RBC05 - Bloodline (8 page)

“In our homeland, church bells ring at times of peril, bringing everyone to the church to find out what’s happened.”

“That holds true here as well. Are you saying that’s what you want me to do?”

“Yes, ring the bell now and have everyone stay here until we return.”

Again he looked at each of us and then smiled, “It’s God’s plan, not mine, I trust you,” he marveled as he shook his head and looked to the heavens before turning and rushing away.

When the bell started to ring, we walked to the front of the church and out the door. People were running toward the church from every corner of the settlement.

I nodded to the others and they instinctively spread into their fighting formation.

As the streets started to clear, we walked forward. Once in front of the church we could observe the entire town. The Belnovus could not follow the townspeople into the church. They, along with the Noctu were the vampire of legend, the demons. The fledglings made from these demons were undead creatures that could not be on hallowed ground. It was nearly dark now, a time when they would be at their strongest. We wanted them to think they had an advantage they didn’t have.

As we walked confidently towards the center of town, they started to come out to meet us. The ones that had followed us to the church filled in behind us. The streets were flanked by them, with others walking straight for us down the street from the opposite direction.

The fledglings were unusually patient, waiting behind the others as we passed.

We saw one, the obvious leader, start to come forward and then stop; waiting for us to come to him.

We obliged him, stopping when we got to within twenty feet.

“Fangs, how provincial,” Rosa sneered.

“You really think that you can save the population by gathering them in a so called ‘holy place’?”

He looked over my shoulder and I could see his eyes narrow as he concentrated.

“
Don’t turn
,” I warned the others with my mind.

We could smell the fire and then the smoke. Thanks to Letta’s gift, clouds instantly formed and it started to rain.

“Impressive. The stories of the Five seem to be true. There is nothing more appealing than the combination of beauty and power is there?”

He smiled showing his fangs again. “I’ll give you one chance to leave and save yourselves. Go back to your clan, we promise to leave you alone there.”

I laughed, “How generous of you dear sir!”

His smile disappeared, “Bold, considering how outnumbered you are by those that are much more powerful than you seem to be. Magic tricks won’t help you now.”

“I’ll tell you what. You go back to the underworld right now or we’ll send you there.”

“What’s going on? A street party? Why didn’t anyone invite us?” Gruen said as he and Liridon came out from the alley to our right.

The fight was on. They had no idea we had swords in hand as they lunged forward. I sidestepped the leader and let the razor sharp edge of my blade separate his head from his shoulders as he passed me. The acrid scent of demon blood filled my head as it pooled on the ground before seeping into the sand. The girls easily dispatched their first attackers as well. Quinn, Avery and our Watchers then joined the fight from the outside and worked their way in. As we’d seen before, the fledglings were armed only with their strength and speed. But there was no chance for them against the highly trained Watchers’ whose skills were now so finely honed that only those of us that were both highly trained AND powerfully gifted would have had any chance against them. Eventually we met in the middle just like Gunter had trained us to do.

“We’ll get the wagons and get rid of the bodies,” Alex panted, sweat dripping down his face.

“No need,” Letta said.

We could see her concentrate, staring at each body and shortly, one by one they burst into flame, disintegrating into ash, leaving their stench hanging in the air. Next a wind circled around us, dispersing the last of the demons.

“Thank you, Letta. Quinn, treat the wells. That will keep the humans from being infected again for a while. Are you sure we got them all, Gruen?”

“I don’t smell any that are alive, Katrina.”

 “I’ll go back to the church, why don’t the rest of you go with El and help her to heal the sick right now.”

“We’ll have to check the ‘dead’ as well,” Kate said.

I could see that Quinn and Avery seemed very uncomfortable. The thought that they may be asked to kill, or rather, re-kill humans, was at the least, very disturbing considering their circumstances.

“Leave that for now, we need to think about it before we do anything.”

Quinn turned to go with me.

“I’m her Watcher, Quinn,” Alex said as he stepped in front of him.

Quinn was taken aback, and looked to me.

I shrugged, “He’s right, it won’t take me long.”

We headed to the church to tell the settlers gathered there that it was all right to come out and resume life as it was before demons invaded this land.

I glanced over to Alex; he had a smug grin on his face.

“Are you purposely trying to cause trouble?”

“Of course not, Quinn has a different roll now. I just wanted to remind him of that.”

We could hear music as we approached. The parishioners were singing. Alex pulled the wooden church door open and I let their voices reverberate around me before moving forward.

The smell of the leather bound hymnals met my nostrils. I sensed no fear.

Patrick looked up and smiled, but didn’t stop singing. The hymn was one that I had never heard before.

“We shall gather at the river, the beautiful, the beautiful river,” they sang. With each verse I felt comfort and inspiration filling my soul. I knew that I would never forget it.

When they finished Patrick spoke. “Everyone, I would like you to meet Katrina. She came here to help us.”

He gestured for me to join him at the pulpit, which I did.

I addressed them. “You’re free to go about your business in peace. Those that were terrorizing you here, are no more. I have healers helping those that are ill and promise that if ever you have need, we will again, come to your aid.”

Patrick started to clap, “Thank you, Katrina. You are the answer to our prayers.”

He shook my hand and gave me a quick hug before offering his arm and walking with me back down the aisle through the doors of the church.

Outside, we waited and greeted each of the town’s people, who all thanked me. We received many invitations to stay and join them in a meal.

“I am sorry, but we have things we must do. Another time perhaps, now I must check on the progress of the healings. We will finish our tasks and be on our way.”

“I’ll go with you, Katrina,” Patrick said.

He took a quick look over to Alex, but didn’t comment.

I could tell by the look on his face and the way he clasped his hands behind his back as we walked, that there were many questions that he hoped I would answer along the way. When I didn’t offer any explanations he seemed to resign himself to not knowing why we’d done what we’d done. I assumed that as a man of God he was used to accepting things on faith alone.

I was shocked to see just how many people were in the makeshift infirmary at the hotel.

“How many recent deaths have you had?” I asked as we stood in the doorway.

“Almost a dozen,” he answered. “We have an Eastern European contingent living within our community. When the risings began, they insisted on severing the heads of the next ones that died, along with the reading of rites in their native languages.”

“And this has stopped the…risings as you call them?”

“Yes, it seems to have.”

We walked over to the others, who were gathered around the bed of a young man no older than twenty.

“This one is very close to death. I don’t know if we will be able to help him or not. After so many healings, we are all pretty weak, but if we don’t help him now he’ll be lost,” El said sadly.

“I’m here now and I’m fresh, let’s try.”

“It’s all right Patrick, you can join us,” El offered. “Just do what the others do. Close your eyes and concentrate on healing.”

El knelt beside the young man and placed her hands on his chest. Kate, Rosa, Letta and I followed. Patrick hesitated, but then placed his hands next to mine on El’s back.

The energy pulsed slowly at first. I felt Patrick shaking

“God help me,” he whispered.

It wasn’t long before the power pulsing through us started to race and what normally took only minutes, took nearly an hour.

We were all exhausted now, especially Patrick and El.

“Take it easy, Patrick. Give yourself some time to recover. You gave some of your energy to help him live. Sit down; I’ll get you some water.”

I motioned to Alex and he brought Patrick some of the water that we brought with us and enhanced crimson for the rest of us.

In all, we had healed sixteen. They all had been on the brink of death and even with Jinn power it had been difficult for us to save them.

We recovered quickly, but Patrick was still weak so El took his hands and using her gift, refreshed him to his previous energy level.

“I know I speak for the entire community when I say that I don’t know how we could ever thank you. Please, come back so that we can get to know each other better.”

“Thank you, Patrick. We do what we do for all our sakes. We are sorry for your losses and hope you never have to face this threat again.”

“The Indians here have spoken of the coming of ‘Ki Zapta’, the Five. Legends say when the evil comes they will be joined and here are the five of you and your friends.”

“I can tell you that these women are the ones of whom you speak,” Quinn said proudly. “Those of us that join with them freely, will be the difference between evil taking hold of this land or not. Each of us has that choice to make.”

“It is not something that we want those that seek to destroy the peace to know. I hope we can count on your discretion,” Rosa added.

“Of course, I am proud to have met you and offer you any help I can.”

“Thank you. Now it’s time for us to move on. Be safe, Patrick and if you need help we have a settlement just north of here.”

We walked to the edge of town and found the graveyard nearby.

“Patrick said that the ‘risings’ stopped once the eastern European settlers started beheading the dead,” I said looking out into the darkness surrounding the area.

“I don’t sense anything, how about you Gruen?”

“Nothing close, there are things, beings, out there. Not vampires…I can’t say for sure right now what they are.”

“I don’t sense danger,” Kate said, “Do any of you?”

We didn’t.

“Now what? Are we going home?” Avery wondered.

“We are going to Kentucky and then we have something else to do and we can’t take Watchers. That means you should go back to the clan here and portal home. Liridon you and Gruen can portal to Kentucky, we’ll be there as soon as we can.”