Hold True

Chapter 11

Sorry it's been so long.  I only did a quick edit on it so I could post it sooner.  Hope you like it and please tell me what you think.

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Everything seemed to slow down and I watched the man’s grip on Elliot break as a huge gust of wind blew him across the room.  He smashed into the brick wall with so much force that the wall cracked. As he was getting to feet, a group of men poured through the open doorway.

I remembered the two guys leading the men in as Rueben and Niles.  They went straight for the man who was now kneeling. Before he was able to get to his feet, Rueben swung his sword and took the man’s head clean off his shoulders. My jaw dropped in shock. Not because of the headless corpse lying on the ground in front of me, but because Rueben was strong enough to take the man’s head of with just a swing of his sword. That shouldn’t be possible… no one was strong enough to do that. I don’t think, but I saw it so I knew it was true. 

I looked to the others in the room.  There were four men wearing shiny plated armor surrounding Adeline.  One had his hand on her forehead and another was looking for any other wounds she might have.  All of a sudden her eyes shot open and she sat up swinging. I held in a laugh.

I then looked to Elliot to find him staring at me with his eyes wide and mouth hanging open.  Niles was observing the wounds the dead man gave him and saying something about holy water.

I mouthed “What?” to Elliot.

He closed his mouth and looked from me to Niles and back. “I think Niles should be the one training you from now on.”

Niles looked up at that. “What?” He asked and glanced at me.

“Later…I’ll tell you both later.”  Elliot said, eyes shooting to all the other guards in the room.

I nodded my understanding.  Knowing he didn’t want anyone else to hear what he had to say.

Niles eyes followed Elliot and understanding crossed his face. “I’ll come back after we get things all cleared up.”  He paused, “I’ll bring some holy water up with me and we’ll clean your bites.”

“Holy water?” I asked and watched as a few men lifted the headless corpse. One man who did not look happy picked up the head by the hair. The neck stuck to the ground and made a suction sound as he pulled up. His face turned pale and he quickly looked away.

“Yeah…What else would you use to clean a bite from the damned?” His eyes followed a few older ladies as they came in with buckets of water and old rags.  They were headed for the bloody mess.

“The damned?” I wondered paying more attention to the men carrying the dead guy out of the room.  The body was stiff and already starting to stink of rotting flesh. The men turned him sideways to get his legs out of the door and had to twist again to get his arms out. Then they were out of site.

I looked back to Niles and Elliot. They too were watching the men struggling with the body. “Yes.” They said in unison. “The damned,” Niles added.

“What exactly is…The damned?” I asked looking back and forth between the two confused guys sitting across from me. They’re confused? What about me? They’re the ones talking gibberish.

“How do you not know what the damned are?” Elliot demanded.

“What? I don’t know…Am I supposed to know what the damned are?”

“Everyone knows what they are. They’ve been killing our people for year. Taking them and keeping them as pets. Feeding on them until there is nothing left. They’re pure evil and have no soul.” Rueben explained as he walked over to our little group. He looked at Elliot’s wounds and murmured, “Holy water,” To him.

“I’ve never heard of them…But that could be because Sir…” I stopped talking when Elliot’s head snapped my way when he realized I was about to say something about my past.  I clamped my mouth shut and looked to the others hoping they didn’t see that.

“Because Sir what?” Elliot pried.

“Nothing,” I whispered looking to the ground to hide the look of fear and hatred that I’m sure crossed my face.

A silence followed and I could feel their eyes on me. It made me want to cower. If I looked at them I wonder what I would see in their eyes.  Sir was able to make me run with one simple look.  I hoped none of them had Sir’s evil glance.

Rueben cleared his throat. I could feel it when all sets of eyes were off me. I looked up to see Nile and Elliot staring at Rueben. I sighed in relief.

 “Let’s search the rest of this floor…the other rooms are being searched at the moment…The grounds have been cleared…so…um… let’s go.”

Niles stood and patted Elliot on the head.  “I’ll be back in a bit with some holy water.”

Elliot hit his hand away.  Niles laughed and followed Rueben out.

I stood up as I watched Niles retreating back. Walking over to Elliot I helped him up and carefully moved him over to my bed. “How are you feeling?” I asked.

He winced as I helped him onto the bed then nodded. “I’ll be fine as soon as we cleanse the bites with holy water.”

“What is it with the holy water? How is water supposed to help?” I ran my hand through my hair in frustration.  Why didn’t anyone warn me about the crazy messed up shit around here?

Elliot didn’t answer right away, he was watching the older ladies cleaning the bloody section of my room. “Where to start,” He asked himself then looked at me. “Ok…obviously you don’t know anything about the damned.”

I nodded even though it wasn’t a question.

“When anyone gets bitten by the damned…they become infected. With something…I don’t know what. If you don’t cleanse the bite within the first 24 hours you will turn into the damned.  If not cleansed you will be one of them in three days… Holy water is the only substance known to man that will cleanse a bite from the damned…I’ve been told that cleaning it hurts worse than getting your guts ripped out… I guess it would be worth it…better than being one of them.” He shivered.

“Hmmm.” I said not knowing what else to say. I didn’t know if I fully believed him. The guy could have just been crazy. I know I saw him do things most people couldn’t, but I also remembered the movies Sir used to watch…They were about a guy named Jason who was super strong and wouldn’t die.

I got goose bumps thinking about what came after the movies.  Sir was so much more ruthless after watching them.

We sat in silence for what seemed like hours, but truthfully was only minutes. Both of us absorbed in our own thoughts.

Facts proved that there were no such thing as supernatural creatures. I guess that what I just witnessed had to be considered fact too. The only problem was…I didn’t what to believe. If I believed it meant I had to take into consideration what Sir used to tell me…and I really didn’t want to.

Nothing I just saw was explainable; the speed the man had, he was so fast I was unable to see his features until he stopped. I guess I could’ve been a trick of the light…But I highly doubt it. The color of his eyes…Contacts? Maybe…but, I think I might’ve gone back in time, mostly because there’s no electricity and no water in the castle. Well shit that’s even more proof that there’s magic…I could be in some Amish village, but I don’t think the Amish would cut someone’s head off. And there’s the question; why would a human man bite a small kid? Just for shits and giggles? No, I don’t think so…It seems I should start believing there are other thinks in this world.

Now that I think that this might be real I remember a time when I was with Sir. I was chained to the dirty mound of concrete on the left side of Sir’s torture room.  There was a commotion in the next room and Sir went to see what it was.

I never saw what all the noise was from, but I know I heard a man’s yell turn into a growl. I used to think it was my mind playing tricks on me…maybe it was real.