Two Knights of Indulgence

by Alexandra O'Hurley

  Wheels crunched over the gravel and ice on the old logging road, and the large red luxury sedan pulled to a stop with a slight squeak to the breaks. The owl hooted in reply. The noise had probably sounded like its vermin prey. Two men exited the vehicle, and the guys loading the van stopped what they were doing to silently welcome them there.

  One of the newcomers spoke up. “Did you check the product before you started throwing them around?”

  The original three stared at one another. Nicolas imagined them all looking blankly. The mouthy guy cracked open one of the wooden tops and pulled an item out. Blue-black steel glinted in the moonlight, confirming Nicolas’ initial assumption. Weapons, and lots of them. The Illuminati typically used a different kind of steel, a kind with a blade. Guns had no true impact on the fight, as a gunshot wouldn’t stop him or his brethren, so the weapons were for someone else. But who?

  They’d gotten lucky earlier in the night, stumbling across two of the original three eating in a diner across town. All three were new recruits into the Illuminati and hadn’t yet learned to sense the power of the Templar Knights, an even luckier break. Nicolas and Matthias had watched them eat and quietly left immediately after them and followed them out here to the wooded spot.

  Matthias nudged him once more to get his attention. “I know the plan was to observe, but we need to intercept those. Who knows whose hands they could end up in.”

  “Agreed. Five against two. I like the odds.”

  Matthias answered Nicolas’ sarcasm with a grunt, his normal response to any form of humor. “Give me ten minutes to round the clearing and get to the other side. Look for a flash of light. I’ll take the three.”

  “But you took the high end on the last fight. It’s my turn to take on the triple team.”

  “Only you would make a fight sound like a porn flick.” Matthias looked back to the gathering of men before gazing back at Nicolas.

  “It’s a skill.”

  “I’m taking the three. The last triple team you took on nearly took you down.”

  “Hey, that almost sounded like a joke.”

  “I have my moments. Every five hundred years or so.” Matthias began to move away, pointing at his watch and then holding up ten fingers before he disappeared into the trees.

  Nicolas gazed at his watch before returning his stare to the five dead men walking. Adrenaline pumped through his body as he counted off the seconds, his gaze traveling to his watch every few moments. He slid his sword from its sheath quietly so as to not draw attention. He clasped the thick leather grip and squeezed it in both hands, loving the feel of the weapon’s weight. The Illuminati had been stepping up their actions over the last months, attacks were on the rise, and bedlam was becoming a daily event. Where chaos reigned, the Illuminati were never far away.

  The weapons were probably going to the Middle East. Over seven hundred years later and the area was still rife with disorder. Nicolas had learned a hard lesson over the years, realizing Matthias had been right all along. Death was an inevitable part of the world. Just not for them. They were the immortal guardians, standing up to the chaos the Illuminati brought forth.

  A glint of steel caught Nicolas’ eye, and he glanced at his watch. Seven minutes had passed, but when he heard the scream of death coming from the other side of the clearing, he knew Matthias hadn’t waited to begin. By the time Nicolas arrived, two men were already on the ground, their heads severed at the neck, blood pumping from their lifeless bodies as their life flooded Matthias with lightning. It didn’t even make the behemoth pause. He continued to fight as the arcs of electricity passed into him, making him even stronger.

  Nicolas caught one still standing off guard, plunging his sword through the man’s back as another rounded on him. He started to shut down and fight just as Matthias had trained him to so many years before. His blade swung, striking his opponent’s weapon. The dance began, the thrust and parry of a violent pairing, the two dueling to the death. Nicolas felt the cold sweat of battle sprinkling along his brow and sliding down his back, even in the coolness of the night.

  The Illuminati foe was spirited, fighting with much skill, but finally, Nicolas speared the man in the chest, slicing through his sternum and ripping down through ribs to get to his heart. Pushing the man off his sword, Nicolas watched as he fell limply to the ground. A blow to the heart wasn’t enough to ensure the man … or thing, as it was not truly a man any longer … would not come back to life. The only way was to take his head off his shoulders. Nicolas rounded to the side and chopped the head off, a clean break. Lightning flooded his body, making him freeze as the strength roiled through him.

  Sirens began to howl in the near distance, the civilian police. Nicolas turned to Matthias, concern filling him. They were far enough outside civilization for a police presence to not interfere with their work. Perhaps they were going to another scene, an accident or some other incident. But their close presence could make it more difficult to flee the location, especially if they were taking the weapons away to be destroyed.

  “Should we leave and hope the police will confiscate the weapons?” Nicolas considered out loud, sharing his idea with Matthias.

  “Even if the police took them, the Illuminati would have no problem taking them back and potentially killing the men protecting them. We have no choice but to load them up and take them with us, or they will arrive to their intended recipient eventually.”

  A shuffle caught Nicolas’ gaze. “Too late, boys.”

  The first man. Nicolas hadn’t taken his neck yet. The gun blast struck him in the chest, and he reeled back. Another shot took him to the ground. This was the end. Once he was on the ground, the Illuminati henchman could take his neck, and he would find oblivion. For some reason, the thought wasn’t as scary as he’d imagined. He would finally know peace. Blackness stole over him as the sounds of sirens grew louder.

  ****

  As sirens began to sound in the distance, Britt readied the room for the patient before going in to check vitals on her other patients. They’d already received the call for a gunshot victim on the way, ETA ten minutes. The patients were all growing weary, waiting to see a doctor as well, but the worst of the accident victims would come first. Now a GSV would bump ahead of them, too. She allayed as many of their fears as she could, made them as comfortable as possible, and held on that the night eventually had to come to an end.

  After the week Britt had had, she was bone weary. Working in an understaffed ER had led to her tenth day straight, but the adrenaline was quickly kicking in within the midst of the chaos. Her heart was a steady thud in her chest, her ears ringing slightly. It was no different than any other emergency situation, just on a grander scale.

  So why did she have goose bumps, and why did her chest clench in panic?

  Something was coming, barreling down on her, and she wasn’t sure what it was. Perhaps it was all the long days in a row pushing her over the edge into utter exhaustion. She just hoped they could free a doctor from the bus accident to help the man coming in, but she doubted that was possible since Joanne had already been pulled to help finish up the wounded accident victims. The EMTs would be the only help Britt would have until a doctor could be freed up. The hospital was a small rural one. They couldn’t handle multiple emergencies on this scale. It was already all hands on deck as it was.

  The sirens grew louder but stopped as the ambulance began to back up to the double doors around the corner. Reflections from the red lights danced along the walls, flooding the hallway with the fiery glow. Britt moved from the readied rooms to the entrance and helped bring the first man in. He was huge, his impressive feet dangling off the end of the gurney. A splash of bright red covered the center of his wide chest, his shirt cut away and baring an expanse of muscled flesh. Those muscles would benefit the patient as muscles were denser and would have made it harder for the bullet to penetrate. The EMT held cotton gauze to the wound as Britt helped guide the stretcher into the room. Another of the EMTs
entered the small cell and helped them lift the man off the trolley and onto the waiting bed.

  “His BP is over 75 and rising. Sats are 98 unassisted and pulse is 65. He seems to be getting stronger. The wound isn’t as bad as I originally thought once I cleaned him up. It doesn’t appear deep, either. Not sure why, but it seems the bullet stopped just before it got to his heart. Weirdest thing I’ve ever seen.”

  Britt looked up at the woman as the male EMT left them. Bullets didn’t just stop. The EMT must be new.

  “I’ll help move the other guy in while you triage this one if you point the way.”

  Britt stood taller. “The other guy?”

  “Ambulance two has the other guy. They should be backing up now.”

  “I got a call for one GSV, not two.”

  “There are two of them. Not sure how that ball got dropped.”

  “You guys are staying with me until we can free up a doc?”

  “There’s a backlog of calls. Something’s in the air tonight. Must be the full moon.”

  “You can’t go out on another call until you release your patient, and I refuse to accept. We don’t have the manpower right now. They’re all in the OR already. With the bus accident, we’re deep in the weeds.” How was Britt supposed to handle two gunshot victims on her own? “You’ll have to take one of them to Carson General. If you can’t stay, I can’t commit to their care.”

  “Carson is two hours away.” The woman thrust the files over for the man on the gurney, and Britt signed off before hovering back over the man.

  “You can’t come in and dump two on me. Take the other one to Carson.”

  The woman growled and ran from the room. Britt didn’t have time to worry about what they chose to do. She had a gunshot victim that required her attention in her bed. She lifted the gauze to take a look at what she had. As soon as her fingers touched the man’s skin, she felt a ripple of energy flow through her. Waves of power, waves of strength rushed from her hand into his body, and they flooded back into her as well. Connected in the most ethereal way, she saw inside his soul and was flayed open to him as well. Lust swamped her, making her body cry out with desire. Her pussy ached to be filled, the need to be connected in the most basic way overriding her logical mind.

  She fought the sensation, her body quivering at the power she reined in. His eyes popped open, and he stared at her. It wasn’t just a stare. He was looking through her and into her soul. She froze, rooted to the floor. She felt his large hand grasp her wrist, unable to break away from his gaze. Light flooded her, the room growing brilliant around her, the illumination steadily growing brighter and brighter. Britt pulled her eyes from his and looked at his body. It glowed just as brightly as hers did.

  He drew her hand to his wound, and it began to heal as she watched. Skin joined itself back together, and the blood absorbed back within, as if the injury had never been there. A blackened bullet slowly pushed to the surface as the last of the wound was healed. As quickly as it had begun, it was over. The glow darkened, and the usually bright hospital lighting looked pale in comparison.

  She breathed shallowly, her breath coming in gulps as she tried to right herself. Smoke lifted from the odd looking bullet, and it scorched her skin when she reached for it. She dropped it to the floor, where it promptly melted. Melted? What kind of bullets are these?

  “What was that?” the man growled out, his wild-eyed stare pushing her further off balance and making her forget the bullets.

  “I … I don’t know.” She did, to a point, but nothing like that had ever happened. A simple touch had never caused her gift to short circuit and go haywire. And the need she’d felt, it hadn’t gone away completely. She met his gaze once more, embarrassment filling her. Besides the elderly woman earlier that morning, no one had ever seen her powers at work. She’d only allowed Beverly to see because the woman was so close to death and if she had told, Britt was sure they’d believe her tales to be the hallucinations of a woman on the edge.

  Having been witnessed, she was fearful. She’d worked hard to hide whatever it was she had within her. It could be the beginning of the end.

  “Where is Nicolas?”

  “Who? Was he the other victim brought in with you? They’re about to transport him to Carson General. I couldn’t take both of you.” She supposed she could now, as it appeared he was perfectly fine.

  The man jumped from the bed, his tattered shirt falling off his body as he moved. She tried to block his escape but was thrust against the wall as he barreled out of the room. Britt pulled herself off the floor where she’d slid and ran after him. “Wait! You need to be checked!” What if he was the shooter? She had to stop him before he hurt the man in the ambulance.

  He busted out the doors toward the vehicle as it was pulling away, and she ran as fast as she could to catch up. He ripped open the back doors, and Britt could see the look of surprise on the female EMT’s face as she hovered over the other patient. Brakes squealed on the vehicle as the man began pulling the gurney out of the ambulance, the EMTs working hard to keep it in.

  The man was a brute, pure muscle rippling as he reached in, grasped the male EMT, and threw him to the ground. Fear seized Britt as she neared, knowing she couldn’t handle the strength he had, but she had to try. She jumped on his back, wrapping her arms around his neck and pulling as hard as she could. “Security! Security!”

  He twisted and turned below her, trying to throw her off, but she held on like glue. “Security!”

  A few of the more mobile patients or family members had drifted to the doorway, watching as she tried to wrestle the man. No one else ran to assist her. Britt was utterly alone with a monster of a man hell-bent on getting to the second victim. She might as well have been a fly buzzing around his head, annoying but altogether ineffective.

  “That the best you got, healer?”

  The man grasped the gurney and yanked it out of the ambulance, ripping apart the locks that held it to the ambulance floor. The driver jumped out of his seat and hedged close. “We all need to calm down, man.”

  “I am calm,” he spat.

  Britt knew the man was actually speaking the truth, which rattled her. From her spot around his neck, she could feel his pulse pumping against her arm. His heartbeat was steady and unchanging. He didn’t breathe heavily. He hadn’t even broken a sweat.

  “Leave my brother be. He’ll recover.”

  The EMTs from the second ambulance rounded behind him, circling in close. She knew it was a mistake to circle the man. If he felt too enclosed, he could lash out and truly hurt someone. The driver rounded the beast of a man. “He’s been seriously wounded and needs medical attention. We’re not trying to hurt him. I swear.”

  “He needs our help,” Britt whispered from his back. She suddenly felt the humor of her position, wrapped around his neck. Knowing she must have looked stupid, she slowly slipped down him and dropped to the ground.

  “He doesn’t need your help,” he said to the driver before turning to Britt. “But perhaps he could use yours.”

  “We can take him inside. I can see what I can do.”

  “They leave.” The man pointed at the ambulance and the EMTs before rounding back to her. “And we will go inside.”

  The EMTs gazed at Britt, all shaking their heads no. The driver stepped closer. “We should go in with her. To help.”

  “She doesn’t need your help. Leave. Or I’ll become un—calm.”

  “It’ll be alright, guys. Just go. I’ll help his brother, and we’ll be just fine.”

  The EMTs watched her, concern etched over their faces. The driver shook his head before moving to his co-worker on the ground. They lifted the fallen man into the ambulance as the brute dragged the wheeled gurney closer to the ER doors, her arm in a stranglehold. She still felt a rush of power at his touch, and it made her feel lightheaded. He pushed the patient into the room they had just exited and then eyed her, releasing his grip on her arm. “Go ahead. Do what you do.”


  Britt halted. She momentarily forgot all of her training and knowledge for a split second as the situation hit her. She was afraid, yet knew the man wouldn’t hurt her. “Help me move him to the bed and roll the gurney out.”

  The man picked up his brother without help and laid him on the surface as if the man weighed nothing and rolled out the stretcher as instructed. She moved close and noted three gunshot wounds slowly trickling blood behind red-stained gauze. As she peeled away the first, she was surprised to see a healing wound. It wasn’t fresh but looked days old.

  “How long ago was he hurt?”

  The blond behemoth checked his watch. “Thirty minutes, give or take.”

  “That’s impossible.”

  “Can you help him or not? Touch him. Do your light brite thing and let us be on our way.”

  “Light brite? I don’t know what that was.”

  “Liar. I can see that on your face. You know what it was. Just do it.”

  It wasn’t a complete lie, but she didn’t have time to argue with him. She looked back to her patient, uncertainty filling her. If she touched him, would her gift go bonkers again? It would be easy enough to find out. She slowly peeled the gauze off the second and third entry wounds and saw the same thing, a healing injury.

  Britt lowered her palm between the gashes and took a deep breath. Light filled the room once more, and she felt the energy pumping around her as the wounds began to knit together. Need swamped her, the same intense sexual desire making her body quiver as the lights swirled around her. Sweat beaded her brow as she fought the reaction once more.

  Two bullets lifted to the surface of the man’s chest once the holes sealed themselves, but there was nothing of the third. She moved them and found them as hot as the one she’d removed from the brute. As they hit the floor, they melted as well. Britt lifted her hand away, startled at not only the bullets but also her odd reaction to these two patients.