Chapter 51 Ensnared by the Guard
Ensnared by the Guard
Their monstrous heads are first to breach the veil of darkness from under my bed.
Large and imposing, not quite wolf, not quite lion, but something terrifyingly unique.
Elongated muzzles are adorned with strange, alien metals that glint ominously in the dim light.
Set in faces that are both regal and grotesque are eyes of a fiery hue that no earthly creature could possess.
Their manes, if they can be called that, bristle with a strange energy, each strand seeming to float and move with a life of its own. A mottled array of colored fur absorbs all light, glimmering with a dark iridescence that is not of this world.
Their presence sucks the air from the room. I gasp for breath as ice cubes fill up my stomach.
Every twitch, every step is fluid, united. Even their eye movements are a coordinated dance, taking in the surroundings with mass efficiency. They are a collective, moving as one, an orchestrated symphony of nightmares.
There are so many of them. I wonder how all six can fit into my small room, even pressed shoulder to shoulder. They defy physics and their presence feels perverse to my human senses. Before my heart and brain can kickstart into working order, all twelve eyes snap to Shadow.
They move toward him, their forms shifting, dark tendrils reaching out.
"You’ve broken the blood covenants." One head speaks half the sentence while another picks up the second half without missing a beat.
They both speak separately but as one. "You’ve escaped the pit of oblivion before serving your due time of punishment.
You have endangered the entire realm by returning here.
" The six each speak the words in different turns.
The Guard. This is the Guard that has been hunting Shadow, and now we are surrounded.
In a heartbeat, the world is erased, leaving only Shadow in its wake. The cops, the men waiting outside, none of it matters now. Only Shadow matters.
My entire being trembles with raw fear at the possibility of losing him, of Shadow being dragged back into the Pit of Oblivion, or worse.
I'd never see him again. Never feel his touch or hear his voice. The fear inside me swells to a deafening crescendo, threatening to consume everything that I am.
"You have no idea what you are doing," Shadow snarls.
His smoke and tendrils flare and swell around him in a protective display, but there's desperation in his movements. He’s outnumbered, and we both know it.
"You are the ones who have failed to guard the gate.
You have failed the Nexus. I am the only one who can protect her. "
My gut clenches at the mention of her.
"The Nexus is none of your concern." Three of them complete the sentence in turn. They close their circle around us tighter.
"Shadow!" I cry out, lurching forward to protect him.
"Stay back, Evie," he barks, even as one of his shadow tentacles forces me behind him.
My front door crashes open. It’s Toothpick and one of his guys who’s been hanging on my street the last several days. The activity in my apartment must have drawn their attention.
As the goon trains his gun on the commotion, the whites of his eyes nearly swallow the irises. His jaw flaps in wordless terror.
Toothpick backs up a step before rooting to the spot, his face also flexing with disbelief.
Bright shots pierce the darkness with hot barks of the goon’s gun.
Shadow engulfs me, rolling us to the side and out of the line of fire.
I peek over his shoulder to see the Guard doesn’t even flinch. The monsters leap in a tidal wave of muscle and force. When they hit him, he disappears from view and I only hear the too-familiar sound of tearing muscle and wet gurgling.
"Jesus Christ." Toothpick still stands in horror at the threshold of my apartment. His wide eyes jerk to meet mine before he turns around and tears off like a fire has been lit under his ass.
There’s no time to appreciate the fleeing of my stalker. As soon as they leave the gunman behind like a pile of used bubblegum, the Guard turns their collective attention back on Shadow.
One of the monsters opens their clawed hands, and a glowing white light hums with a sinister energy in the center of its palm.
The creature hurls it at Shadow. The light spreads open into a wet, sticky web that wraps around him, binding his smoky form.
He roars in pain as he struggles against it, his form flickering wildly, but the light from the device seems to drain him, his movements growing weaker.
I drop to my knees, trying to claw it off. A guttural scream escapes my throat. Pain sears my fingers, forcing me to release the webbing. I turn my shaking hands over, ugly scorch marks mar my skin.
Four of the Guard grasp Shadow’s limbs and drag him toward the bed even as he growls and thrashes.
He won’t be able to return to me. They won’t let him. Panic riots through my brain and body like a million skittering ants.
If he leaves, I’ll be alone.
Truly alone with the knowledge he’s being tortured and imprisoned because of me.
"No!" My desperation boils over into fury.
I launch myself at one of the Guard dragging Shadow away, only to be thrown back. All the oxygen expels from my lungs as I hit the ground. My lungs squeeze painfully and I know a bruise will develop on my back later. I struggle to get. They’ll have to kill me first before I let them take Shadow.
"Stop!" I scream.
They halt, freezing at my command.
Wait, what?
No one moves, except for Shadow, who twitches in pain. They seem to be giving me their rapt attention and I don’t know why.
I scramble to my feet. "Let him go," I command. "Release him now."
To my amazement, the web retracts into the Guard's hand. Shadow is released, collapsing to the floor, too weakened to move but free. Bright red lines of his exposed muscles from the web burns stand out.
I rush to his side. "Shadow, are you okay?"
His eyes meet mine, pain and anger swirling within them. It’s directed at me.
Why is he angry at me? Because he wanted me to run?
I meet his fury head-on and I know he can read the emotion in my eyes too.
I couldn’t let them take you.
But the fight to save him was somewhat anticlimactic when they just... did what I asked.
Standing, I face the Guard, a theory forming in my mind braiding into the narrative of a movie I once watched.
"Raise your right leg," I command.
They comply without hesitation, bending at the knee and lifting their right legs. Six of the scariest monsters just lifted one leg because I told them to.
Shock sends a buzzing numbness through me.
This is bizarre. This is insane. It doesn’t make any sense.
"You have to do what I say, don’t you?" My words come out just above a whisper.
"Yes," they all respond in unison.
My senses numb, I stand rooted in place, unable to process what just happened. I expect the floor to slip out from under me at any moment. I wait for them to attack again, but they hold their position.
It can’t be.
Shadow growls from where he still lays prone on the ground. "Tell them to leave."
"Leave," I command with only a slight stutter.
But the Guard remain.
"We cannot leave—"
"—without the prisoner," they explain, different heads taking their turn to complete the sentence.
"We answer—"
"—to a higher power—"
"—and it demands payment,"
"in the flesh of—"
"—this monster."
So they obey me to an extent, but there are rules, edicts they cannot break.
But why do they obey me in the first place?
A fearful suspicion snakes through me. If it’s true, it could crack open my entire world. Part of me almost doesn’t want to know.
"I demand you tell me why you have to obey me." An imperious tone has slipped into my voice like I think I’m some kind of damn royalty commanding her subjects. Who the hell do I think I am? And yet...
"Evie, no," Shadow growls in fury though he is still too weak to move. "Don’t speak to them."
"We protect."
"We covet."
"We serve the Nexus."
I shake my head. "That doesn’t answer my question." The Nexus isn’t here.
"We serve the Nexus," they repeat. All of them still have one leg up. It’s ridiculous.
Despite the prickles of suspicion jabbing at my subconscious since they obeyed my first command, the realization is still slow to arrive. It comes like molasses from a bottle. Sticky, thick, and too much to swallow the whole thing.
No.
No, it can’t be true.
But it is.
I am the Nexus.