A VERY DARK tale (#Wattys2016)

Chapter 38

For a moment silence fell upon us. Even the wind has stilled expecting some kind of action to happen. Slowly I inhaled fresh, slightly humid air and as slowly exhaled. My fingers stiffened the gun. I lifted my hand and made the first shot in the direction that my intuition suggested me in a whisper.

"Alive!" followed a command after the gunshot was fired.

I swallowed collected on my tongue bitterness watching the shifting in the bushes to my left.

Not waiting for my reaction Oengus pointed one of the guns towards the bushes and made two shots. Then he made three more and ducked behind me. I could feel his muted excitement. His desire of bloody battle. I could feel my own excitement. The danger that was following us for days now finally got to us. It was time to fight.

Suddenly, the armed men began appearing from behind the trees. They were moving noiseless, mixing with the woodsy background. But before any of them could get closer Oengus and I would shoot them down, preserving me from using my gift and exposing my real potential.

After fifteen men were down everything stilled again. Some of them were humans, and some were feras. Feras souls were leaking out in a black substance from the host bodies and vanishing into the ground with a painful hiss.

"I'm out of the bullets," Oengus whispered behind me. And so was I.

"That was the whole point," a tall man replied stepped into the view. "Strategy and planning. Step one: surround the enemy. Step two: exhaust his weapon potential. Step three: capture or kill." He said clapping his hands in a cheerful manner. "But what do I see... Older brother Oengus. A legend of his own. The most promising leader of the entire dark kingdom is in the company of a pesky human girl."

"A very important pesky human girl," Oengus corrected in his calm and superior voice. "dear half brother...Abysmal."

"Ah!" The man chuckled. "Details...details...who pays attention to these little details nowadays?"

"Apparently, I'm old fashioned," Oengus returned briskly. "I see Tyr didn't want to stain his hands in the dirt and had sent his minions to do the job for him. How typical of him. I hope you brought more men with you."

"I think we doing just fine the way it is," the man smirked. His features were concealed by darkness, but blazing of his eyes was bright enough to see confidence written in them.

"Ah! Youth...arrogance... tsk...tsk...tsk..." Oengus sighed dreamily.

The man cleared his throat. "Enough of this. Why don't you give the girl to me and we can peacefully part. I can even send you some money. Your ascetic way of living for the past fifty years brought your money and power to zero. From what I heard you're bankrupt with no place to stay..."

"News travel fast. BUT, the girl stays with me. Do you want to go with that big charming man, Stacy?"

I nearly rolled my eyes but said nothing. This civil conversation was getting old. My hands were itching for something to do.

"See, she doesn't want. Send hello to my brother from me."

The man smirk grew wider. "Who said I was going to give her to him...Who said I need her to be alive... Fire!"

Suddenly a muted noise of a bang erupted in the air and with wide eyes I watched bullets from all around flying towards me. Bang! Bang! Bang, bang! - Was all my ear could catch in the silent cacophony. It was almost a symphony, just without the actual music.

In a moment a wall of bullets and metal dust was building around my body. If not for my absolutely collected state of being I would suffocate in that metallic barrier. My hands collected the bullets from the place of my face in a heap, letting the rest fall to the ground with a clink, and instantly my eyes connected with the man who now stood only a few feet away.

"Bad choice," I said calmly feeling my demonic side resurrecting from a deep nap. I brought the bullets to my mouth and blew on them forcing them fly back in the direction of the bushes.

"She is..." Abysmal opened his mouth but didn't have time to finish the sentence. My bare hand shot out, and I touched his face instantly sending him flying into the tree.

"Summon the fera, Oengus. As their superior, they will listen."

"How do you know?" he mused clearly pleased with the outcome of the battle.

"Oh, I know. Some of them belong to me."

"Interesting," he muttered under his breath, but right after that began whispering the words in the old language.