Chapter Eleven #2
“Well, I haven’t found a precise description or anything like that, but this guy has the power to predict our moves. From what I could find about this one guy who worked with him, his prediction ability isn’t very long, but it still means that he can see when we’re going to attack and how.”
Vale swore. How were they supposed to fight someone who knew every single one of their moves before they could make them?
“We can’t let that distract us,” Cyril declared, sounding calmer than Vale expected. “We knew this would be near impossible when we decided to fight. I’m going in there.”
“We all are,” Russell said. “It would be great if we knew what we were going to face, but we can deal with it. We’ve dealt with worse.”
Vale wasn’t sure that was true, but he appreciated Russell’s effort to reassure Cyril. He doubted anyone could say anything that would actually reassure him right now, unfortunately.
“Well, let’s get ready,” Vale declared, looking around their group, who looked more ready to go on a family picnic instead of fighting a bunch of people who could kill them with barely a thought—because as far as he knew, that was the ability of the last member of Helena’s team.
There wasn’t a way out, though. Cyril would go into that cemetery alone if he had to, which meant that Vale and the others had to do this.
Vale’s heart was heavy as he grabbed weapons from the car and placed them anywhere on his body that he would be able to reach.
He wanted to be prepared, but he was preparing for the unknown, which made it difficult.
“You’ll be careful?” Cyril asked.
“As careful as you’ll be.”
Cyril narrowed his eyes. “That’s not funny.”
“It wasn’t supposed to be funny. You know how these things go. We can promise we’ll be careful as much as we want, but there are always complications.”
“We can still win this. I know we can.”
“I hope you’re right, but even if we don’t win, I’ll do everything I can to get you, your mother, and Robbie out of there.”
“I don’t want to lose you, either.”
“I can’t promise you that you won’t, but I’ll do my best.” It was all any of them could promise.
They finished getting ready in silence and walked into the cemetery the same way, separating just past the gate.
They didn’t have anything else to say. They knew what they were about to walk into and how to defend themselves.
There was a real possibility that not all of them would survive, but Vale had to believe they would.
Hell, he even hoped that nothing would happen to John, even though he found him annoying.
The baby assassin was helping them even though he didn’t have to, and Vale was grateful.
Vale and Cyril walked together. They didn’t have to look far for Helena.
Cyril had mentioned that someone famous was buried in the cemetery and that their headstone was visible from afar because it was topped by the statue of a cherub.
Vale had never heard of the guy buried there, but there was no missing his resting place, even without the woman leaning against it.
Helena was still beautiful, even ten years after the last time Vale saw her.
Her black hair was cut into a severe bob, but it suited her.
She was wearing a black suit and a white shirt, and no jewelry.
Vale could feel her gaze on him as they approached, and he told himself that he knew her.
He knew how she worked and her weaknesses. He could use that to their advantage.
Cyril’s mother and Robbie were there, too.
Their hands were tied in front of them, and their mouths were gagged, but both of them looked angry rather than hurt or scared.
They were sitting on the ground and leaning against two headstones near Helena.
Vale couldn’t see anyone else, but he knew there were people around. Helena wouldn’t have come alone.
“I have to admit that I wasn’t sure you’d come,” Helena said, her lips curling into a smile. “I’ll give you one last chance, Cyril. I’ll let everyone but Vale go if you agree to work for me. Unfortunately, Vale has to die, but your family doesn’t. I’m sure you’ll make the right decision.”
Cyril looked like he was about to kill her. Vale wouldn’t be surprised if he did just that. Helena might think she’d won, but she hadn’t yet, and even if she did eventually, they wouldn’t go down without a fight.
Cyril certainly looked ready to give her one.
* * * *
“WE BOTH KNOW THAT WORKING for you wouldn’t be the right decision for me,” Cyril said. His mouth was dry, and he wanted to scream, but instead, he focused on Helena and how much he hated her.
He didn’t think he’d ever hated anyone as much as her, not even the people who’d kidnapped him to reanimate a guy who’d been dead for way too long. He’d been terrified then—almost as much as he was now—but he hadn’t hated them the way he hated this woman.
She’d dared to touch the people he cared about. She was threatening his boyfriend. How could Cyril feel anything but hate for her?
“Wouldn’t it be?” Helena asked. “I think that for your mother and Robbie, it would be.”
“They would hate me if I agreed to work for you. I’m pretty sure they’d rather die than let that happen.
” He wasn’t lying. He was convinced that if he said yes to Helena’s offer, his mother would kick his ass, and Robbie would help.
They wouldn’t want him to sacrifice his integrity and his life to save them.
That didn’t mean he wasn’t going to try.
“Well, that’s a pity.” Helena waved a hand, and Cyril sucked in a breath. He knew what was happening.
A woman appeared seemingly out of nowhere.
She was too close to Robbie and Cyril’s mother for Cyril to be comfortable with.
Luckily, someone started shooting at her, causing her to take a step back.
She vanished again, and Cyril realized that she had to be the woman who manipulated darkness.
He hadn’t realized it meant that she could turn herself basically invisible.
Maybe she couldn’t manipulate darkness as much as light, and the way it played over her body.
Not that it mattered. He didn’t care how her ability worked. He only cared about saving the people he loved.
Vale was already moving forward, trying to make his way to Cyril’s mother and Robbie. Someone was shooting at him, and Vale was shooting back, but Cyril didn’t think he was hitting his target, which was odd. Vale was a great professional assassin, so he knew how to shoot people.
Cyril couldn’t do much to help. He reached out with his mind and felt the bodies surrounding him, but he couldn’t touch any of them. They were buried.
That didn’t mean that he was completely powerless. He reached into his pocket and took out a handful of bones. He focused his ability on them, and they whizzed forward when he opened his hand, headed for Helena. They were fast enough that it would be like shooting her if they hit her.
They didn’t. Something happened, and they fell on the ground before getting halfway to her. Cyril frowned and grabbed another handful, wondering what was going on. It wasn’t his ability. He could still feel it, vibrating at the back of his mind, eager to come out to play.
He used it again, sending a second batch of tiny bones in Helena’s direction, but the same thing happened again. They dropped to the ground, and when Cyril looked around, he noticed a young man staring at him. The man saw him watching him and raised his hand to wave, confusing Cyril.
“That guy is blocking my ability,” he said.
Vale didn’t even pause his shooting before he answered. “What do you mean?”
Cyril was glad that he and Vale had agreed that they needed to stick together. There was no way he could do this on his own, and he’d refused to use a gun. He’d never even touched one, and he didn’t want to risk hurting one of the people he cared about.
“I’m not sure what he’s doing,” Cyril said. “But it has to be him. My ability is working normally. I’d know if it wasn’t. He was staring at me, and he waved.”
“Is that possible? That someone could block your ability as a necromancer?”
“Anything is possible.”
Vale swore, but thankfully, they hadn’t been counting on Cyril’s ability to win this. They’d known he wouldn’t be able to do much.
Cyril still tried. He reached into his pocket again and looked up to see where the man was. He was still staring at Cyril and grinned when he caught his gaze. It was obvious that he was waiting for Cyril to try again so he could stop him in his tracks.
Cyril grinned back just before John hit the man on the back of the head. The man’s eyes widened for a few seconds before he dropped down, hopefully unconscious.
That would teach him to be distracted.
Cyril used his ability on the bones and sent them flying. This time, they didn’t stop, but he also didn’t hit Helena, who ducked out of the way. She looked annoyed, which wasn’t as good as looking afraid, but it was something.
The cemetery was a mess. Everyone was shooting, and Cyril was starting to panic.
What was he supposed to do? There wasn’t much he could do with the bones in his pockets, and he couldn’t exactly start digging to get his hands on the buried cadavers surrounding them.
Even if he could, what would he do with a dead body that he had to continue touching to use?
Even if he decided to force his ability on those people, it wasn’t practical.
He looked around for something to do. Russell was fighting with the woman from earlier, and he was bleeding from his arm.
He was good, but she kept disappearing and reappearing, which didn’t help.
John was crouching by Robbie and untying him.
Robbie looked like he could kill someone with his gaze, something he’d no doubt try as soon as he could.
Rachel was nowhere to be seen, but someone kept shooting at the third member of Helena’s team, so Cyril had a good idea of what she was up to.