Infinitas 1 - Warriors of Faith (20 page)

When they got back to the hallway, they saw Eva firing her gun trying to keep the creatures away.
Shia’s head was resting in her lap. He was bleeding heavily and had already lost consciousness.
Tears were running down Eva’s cheeks obscuring her view so much so that she didn’t notice the creatures creeping up to her from the side.
»Eva, watch out! Head down!« shouted Jôrek ready to fire at one of the creatures.
However, it had already jumped Eva and was biting into her neck.
Jôrek couldn’t shoot.
The danger of hitting Eva was much too high.

He flew towards the both of them in one leap and pulled the creature off Eva and sliced open his throat in one smooth cut.
Blood was oozing out of a huge gaping wound on Eva’s neck.

»Jesus Christ, we have to get out of here!« shouted Sara pulling Aragón towards the SUV, which was parked running outside the door.
Maroush covered them while the others carried Eva and Shia to the car.

»We have to get to Beacon Hill and save Phoebe!« screamed Sara to Jôrek and Ruben.

Channing sat down behind the wheel of the Q7 and looked questionably over at Maroush who was still standing in the front doorway.

»If you want to get out of here alive, come with me!« he shouted at Sunny who was standing undecidedly there with a gun in her hand starring at all the injured vampires piling up in the hallway.
Without turning around, she dropped her gun and jumped in the car.
Before Maroush did the same, he took two small hand grenades out of his pants pocket, pulled the pins and tossed them through the door into the hallway. Channing took off towards the street going as fast as he could possibly drive.

You could see thick gray smoke rising in the distance and hear the siren of fire trucks approaching.
Sara screeched the Audi to a stop on the side of the road, while Ruben steered the SUV directly towards the burning building.
He pulled up as if he wanted to drive the car directly into the building. And that’s exactly what he ended up doing.
After Jôrek got out of the car, Ruben hit the gas and raced through the glass entryway, which exploded into thousands of tiny glass splinters.

Sure-footed, he leapt from the car and ran into the building, pulling his sweater over his mouth and nose so that only his eyes could be seen beneath his dark hair.

The smoke was so thick that it was impossible to see anything.
However, the heat created by the fire was worse.
The entire ground floor had been set on fire in several different locations.
Ruben could smell fire accelerant.
He made his way to the spiral staircase leading down to the basement.
Sara had informed him by radio where he would be able to find Phoebe.

He immediately saw that smoke was also drifting under the door barricaded from the outside with an iron bar.

»Phoebe, are you in there?
Sara sent me to get you out of here!« he shouted loudly.
After he’d removed the metal bar and opened the door, Phoebe fell into his arms.
Her eyes were filled with fear.
»They killed Pete. They shot him,« she whimpered softly.
Ruben soothingly stroked her face.
»It’s okay.
I’ll get you out of here as fast as possible!
The fire department will be here any minute now.« »No, I can’t!« she screamed in terror. »I can’t leave this place.« She thrashed out wildly with her arms trying to free herself from Ruben.

»Phoebe, we have to go, otherwise we’re going to burn to death!
Be reasonable!« There was nothing she could do against Ruben’s strong arms.

»Listen carefully.
I’m going to pick you up and carry you out of here.
Sara and Jôrek are waiting for us outside.
We’ll take you with us and no one will see you.
Come on, put your arms around me and hold on.
I’m going to protect you and I’m not going to let go of you.«

As if hypnotized, she looked into his eyes and willingly let him pick her up.
She buried her face deeply into Ruben’s broad shoulder like a little girl wanting to be comforted.
 

Faster than the human eye, he ran up the stairs towards the exit.
Jôrek had already opened the back door of the car and was waiting for Ruben to climb in with his delicate cargo.
He then sped towards Blue Ridge, with Sara following closely behind.

The light gray column of smoke rose up threateningly from the burning building and the fire department had their hands full getting the flames under control.
The fireworks at the Olympic games had been nothing compared to this.
Two large fires within a half hour didn’t happen everyday in Seattle.
Worried neighbors had called 911 when they heard two explosions from roughly a mile away.

Kilian Castaway couldn’t believe his eyes when he drove his black Bentley Mulsanne down the driveway leading to his house.
Where the door had been, there was now a huge hole that looked like the crater of a smoking volcano.

»Holy shit!« were the only fitting words to come out of Philippe’s mouth.

»What happened?« »What do you think, stupid? What does it look like? The warriors were here and it looks like they’ve freed Aragón!«

In the early morning after the fire department had put out the fire, Castaway strode through the remains of his house and took inventory.
The vampires who hadn’t burned in the fire had left the scene quickly and there was no sign of Sunny.
She’d probably died in the attack too.
It was going to take awhile to build a new headquarters, but one thing was sure:
This act would not go unpunished.
Castaway looked out towards the horizon clenching his fists.

»You will not survive my revenge! That is a promise I won’t break!« he bellowed loudly into the rising sun.

Sara instructed Jôrek to keep watch. For the warriors, Kilian Castaway was still a name without a face and they had no idea what he was going to do next.
When she entered the house, she saw Channing standing in the living room with a concerned look on his face.

»Are you okay?« Channing nodded. »Oh my God, Shia?«

»No, he’s injured, but his wounds are healing.
It’s Eva.« Channing walked over and took her in his arms.
»Is she ... is she dead?« She buried her head into his strong chest, but wasn’t able to look at him.
He growled quietly to himself, looking for the right words.
»No, she’s alive, but she’s been so badly injured that I had to transform her.
She’s sleeping now and Shia doesn’t know.
We don’t know how he’s going to react.« Sara nodded approvingly.

»We’ll have to tell him later.
But there’s so much to do that I don’t even know where to start.
Oh Channing, I’m so tired.« She looked over at him as tears of exhaustion ran down her cheeks; tears of anger and despair.

»I’m here. You aren’t alone.
We can do this together. Let me take you up to your room so you can get some rest.
We’ll talk about our plan later.« Channing wanted to lead her out of the room, but Sara’s eyes remained fixed on Aragón.

»Did they do anything to you? Are you okay?
She hurried over to him and put her arms around him.
He stroked her hair soothingly.
»No Sara, everything’s fine.
They want the
Diarium
and they
tried to find out where we’ve hidden it.«
This wasn’t a huge surprise to anyone.
»They didn’t get anything out of me.
There was someone there who helped me.
Sunny, the vampire who was in the club with Philippe.« Sara looked at him confused. »Are you sure? She’s on their side!« Maroush, who’d been leaning back observing the scene, pushed himself up off the wall.
»I’ll find out.
I locked her in one of the guest rooms.
I’ll go and see how she is.«

Throughout the entire drive, Phoebe clung to Ruben with her face buried deep in his chest.
He sensed her fear and could feel her entire body shaking.
He gently stroked her back with his hands and spoke to her softly, saying to her again and again,
»Don’t worry. You’re safe.
I’ll take care of you.«
He carried her through the garage up to his room in the attic of the house without being noticed by the other warriors.
It was the last door at the end of the hallway away from the others.
He put her down on his bed, but kept her tightly in his arms.
He sat there for a full two hours, rocking her in his arms like a child who’d just woken up from a bad dream until she finally stopped crying.

Departure

Chapter 16

A
s the sun began to come up, the warriors felt out of harm’s way and peace returned to the house.
The hunters of darkness were not able to tolerate daylight so the likelihood of an eminent attack was fairly low.
The fact that Philippe Orlandie knew the exact location of Sara’s house and now belonged to the hunters didn’t make the situation any easier.
Each warrior was notified to keep eyes and ears open.

Maroush closed the door of the guest room behind him and scanned the room for Sunny.
She sat on the floor in one of the corners with her arms and ankles bound starring into space.

Maroush sat down on a chair half straddling it, and with his chin resting on his lower arm, he looked down at her.

»I didn’t want to transform him,« mumbled Sunny after a minute.
»None of them, but Castaway forced me to. I’m O negative so he used me to build up his army cause I’m compatible with everyone.«
Maroush nodded knowingly.

»I hate Castaway.
I despise him for what he’s done to me.« »Did he transform you into a vampire?« asked Maroush calmly and for the first time, Sunny looked up at him and shook her head.
»No, that was someone else. I don’t know who it was exactly, but it wasn’t Kilian.«

And after another minute she asked hesitantly:
»What are you going to do with me?«

»I can’t answer that question yet.
We all have to decide that.«
He got up out of the chair and sat down Indian style on the floor in front of her.
She looked at him skeptically from underneath her thick eyelashes. »What’s your name? Where are you from?«

»I am Tariq ibn Ziyad. I come from Morocco. My friends call me Maroush and I am a warrior of faith!« Sunny nodded.

»I’ve heard of you. Castaway was constantly talking about the warriors.
That you don’t fear daylight like other vampires.
You’re bigger and stronger than all the others and you protect the sacred book.
Kilian wants it so that he knows the secret to surviving in daylight.
He won’t stop until he’s got it.«

Maroush nodded. »Yes, he’s been hunting the
Diarium
and the secret for many years now.
We’ve been able to hide from him for a while.« »He created those creatures to help in his search and I had to assist him.
I guess you guys aren’t interested in letting me stay.« Contempt crept into her voice.

»Who knows, maybe you can help us.
You could support us in our battle against Castaway, if you’re truly serious.« She ran her hand through her short hair, her movement sending the scent of cinnamon wafting over towards Maroush.
His fangs began to grow involuntarily, his entire body reacting to the Sunny’s scent.
He felt his pulse speed up and his groin began to throb.

Completely surprised by her affect on him and to hide his teeth from her, Maroush leapt up and walked over to the window.
He needed some distance from her and her seductive scent.

»Why did you help Aragón?« »I was hoping to free him and then free myself from that horrible prison.
I hate my life. It isn’t worth anything if there’s nothing to live for.« Maroush gazed out the window contemplating the depth of her words. »How can you become a warrior of faith?«

»It’s the fate chosen for you.
It’s your destiny, which makes you one of us after your transformation.« »And how did you know? I mean, you didn’t just find out by chance that you could go out into the sun, did you?« Maroush was watching her closely.
He didn’t really know the point to all her questions.
Was she curious or was she spying for Castaway? Something inside him wished that she was interested in him, a feeling that came so suddenly that it blew him away.
For more than a century Sara had been the only one for him and the only woman he’d ever even noticed.
Yes, he’d known that a relationship between them wasn’t possible, but another woman had never interested him.
Not until he’d run into this little something at the club and become obsessed with her scent of cinnamon. He’d thought about her a lot since that moment, more often than he would have liked, he admitted, which wasn’t so easy for a warrior.
She wasn’t a beautiful woman. She was boyish with her short hair, but if you looked at her closely you could literally sink into her dark, nearly black eyes surrounded by thick lashes.
Small for a woman, her cheeky tone added a few inches to her.
Her skin was light, so she was most likely of North American or Western European origin.
Sunny noticed that Maroush was assessing her and didn’t suspect anything good from it.
»You don’t trust me, do you?« She stuck out her chin impertinently.
»You’re right.
I wouldn’t trust myself either.« There was slight sadness in her eyes when she said it, but only for a moment and then she got a hold of herself and her eyes turned expressionless. »After transformation, a tattoo appears on your body with your maxim revealing to you the warrior you were destined to become.« Sunny’s eyes visibly widened.

»Show me your tattoo!« She stood up but with enough distance between her and Maroush.
If there was hesitation, he didn’t let it show.
In one quick movement, he set down his sword and pulled his black sweater over his head.
Sunny stared transfixed at his bare chest, where the tattoo bearing the maxim
Ultima Ratio – The last resort
snaked down his back and disappeared under the seam of this cargo pants.
Maroush heard the sound of clothes rustling and when he turned around, Sunny was standing there in front of him in her underwear.
»Do you mean something like this?«

Before Channing brought Sara up to her room, they checked on Eva one more time.
She was sleeping and the large wound on her neck was had stopped bleeding and was beginning to close.
That was a good sign that the vampire blood was doing its job of healing the wound.

She’d sleep for another few hours and then she would need fresh blood again.
Channing had brought her into his room and her pale face looked pretty forlorn in his giant bed.
She didn’t seem to be in any pain, which slightly eased Channing’s conscience.

Shia was asleep too, so that his bullet wounds could heal themselves.
Sara ran her hand gently across his cheek.
How often had she seen him like this?
The constant fear of losing him made her crazy.
She couldn’t stand it anymore.
She turned around abruptly and went into her room with Channing following behind her.
 

She stood at the window looking out at the ocean.
Channing watched her and only after her shoulders began to shake did he notice that she was crying.
He walked up behind her and wrapped his strong arms around her.
»Everything will be okay, believe me.
We can handle this.
You’re not alone anymore, my darling.« His comforting words felt good and she nodded, not being in the condition to speak.
Then she wiped her tears away and said, »You know, I’m going to miss this view, but we have to get out of this house. Philippe knows where to find us and it won’t take long before Castaway shows up here with an entire army of creatures. He thinks we have the
Diarium
. We have to go and the sooner the better.
We’ll never be able to come back here« She said it calmly, as if she’d been in this situation many times before, but Channing couldn’t bring himself to ask her about it.

»Do you need to feed? Are you okay?« Worried, he turned Sara’s head towards him so that he could look her in the eyes.

»No, don’t worry.
I’m fine.
Save your blood for Eva.
She’ll need it later.
Thank you for saving her life.
I’m sure Shia will be thankful, too.
But why you?« Channing shrugged, »O-negative!« That explained everything.

He picked Sara up and carried her to the bed and the two of them made themselves comfortable. »You should try to rest,« he whispered softly laying her head down on his chest.

»We have to find the sacred book as soon as possible and get out of here. Our family has grown over the last few days, which means we have a lot of people to take care of,« he reminded her.

»Are you serious? Do you really think that we’re a family?« She looked Channing in the eyes surprised.
»Yes, that’s how I see it anyway.
You’re my family now and I don’t want to live without anyone, especially you.« He leaned forward and kissed her lips.
She kissed him back running her fingers through his hair.
Channing suddenly felt desire well up inside of him.
In whatever situation they found themselves in, as soon as she was in his arms, his body reacted to her in a way he couldn’t control anymore.
He was just crazy about her.
He pressed her to the bed, sliding over on top of her.
He could feel her hands slide across his chest, as she opened her lips to search with her tongue for his.
He held her long red curls, running them through his fingers and although both of them were completely dressed, each could feel the heat of the other.

Sara pulled off Channing’s sweater fervently and then suddenly paused. »I have to tell you something,« she whispered to him looking into his shiny silver eyes. »That night in the warehouse … what happened between you and me.
That wasn’t just because of our nature. I wanted you, just the way you are. I had to feel your skin. I’d wanted you ever since I’d heard you playing the piano.
Even then I wanted you.
Whenever I look into your eyes, I want you and it definitely means something.
It means that I love you. I can feel the love in my heart and not because it’s written down somewhere.« She said it all without taking a single breath for fear of forgetting the words or not telling Channing everything she wanted to.
And she didn’t care how he would react.
Channing gazed back at her in silence and then let out a deep sigh.
He couldn’t fight it anymore.
His desire for Sara, which he’d been trying to ignore all this time, burned inside of him with tremendous intensity whenever she came near him.
It didn’t make any sense to fight it because he knew that he would only lose that battle.
He didn’t want to, but be had to admit that he loved her too.
So much so, that it even hurt sometimes.
»I thought my life was over, but with you it feels like I’m starting over.
Before I met you, my world was so empty.
You fill it with sunlight. Now, finally, with you, I feel complete.
I love you Sara.
I can’t live without you.«

His words needed a few seconds to sink in before she understood what he was telling her.

She traced the contours of his face with her finger, as if she were trying to lock it into her memory forever.

A loud cry broke the spell that the both of them were under.
It was Eva waking up out of her curative sleep needing more blood.
Her entire body was in pain and a fire seemed to be burning from within her.
She thrashed back and forth moaning, but nothing helped.
»Eva, stay calm.
Here, drink something.
You’ll feel better soon.« Eva recognized Channing. He was bent over her with his sleeves rolled up biting his own wrist.
Then he held the open wound out to her.
Her tongue licked up the dark liquid greedily and with one swallow, she felt the pain leaving her body.
She pressed Channing’s hand hard against her lips to get her pain killing medicine even faster.
She felt Sara tenderly caress her hair and lay a cool, damp cloth on her forehead.
It felt good to be taken care of, although she wasn’t really sure where she was and what was happening to her.
A sound at the door made Channing and Sara turn and look. There, standing motionless and terror-stricken in the doorway was Shia!
Neither of them knew how long he’d been standing there watching them, but his face spoke volumes.
He entered the room in menacing strides.

»Holy shit! What are you doing to Eva?« He jumped at Channing trying to tear him away from her, but he snarled flashing his fangs threateningly.
»Don’t come any closer! I’m trying to help Eva.« »Shia, please, calm down.« Sara stepped between the two of them.
The wounds on his chest had healed, but he was still wearing the blood-smeared clothes.
»Listen.
Eva’s condition is good under these circumstances.
We had to transform her after a creature attacked her.
She was trying to help you.
You were shot pretty badly and then lost consciousness.
Eva tried to protect you from the hunters and almost paid with her life.« Shia stared wide-eyed at Eva who was still intently feeding from Channing’s wrist.