The Stone of Asphallys Chapter four
Disclaimer: I own nothing to do with blood ties. I do own th eoriginal characters and the plot line.
Synopsis: Evil rears its ugly head,
Thankyou to Cindy who has done an amazing job of fixing up my messes!
Rating, R for violence
Chapter Four
The Stone of Asphallys
A shadow moved in the darkness, flashed darker for just a split second and then became indistinguishable, lying in wait for its quarry. Carath watched the Guardian patiently, his dark eyes systematically sizing her up and assessing her strengths. His mouth opened in what could have been mistaken for a grin, but the gesture was far too dark and predatory for that-he would pick at her defenses and exploit all of her weaknesses one by one until she had nothing left-was nothing. The process had already begun when he had killed her mother and then her grief-stricken "father" had voluntarily walked into the sun.
As he watched, the Guardian came out through a door accompanied by a vampire and two women, a blonde and a brunette. She looked content, considering all that had recently happened to her, and the carefree way that she walked beside them was encouraging; he knew immediately that these people were one of her weakness. He sniffed the air around her-there was no trace of the stone near her.
She has hidden it somewhere. The creature laughed at her stupidity. No Guardian would ever leave the stone alone for too long; she would soon lead him to it, afraid to be apart from it, or as he secretly hoped, would try his patience and force him to take drastic measures.
****
Adonica laughed as she saw Henry rush off in front of them trying to get away from one of Vicki's "playful" hits. He had just been informed of what Adonica had done to Mike earlier that afternoon, and he had said something under his breath so that only Vicki could hear it. The way that Vicki reacted, told Adonica that it was something either very insulting, or very cheeky. Knowing Henry the way she did, Adonica guessed it was the latter.
She watched as Vicki ran after him, intent on catching him, even though they both knew it was useless. She smiled warmly, glad that Henry had finally found someone he could love after all those years of being alone. She cringed as she remembered her younger days when she had had a huge crush on "Uncle Henry." Every time that Lucas and Henry felt that they would be able to get along in the same territory, she had begged him to sit with her and read her bed time stories while sipping hot chocolate, which he never drank.
When she was older and well into her teens, the crush on him had diminished and he became her confidant, adopting an almost protective big brother attitude towards her. At least I have someone left. The loss of her mother and father made Henry and her new found friends all the more important to her.
Coreen, who had been quiet until this point, noticed the way that the smile had slipped off of her face, and she decided to lighten the mood again as they walked past her favorite coffee shop.
"I've made an executive decision," she said to Adonica, trying to be as cheery as possible. "We are going to go in and get hot chocolates whilst those two act like the children that they are." She pointed towards Henry and Vicki, who were now play fighting in the middle of the street.
Adonica nodded and smiled appreciatively. They walked into the coffee shop and all of their senses were immediately and brutally assaulted. Adonica heard Coreen throw up in the corner as she looked around the shop, taking in the carnage spread out before her. Blood painted the walls a bright, sticky red, and dead bodies littered the floor, seemingly flung about like rag dolls. The sharp, pungent stench of sulphur lingered heavily in the air, and even Adonica had to fight back a sudden wave of nausea.
"Henry." Her voice came out barely above a whisper, and she silently hoped that Henry could hear her. Why hadn't he been able to smell it? Why hadn't I? She realized that the coffee shop had to have been masked by a spell, and there were only so many beings who were capable of doing that. Given the recent events in her life, she had a few suspicions as to who was behind all this. She looked around the room at Coreen who was sitting in the corner staring at something in absolute terror, and the old instincts immediately kicked in.
She pitched her voice to its most commanding level. "Coreen, go get Henry, and you and Vicki go back to the office. Now!"
When Coreen didn't respond, Adonica opened the door with her mind and regretfully sent the girl flying through the air and out into the street. Desperate times called for desperate measures.
Too late, she sensed a presence behind her and spun around. The sight that greeted her caught her totally unprepared. Before her stood Carath in all his vile glory, leering down at her and obviously enjoying the fear he was invoking within her. He was humanoid in form, but the demon in him was unmistakable; skin appeared to be hewn out of rough stone, and when he smiled at her, molten magma glowed fiercely from within.
He advanced towards her.
****
Henry and Vicki turned around in shock as they heard Coreen hit the pavement behind them with a bone-rattling thud. With his vampire speed, Henry reached her first, but Vicki was fast on his heels.
"Coreen, what happened?" He attempted to sound as calm as possible, even though every cell in his body was screaming that danger lurked nearby.
When she just stared at him blankly, he vamped out and ordered her to answer him.
"Coreen, you will answer me! What just happened?" The girl's eyes slowly widened in delayed terror, but she responded to the command.
"Demon in coffee shop… everyone's dead!" She began to tremble uncontrollably and was obviously in shock.
Henry turned to Vicki. "You need to take her to a hospital. She's going into shock, and you know it's not good for her heart."
Before Vicki could respond, Henry had rushed inside the coffee shop. She bent down to help Coreen up from the pavement, both worried and scared for Henry and Adonica. She couldn't just leave them to handle whatever was happening, so she took out her cell phone and dialed for an ambulance. No sooner had she put away the phone and had turned her attention back to Coreen, when she saw a familiar figure heading towards her. Mike.
Things had just gotten more complicated. Mike, what the hell are you doing here?!
When he saw the two of them standing there in middle of the street, he immediately became concerned and demanded an explanation. Vicki gave him what little information she had, but already Mike was heading off in the direction of the coffee shop. Vicki grabbed his arm and attempted to keep him away from there, but she knew it was useless.
He and Adonica may not have gotten off to the best start, but the detective in him, the officer of the law who swore an oath to protect the innocent, was not going to stand idly by while some nameless horror rampaged through the city and killed whoever got in its way. She released her grip and allowed him to proceed, suddenly feeling as if she had allowed him to go straight towards certain death.
She could only hope that she was wrong.
****
When Henry went inside the coffee shop he felt his stomach lurch at the sight before him, the blood scent that lingered in the air assaulting his senses. He quickly scanned the room for Adonica, but couldn't find her in the front room. A loud crash and a grunt of pain alerted him that they-Adonica and the unknown horror-were in the back of the building.
****
Adonica threw the beast through the air as hard as she could and it hit the far wall with a deafening crunch, the effort nearly draining her.
Carath stood up slowly and casually brushed the dust from his body in an almost bored manner. "Is the Little Witchy getting tired?" He mocked her as she stood there panting, sweat beading her forehead. She had expended too much energy too early on in the fight, and it wouldn't be long before she didn't have enough strength to stand.
The whole thing was nothing but a game to him, and he was enjoying himself immensely. Adonica sucked in another lungful of air and braced herself as he rushed at her again, gathering her remaining power to repel him once more.
"Still got some in me, you bastard!" She sent a bin flying towards the demon, even though she knew it would not harm him, but hoped it would cause enough of a distraction for her to escape. She was about to make a run for it, when Henry rushed out into the room. He let out a primal roar as he sped towards Carath, and tried to pull Adonica away from a battle that he knew she would ultimately lose.
Before he could do any of these things, the demon grabbed a hold of Adonica's arm and flung her across the length of the store yard. She slammed painfully into a metal fire escape ladder, and one end of the ladder that was dangerously sharp impaled her through her abdomen. The white vest she had borrowed from Vicki quickly turned a dark and tragic red, and she bit back a scream, determined to not give the demon the satisfaction of seeing her writhe in pain.
She looked up and through half-blurred vision, saw Henry sail across the other end of the yard. She howled in a mixture of anger and frustration as he landed in a heap at the bottom of another fire escape, and she wriggled around, trying to free herself.
Carath turned his attention towards Adonica, pleased at the obvious pain she was in at not only her own predicament, but that of her friend's as well. "I seem to be having a sense of déjà vu, because I know that I've seen this before. But where?"
He appeared thoughtful, and his fingers slowly stroked his chin as he appeared to be lost in thought. After a moment, his eyes lit up triumphantly. "Oh yes, now I remember! Didn't your mother die like this, slowly watching her life ebb away as she bled to death in front of her daughter? A daughter that she died protecting?"
His tone became steadily more gleeful as he prepared to strike the final blow. "Seems to me that she died in vain."
Wrong thing to say.
At the mention of her mother, the anger washed over her, and with it came a much-needed jolt of adrenaline. Adonica used the last of her remaining strength to lift herself from the ladder, and she screamed in agony as she removed the piece of metal from her stomach. She focused her will, knitting the wound back together as quickly as she could, knowing that Carath was preparing to charge at her again while she was hurt. The coward.
She coughed and a drop of blood fell to the ground with a small splatter. Her blood. Swallowing, Adonica stared defiantly at the beast that was coming towards her, and was preparing for impact when she heard gun shots coming from somewhere behind her. Carath froze in mid-charge and screeched, the sound unearthly in its fury and filled with pain. Cutting his losses, he decided that it would be in his best interest to leave and continue the fight another time. He quickly opened a portal in the empty air around him and said in a threatening voice, "This isn't over yet, witch!"
Adonica slumped to the floor knowing that he was right. She lost consciousness before she hit the ground, and her wound, nearly healed, reopened and began to bleed furiously. Blood poured from her mouth and she began to tumble down into darkness.
****
The minute the ambulance arrived and took Coreen to the hospital, Vicki had sped off in the direction of the coffee shop. She felt a stab of guilt over leaving her assistant like that, but the girl had nodded her head as if to say that she understood. When she arrived, she had missed the majority of the battle, but it was obvious from the scene before her, that everyone involved was on the losing side.
****
Henry watched helplessly as the strength left Adonica and she began to slip unconscious towards the floor. He tried to run fast enough to catch her, but he was too late; his own wounds were slowing him down, and by the time he reached her, she lay in a pool of her own blood, her breathing ragged and shallow. He broke into sobs as he cradled her small form in his arms and felt the life seep slowly out of her.