Guardian of My Soul (15 page)

“Remember, we don’t know if these unknowns are willing
rogues or duped innocents,” Kyle whispered softly so only Sally could hear his
words. “Defend yourself however you need, but if we don’t have to kill them it
would be better.”

“Hopefully we will recognize the Tribunal member
immediately,” Sally returned softly. “When we neutralize that threat, if the
others are innocent we should be able to talk them down.”

“Agreed,” Kyle said sharply as he drew in a hasty breath as
a tingle of his magic warned him they were about to enter the cabin. “They’re
here, the closest alarm just went.”

Kyle focused inward for just a moment. He built the energy
of his magic, tapping into his essence fully now to open the gates and let the
entirety of his true power roam free. He could feel the electric crackle of
Sally doing the same against his back.

Fire, hot and feral grew in his chest and ran throughout the
length of his body. His hands grew warm as his energy surged and a large ball
appeared around his extended fingers. Kyle searched for and then found the
delicate balance between letting his magic run wild and controlling the
release. The sound of cracking wood splintered through the air. Kyle shouted
out a warning just as the window smashed into a million pieces, the frame and
half the wall around it smashed into tiny pieces.

Subconsciously Kyle heard Sally emit a similar battle cry as
she created lightning bolts around her own hands. He didn’t let it distract him
from the two figures entering his side of the cabin. Both tall, large, well
muscled men they held guns out at the ready, safeties off and magical energy
crackling around their torsos as they entered with the clear intension of
taking the ritual by force.

“You are not welcome here. We will forcibly remove you if
you do not leave,” Kyle shouted out the warning, hoping for once in his working
life it would make even a small difference in the eventual outcome of violence.

Not surprisingly, neither of the wizards in Kyle’s line of
sight so much as hesitated as they ran into the still smoking and falling down
hole created in the wall of the cabin. One wizard had dark, shaggily cut hair,
the other a short-cropped redhead. The witch still hung out of the direct scope
of his vision. While Kyle remained aware of her he did not focus fully upon her
either.

“They never listen, do they?” Sally mused in a laughing tone
to Kyle. He threw a second-long, brief glance over his shoulder to the tall,
sandy-haired wizard entering through the smoking ruin that had once been the cabin’s
back door.

“Where would the fun be in that?” Kyle replied.

“Damn straight,” Sally agreed, her tone hyping up excitedly
as the heat of the battle finally appeared to wash through her. It often took
her a while to really get into the swing of the violence of a mission, but once
it had broken Sally always appeared to get almost naturally high from it.

Her tone had risen, and Kyle could feel her bouncing forward
on the balls of her feet as the thrill rolled through her. Grimacing, he
shouted out a warning as the dark haired wizard gathered his energy. A
deafening roar filled what remained of the small cabin and everything appeared
to happen all at once.

The micro-second Kyle realized that their attackers were not
going to listen to reason or be subtle about their confrontation Kyle decided
tact and diplomacy had been thrown out of the window. Hoping to hell his
insurance would cover the damage he intuitively knew was about to occur, Kyle
balled as much of his power up inside a small kernel within his chest and then
released it with a huge exertion of will out through his hands.

His fingers tingled from the sheer force of the power
singing his skin. Kyle ignored the heat and pushed even more power out of his
hands as he followed the first fireball with a quick second one. Usually most
Mages had to restock and recuperate for a short time after casting such a
powerful piece of magic.

Doing two so quickly in succession took most enemies by
surprise, to say the least.

The dark-haired wizard fell to the floor, shaking
convulsively as his body desperately tried to absorb the double hit. The redhead
followed as he climbed over his fallen comrade. Kyle risked a lightning-quick
glance over his shoulder as Sally laughed, delighted. Her sandy-haired nemesis
had dodged her electrical bolt and she was reaching for her gun with one hand
as she shot another bolt of electricity with her other hand.

“It’s the witch,” Kyle said to Sally. “None of these three
are on the Tribunal.”

Sally nodded to indicate she had heard him. Trusting her to
be safe and not run the risk of burning out, he returned his attention to his
own opponent.

“Witch!” Kyle shouted above the general din of their
fighting, “if you surrender yourself to stand before the Tribunal no further
harm will be unleashed upon you or your co-conspirators.”

“What?!” came a male shout from behind him. Kyle decided he
had at least captured one of their attentions. The redhead he faced however
screwed up his face into an angry mask. Shots rang out and Kyle pulled Sally
down as he sought cover.

Once again he unleashed his fire, long streams of red flames
hissing across the cabin and shattering the chairs which blocked the other
wizard’s progress. Thick blue bands followed, lashing out wildly as the
red-haired wizard tried to restrain them. Sally fired shots from her large
handgun. Kyle stole a quick glance and saw she merely was convincing the sandy-haired
wizard to keep crouching behind a large chunk of the fallen wood wall of the
cabin.

Kyle cracked a grin as Sally laughed, delighted at the heat
of the battle that was upon them both. Although Kyle’s attention remained
divided between Sally and her opponent and his own red-haired wizard, Kyle
still managed to catch sight of the witch hiding around the corner near where
the hole had been burned into the cabin. He still had not caught a full or
proper glance at her, it was impossible for him to identify her just yet.

The longer this struggle stretched out the greater the
chances of either himself or Sally being harmed, he knew. But at the same time
Kyle was not eager to take a life if it wasn’t strictly necessary. Hoping to
draw the redhead’s fire, Kyle shot a single shot to the left of the crouching
wizard. Multiple shots were returned.

Kyle tried to mentally recount how many bullets the wizard
had lost. Shooting thin streams of fire and the occasional bullet, Kyle
attempted to cause the other wizard to empty his clip.

“Finish this!” screeched a female voice from outside the
cabin. Goaded, the other wizard searched around him, presumably for a better
vantage point. Kyle drew in a deep breath and continued to protect Sally’s
back.

Worried at the influence the witch might have on the other
two wizards Kyle debated briefly internally whether it was worth using lethal
force on the others. While he had no compunction in killing the witch, he was
reluctant to indiscriminately kill others without just cause.

The wizard helped Kyle make his decision, however. A volley
of shots rang out and Kyle felt a searing pain race through his arm. He only
needed a hasty glance down to see the blood already soaked through his t-shirt,
the biceps burning as if his arm were on fire and extremely painful. Anger and
adrenaline surged through him and the pain faded away into nothing.

Time slowed down as Kyle gathered up every iota of power he
could spare. The potent energy grew within him exponentially with lightning
speed and ferocity. When he felt it reach his zenith Kyle released it out his
tingling hands, the mammoth ball of fiery energy hurled toward the redhead.

As the flames engulfed the wizard his screams filled the air
shrilly. The magical energy burned and—after his opponent had fallen
unconscious—the fire went out, only a small area of the floor and chairs around
him smoking faintly from the scorching heat.

“Are you okay?” he asked Sally, the words thrown over his
shoulder as he took a pace forward, trying to search through the smoldering
ruins of his cabin for the witch responsible for all this.

“I have him pinned,” Sally reassured him. “Where’s the
traitor?”

“Traitor?” hissed the witch. Kyle’s gaze tracked her to over
where a fallen bookcase evidently hid her. The notebook lay on the table out of
reach from her, though the witch was situated closer to it than from where he
and Sally crouched.

“That’s rich coming from you Ms. Bowry,” the witch crowed. “I
can feel the beautiful stench of darkness upon your soul from all the way over
here. Your partner is only a small bit better than you too. How either one of
you could be foolish enough to cast aspersions upon my reputation just boggles
the mind. Clearly the two of you have walked in darkness more than once before.
I can feel the taint of black magic upon you, girl, you can’t fool me.”

“You must realize this is a trap,” Kyle said forcefully,
hoping to deflect the witch’s attention. His head had begun to reel from the
blood loss and pain of his wound, even with the adrenaline pumping through his
veins. He needed to finish this as promptly as possible. “There is no way you
are leaving here any other way except for under our authority. Retain some
small measure of your pride and come with us willingly instead of manacled and
unconscious.”

“Foolish boy,” the witch chortled. “You can’t really think
to fob me off with some lie about how the ritual isn’t worth my time and
energy? I can feel the whispers and its pull from over here.”

Kyle frowned. Her voice sounded different now. He couldn’t
put his finger on what had changed but he stiffened alertly.

“She’s moved,” he murmured more to himself than Sally. She
shadowed him, both of them still remaining back to back defensively. Before
Kyle could get a bead on the witch she struck out violently, coming from a
different position. He didn’t waste time trying to figure out how she had moved
before his very eyes without his being able to realize it and instead shot his
gun at her.

Logically he knew the bullet should have struck home,
clearly lodging deeply within her chest, but some force of her magic had
deflected the bullet and it sailed harmlessly past her. The witch lunged for
the notebook and Kyle sprinted to close the distance between them, trusting Sally
implicitly to guard his back against their last assailant.

Tackling the witch he grunted as their bodies connected and
he carried her down to the floor. Pain arched up his arm, a fiery trail of
burning agony he struggled to ignore. He recognized the witch as one of the
newer members of the Tribunal council, Bonita Carter. Kyle grappled with her
but pulled his hand back with a hiss as the notebook burned to his touch. He
wasted critical seconds glancing down at the book reflexively. Since it had so
clearly burned him Kyle assumed it was smoldering from when he had thrown the
fireballs around. A number of other small spot fires had been started, but to
his surprise his glance revealed the notebook appeared just as it had since
Sally came back with it earlier.

“It knows me, it recognizes me foolish boy,” she jeered,
seeming proud of the fact. “You are not worthy of it.”

“I’m not a raving mad lunatic with a dirt black soul that is
corrupted beyond all redemption, you mean?” Kyle snapped back sarcastically. “Gee.
What a pity.”

“Imbecile,” Bonita hissed at him. Her fingers clenched so
tightly around the small book her knuckles turned white. “You think you’re some
sort of hero? What a joke. Should anyone see how dark your partner’s soul truly
is you’ll both be discarded like week-old rubbish. Your attempts to purify your
souls and ‘do the right thing’ are disgusting.”

Kyle surged forward with the vague hope that while she was
distracted with her spirited rant he could wrestle the notebook away from her,
but again Bonita beat him to the punch. She shot her hand out, a bolt of
electric energy shooting out from her fingertips to land solidly in the center
of his chest.

Falling to the ground, winded and unable to draw oxygen into
his lungs, Kyle felt the world spin dizzyingly around him.

“Kyle!” Sally’s scream of anguish filled the air and
desperately he tried to lift himself up to reassure her. The sweet, floral
scent of violets surrounded him as Sally knelt by his side. Using the last
reserves of his strength Kyle managed to lift himself up onto this elbows and
raise his head.

“I’m fine, baby, I swear,” he gasped, the act of those few
words and drawing air into his hungry lungs more painful than anything he had
ever experienced before. Sally held his shoulders, her palms cupped around him
as her warmth seeped into him.

“I guess you’ve been as useful as you can be,” Bonita
shrugged, for all appearances unconcerned. She pulled a gun from the back of
her waistband and raised it. Kyle roared an elemental sound of denial. He
shoved Sally to the side, rolled himself over her as the gun exploded, the
sound deafening in the close confines of the cabin.

His heart pounded so hard and fast Kyle became lightheaded
for a moment, certain he would pass out cold. His hands roamed so fast and
furiously over Sally’s slender body she grunted in faint pain as he sought to
make sure she was not rounded. A resounding crash echoed as the sandy-haired
man fell to the floor of the cabin, dead.

“Witnesses are something I do not need,” Bonita insisted
casually.

“Fuck this for a joke,” Kyle muttered under his breath. It
became increasingly obvious both he and his partner had greatly underestimated
Bonita’s craziness as well as her disinterest in anything except for her own
dark passions and her level of power.

With a small start Kyle understood there was a good chance
they would all die here.

“Sal, baby, I need you to go,” Kyle grunted as he nudged her
hard toward the gaping hole that used to be one wall of his cabin. Sally made a
small, choked sound of denial, but he snapped at her. More than anything he
needed her safe and right now as far away from all this as possible. He didn’t
give a shit what happened to him, but he could not bear the thought of this
fucking bitch hurting his love.