Number of the Beast (Paladin Cycle, Book One) (36 page)

She cringed, tugging her
hand away. “I think you better leave.”

The young man towered over
her, his shoulders as broad as Shane’s but his face smooth with
youth. “You must come with me.”

The beauty known as Carmen
placed herself between Amy and himself. “Are you mental or
something? Do I need to call the cops?”

Atticus felt himself grow
hard and silently cursed his traitorous body. “I am Atticus,
ordained Paladin knight of the holy Order of Abel; and a Twin
warrior destined to defeat the Geminus. I have a divine mission, so
I demand you step out of my way.”

“
Guess that answers both
my questions.” She leaned closer. “I demand you kiss my ass and
walk up on outta here.”

Her menthol-flavored breath wafted
across his face.

The three men remained
standing.

Atticus glared at Amy.
“There is a child within you that harbors great power. Without
proper training and discipline he will be dangerous to everyone
around him.”

“
How do you know I’m
pregnant?”

“
I can already sense him.
Come give birth to your child within the safety of the compound.
Allow him to train to be a mighty warrior.” He reached around
Carmen, open palm. “Or else, the Beasts will kill him.”

The raven-haired beauty
shoved his arm away. “The fuck you will.”

A man with dark, aged skin
rounded the corner. He wore a black apron and white netting over
his hair. In one steady hand, he held a butcher’s knife. “Miss
Wintry won’t be goin’ nowhere with you, son.”

Atticus stepped backward.
He drew his sword. “I will not leave without Amy!”

Gasps fell over the
diner.

The click of guns
resounded. A man took his cowboy hat off the table and placed it on
his head. He leveled two pistols. “Well, let’s just see if we can’t
persuade you to change your mind, young man.”

Two men dressed in
camouflage stood from their dining booths. Both drew
pistols.

From behind the cooking
line, an elder woman wearing a hairnet thumbed the hammer of a
revolver.

Carmen said, “You’re in
Texas, dipshit. Should’ve brought a Smith and Wesson.”

A loud crack sounded.
Above the dark-skinned man, the air tore open and out dropped a
time Reaver, the size of a grown man.

Gunmen spun their weapons away from
Atticus. Before they could get off a shot, the spider wrapped
mechanical legs around the black cook.

And the man vanished.

“
Charlie!” somebody
screamed.

Atticus leapt into a high
kick, landed on the counter, crouching. And dove onto the gigantic
urchin’s bulbous abdomen. Gunshots rang, bullets ricocheted off its
metallic hull. Atticus gripped the spider with one hand, pulled his
sword back with the other.

The spider reared upward like a
startled mare. The left leg pierced a hunter through the chest,
through his ribs and out his back. The right leg plunged into the
cowboy’s shoulder, pinning him to the wall.

More screams.

Atticus stabbed into the
spider’s body. It collapsed beneath him and vanished. He thudded to
the floor. A cold, sharp pain pinched inside his calf. He looked
down and saw a crystallized prong…or was it a fang. The spider fang
twitched and wiggled. It fell to the floor. Atticus grabbed it. He
untied the prayer satchel that was around his neck and dropped the
fang inside.

Amy and Carmen rushed out
the back.

The remaining hunter, a
man as wide as a hay stack, blocked the front door. The man’s fist
drove forward.

Atticus caught the
hunter’s wrist before kneeing him in the gut. Gasping, the man
bent. His arm cradled his abdomen. Gently, Atticus gripped his
shoulders and helped him to the floor.

He panned the room of bleeding and
moaning innocent souls. “My sincerest regrets.”

As he dashed outside, he
scanned the parking lot for the Beloved.

Quick footsteps pounded
behind him. Something jumped onto his back. Arms wrapped around his
throat. Legs clamped around his waist. A flurry of raven hair
whipped at his face.

He grabbed a forearm and flipped his
assailant over his head and onto the asphalt.

Grunting, flat on her back, Carmen
climbed to her feet, righting herself.

His aura constricted around his
person. The energy vibrated and hummed.

The Beast was
near!

A small car drove from the back of the
diner. Amy was driving. The Beloved gave him a quick glance before
speeding from the lot.

“
Jumping rats!”

A black car screeched by. Carmen and
Atticus watched the vehicle nearly run Amy’s car off the road.
Amy’s car accelerated but the other car matched her speed. It
tapped her bumper. The car skidded slightly but Amy regained
control. Both cars rounded a corner and disappeared from
view.

Atticus waved Carmen off.
“Be gone, you dreaded nymph.” Inside his car, he mumbled, “Time is
running out.” His glorified scooter hummed to life. He threw it
into gear. Moments from catching the Beast...

The passenger door flew open and
Carmen slid into the seat. With both hands, she steadied a Glock.
What a beautiful sight.

“
I don’t
know who the fuck you are.” She tilted her head, gesturing toward
the diner. “Or what the fuck
that
was, but something tells me you know who’s
chasing my friend, don’t you?”

“
That
was a time
Reaver.” He lifted his chin at the road. “And that is the Beast,”
he said, flatly. “The one which I keep telling you people of.
No?”

“
Well, get after him
already! And respect the nymph with the gun.”

Ignoring the spicy-sweet fragrance
drifting from the passenger seat, Atticus sighed and gripped the
wheel tighter.

The Beast was finally
within reach.

Amy’s car jolted and skidded before
she regained control. Glancing in the rearview to see what or who
had bumped her, she spotted a luxury sedan inches from her
bumper.

The beast?

Couldn’t
be. Two people, a man and woman were inside the car. Tobias had
said there was a beast, not beasts. They bumped her car again.
Gripping the wheel tighter, Amy slammed the pedal.
Damn!

Whoever they were, they
were obviously intent on pushing her off the road.

Home was closer. Just take a left on
Harper Top Road a mile ahead.

The car’s grill bit at her
rear fender.

“
Who are you?” she
screamed aloud, stomping the pedal so hard it might go through the
floorboard. Bright streams from the setting sun blinded her with
white and orange sunspots. When she reached for the visor her car
whooshed out of control. She put both hands back on the wheel and
squinted through the sun’s glare.

The speedometer climbed past seventy,
hesitating between seventy-eight and eighty-two. Amy had never gone
so fast in her life. The car slipped and jerked.

Jesus!

Steering with her left hand, she
rummaged with her right through her purse, fumbling for her phone.
From her lips came a silent prayer that the beast did not bump her
while she steered with only one hand.

Her trembling fingers punched in
Shane’s speed dial, but the asshole pulled up on her left and
swerved. She hooked the wheel. The tires skidded onto the uneven
shoulder and the phone bounced from her hands. It thumped onto the
passenger side floorboard, out of reach.

She gripped the wheel with both hands
again. Her foot slammed the gas pedal. The needle shot over
ninety-five. The hayfields, barbed wire fences, and small stone
houses rushed by.

But the Beasts still
followed.

“
Just leave me
alone!”

Her pleading was futile. The creep
matched her speed. She could turn left onto Harper Top Road just a
half mile ahead and get home quicker than she could get to the
police station.

But what if Shane was caught by
surprise. Whoever was trying to run her down or maybe even kill or
rape her, might kill Shane and Scooter, too.

No, she thought, shaking her head.
Only one person would know what to do and he was nowhere
around.

Tobias! Is this him? Is
this the beast?

She could see her turn. Almost
home.

All the warnings are
making me feel crazy. Shane thinks I’m a nut job. Now you can’t
even be here when I need you the most? Damn you! Damn you Tobias! I
don’t need you or your future! To hell with you and to hell with
the beast and that other freak from the diner, too. And to hell
with Shane. To hell with all you bastards!

Tear streamed down her cheeks. With
her forearm she swiped the moisture from her face. The car jerked
again. She quickly grabbed the wheel.

The Lexus shot ahead and skidded
sideways, barricading her intended left turn. She jerked the wheel
and turned right onto Blackwood Road. The crumbling unmaintained
road weaved its way straight into Sacred Oaks.

Abe lived off of Blackwood several
miles into the reserve. Maybe she could make it to his
place.

Her sweat-drenched hands slipped on
the wheel, her ankle cramped from pumping the gas.

No matter how fast she drove, the
sedan remained steadily on her tail. It was like he was herding her
along, the way Mike herded cattle.

Her life was in serious danger and she
might not see tomorrow, may never see Carmen again, or kiss Shane.
But she had to stop panicking and start thinking.

What if she slammed on the brakes and
let the asshole hit her then she’d take off. It would destroy the
front of his car and hopefully incapacitate the vehicle.

What if it destroyed her car too? Bent
the axle? And the beast got her anyway?

The shadowy brambles and forest of
Sacred Oaks consumed the shoulders of the road. The asphalt gave
way to dirt, mud and clay. Road signs were bent and
rusted.

And into the mouth of Hell she
drove.

Abandon
all hope.
The morbid thought whispered in
her head.

What if she pulled over and made a run
for it into the woods. She could lose him in the forest and double
back around to Roxy’s and wait there for the police.

Tobias. Help me,
please.

# # #

Isaac watched The Beloved’s vehicle
swerve and speed toward the forest.

“
Perfect,’ he said. “She
is ours now.” He glanced at his mate.

“
Who is she?”

“
She holds the key that
will allow our race to climb to the highest evolutionary chain.
With her as a vessel, we will be able to enslave this universe and
all others—including the other tribes.”

“
What other tribes?” Lynn
asked.

“
Not important right now,
my twin. We must capture The Beloved and perform an ritual so that
you may have her body and nourish the seed within her
womb.”

Isaac pressed his foot to the gas and
the car lurched. In confident pursuit they followed The
Beloved.

“
She’s getting away, isn’t
she?” his twin said.

“
She cannot get away. Not
from us.”

“
But what of that Paladin
that you sensed back there?”

“
I am not concerned with
the zealot. He is young, weak, and no threat to me.”

Isaac’s car idled down
Blackwood at a leisurely pace, dust motes trapped in the headlights
like millions of tiny, lost spirits. In the Geminus tongue, Isaac
uttered a string of archaic syllables. He rolled all four windows
down and crooned a summoning lullaby.

Crows, hawks and other
birds flew to the tops of trees and cawed in symphony with his
voice.  

Isaac continued his
incantation.  

The path appeared to sway
as hundreds of snakes, small and large, slithered onto the road and
darted toward The Beloved’s vehicle.

“
Come, my children of the
forest and serve your king.”

His mistress clawed at the
dashboard, as if bracing for possible impact. She knew not of the
strength her body now commanded. He had much to teach her. The
Narkush stone embedded in her chest pulsed with a rhythmic beat,
like a tiny heart.

“
What is so special about
this girl?” she asked.

Several crows dove to the
ground and scooped up snakes in beak and claw. Isaac grinned at a
diamondback dangling in the clutches of a rather small blackbird.
Its wings fluttered, but it lacked the strength to ascend. Isaac
pursed his lips and blew. His breath carried the bird toward the
Beloved’s car.

“
She carries a Paladin
child within her womb,” Isaac said. “He shall one day become the
prophesied Dark Trinity—the most powerful being to rule all other
beings. Part human, part Paladin, and part Geminus.”