Fic: Magister 3 (Vamp!Giles) FRT (4a/?)
Ch. 4 - Racing Evil
It was the wrong turn. As the young girl frantically spun around, all she saw were dark corners. They were still coming. She could hear their footsteps echoing off the stone walls surrounding them. Wedging herself into the farthest, darkest corner she could find, all she could do was wait and hope they passed her by.
But that hope was soon crushed. All three of her pursuers turned into the alcove without hesitation. She shook uncontrollably and bit her lips together, trying not to cry. The shadow over her was black as tar, but it didn’t seem to matter. Three cloaked heads turned unerringly to where she was hiding. The light of the moon glinted off their sharp knives as they drew them out. They stepped closer and she was certain she was about to die.
The scream she had been holding in ripped loose from her throat when another large, dark figure dropped directly in front of her from somewhere above. But, to her relief and amazement, it instantly moved away from her and toward her attackers. The clash that followed was swift and brutal. She could not tell how he was fighting them, as he seemed to have no weapon, but none of the strange, robed men ever got any closer to her. First, one fell to the side and didn’t move. Another was stripped of his knife and thrown against the wall with bone-crushing force. The third kept fighting, but the sickening crack of his neck soon echoed thought the small alcove. Then there was silence.
She sat, petrified, as the lone remaining figure stood with his back to her for several long moments. His long, black coat hid his small movements, and his head cocked slightly, as if listening. She jumped and let out a loud squeak when he suddenly turned to her where she was huddled.
As if expecting her fear, he didn’t come too near, and crouched down to be at the same level she sat. Carefully extending his hand in a friendly gesture, he seemed to struggle for a word before saying, “Err… L’Observateur…?”
The girl thought for a moment before inching forward. “Vous êtes un Gardien?”
“Oui,” Giles smiled. The thought of her assigned Watcher using such a caring term for his title pleased him, especially knowing the elders of the Council would have never approved of such familiarity. “De la part de… err… le… le Conseil.”
The young potential took his hand and let him help her stand. “It is all right. I can speak the English.”
“My French is that bad, huh?” the Watcher chuckled. He was rewarded with a lovely smile, though he could still hear her heart racing. “Are you hurt?”
“They came from nowhere and the others told me to run. I didn’t know what to do.”
“You’re safe now. That’s what matters.”
“But, my friends…”
“These men were after you. If you ran, they likely left your friends alone.” Giles hoped he was telling the truth, but, with her name on the list, it was fair to assume she’d had her watcher with her, and he knew they were being targeted as much as the potentials. He could only hope the people with her were left unharmed. However, at the moment, his mission was very clear. “I’m here to help you get to safety. I know you have no reason to, but will you trust me?”
Tears began to glisten in her pale eyes. “Sir, there are monsters trying to kill me and you just saved my life. I have little choice.”
Giles sighed. “I know. And I’m deeply sorry about all that’s happening to you. But we need to get you on an airplane before they realized you survived. Is there someplace we can go to get you the papers you’ll need to travel?”
“Yes,” she nodded, seeming to rally herself. “I was told to have a bag packed, and ma passeport est là. It is in my rooms.”
“Good, good… Let’s get out of here quickly, before more like these realize you’re alive.” The vampire listened for a moment. “The coast is clear for now.”
“But, monsieur…?” she hurried along, huddled in close to him as he led her through the darkness.
“Giles. You may call me Giles,” he answered her unspoken question.
“Where can I go to be safe from these horrible creatures?”
Giles glanced down at her with an encouraging smile. “I’m sending you to the Slayer.”
******
“You ladies wait here. If I’m not back in half an hour, you know what to do.” Ethan passed a leather satchel to the two young girls as Molly gave a steady nod.
“That’s a big house,” Annabelle murmured.
Ethan looked up at the good sized mansion. “Right,” he sighed, “better give me an hour.”
“We’ll be all right, Mr. Ethan,” Molly reassured him. “If she is in there, best we find her and take her with us.”
With a pat on her shoulder, the sorcerer stepped out of the bushes and crept toward the front door. When he reached it, he gave a gentle push. The door swung open easily. ‘This is not boding well,’ Ethan’s mind muttered at him. ‘Just what is it you think you’re doing anyway, Rayne?’ Stepping inside, he found the foyer a mess. ‘Damn. Where’s a big, moody vampire when I need him?’
He slipped along through the darkness, following the path of wreckage, but not daring to call out and possibly alert any Bringers. Yes, he knew The First wanted him alive for the moment, but that didn’t mean its minions couldn’t make a mistake. And Ethan was a well-practiced runner, not a fighter.
A long corridor led him to another door. This one was scratched and gouged as if something had been trying to get through it. He held his breath and gave a stiff shove. It moved about an inch before crashing into a barricade.
“Go away!” a female voice cried from inside. “I’m armed and I know how to use it.”
“Uh… I do very much believe that,” Ethan responded carefully. “The thing is, I was sent to help you. I’m not one of your attackers.”
“How do I know that? Who sent you?”
“Well, for one thing I’m talking to you instead of trying to knock down the door. As for who sent me… That’s a tougher question. Have you ever heard of a Watcher?”
“You’re from the Council,” the girl sighed and he could hear furniture begin to shift.
“Yeah, um… I wouldn’t exactly go that far,” Ethan muttered. “But it was a Watcher who sent me.”
A pretty, dark-haired girl, older than the others, opened the door just enough for him to enter. She glanced him up and down with a critical frown. “You don’t look like a Watcher.”
The sorcerer grinned, “And I will forever take that as a compliment.”
“Come on,” she grabbed his arm and tugged him inside. “He’s wounded. I got the bleeding to slow down, but I can’t stop it.”
Ethan followed her to a man lying unconscious on the floor. “Your Watcher?” he guessed, kneeling to check the damage. The Potential nodded. The man’s shirt was torn open, and a large, bloody wad of cloth was strapped to his lower abdomen. “This bandage looks all right for now. But I’m here to get you to safety. If the people who attacked you know you’re still alive, they’ll be back at any time. We have to go now.”
“I’m not going to leave him here to die!”
“We’ll call the authorities. Send people to help him. But you and I must--”
He was cut off when a scream echoed through the house. Running footsteps thundered toward them. “They’re here, Mr. Ethan! Came out of the woods!” Molly called as he peered out the doorway.
Waving them to him, he quickly pulled them both through to tight opening. “Help me get this barricade back in place. Let’s hope it can withstand a second attack.” The three girls moved as fast as they could, pushing a large, oak dresser against the wall. They continued to work, piling whatever they could move in front of the doorway. “Did you see how many?”
Molly looked at him with wide, frightened eyes. “I counted four before we ran for it. There may be more, but I didn’t look back.”
“What are they?” Annabelle cried, starting to panic.
The third Potential took her hands, trying to calm her. “It’s all right. They couldn’t get in here before. And if they do, we can fight them off. I’m Kennedy, by the way.”
Annabelle gave her a disbelieving look. “Fight them how!?!”
“Just like our Watchers taught us,” the older girl said like it was the most obvious thing on Earth.
“I only met my Watcher a week ago and suddenly she’s shoving me on a train to who knows where!” she was really starting to panic now. “I’ve never been in a fight in my entire life!”
Molly went to try to comfort her. “We’ll be all right. I’ve see Mr. Ethan and Mr. Giles fight them before. He knows what to do.”
Ethan couldn’t bring himself to make eye contact and give her the confirmation she wanted. Damn Ripper for trusting him to do anything but screw everything up. “You there… Kennedy! Give me the gun.”
“What gun?” she looked at him with slight indignation.
“You said you were armed!” he yelled as a large force hit the door, making it protest with a loud groan.
“I was,” she hurried back to where her Watcher still lay and picked up a sword. Running to Ethan, she handed it to him.
The sorcerer tried desperately not to hold it like he thought he might cut off his own hand. His first instinct was to hand it right back, but that would have destroyed the illusion of any power he had to save them at all. He glanced at the young women trusting him to protect them and, at that moment, knew they were all going to die. “Damn you, Ripper,” he hissed to himself as he turned to face the barricade and dropped to his knees. Summoning all his focus, he began chanting in a forgotten language, willing a protective shield to rise between them and the door that was now beginning to splinter. But this power came from gods he had not worshiped or paid any mind to before. If they did come to his aid, he knew it would be a miracle. His only hope was that the survival of the girls he sought to protect might mean something to them.
Chunks of wood began to fly off the door from the barrage of heavy blows. Ethan closed his eyes and pleaded louder as they bounced off of his body and landed around him. He could feel some power sparking from his fingertips, but it wasn’t enough. It wouldn’t save them from an enemy determined to get through. It wouldn’t save them from the coming onslaught of death.
Suddenly the rhythm of the hacking broke. There was only silence for a breathless count of three. And then the noise came back tenfold. But it wasn’t the noise of something trying to get through the door. It was the clashing, pounding, thuds, and grunts of a fight. Ethan could hear flesh hitting flesh, bodies being thrown against walls, and the sickly squish of muscles and organs being pierced and torn.
The sorcerer felt his young charges move closer to him as the noise quieted. He wished he could trust in his luck that it all meant a rescue. Maybe Ripper had thought better of giving him so much responsibility and come after them. But he knew better. More often than not, if something was killing the thing coming to kill you, it was a bigger, badder thing that wanted to kill you itself. He held his breath and waited.
A moment later a blood-splattered, but lovely, face appeared at one of the holes in the door. “Anyone alive in there?”
Ethan let out a rush of astonished breath, “Faith?” In that moment he pledged his soul to whichever goddess had sent the dark Slayer to them.
“Hey, Magic Man. How’s it hangin’?”
******
Continued...