Love Immortal (38 page)

When Collin entered the building, he was
immediately struck by an overwhelming smell. His eyes immediately
started watering and he blinked heavily pulling the collar of his
shirt up over his mouth and nose to help filter the gas. As he
staggered across the dark room, he heard gunshots from hallway
beyond the door. Without thinking, Collin burst through the door to
the hallway. He could barely see through the tears in his eyes, but
he quickly took in the situation, seeing the S.W.A.T. team to his
left and the now incapacitated man to his right.

Between where he stood, and the fallen man
was the door to the room where Jewell was. He didn’t think; he
simply turned and started running towards the door. Behind him, he
could hear the S.W.A.T. team chasing him. Before he had taken two
steps, the door to the room imprisoning Jewell opened and a man
stepped out holding a gun. His eyes fixed on Collin as he fired two
shots. At the same moment, Collin dove towards the man’s ankles.
One shot hit Collin’s left shoulder, but he barely noticed the
pain. As Collin hit the man he heard Jewell scream his name. He
quickly pushed the downed man out the door, closing and locking it
behind him. The S.W.A.T. team would have to deal with the
guard.

Collin sat on the floor, catching his breath
and listening to the sounds of the S.W.A.T. engaging in full battle
outside the door. He could feel the door shake as bodies were
thrown or fell against it, but all he could do was sit and stare.
In seconds, he took in all of the details. Each of Jewell’s ankles
was fastened to a leg of the chair, which were too far apart for
her small frame. Blood had soaked through the pants of her scrubs
in random spots. The rope that held her to the back of the chair
had caused her scrub top to creep up, baring her belly which showed
hints of bruising. Her wrists were bound to the arms of the chair
with plastic ties. The ties did not look tight, but nonetheless,
they had abraded deep wounds on her arms that dripped blood
steadily down each side of the chair marking the light wood with
its crimson path. She was blindfolded, and she held her body
stiffly against the chair pushing away from the unknown danger that
had just entered the room. Her face and neck were covered with new
bruises. There was a dried trickle of blood running down the back
of her neck turning the collar of her lavender scrub top a rusty
brown.

Suddenly, he realized that as he entered the
room she had called his name. Through the terror, he could see a
sliver of hope. He stood up quickly, crossing the room in two
steps. He laid his hand gently against her face, afraid to hurt
her. There was no place that he could touch her that did not show
some evidence of injury. He worried about the wounds that her
clothes must be hiding. As he touched her, he felt the sudden
warmth, the shock of passion that he always felt when he touched
her. His breathing quickened, both in response to touching her, and
in anger for what they…what he, had done to her. He whispered her
name. “Jewell. Honeysuckle.” He choked back a sob as he carefully
untied the blindfold, lowering it from her eyes.

Jewell knew she was hallucinating. She was
hungry, she hadn’t slept in days. She looked to the corner where
her guard had been sitting reading his book; the chair was empty,
his book placed face down on the floor to hold his place.

When she felt the electricity from his touch,
the pain left and her hope swelled. “Are you really here? Or am I
just imagining your voice again?” She winced in pain as she formed
the words.

“Shhhh. I’m here. You’re going to be safe.”
He started to speak more quickly as he explained everything that
had happened, how what she had heard was really him and how her
information had helped the S.W.A.T. team. He tenderly moved his
hands over her wrists, afraid to touch them. He quickly scanned the
room for something he could use to cut the bindings from her wrists
and ankles. Except for the chair in the corner, the book sitting
next to it, and the chair to which Jewell was secured, the room was
empty. He looked at the cuffs, trying to determine if there was a
release mechanism. “How do they take these off?”

“They cut them.” He gave her a curt nod of
acknowledgment and stood, moving toward the door. “Don’t…” He
turned and saw tears streaming down her face. “Don’t leave me
again.”

Again. Her words tore at his heart. He moved
back to her side and placed his hand gently on her shoulder, hoping
that he wouldn’t hurt her.

Collin sat on the floor next to her resting
his hand on the edge of the chair where he could touch the ends of
her fingers. While they sat, listening to the muffled sounds of the
battle raging outside their room, they heard a loud crash against
the door. It came again before Jewell heard the familiar sound of
the key in the lock. She glanced at Collin, terror in her eyes. The
door burst open, and two men dressed in jeans and t-shirts burst
in, each carrying a sword.

* * *

Edgar pushed the man out of the way. “Idiot”
he thought. He was never going to break through this door by
slamming his shoulder against it; that only worked in the movies.
Both men carried a sword in his right hand. If Collin Sykes was in
this room, they would deal with him. Edgar didn’t have his gun
anymore. He had used all of his ammunition in the fight that was
raging in the warehouse. He fumbled with the key before he felt it
slide home. He moved into the room, Daniel close behind. Daniel had
a gun, but Edgar wasn’t certain how much ammunition he had.
Daniel’s strength was hand to hand combat, but a gun would take the
infidel down long enough for them to do their job with the
sword.

As Edgar moved into the room, he heard a gun
discharge next to his ear. He looked at Daniel and called him an
idiot. Daniel was the same age as Edgar, but he definitely lacked
the common sense that comes with age. Then Edgar saw the hole in
the wall across the room. Daniel had missed.

The infidel had moved between them and the
hostage. “Well now isn’t that sweet,” Edgar crooned. “Trying to
protect your girlfriend. Why bother? By killing you, we spare you
an eternity of pain. If we kill her first well,” he shrugged
impassively, “she would have died long before you anyway. Either
way, God’s will is fulfilled.”

“You don’t know anything about God’s will,”
Collin replied, watching both swords carefully. When one of the men
moved around the chair, Collin noticed that he had a brace on one
leg. As he watched for vulnerabilities, he hadn’t realized right
away that the man he faced was the same man that had been stalking
Jewell at the hospital. Keeping one eye on the man with the gun, he
watched the man with the brace limp to circle around behind
Jewell’s chair. Collin carefully repositioned his body as the
swordsmen moved, trying to stay between them and Jewell, but still
avoid getting killed. Both men were well trained and Collin was
tiring quickly. He had caught a couple of hours of sleep while he
waited in the bushes the night before, but he hadn’t slept much
over the last three days.

As Collin moved backwards, he saw the man
with the gun take aim at his chest. Collin dodged, but the bullet
still caught him in the side. It would have hit him in the heart
had he not moved. The fact that he was nearly immortal gave Collin
little consolation. Collin stumbled backward with the force of the
bullet, tripping over the corner of Jewell’s chair and falling on
his back. The man with the gun aimed again pulling the trigger, but
the only sound was the click of the hammer hitting the firing pin.
Collin let out a rush of breath he hadn’t realized he was holding
and rolled to his knees. The man threw his gun to the ground and
advanced on Collin with his sword. Collin was able to get one foot
planted, and as the man expertly swung his sword in a cutting blow
aimed at Collin’s neck, Collin launched himself under the sword
knocking him to the floor.

Edgar watched as Daniel swung his sword in an
attempt to decapitate the infidel. The speed with which the infidel
was able to move to avoid the blow while advancing his own attack
was astonishing. Edgar marveled at the grace with which the infidel
was able to move. Despite Daniel’s size, which was at least as much
as the infidel plus half, and Daniel’s experience in the MMA, the
infidel was still able to knock Daniel from his feet. As Daniel
fell to his back, Edgar moved in for his own attack. With Daniel
underneath the infidel, it was nearly impossible to use a cutting
swing, but if he was careful and pulled his thrust, he would be
able to injure the infidel allowing Daniel to recover. Although,
Daniel shouldn’t have any difficulty handling the young man atop
him, they still had to work together as a team. The other knights
were battling with the S.W.A.T. team in the warehouse leaving
dispatching the infidel to Edgar and Daniel.

Edgar moved in and tried to catch the infidel
in the leg with his sword, but missed as Daniel threw the infidel
to the side. As Daniel stood, he looked quickly to the floor. He
had lost his sword when he fell, a rookie mistake. When he didn’t
immediately see it where he had fallen, he looked to the side where
he saw the infidel, holding the sword pointed at his throat. Daniel
quickly moved backward throwing a head kick. With nimble dexterity,
the infidel dropped his stance, thrusting the sword into Daniel’s
thigh. As Daniel pulled his kick, the sword sliced a long deep gash
in Daniel’s leg. Daniel had been careful to maintain a sharp blade,
now he wished he hadn’t been so diligent. Daniel moved to the side,
allowing Edgar to assume the advance, as he attempted to staunch
the quickening flow of blood. He pulled off his belt and wrapped it
around his leg creating a tourniquet.

As Edgar quickly moved in to take up the
offense against the infidel, he tried to take quick glances at
Daniel who had crawled into the corner. Daniel had slowed the flow
of blood, but still looked extremely pale. Despite his expert sword
skills, Edgar was having difficulty penetrating the infidel’s
defenses. It was clear that the infidel had training in
swordsmanship, though Edgar was able to note several faults in his
form. Attempting to use these faults against his assailant, Edgar
lunged, and retreated expertly, forcing the infidel to remain on
the defensive.

Collin realized quickly that he was
outmatched. The large man, the one with the gun, had been a lucky
thrust. Collin had thrown the sword up to protect himself and was
lucky to hit a vulnerable area. The other man though, the one with
the limp, was an expert swordsman and Collin found himself unable
to find an opening to take up the offensive. As he parried his
enemy’s expert thrusts, he found that he was quickly losing
strength. Blood soaked his shirt where he had been shot in the
shoulder. The blood from the injury was starting to dry and he
could feel the sticky blood fusing his shirt to his arm. His left
side had also been injured when he was shot a second time by the
man now dying in the corner.

With each movement, Collin felt a shooting
pain in his side that caught his breath. As Collin became more
fatigued, he began to stumble, allowing the limping man to catch
him with glancing cuts to the arms and legs. Though not deep, they
added to the pain. Finally, the man was able to breach Collin’s
defense and slice a deep gash across his right upper arm. Collin
stumbled and fell against the wall, dropping the sword when the
pain of bearing its weight became excruciating. As he fell to the
floor, his head hit with enough force to cause his vision to swim.
He fought against the encroaching darkness.

As the man watched Collin fall, rather than
advance on him as Collin expected, he walked over to Jewell. Collin
struggled, dizzy, and finally pushed himself into a sitting
position. As he stared uncomprehending, the man knelt and picked up
the discarded blindfold, placing it carefully over Jewell’s eyes.
“You shouldn’t have to see this,” he whispered as he carefully
secured the scarf in place, checking his work to ensure that she
was unable to see.

Jewell screamed through her tears, her words
incoherent except for Collin’s name which she interjected over and
over again. Collin watched as the man moved across the room to
where his partner lay. The man with the cut on his leg was either
dead, or unconscious, Collin was unsure and he couldn’t tell from
the limping man’s reaction. The man with the limp gently laid the
injured man on the floor, checking the wound and the tourniquet
that had stemmed the flow of blood. He carefully folded the man’s
arms over his chest, touched him on the cheek lightly, and got
up.

Daniel was not dead, yet. Edgar knew that
Daniel needed medical attention soon. Daniel’s heart rate had
increased exponentially. He was pale, and cold to the touch, but
still breathing. Edgar turned his attention to the incapacitated
man on the other side of the room. Almost regretfully, he moved
slowly across the room knowing what he must do. All infidels must
be executed for their sins. He watched as the infidel tried without
success to grab the sword. With the man in a sitting position with
the wall behind him, it would be difficult to make a clean cut. He
moved closer and used his foot to push the man over onto his side.
The infidel struggled to remain upright, but in the end, his
injuries prevented him from maintaining his balance. He fell over,
his head hitting the ground with a thud.

The infidel lay on the ground, staring up at
Edgar insolently. Edgar’s concentration was so intense that he
barely heard the sobbing girl behind him. As he tried to determine
the best way to sever the infidel's head cleanly and in one stroke,
the infidel defiantly held his head back to give Edgar a clean cut.
Edgar raised the sword over his head and stood like that, staring
down at the body below him. He had never killed a man before.
Remorsefully, he lowered the sword and took a step back wiping
sweat from his forehead with his sleeve. He swallowed hard against
the bile that was trying to rise in his throat at the thought of
what he was about to do. Gathering his resolve, he stepped forward
and raised his sword.