Finding Grace: The Guardian Chronicles Book One

Chapter 48. Big News*

Chapter 48. Glitter in the Air by Pink

So many emotions and sensations swirled through Evan as she hung up her cell phone. She needed to see what Emil thought of her discovery, if he thought it was possible for her to be pregnant. He sounded tired on the phone, and it really was something she wanted to tell him in person, in private.

"Nathan...Emil and Tourneau are on the way. He said they'd be here in about five minutes and that they would probably have to fight the others who are here. He thinks it's Romley or Bong-Li here. We should be ready to fight if we have to," Evan said, going to sit next to the young vampire.

Nathan simply nodded and patted the stock of the weapon in his lap. He hadn't put it down since they had sat down to wait for more sounds to come from overhead. The walls were closing in around Evan; she bounced up from the couch and went over to where her shotgun was leaning against the back of the couch. Feeling foolish for carrying it around, she started to put it down, but instead decided to see what it felt like to lift it to her shoulder. She aimed at the wall behind them, away from Nathan. Somehow, the aggressive stance she had to take to hold the gun correctly gave her a sense of power.

"Drop your shoulder, you're too hunched up," Nathan called from the couch.

Evan dropped her right shoulder and in so doing, was able to lift her left hand more to support the weapon. She jumped as she heard an evil laugh permeate the air. She spun to face the door, then moved to stand next to Nathan who was now standing with his weapon pointed at the door. The next several minutes were filled with the most horrendous sounds Evan had ever heard. Screaming, yelling, and pounding filled her ears as she strained to hear if anything was trying to get through the door. Evan didn't think she was cut out for this life. Well, I signed up for an eternity of it, she thought. Her life had been so boring before Nathan and Emil had come into it. She could not even have a cat before because she was at work all the time. Now, she had been physically assaulted at work, raped and beaten, and she was a new vampire.

I better get used to it, but I hope everything settles down soon, she continued to herself, trying to take her mind off the ruckus of the battle going on outside. A gunshot rang out, followed by another in rapid succession. Abruptly, the clamor ceased. Evan strained her supernatural ears to listen, trembling in fear of who had been shot. She heard Tourneau's muffled voice mixed with other male voices. She could tell that he was speaking urgently, but couldn't make out what he said through the thick doors and walls of the safe room.

Evan and Nathan continued to stand facing the door, but she numbly set her gun on the floor. Nathan had lowered his, but kept it at the ready in two hands. Several minutes passed as they listened to various beeps and clicks overhead. Multiple pairs of feet clumped above them, moving slowly, stopping now and then while more beeps sounded. Next, Evan was sure she heard the sound of the pantry wall opening, and despite the fact that she was sure it was Emil and Tourneau, she tensed in fear of the unknown. Her nerves were on edge, and she had a terrible sense of foreboding. The heartbeat in her head was more noticeable in the silence, now that her mind was free to roam a bit.

Outside the door, she heard the keypad beep more quietly than the other alarms had done and the steel door slid open. Evan's knees threatened to give out when she saw it was not Emil leading the group through the door, but a stranger carrying her Emil through it.

"Evan, we need you. Emil's been shot with a silver hollow point bullet. He has silver shrapnel inside him and it needs to come out if he is to recover," Tourneau said urgently, grabbing her by the shoulders and giving her a little shake.

"Shot...How did a bullet go into him, I thought nothing could go through our skin," she mumbled, confused as she remembered the ruined needles and scalpel blade when they worked on Nathan.