shouted to her.

  "Mrs. Moyer? Tara?" he yelled.

  The dragon began to chuckle as it rose to its feet. "Poor, blind knight," it teased. Its words hummed across a mouthful of fangs making them heavy. "There is your Tara." It nodded toward the pool behind him.

  Jahleel's brow grew heavy. The dragon wouldn't be laughing if any good had come to Catee's mother and he fought the urge to look to the pool. It took teams of Vigilant to stand against a greater dragon. He dare not give it that opening. And so he stood his ground, the dragon shifting its weight from foot to foot. But it was the knight's turn to charge.

  Jahleel lifted his sword into the air as a baseball player might. "Then for her I take your life." Jahleel began to charge when a thrill raced his spine and he heard the young mother call to him.

  "Jahleel! Help me!"

  He turned his head for a split second. Tara's lifeless body lay face down in the pool. One stood above her, one whose gifts were in manipulation and lies.

  Before Jahleel could return to his
charge, the dragon was upon him. He felt a powerful thud to the top of his head. It sent him to his knees and for a moment he lost his vision. His sword fell to his side as tendrils began to encase him.

  Instinct caused his fingers to fumble for that blade, to grasp it. As fast as a lightning strike, he plunged the tip into the dragon's belly before it took command of his arms and bound them tightly in its coils. But he'd barely broken the monster's skin, a flesh wound.

  Jahleel fought against those tentacles trying to free himself as blood gushed down his face and neck. But his strength was quickly waning. The dragon lowered a talon-fingered hand to his head and began to gloat.

  "In fealty. Is this not where you belong?" it mocked. The wyrm looked down to the sword, still dangling from its belly. "Is this the best the light can offer? Do you feel foolish knight? Do you hope to win trading lives for flesh wounds?"

  Jahleel lifted fluttering eyes to the creature. It hadn't noticed the change in his fight against its crushing coils - that he was twisting so that his sword's pommel would rest against his knee.

  "Look my brides! Look upon your master's might!" it declared, turning to the frightened gathering. "Can you not see the futility in their fight? Remember this day!"

  As Jahleel loaded the muscles in his leg, the sword wriggled. The dragon looked to him. "Remember it," Jahleel nodded. With his last ounce of strength he kicked upward, driving the sword through the dragon's body. It screeched in pain as that blessed blade pierced the side of its neck and protruded through.

  As the dragon began to shake, its grip on Jahleel loosened and he fell to the floor. He lay there, crushed as he began to speak an invocation.

  “ Ki tho aeris eb aeris." As you have eaten, be eaten.

  "SILENCE HIIIM!!" the dragon bellowed, doubling over in pain.

  "Ki tho dorsta, eb dorsta."As you have burned, burn.

  On its knees the creature began screaming in its own tongue, a plea for aid, a curse for the knight.

  "Ki tho dahgta, eb dahgta."As you have slain, be slain.

  Suddenly the pool burst into blue flames and the blackness began ripping away from Joli's body, like some disgusting river of filth, it began to flow toward the pool.

  "Dadmen, bahnd Glomath, et nolorin tho kerdir na yan ma tho dadmen." Return unto the blighted deep, and inform your master by whose hand you have returned.

  The black filth that flowed from her made a wide path around the fallen knight until he looked as though he were on an island surrounded by an ink-colored sea.

  "En nomini patris, et fili, et spiritus sancti," Jahleel said, his eyes growing heavy and dark.

  The ooze cried out at the benediction, an unearthly shriek of rage and fear. Finally the river of putrescence began to abate. Jahleel hadn't the strength to lift his face from the cold stone floor.

  "Ahmlad. So mote it be," he muttered before finally closing his eyes.

  As though he had willed it, the black-soaked pool exploded, shooting a plume of dark water to the ceiling. Once it crashed down all fell silent.

  CHAPTER FIFTY-NINE

  Ethan made his way quickly but quietly down the hallway, hunched like a soldier in a war zone. The skin around his neck glowed with a sunburn glow in the places his blessed little girl had touched.

  At the entrance to the building both paused as Ethan glanced around the corner to make sure the way was clear. To his relief, it was.

  He crouched before his daughter, catching himself before placing his hands on her shoulders.

  “Listen baby… when we get out of here I need for you to stay as close to me as you can. And if anything happens, you keep running okay? If Daddy falls down… or anything… you keep going until you find some sheep in a pen. Can you do that for me?”

  Catee nodded softly as she focused on her father’s words, then quietly she answered. “Don’t worry Daddy. Mommy show me.”

  Ethan's attention bolted to a sound. Across the way silhouettes of two more ‘policemen’ rustled. He hunkered down, putting himself between the men and his little girl, watching them make their way by. Once he was satisfied that the way was clear, he stood and looked to Catee.

  “Okay baby. Let’s go.”

  The trip across the side yard wasn’t that long but it felt like miles for Ethan as he placed Catee in front of him and shadowed her close. Her little legs were moving as swiftly as they could but no amount of speed could have satisfied the knot in Ethan’s worried stomach. Though his eyes searched the grounds for safety, his mind focused on Tara, Jahleel, and the nagging, unnatural hunger in his soul.

  A few paces from the edge of the estate, a growl brought both Ethan and Tara to a dead stop as a guard dog emerged from the shadows. Catee retreated to her father’s legs; careful not to touch. But the young father stood steadfast, anger quickly bubbling up in him as he looked to the slavering beast.

  Catee whimpered and circled around the back of her father’s legs as the dog stalked forward and the anger in Ethan’s heart built to rage as he crouched and prepared to do battle.

  Tara watched in dismay. Out of desperation the young mother screamed at the beast. “GET AWAY FROM THEM!” To her surprise, the animal paused, perked its ears and looked to her.

  She’d heard stories of animals and their awareness to the spirit world but she'd paid them little heed. Slowly she moved forward, clicking at the saw-toothed animal. Amazingly, it followed her command.

  Ethan watched in astonishment as the dog began meandering away. He turned to his daughter. "Good job baby," he quietly celebrated. "Let's go."

  CHAPTER SIXTY

  Claudia took the sacrificial dagger into her hands as she stared at the body of the Vigilant.

  "He.... he is dead!" she said, though she wasn't sure. "Our husband is victorious!"

  Her 'children' continued to cower, frightened and confused. They looked on as the Great Mother made her way cautiously toward the knight's body.

  "Hail Gourkiel!" she shouted, her voice shaking.

  A few feet away from Jahleel, she paused. Then her eyes filled with horror.

  Jahleel's hand balled into a fist and then he slapped it down to the floor, trying to get up.

  Claudia quickly dashed to his side and kicked his sword, sending it skidding many feet away. Then she leapt back out of his reach as he looked to her.

  "You think I need a sword to kill you?" he sneered.

  A thought nearly as frightening had occurred to her. She paced slowly backward as her eyes darted around the room.

  "Where is the father?" she asked.

  He didn't feel like it, but Jahleel grinned. "With Catee now. Far away from here."

  “FIND THE CHILD!” Claudia screamed, barely giving her ‘children’ the opportunity to process the horror that had occurred before their eyes. Confused, each stood and looked to the other.

  Jahleel pushed himself to his feet, an arm clutched across his broken ribcage. Stooped over he began fumbling toward the door.

  “THE DAWN CHILD!! FIND HER!” Rage filled the Great Mother’s voice as she commanded her confused troops, but none were brave enough to go near the Vigilant. He paused and painfully bent to scoop up his sword.

  "HE IS ONE BROKEN KNIGHT!" Claudia insisted, but nary a 'child' would heed her call.

  As Jahleel reached the door he came face-to-face with Sasha. She jumped and pressed her back to the wall as he limped past her.

  As soon as Jahleel had passed, Sasha stepped into the chantry. She had watched the proceedings, the betrayal, the defeat of the dragon from the doorway. Her eyes set upon the "Great Mother" as she threw her fit and something inside the young sorceress clicked. She listened quietly as the old witch berated the ones she claimed to love and then she raised her voice.

  "No," Sasha shouted, looking to Tara's body in the pool. "No Great Mother. The child is dead."

  Claudia froze when she heard the words. An odd calm passed over her as she turned to Sasha.

  “What? What do you mean the child is dead?” she replied, a
hiss in her words.

  "The father did it," she said, shaking her head. "The blood-drinkers must have gotten to him. When he came for her he was fully transformed. And when she found his arms he... couldn't resist."

  Claudia cast a doubting eye at the nervous young sorceress.

  "You saw this?" she doubted.

  Sasha nodded, averting her eyes.

  Claudia's face twisted with doubt but also intrigue. She was far too seasoned to fall for the lies of a brash, young girl, but Sasha’s courage fascinated her. Had the time she spent with the Dawn Child been so compelling as to have changed the precepts imprinted on Sasha's heart since her birth?

  "Sisters?" Claudia said, reclaiming the dignity with which, she usually held herself. "The Vigilant know of this place. Burn it."

  With that the Great Mother began walking toward the broken doors. Sasha lowered her head as she passed. A 'white robe' called to her, worried.

  "Great Mother?"

  Claudia sighed and turned to her congregation.

  "My sisters, we have lost a battle today, but it's the war that we shall win. I will see you all in New York come the next winter's eve," she said. "Mourn if you must, but there are other Dawn Children. We will have our day."

  With that the Great Mother turned and left.

  CHAPTER SIXTY-ONE

  Ethan and Catee made their way into the farmyard just as a new snow began to fall. As Ethan laid eyes upon the warmth glowing from the little windows in the farmhouse, a sense of peace fell over him, pushing aside the duty that had driven him thus far. Without notice he fell to his hands and knees in the snow as his stomach began to churn. Catee stepped to his head and nearly placed a hand atop his shoulder before catching herself; she didn’t want to hurt her daddy again.

  “Okay Daddy?” she asked.

  Halfway through the sentence lambs blood burst from his mouth and melted an inch or so into the snow before him. As Jahleel had warned, the animal blood hadn’t been able to sustain him for long. Ethan groaned in pain as he slapped a hand across his stomach and tears of blood streamed down from his eyes. Quickly he sat up, facing his daughter and shook his head.