Chapter 29: The Greater Good

"Mark is wrong for you!" Alice screamed at me. She looked crazed. Even when we fought back at the hotel room, she didn't look this insane. What was wrong with her? Why had she driven up here to begin with. Just an hour ago we were fighting back in that motel room. Why couldn't she just understand that I loved Mark not her.

"You have to leave, Alice," I yelled back. I was starting to regret telling Alice that she could ignore my commands.

"Alice," Mark said calmly as he stepped up beside me. Alice's hands moved, blurring as she reaching into her purse. She pulled something small and black out. What was it? Mark continued talking, "You have to understand..."

"Gun!" 63 shouted. 63 was right, there was a gun in Alice's hand. A small gun, the perfect thing to hide in a purse. What was she doing with that, I stupidly wondered as she leveled the gun at Mark's chest

The crack of Alice's gun drove all thoughts from my mind.

Mark grunted and I looked at my fiancee and my eyes widened in horror. Blood blossomed on Mark's chest, surprise painting his face, and he was falling back. Everything was going slow, like the action scene in a comic book movie. And Alice kept squeezing the trigger, her gun barking over and over and more and more blossoms of blood sprouted on Mark's torso. Someone shouted behind me, more guns were firing, and Alice was falling backwards, her own bloody blossoms opening on her breast.

Mark hit the ground with a thud. Everything was silent.

"Mark!" This couldn't be happening. I dropped to my knees. There was so much blood, blossoming red across Mark's shirt. No, this couldn't be happening. I pushed my hands down on one of the blossoms, the blood warm and sticky. I had to stop the bleeding. "Stay with me, Mark!" I begged, looking down at his ashen face.

His blue eyes found my face, his lips moved. He was trying to tell me something but only blood leaked out of his lips.

"Please, Mark!" I pleaded. "Help! Help!"

The bodyguards were swarming over to us, dropping down to help me put pressure on Mark's wounds. Chasity was standing nearby, shouting into her police radio. Mark's blood was warm on my hands and his eyes were closed. He was still breathing, but it was so shallow. This cannot be happening! Thamina appeared, shoving one of the guards out of her way. The Muslim slut was carrying her medical bag and she started treating Mark. She was an ER nurse, I remembered. She can save Mark.

"Ambulance is on the way, Mistress," Chasity told me, placing a comforting hand on my shoulder. "Master will be fine."

He would be fine, I lied to myself.

Thamina took a pair of scissors and quickly cut open Mark's shirt. His chest and stomach was covered in smears of bright blood. Thamina pulled out pressure bandages, ripping open the paper wrapping and deftly began patching Mark's wounds.

"Lift him up, I need to see if there are any exit wounds," she calmly ordered. How could she be so calm, Mark was dying.

No, Mark was going to be okay. If I kept telling myself that, maybe it would be true. Mark was going to be okay. Mark was going to be okay. Oh, please, let my Mark be okay. I stroked his pale face and bent down and kissed his forehead. Stay with me Mark, please, please, please stay with me.

A tear ran hot down my cheek and splashed on his forehead.

"He still lives," I said, watching Mark Glassner being worked on by the Arab woman. I floated with Gabriel in the Light, watching the Mortal world. "What does the future look like, Gabriel?"

"He may live long enough for outside interference," Gabriel said, studying the threads. "Dispatch the Priestesses, Ramiel. We cannot let one of Lucifer's creatures interfere. The human's medical technology will keep Mark alive for hours, yet. Plenty of time for our fallen brother to save his life."

"For the future," I whispered sadly.

Theodora was waiting outside the boxy vehicle that contained her soldiers, standing with her fellow Priestesses; Isabella and Agnes. All three were wearing armor, the black vests that humans wore in this age to protect against their devastating weapons. Guns. There were no limits to human violence I had learned over the millennium. Or any limits on their inventiveness.

I touched her lightly, watched her shudder in pleasure. "Alice has failed. Send in your soldiers, Theodora."

Fear clutched at my heart. Master lay dying on the ground. His killer lay dying a few yards past him, shot by the bodyguards on duty. My heart was hammering in my chest. Master couldn't die. He was so powerful. I felt like I was about to fall apart. My fear was threatening to drown me in despair.

No! You have to keep it together, Chasity. Master put you in charge of the bodyguards. You need to stay in control. You have the command here. Mistress is too distraught to give any orders. And Master ... Master needs you to be strong. There is only you, Chasity. Master and Mistress are counting on you. So don't you dare let them down by giving into your weakness.

Keep it together, Chasity.

Thamina was working on Master, attaching an IV from her medical kit. Fiery-haired 63, one of the new bodyguards from Monday's recruitment was holding the IV, squeezing the bag to get more fluids back into Master. He had lost so much blood. I glanced over at Alice. 01 and 24 were attending to the woman, securing her gun and putting pressure on her gunshots. I was tempted to let the bitch bleed out, but that wasn't my call. That wasn't my training.

I scanned the neighborhood, looking for other threats. My slut-sisters; Alison, Desiree, April, Violet, Xiu, Korina, Lillian, and Sam watched anxiously from the porch. The reporter, Debra, that had been filming the house when Master was shot was was recording his dying. Jessica stood next to her arguing with the woman while her cameraman filmed Master's struggle for life. She shouldn't be filming Master like this, I thought with anger.

I started to move over to the reporter when my Nextel chirped. "22 to Chasity, we have unusual activity out here."

I pulled out my Nextel and pushed the button. It chirped, connecting me to the network, and I asked, "What, 22?" 22 was one of the units guarding the entrance to the street.

"We have three SWAT vans incoming," 22 answered.

I frowned. There was nothing on the police band about any SWAT units dispatched. Besides, no SWAT unit could respond this fast. Not ahead of any patrol unit. My stomach sank. "Chasity to all units, we are under attack!" My heart was hammering in my chest.

Gunfire barked from the entrance to the street where 22 and the three others guarded the entrance followed by a loud crash and then I could see the first SWAT van rounding the curve of the street, racing down towards us. Gunfire erupted all down the street as the bodyguards fired at the vans. Out of the corner of my eye I saw the reporter and Jessica dive for cover as the Cameraman knelt down and kept right on filming.

"Mistress!" I shouted, grabbing her shoulder. I had to get her to cover. We were too far from the house. The SWAT vans were screeching to a stop at the cul-de-sac. I quickly scanned the area. There was one of our patrol cars parked ten feet away and I grabbed Mistress and dragged her with me. Behind us, my slut-sisters were diving back into the house.

"Let me go!" Mistress shouted, struggling in my grip. "I need to stay with him."

Master gave me orders, gave all of the bodyguards orders, if anything ever happened to Master, we had to save Mistress, even if that meant ignoring her orders. "Stay down, Mistress," I shouted, pushing her down behind the rear tire, pining her with my knee and drawing my weapon.

I looked over the trunk of the squad car to see black-fatigued SWAT pouring out. Shit, they had MP5's. They were wearing body armor that would stop my 9 mm, so I aimed my gun at their legs or arms, and squeezed the trigger. Automatic gun fire erupted from the SWAT and I ducked as bullets raked the squad car. The side windows shattered and rained tempered glass down on Mary and myself. The tire we were hiding behind hissed as it deflated. Cordite burned my nose and stung my eyes and my ears rang from the gunshots.

I glanced back at Master. Thamina was still working on him and 63 still held the IV. Master was too hurt to be moved. The other bodyguards by the house were taking cover and returning fire. We needed heavier weapons. I wondered if there was an AR-15 in this car. Some officers had them. Since 9-11 it wasn't uncommon for even a patrol unit to have the civilian version of an M-16. I glanced inside the cop car I hid behind and all I saw was a riot shotgun. Another burst of fire raked the car and I huddled down atop Mistress.

My heart thudded with fear and only my training was keeping me going. Mistress was huddled in a ball on the ground, covering her head with her arms. I wanted to crawl up in a ball and join her, but I had a job to do. Master and Mistress needed me to be brave. I peaked out around the cop car's trunk and saw a Black woman wearing a vest crouching behind a van, barking orders at the SWAT officer.

She must be a nun, I realized. And these were the SWAT officer's from the raid two weeks ago. I knew enough about the magic to realize the nuns were controlling the SWAT officers. Without the nuns, we might just have a chance.

I grabbed my Nextel. "Chasity to all units, there are nuns commanding the SWAT. Aim for any women!" Then I pulled out my police radio. "1 David 324, Officers in distress, 2932 Mountain View Court!" I shouted. "Officers under attack from suspects posing as Pierce County SWAT. Suspects have heavy weapons and body armor! 1 David 324, 2932 Mountain View Court, over."

"Copy that 1 David 324," dispatch responded. "Sending all units to your location, 2932 Mountain View Court."

I peaked out, looking for that Black woman. The SWAT officers were forming a circle, using their vehicles for cover as they fired at my women. One SWAT was down, clutching a leg. I saw the Black woman and I emptied my clip at her. Sparks glinted off the vehicle as my bullets struck around her and then she was down, one of my rounds catching her in the neck. Several of the SWAT officers suddenly looked dazed. One stood up from his cover and took a round in the shoulder, clutching is wound as he fell to the ground.

I swapped magazines and fired at another woman with sandy-blonde hair, but she ducked behind her vehicle. I adjusted my aim and emptied the rest of my clip at a SWAT officer, he staggered as my rounds caught him in his armor but he got back up. I ducked down, ejected the clip and pulled out my next clip. No, my last clip. I glanced over at Master and saw Thamina holding the IV in one hand and covering Master's body with her own. Next to them, 63 was slumped on the ground. I scanned the neighborhood and more of the bodyguard were down, slumped behind bushes, on porches, or behind their cars.