Blood Oath (A Gabby Girls Adventure Novel, Book Two)

by T. L. Clarke

  My mind steeled itself as throngs of pajama-wearing Vineswell girls, none of them daughters of Circles like us, streamed out of Rose Hall dormitory screaming with sheer panic. They scattered aimlessly across the lawn as darkly clothed figures mysteriously swooped in from the shadows, grabbed them savagely by the throat, and bit into it with pure hunger. The pure savagery and brutality was heart wrenching as their flesh was ripped and their drained bodies slumped to the grass with a lifeless thud. It was like watching a horror movie, but in awful slow motion.

  Rosalinda’s face turned sickly green as she gagged. "Dios, they’re drinking their blood like vampires. Who are they?"

  We looked at each other anxiously because we instinctively knew who they were, the Banished, the enemies of the Eternals and Elementi. Grossly deformed, they stood waiting with clawlike hands and reptilian tongues darting out, tasting the air as if searching for more victims to drain.

  "We can’t just stand here. We have to do something." Jessica’s voice was husky with emotion as she nervously rubbed her now-glowing scarlet pendant.

  Zora quickly pushed up her eyeglasses that fell familiarly to the tip of her narrow nose. "Like what? Our scarlet pendants are not strong enough to conjure up ample magic to cast a strong spell to hurt them," she said with frustration, "so logically, there is nothing that we can do, and fighting is not an option. We’re just not ready."

  Rosalinda’s face looked green, like she was one step away from puking on the floor. "In other words, you mean that we would end up dead like the rest of the Normals out there," she responded coldly.

  I gave her a dirty look. She could act so cold and heartless when she wanted, and that seemed to be a lot lately. This was very concerning because if she wasn’t willing to fight for the Normals right now, when push came to shove, and death came knocking on our door, would she be willing to fight for Jessica or Zora or me? I didn’t even want to think about that right now because I knew that I would not like the answer.

  We watched as Circles—Eternal Warriors, and our protectors— sprinted out of the building, pulling out the two glowing swords from the leather sheaths attached to the slings on their backs. My heart pounded with relief. Everything would be all right now. They would use their combat skills to defeat the Banished. This was what they were trained to do, fight, defend, and protect us until we were trained to protect ourselves.

  I pressed my palms against the icy cold window with anxiousness because they were depressingly outnumbered. Their tall, nimble, and athletic bodies surrounded the Banished as they swiftly whipped their hands in the air, conjuring up huge white balls of energy that sailed through the wind, ripping into the Banished, and shattering them into pieces on impact. They circled the carnage, squatting proudly in Warrior stance, bouncing on the balls of their feet as if anticipating another attack. And like clockwork, more Banished streamed in from the edges of the darkness and stalked them menacingly.

  I banged on the window, yelling at them. "Get out of there! Run!" My stomach plummeted with fear and dread as the Banished pounced on them greedily, mowing down the Circles maliciously before they got to wield their magic. We watched in horror as their bodies dropped one by one with a heart-wrenching thud and the Banished swarmed over them, biting into the Circles’ necks, drinking until the bodies were completely drained. The Banished howled to the sky, their bodies glowing from drinking their blood.

  "No! This can’t be happening!" Zora screamed as if her heart was breaking.

  I just stood there in shock. My brain was numb, my body cold.

  Our doorknob rattled frantically, followed by thunderous banging and kicking on the door. Then we heard grunts, like fighting, then a thud.

  Rosalinda let out an ear-piercing squeal, grabbing my sleeve frantically. "They’re here and going to kill us."

  I gave her an evil look. "Stop it, Rosalinda. You’re freaking us out." We looked at each other with panic-filled eyes as the banging became more insistent.

  I silently evaluated our options. There was no way to escape through the window without breaking our legs. And our basic Warrior skills were just that, basic, and definitely no competition for the brutal Banished.

  The door banged again.

  "Open the door. Now."

  We all sagged with relief; it was Thallo.

  Zora bolted for the door and unlocked it. The door swung open harshly, barely missing hitting her. Thallo stood in the doorway with ripped and very bloody clothes. Two huge glowing swords were grasped in her hands; her eyes were alert and face grim. Her ivory skin glowed healthily, and nestled against her heaving chest was the huge, glowing, magic-laced scarlet stone pendant similar to ours.

  What in the world? It was like she astonishingly had transformed into an amazing kick-butt Eternal Warrior raring for battle. Her hands were covered with small, delicate, glowing white floral patterns mixed with vines and flowers; an etched vine wrapped around her wrist and spiraled up to her forearms.

  "Neophytes, we have to go. Now!" She looked at them impatiently. "Let’s snap to it. Time to put all that stuff you’ve learned into action."

  We stood paralyzed with shock because all we’d learned were basic combat skills, emphasis on basic.

  "What’s happening out there?" Rosalinda’s voice trembled with fright.

  Thallo’s eyes narrowed icily. "There is no time for questions. Move it."

  From what we saw outside on the lawn, combined with her battered appearance, we knew this was not a test. After scrambling, quickly dressing and shoving sneakers onto our feet, we bolted toward the safety of Thallo.

  Her eyes narrowed shrewdly. "Stay behind me at all times, and do not stop for any reason. If anything happens to me, run, and run fast. And if attacked, use all of the hand-to-hand combat skills you learned so far." Her eyes flashed with worry. "It will at least give you a fighting chance."

  Now I was really worried. Did she seriously expect us to fight off the Banished by ourselves? There was no way; our hand-to-hand combat skills were horrible, in fact, downright embarrassingly clumsy.

  Thallo abruptly stepped into the dark hallway, and we fumbled to get behind her, gasping with shock at the lifeless bodies of Vineswell girls scattered along the hallway, all with their throats ripped apart. She quickly held a finger to her lips, indicating silence, as she tiptoed along the hallway with her glowing swords held tightly.

  We huddled behind her as she glided down the stairs with alert eyes. A cold, prickly sensation ran down the base of my spine as I looked around the darkness with unease. I knew that something was wrong when a whiff of rot filled the air. Trouble was definitely coming. Thallo’s swords went from a white glow to a fiery red-hot color as if sensing something dangerous in the air, and each of our scarlet pendants began to glow. She abruptly held up her hand, gesturing to stop. The moonlight streamed through the wide-open front door as she looked around the foyer sharply. Her body tensed as she raised her swords in anticipation.

  A tall, darkly clad figure quickly emerged from the shadows with a blur of superhuman speed. He smiled coldly, causing the ragged scar that completely covered the left side of his face, snaking down and completely disappearing under his shirt, to crinkle from the sheer effort. His black hair was matted, body was frighteningly deformed, with half of it slimy, green, and crusty like a reptile, and his right hand had webs between his fingers.

  "Thallo! How did I know that you would be the last Circle standing? You were always tenacious to say the least," he said in a low, guttural voice, licking his lips with a bright pink lizard tongue. "Did you miss me much?" he spat sarcastically. He looked at her seductively as he muttered something in a language that I didn’t understand, but apparently Thallo did by the way her body tensed angrily.

  Thallo looked at him coldly. "You have no business here."

  He hissed at her menacingly. "Oh, that’s just not nice. Is that any way to greet"—a slow, icky smile spread across his face as his black, soulless eyes slowly crept up her body—"a close f
riend?"

  His voice sent a nasty chill straight down my spine.

  Thallo sneered, "That close friendship phase has come and gone a long time ago." She flicked her hand, sending from her fingers a whoosh of shimmering sparks aimed straight for him. She gasped with shock when the sparks sputtered and fizzled like defunct fireworks.

  He looked at her mockingly. "Don’t waste your time or precious magic, Eternal. Your magic has no effect on me." He smiled, but it never quite reached his eyes. "It’s such a pity that it has to be this way. You were always such a passionate Circle, and we’ve always had such good times."

  Thallo actually blushed before regaining her composure.

  "But now, I’m on a very important mission and have no time for games." His tongue flicked out quickly. "Give me what I came for, and I will take pity on you and let you live."

  Thallo looked at him with distain. "Demon, go back to the pit of darkness you came from, and I’ll let you live."

  His eyes narrowed. "You know that I can’t do that, not without what I came for—the Akasha. Where is she?" he spat.

  Thallo’s mouth dropped open with shock.

  His eyes were calculating as he leisurely looked from Jessica, to Zora, to Rosalinda, and then to me. Long, thin, pointy white teeth glistened as his lips curled into a cold smile.

  "Ah, there you are." He sniffed the air loudly, shivering with delight. "Delicious, your blood absolutely reeks of innocence and the magic of the ancients, how refreshing."

  His eyes glazed over hypnotically as he stretched out his gross webbed hand. "Come to me, Akasha. Your chariot is waiting." His voice vibrated through the air, then hung there like a thick black cloud, literally choking the air out of the room and filling my lungs like thick sawdust.

  Instinctively, I clutched my throat as it constricted painfully. My body twitched as if I had no control of my limbs. My scarlet pendant pulsed like the wings of a bird frantically trying to flee. I closed my eyes, calming my nerves. Mercifully, my body slowly released. This man absolutely terrified me, and I didn’t know why.

  Thallo raised her glowing swords. "You cannot have her," she barked.

  "I’ll give you a choice. Either step out of the way or I will be forced to kill you—and then all of them." He smiled cruelly.

  "I choose neither." She looked at him shrewdly.

  He sneered. "How did I know that you would say that? Oh well, you can’t say that I didn’t ask politely." He raised his arms in the air, chanting loudly. "Warriors, come to me. Cerberus, I call thee."

  The floor rumbled like we were on the verge of being swallowed by an earthquake, and a putrid smell filled the air. It was absolutely dreadful, like the smell of decay and death. Darkly clad figures emerged from the shadows with superhuman speed, circling her menacingly with large swords in their hands. These men were horribly deformed with webbed, slimy, and gnarly hands that gripped their swords. Their skin was pale, glowing sickly white, and they had eyes the color of coal.

  I choked back the bile that gushed up my throat. A loud snarl pierced the air, revealing a giant black-and-gray three-headed hound that snapped and snarled at Thallo. Saliva dripped from its mouth as it opened unbelievably wide.

  He laughed coldly, motioning the darkly clad figures in our direction. "Grab the Akasha, and I’ll take care of my lovely Thallo." He smiled sadistically.

  The Cerberus ran toward her with lightning speed. Thallo windmilled her swords so fast that the air whooshed frighteningly. She looked at us with panic-filled eyes. "Run!" she screamed, slicing her swords swiftly through the air, connecting viciously with its head.

  The Banished looked at us nastily, moving toward us with unbelievable speed, swarming us like deadly ants on the attack. Icy fear raced through my body, but in a blink of an eye, survival mode kicked in. I held up my hands as if to push them away.

  "Don’t come near us," I spat angrily.

  One of the Banished’s lifeless eyes narrowed icily. "There is no ‘us.’ We only want one. The Akasha."

  My heart fluttered nervously. I could feel something brewing, a weird energy coursing through my body that caused my scarlet pendant to go absolutely haywire, flopping against my chest like a fish out of water. Zora shifted to run. He growled, low, guttural, snatching her by the throat with unheard-of speed, his teeth flashing as he went to bite her. I stared in disbelief, frozen. Then something snapped in me. Energy bubbled up from my toes, straight to my fingers. I flung my hands in his direction. It was as if everything was happing in slow motion. His hands were violently yanked away by some invisible force and twisted viciously behind his back, with bones cracking loudly. He howled like a wounded animal being attacked, screaming and jerking wildly. Huge animal like scratches appeared across his chest, with blood splattering over everything, including me.

  I stared in horror when his body slammed against the floor, over and over again, until it lay lifeless with an oddly colored black blood seeping into the floor.

  The rest of the Banished nervously backed away from us with eyes wide with shock and fear. Something grabbed them, lifting them in the air and ripping them into shreds.

  My hands were shaking so badly that I clasped them together in front of me to stop the uncontrollable trembling. My fingers tingled with energy begging to be unleashed.

  "Run!" I screamed.

  Our bodies kicked into high gear as we quickly ran through the open door. I didn’t know where we were running, but I knew that it had to be far away from them.

  My heart pounded as if it was trying to burst out of my chest. My lungs burned with effort. I was so consumed with fleeing that I didn’t even notice the lifeless bodies of the professors I’d grown to love, until I tripped over them, landing on the grass with a loud thud. I scrambled to my feet, freaked out by their blooded bodies and lifeless eyes, which stared up at me, frozen in pain. But what freaked me out the most was seeing the translucent bodies of professors and students walking aimlessly across the lawns. It was as if they didn’t realize that they were dead. Some of them stared at me with eyes that were so lost, and then disappeared into thin air.

  Spinning quickly, I took off in a full-out sprint with my mind screaming over and over, Run! And then I heard it, the familiar sound of a strangled scream. Screeching to a stop, I looked over my shoulder.

  "No!" Jessica screamed as she stood over the bodies of professors and students. Her body shook with body-rocking tears.

  Panicked, I ran back to her. I wanted to bawl my eyes out too, but knew that if we didn’t make it at least to the tree line, we all would die.

  "Jess, keep moving. There’s nothing we can do for them now." I tugged on her arm roughly, desperately.

  Jessica just stared while Rosalinda and Zora looked around anxiously.

  Grasping her face roughly, forcing her to meet my eyes, I said each word very slowly: "Jessica, we have to go."

  She tried to tug her face away from me to look at the bodies again, but I held it tightly.

  "Listen to me, Jess. They’re dead, and we have to go. Please."

  Tears streamed down her face as she sniffled then nodded with acceptance. "Where will we hide?"

  "I guess in the forest, right at the edge of the tree line. We’ll be able to see what’s happening from there." I wasn’t completely sure, but at least it gave us a fighting chance instead of being easy pickings out there in the open.

  Rosalinda’s head snapped around suddenly. "Did you hear that?"

  We barely breathed. It took me a few seconds to pick up the faint sounds. What was that? Footsteps. It was footsteps moving toward them with top speed. I grimaced. We had to make it to the forest, fast. Then I saw shadows approaching, quick as lightning.

  "Run," I said, pulling Jessica’s arm roughly. Without hesitation, we rushed across the lawn toward the forest.

  Normally this sprint would be nothing for me. But with Jessica in tow, it seemed to take forever to make it to the forest. Jessica tried to keep up, but she was struggling. I slowed
my pace a bit. There was no way that I was leaving her behind. But Rosalinda and Zora, they were running as if they had wings on their feet and sped by us, disappearing into the dense forest.

  An icy chill ran down my spine, causing me to shiver. I could hear the Banished footsteps catching up. Now I was practically dragging Jessica by the arm as she stumbled along. Our feet thumped against the dewy grass. We were just seconds from the cover of the forest, and safety. My heart pounded hard against my chest. My lungs burned. My legs were like rubber, wobbly, screaming to stop.

  The pursuing footsteps grew louder, closer. Oh please, if we could just make it…

  Then it happened, just minutes away from the safety of the forest. It rustled with sounds of hard footsteps, and suddenly, a menacing-looking young guy appeared from within it, directly into our path, brandishing huge, gleaming silver swords.

  Startled, we came to a screeching halt. Jessica yelped, dodging behind me.

  The cold, calculating look in his gray eyes rattled me. He was older than us, but not by much. He looked maybe eighteen years old, if not younger, and he was very tall and intimidating, with lightly tanned skin and jet-black hair. His leanly muscular forearms were heavily covered with an inky design that snaked downward to his completely inked hands.

  He slid his swords back into the sheath attached to his back as he looked at us with cold, deadly eyes, and in that terrifyingly crazed moment, confusedly, the only thing that popped into my head was that he looked like he could have just stepped out of a fashion magazine. And that under different circumstances—like if he wasn’t going to kill us and use our bones as wind chimes—I would have thought he was super hot.

  I quickly shook my head to clear my mind. I needed to focus. His absolute hotness was totally beside the point right now. He was the Banished, and the only obstacle keeping us from sweet escape and safety.

  I heard more footsteps approaching and saw more Banished Warriors appearing behind him with swords raised. They were coming out of the forest in droves. Exactly how many Banished did it take to overpower a school full of teenage girls?