The Dark Edge Chronicles - Clan War

Chapter 8: Hand in Hand with Death

Somewhere inside, she knew the monsters would come back. It wasn't like the stories her father used to tell her before bedtime, where the hero would make sure the monsters were gone forever. And while she knew the monsters under her bed and in her closet weren't real, the ones that had hurt her mother and father and all these other people, were very, very real. So she hugged herself and cried, sad that her parents were gone. And scared that soon she would be, too.

Still, she couldn't help the squeak of dismay and fear that made its way out of her when a monster appeared at the far end of the car. The other people too, began to cry and plead for somebody to help them. But they quickly fell quiet when the monster stopped to fumble at something at his waist before beginning to frantically run towards the back of the car.

He managed to almost reach where the bodies were before he jerked to a halt, a red button appearing on his pale forehead. Then he was topping forward to join the bodies on the floor, unmoving.

Shocked into silence, the little girl could only watch with wide eyes even as a second monster appeared at the door. This one looked even more frantic than the first, his clothing disheveled and his breathing coming quick and panicked. And he too looked as though he was going to try and run.

Only he couldn't, because before he could start, a piece of metal appeared in the center of his chest, pushing out and covered with his blood. The monster shrieked in pain then, before their astonished eyes, began to turn into ash, his pale skin lighting up from within as if somebody had lit his bones on fire. And then, in front of their astonished eyes, his body collapsed into dust and he was gone, the piece of metal revealed as the blade of a strange, glowing dagger. Bereft of the body it had pierced, it dropped to the ground with a 'thud'.

She was still in shock at seeing the second monster die by getting stabbed then turning into dust that she almost didn't register a third person stepping through the door. But, catching the motion out of the corner of her eye between the seats, she looked and felt her heart skip a beat.

This third person looked more normal, like a human. But he was big, bigger than any man she had seen before. And, while there were things about him that were like the monsters, he didn't feel the same. Then she was twitching, startled when his dark eyes fell onto her.

"Hello there," he said in slightly accented English. He then stepped over the first dead monster and, without looking at the bodies of the people on the floor, came to a halt where she was hiding between the seats.

There, he carefully knelt.

"My name is Lash. What's your name?" he asked in a friendly, almost reassuring tone.

"Ciera," she replied in a tiny voice, trembling with fear.

"That's a very pretty name." He paused to look around. "It looked like some very scary things happened here, Ciera."

"Yes," she squeaked. "Monsters came and bit people on the neck and drank their blood." The tears came before she could stop them. "Even my mum and da!"

"Oh no!" Lash replied, a look of concern appearing on his face. "Where are your mom and dad?"

She pointed with a trembling finger at two of the unmoving bodies.

"Is it okay if I check to see if I can help them?"

Tears now pouring down her cheeks, she nodded.

"That's a brave girl," Lash said with a smile. "You hang tight right there. I'll see what I can do for your mom and dad!" Then the very big man was carefully moving over the bodies until he reached the two Ciera had pointed to.