Chapter 12

Marketa saw the thugs drop from the trees and take off in a sprint, but when she heard the other voice speaking to Aeden, it confused her. Then it occurred to her there were others out there that could not be seen and maybe a headlong rush wasn’t the best strategy. It had never occurred to her that another, unknown hybrid would show up. She was lucky she suddenly slowed down because a pipe went whooshing in front of her face. Had she not slowed down, it would’ve caught her full on. She immediately did a leg sweep towards the direction of the attack. Her leg caught something and it fell hard causing the pipe to fall out of the attackers hand onto the rocky ground. She immediately took a defensive stance and unsheathed the knife Dodek had given her when the first gunshot went off. Startled, she looked towards the grove of trees to see Tara’s body falling to the ground. She completely forgot about her attacker when she felt an impact on the side of her head and then saw nothing but stars before she fell over dazed.

Dodek finished his reconnaissance and made his way back to his brother, but something was wrong. He saw a figure lying motionless on the ground and he began to run when he realized it was likely Extor. When he got there, he was shocked and repulsed by what he saw and felt the underpinnings of rage building up from inside him. His species was not known for much emotion, but he had been making progress since he started spending more time with the girls. His fury turned on the only targets he was aware of: Rgal and his cohorts. Dodek began sprinting in a blind uncontrolled rage towards the grove of trees.

Ivan saw what Anya had done to Extor and was terrified of how dangerous she really was. He knew it was nearly impossible to single-handedly bring down a Royal Guard, much less do it with a knife. How she had gotten out of the safe house, he didn’t know, but he was going to try to lead her away from the grove of trees so Rgal would have a chance of succeeding. After his initial blindside of Anya, he took off running hoping he would think of some way to stop her. He equated her to a Terminator T-800. She would not stop until one or both of them were dead.

Anya’s blood lust was in full gear from having just killed Extor and Ivan was second on her list so the thought of saving Aeden was forgotten. She needed to kill Ivan and couldn’t understand how he managed to stay one step ahead of her. Medieval torture was one of the subjects she had spent plenty of time studying and she had the perfect one picked out for him.

Aeden fell to the ground and began throwing up. Not in his wildest dreams did he ever think the brains of someone he knew would be covering him. The first thug who happened to be the dark guy stepped towards Rgal and yelled at him. “Why did you do that? She was supposed to be mine!” Rgal wordlessly lifted the pistol and shot him between the eyes. “Well now, you can both be together.” He looked at other thug. “Stand him up, tie his hands and take him to the boat.” About that time the third thug came barging into the grove carrying Marketa. He dumped her at Rgal’s feet and exclaimed. “Look what I found, boss. You think she’ll be as good as Tara?” Rgal looked at his minion and a wave of hopelessness washed over him. All these guys wanted to do was have sex, which prevented them from being effective and follow his instructions. Rgal shot him, too. By now, Aeden had somewhat recovered from his shock and he saw Marketa in front of him trying to struggle to her knees. Rgal was only a few feet away from her and he began to raise the pistol towards her head. Rgal looked at the remaining thug who was behind Aeden. “Let this be a lesson to you guys. No more girls.” He pulled the trigger as Aeden knocked Marketa’s body out of the way. His momentum carried him into Rgal’s knees. The bullet tore into Aeden’s torso, but his momentum pushed Marketa from the path of the bullet who was unscathed which had been Aeden’s plan all along. The fact he knocked Rgal down, which was an added bonus.

Veronika and Pavlina were having a deep discussion about their heritage, Alnilam history, and culture when Veronika suddenly stood up. “Aeden’s in trouble. Something serious has happened to him.” Pavlina wasted no time in getting Niklaus and the three of them got into the vehicle they used as an ambulance and headed towards the park. The thought that Veronika was wrong wasn’t even a possibility. It was all Pavlina could do to keep her hands steady on the wheel and her brain engaged in what was happening on the road around her. What if they were too late?

Rgal lifted his torso up from the ground and fumbled for his gun. An unconscious Aeden lay on his legs which prevented him from standing. He pointed the gun at Aeden’s head not caring he might damage himself with the shot when some movement caught his attention. He looked up at the figure of Dodek rushing at him and something else he couldn’t quite make out. The knife hit him in the throat causing his finger on the trigger to spasm and fire again. Aeden was lucky the bullet hit him in the back of the calf because the gun had been pointed at his head. The impact of the knife caused Rgal to jerk his arm and spoil his aim. Dodek kicked the gun from Rgal’s hand and finished him off before doing a quick wound assessment of both Aeden and Marketa. Marketa had a bad concussion and was having trouble staying conscious while Aeden was losing blood, mainly from the first gunshot.

Ivan had been successful in luring Anya away from the grove of trees, but didn’t know how much longer he could hold her off. As her bloodlust began to recede, her thinking and reasoning skills began to improve. As her thought process reasserted itself, she stopped chasing him and picked up a rock. Throwing it with all her might, it caught him in the back of the head, knocking him down. She was on him in a flash and immediately smashed his spinal cord, damaging the spinal nerve that controlled his legs, making him a paraplegic Then she dragged him down near the water and took one of the knives she liberated from Extor’s body. “One of the benefits of being locked up in a dungeon is having time to research things, neither of which are working to your favor right now. Did you know that with my eidetic memory, I probably know more about the human nervous system than most neurosurgeons? All I lack is practice, which is what I’m about to have now.”

She cut his shirt off and stuffed it into his mouth before making precision cuts to match the Viking “blood eagle” torture.

He screamed and fainted a few times, but she used the cold river water to revive him. Every time you faint, I’ll revive you. In your next life, I suggest you at least try to rescue your little half-sister.”

It wasn’t long before his body began to shiver from the heat loss. As his body heat dissipated, various other internal functions slowly failed until he died.

Despite having exacted the revenge she dreamed about, Anya still felt empty and hollow inside. She had heard all the extra gunshots, but not cared anything about them. The shame began to grow within her as she realized how she failed her mission by getting sidetracked so easily. She reached out with her mind searching for Aeden, but couldn’t detect his presence. A set of sweeping lights across the park caught her attention and she watched what appeared to be an ambulance pull up to the grove of trees. Three people jumped out and frantically tended to some of the victims. Perhaps it wouldn’t hurt to see what happened up there. She rolled Ivan’s corpse into the river and washed the blood off her before making her way up the ambulance. According to her body count, one of Rgal’s men must have been able to escape. She stepped up to the crying young lady. “What happened? I saw lights and came over to check it out” Anya asked. “My brothers’ been shot.” “I’m so sorry. Is he OK?” “I don’t know. He’s lost a lot of blood and his pulse is weak.”

Anya figured this must be Veronika, Aeden’s sister. She stood there for a moment and noticed the lack of emptiness she felt. It was as if Veronika’s presence alone was having a profound effect on her. Impulsively, she placed her hand on Veronika’s back and pushed out calming vibes. Veronika’s head shot around towards Anya and Anya put a finger up to her mouth and gave a gentle ‘shush’ sound. The two girls stepped away so they could talk. “Please don’t tell the others. My name is Anya and I am a friend to you and your family.” Veronika’s eyes lit up with the recognition of that name. “Rgal mentioned your name the other night. What is your relation to him?” “He kept me locked up in a dungeon for 15 years. Tara was my sister.” “Who is Tara?” “The headless girl over there” she said while making a thumbing motion. “She lured Aeden here with information about your dad, but it was just a trick to capture him. There was no information.” “Why would your sister do that?” “Because they controlled everything she did. They couldn’t control me, hence the dungeon.” “How did you escape?”’ “You’re better off not knowing.” “How did you get here?” “You’re better off not knowing.” “What were you doing here?” “I originally came to find Aeden. When I realized what they were doing, I was going to rescue him. Then I came across my half-brother whom I swore I’d kill and I lost focus.” Anya’s eyes flooded with tears and she held back the sobs. “It’s my fault he got shot. If I hadn’t become distracted, I could’ve easily saved him.” “Why don’t you come with us? I’m sure they would give you a place to stay for a while.” “You probably wouldn’t say that if you knew the whole story.” “Why not? If you’re a friend as you say I don’t see why not.” Anya waivered for a moment. She could easily not say anything and nobody would be the wiser, but there was a burning in her gut that was pushing her and she didn’t understand what was causing it. “I ... uhhh ... did something I don’t think he would appreciate,” she said pointing at Dodek.