Chapter 15 #4
Seconds later, she stumbled through the last bush into the garden, covered in blood, her suit torn in places. She dropped to her knees, laughing breathlessly, her face streaked with red and dirt.
“Davina!” Corey sprinted forward, His expression was pure horror. “You’re covered in blood, are you hit?”
She coughed, still smiling. “No… I don’t think so.” Her voice trembled with adrenaline. “But I killed at least twenty-five of them. They’re split up, fifty each side. They’re surrounding us.”
Corey’s voice was sharp with fury. “What the hell did you think you were doing? I can’t lose you, Davina!”
She grinned, despite the exhaustion in her eyes. “You won’t. But it’s a good thing I went, otherwise we’d have thought they were all coming from one direction.”
She turned her gaze to Mandy. “Why aren’t your wards alerting us of the others?”
Mandy frowned, confusion flickering in her eyes. “I don’t know. They’re intact on my end.”
Michael, who had been silent until now, stepped forward. “It’s not that they’re failing,” he said. “It’s that they’re being countered. They have specials with them.”
“Specials?” Byron asked.
Michael nodded. “Low-level powers. People like me. They use them as transmitters and blockers, to disrupt wards, to jam telepathy, to throw off energy readings.”
Lucy raised an eyebrow, despite herself. “Really?”
“Yes, really,” Michael said with a grim smile. “They’re terrified of anyone too powerful. The last time they tried to control someone with real strength, it didn’t end well for them. So now, they stick to pawns, people who can’t turn on them.”
Lucy’s expression hardened. “Then let’s hope their downfall starts here. With us.”
Davina was still laughing softly, adrenaline wearing off. “Well,” she said, wincing as Corey helped her to her feet, “I’d say I made an impression”
“You made a mess,” Corey muttered, brushing blood from her cheek. His voice softened. “But I’m glad you’re alive.”
Lucy looked over at them both. “Get her inside and check her over, make sure she’s ok.”
Byron glanced toward the forest again. “This is not what I fucking expect to wake up to”
Chapter 17
Davina sat on the edge of the sofa wrapped in one of Mary’s old blankets. The blood was gone from her skin, but the wild light in her eyes hadn’t faded. Her fingers tapped against her knees, she had a taste of blood and was eager for more.
Mandy stood near the window, pacing hard enough to wear grooves in the floorboards.
“I can’t sense them,” she said finally, her voice tight with frustration. “They’ve found a way to block me. Whoever they have out there, they’re cloaking the whole damn forest.”
“Fuck this,” Corey barked. He checked the chamber of his pistol, the sharp click cutting through the tense air.
“I’ll watch the back.” He threw a look toward Ethan.
“Get the Doves in position. Corners only, north, east, south, west. First sign of movement, you send a silent alert. One beep: check in. Three beeps…” His jaw clenched. “They’re here.”
Ethan nodded once, already on his radio. The sound of voices crackled softly in the background as the others moved to their assigned posts.
Lucy stood by the main window, one hand pressed to the cold glass. The forest stretched out before her dark, endless and unmoving. She could feel Byron’s presence somewhere behind her, steady and calm, but even that couldn’t silence the racing in her chest.
They’re close. She could feel it.
Everything inside her screamed to prepare, to move, but she can't defend what she cannot see. That was what scared her most.
“Come on,” she whispered under her breath. “Show yourselves.”
But the forest stayed still.
Corey crouched near the back entrance, eyes scanning the tree line through the scope of his rifle. His muscles ached from tension, but his focus never wavered. Every crack of a twig, every rustle of leaves sent his pulse spiking.
He hated waiting.
He’d rather be charging headfirst into battle than sitting here like a target.
He adjusted his earpiece, listening for the faint static of Ethan’s channel. Still nothing, just that long, agonising quiet.
Upstairs, Barnaby sat quietly staring at the monitors in front of him.
A part of him still stung from Corey’s words earlier — you’ll just get in the way.
Maybe that was true.
But this… this was his domain. He could still protect them, even from behind a screen.
Then suddenly there was a flicker.
Movement on the northwest camera. A blur that didn’t belong.
“Corey…” he whispered into the comms. “Got something. Far left perimeter. Fast.”
No answer. Just static.
Barnaby frowned, switching to another feed. Nothing. The movement was gone.
His chest tightened. “This isn’t good,” he muttered, standing. “They’re here.”
He ran fast down the stairs, his footsteps echoing through the hallway.
Straight to the window where he knew Corey would be.
He tapped hard against the glass. Corey turned, still scanning his surroundings, gun ready. Barnaby unlatched the window and leaned out, breathless. “There’s movement on the northwest camera.”
Corey’s face shifted instantly, that calm soldier’s mask snapping into place. “Tell the others inside,” he said quietly. “I’ll alert the rest outside.”
Barnaby nodded, disappearing back into the hall. Corey turned and sprinted toward the outer line.
He found Ethan first, crouched low behind a column of ivy.
With quick hand signals, Corey told him to stay silent. Then, in a whisper that barely carried over the wind: “We’ve been breached.”
Ethan’s expression hardened. Together, they moved quickly toward the next corner, where two Doves stood watch. Both men’s eyes widened as Corey’s gestures told the story, they’re inside the perimeter.
No shouting. No panic. Just motion.
They advanced toward the final guard post, the last outer corner of the grounds, but stopped dead.
Two Doves were on the ground, motionless. From a distance, Corey could see the vines shifting just beyond them, retracting slowly back into the growth.
He raised a hand. “Stop,” he hissed.
For a moment, all they could hear was the faint rustle of leaves.
Whoever had done it was still close.
Corey’s eyes flicked toward Ethan. “We need to get inside. Now.”
Without another word, they moved, fast and silent, slipping back through the side door.
Barnaby tore through the house, his breath loud in his ears. He could already hear the muffled thud of boots moving outside, the creak of the old walls groaning under the weight of something approaching. The manor seemed to sense it too the air was heavier it was charged with static and fear.
He burst into the kitchen, where everyone was waiting.
“They’re here!” Barnaby shouted, gripping the doorframe for balance. “They’ve jammed the systems, we can’t communicate. I told Corey; he’s checking it out!”
The room froze.
Lucy’s eyes locked on his. She was calm, but only just. “Mary,” she ordered, her tone sharp and cutting through the noise, “take Erin, Nick, and Mandy upstairs. Go to Barnaby’s room and lock the door.”
She turned to Barnaby, stepping close enough that he could see the tremor in her hands. “You stay with them.”
He nodded automatically, but Lucy reached up, brushing his cheek with the back of her fingers, a fleeting softness in the middle of chaos. “I remember when you were little,” she whispered. “Now look at you, twice my size.”
He tried to smile, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “Take care of yourself, Lucy,” he said, his voice breaking slightly. “Please. I need you.”
She gripped him tighter, her eyes glistening. “Of course,” she said softly. “Now go.”
He hugged her one last time before running back through the corridor. His footsteps faded up the stairs, the echo swallowed by the thick, suffocating quiet that followed.
Lucy turned back to the others just as Corey burst through the kitchen door, his face hard and his clothes streaked with dirt. “Two doves are down already,” he said, catching his breath. “We need to get ready. Now.”
He pointed toward the far window; the glass streaked with condensation from the cold outside. “They’re moving over here, this side of the grounds.”
He looked straight at Davina and beckoned her over, pointing over to the direction of the Lucent's he said in the calmest tone. “Fuck. Them. Up.”
Davina’s lips curled into a dark smile. “My pleasure, baby.”
Her eyes shifted instantly, the soft brown swallowed by a black so deep it looked endless.
Her body lifted off the ground, the air vibrating around her.
Her voice, when she spoke, came through distorted.
“I can feel them,” she whispered. “Their steps against the grass. Their arms bushing against the vines.”
Her hands began to move, fingers bending and curling like the tendrils of the plants outside. The forest responded. The floor trembled. Then came the first scream.
It was high-pitched, panicked and blood-chilling.
“Wow,” Lucy breathed, watching through the window.
Outside, the ground erupted.
Roots tore up through the soil, thick as serpents, wrapping around ankles and throats, dragging men into the undergrowth.
The vines moved with precision — one coiled tightly around a soldier’s leg, another shot upward, impaling the man beside him clean through the chest. The sound was wet and final.
The rest of the Lucent soldiers started shouting, firing blindly into the trees. Bullets ripped through branches and leaves, but the forest only hissed in response. Each shot was answered by another scream — another body pulled down, broken, silenced.
Then they saw them.
Dozens of figures burst from the tree line — shadows wearing uniforms, white insignias glinting faintly under the dim light. There were at least twenty of them, spreading fast across the open field, rifles raised.
“Join us when you can, Davina!” Corey shouted. “Let’s go!”
Lucy, Byron, Sam, Ethan, and the remaining Doves were already moving. They hit the door and ran straight into the chaos.