Darlings (6 page)

Andrew stepped in front of Gwen.
“Get…back…Gwen,” he stammered. Gwen backed up until her pointy
shoulder blades were touching the matt on the gym wall. She pressed
herself into it as if she were hoping to become part of it.
Inanimate. Lifeless, so she had no life to take.
Princess? 

It was horrific. Terrible. Gut wrenching.
Andrew clenched his huge fists and dropped his head peering at the
monsters with eyes filled of sheer hate and insanity. Gwen
shivered. His opponents continued to lunge towards the invisible
line, which was the only thing holding them in place. They snarled
almost animal like. One with deep scars covering his awful pale
face held some sort of massive silver steak. Another with a missing
ear pulled a crimson glistening silver sword covered in wet blood
from behind his back. He licked the liquid off the blade, slicing
his tongue and hollering in delight. The third arched his gruesome
body and yanked out a handful of sparse black string-like hair,
from his own scaly head, as he shrieked happily, lapping up the
blood spilling from the other. Their leader put one sickening hand
up. 

“Are you sure you want to do this boy? You
could just hand her over you know. Spare your life...for a while,”
the monster smiled. 

“I...want nothing...more...than to tear you
limb...from limb,” Andrew growled, followed by a fierce howl that
could only be heard from the deepest pits of hell. He suddenly
changed into something menacing, almost evil. His clothes tore in
half with vengeance. Gwen could hear his

bones break and snap back together. In a
single moment he was the creature from a horrible nightmare, a
lion-like human being with thick brown fur and gigantic protruding
teeth.  Standing well over seven foot, he walked on two
massive hind legs. Thick, hard, fur covered muscles bulging from
every part of his form. His claws were almost metallic as they
radiated in the gyms fluorescent lights. He turned and looked at
Gwen with black un-human eyes. On his colossal chest was the oddest
thing of all, one of the most beautiful things Gwen had ever seen.
It shown like gold diamonds shaped into a sideways figure eight,
pulsating with every beat of his heart. He quickly touched it with
his huge paw. 

I won’t let them touch you. Just stay back.
His voice appeared in her head again, smooth as melted chocolate,
just as it did before he took this ugly form.  The leader
threw down his hand and the monstrous group charged forward,
breaking free of their imaginary restraints, coming in for the
kill. The sounds alone were enough to make Gwen vomit. They
attacked her protector from all sides. Circling, taking turns
lunging with snarling teeth and hurling weapons. They moved with
superhuman force. Jumping and twisting far beyond what is humanly
possible. 

Andrew moved with equal agility. The first
sprang through the air attempting to drive his silver sword into
Andrew’s bulging hide over his neck. Her protector jumped up,
meeting the slimy demon in mid-air. He caught the fiend with one
paw and brought him to his dog like mouth. Snarling, Andrew bit
into the monsters scarred head, ripping it from his body in one
smooth motion. Tendons and muscles snapped, hanging loosely from
the decapitated corpse. Blood spewed like water from a hose on a
hot summer day, shining on the slick gymnasium floor. Andrew tossed
the body aside like a piece of garbage and wasted no time pinning
the second to the floor. Blood dripped from Andrews’s giant mouth.
A third sprung onto Andrew’s back, attempting to drive his silver
sword between her protector’s massive shoulder blades to no reward.
The stringy haired monster on the floor saw his chance and drove
his knife into Andrew’s chest just missing his heart. Gwen screamed
in agony, as she slumped to the floor. 

With a howl Andrew drove a claw filled paw
into his attacker’s neck holding him in place as he flung the other
from his back, throwing him head first into the brick wall,
instantly paralyzing him. Andrew directed his attention back to the
demon on the floor. He shoved his scalpel like claws further in the
neck of his attacker. Through gurgling, Gwen could hear the
monster’s body being ripped into pieces. Andrew turned, his coat
blood stained, and walked slowly over to the one who was paralyzed.
He ripped off the sub humans remaining ear as it cried out in
agony. Gwen couldn’t help herself. 

“Just kill him!” she screamed through broken
sobs. Until now she’d been too frozen to move, too terrified to
speak. 

You go it
. With one quick stab through
the skull, into the brain, the gruesome creature was
gone. 

The leader stood half way across the gym,
eyes filled with fear. “You’ve been sworn. To the princess?” he
asked in disbelief. 

Andrew answered his question with a simple
growl.  He began walking toward the leader ever so slowly,
preparing for his fourth kill, barely noticing his wounded
chest. 

 Suddenly, a dark shadow emerged. It
started small, barely noticeable but quickly became darker and
larger until it was the size of a standard door. Through the shadow
came a translucent form.

It appeared to be a small woman, about Tina’s
size with...wings? Gwen couldn’t believe her eyes. The pixyish
woman was dark, gothic-like. Her skin was the color of snow and her
hair as black as the darkest night. She wore an amethyst jewel on a
gold chain around her neck that complemented her plum barely there
dress. Her wings sparkled like sun reflecting off crystal clear
water. She quickly held up a stubby hand to her lilac lips and blew
ever so softly what looked like glitter onto the opponents’ leader.
Then as quickly as she appeared, she was gone, taking him with
her. 

Damn it
. Gwen heard that sultry voice
in her head once more. Just as she felt as if she were going to
faint, her pounding heart slowed to a controlled low rate. Her
breathing became easier and she felt a warm, calm rush over her,
somewhat dulling the pain, though she still felt unavoidably weak.
Blood stained her gray sweater.

Hurry, go grab a pair of gym shorts
.
She heard. 

“Why?” Gwen whispered. 

You’ll see, or I guess that’s what I am
trying to avoid
. Suddenly, just as sudden as Andrew had
transformed into something horrible, he was turning back into his
human form. Snapping and cracking echoed in throughout the gym
dimmed by the unrelenting buzz of the fire alarm. He was naked
kneeling on the slick floor, his tanned backside to Gwen. Oh God,
Gwen thought. She hobbled to the boys’ locker room returning with a
pair of the first athletic shorts she could find. Thankfully they
managed to fit. 

She turned away and held out the red shorts
to Andrew who was attempting to conceal all that needed to be
concealed. Her cheeks felt fire engine red, though her
embarrassment was short lived when Andrew slipped the shorts on and
turned to face her. He had a wound where the knife had pierced his
flesh. Gwen’s knees buckled as she examined her similar wound to
the chest. Though her pain was definitely dulled, her wound was
still evident and bleeding more every second. Oddly, though it
didn’t hurt near as much as it should have. Even more surprising
than her lack of pain was the mark. It was another figure eight
matching Andrews, every bit as radiant but smaller. Gwen tried to
be alarmed but something was holding her back. She stayed surreally
calm. 

Andrew put his hand large hand over Gwen’s
chest, covering her wound. He panted wincing in excruciating agony.
“Is your pain completely gone?” he asked through clenched
teeth.  Gwen now couldn’t feel a thing. 

“Yah. It is. How… is that…possible?” she
muttered through her high. 

“We don’t have long we have to call an
alchemist. Our wounds will start actually bleeding soon. Do you
have your phone?” 

Gwen reached into her pocket. “Uh huh,” she
stammered handing it over to Andrew. “Who are you calling?” she
sloppily asked.

 He quickly dialed a number. Still
holding Gwen’s chest, he waited impatiently for an answer. Gwen
slowly slipped into what seemed like the best high she’d ever
experienced. 

“Ash, yah we’re in the gym, we need you now!”
He waited for a response. “Pirates….yah their gone, huge mess. I’ll
tell you when you get in here. Hurry. Bring the healing stuff. We
have stab wounds to the chest…..yah three bodies lots of
blood………yah I have clothes…….tons of pain…I’m with Gwen….Ash, I had
to….yes she has one too….no I’m taking hers she’s fine until you
get here…hurry.” Andrew hung up the phone and fell to the floor
dragging Gwen down with him, his hand still pressed firmly to her
wound. He slid Gwen in front of him pressing her back against his
chest, Gwen liked the comfort, but otherwise oblivious to what was
happening. Andrew moved her hair and talked slowly into her ear in
a soothing, milky tone. 

“Gwen, try to listen to me ok?” he winced, in
unimaginable hurt. “I’ve been taking your pain upon myself, but I’m
afraid I’m going to pass out and you’ll feel it all.” Letting his
cheek fall onto the top of her head he closed his eyes in denial.
“I have to transfer some back ok? It won’t be much but, brace
yourself alright?” He closed his eyes and Gwen flinched. When he
opened them he looked ashamed. Gwen was breathing harder and coming
around more. 

“Ugh,” she groaned, grabbing at her
chest. 

“She’ll be here soon just hang on, I know it
hurts but we’ll be ok I promise. Look at me Gwen.” He took her chin
and tipped her head so he could see her face. “It will be fine.
Pete and I will explain everything as soon as we get out of here. I
have already told Tok and Koli what happened. We’re going to meet
them in the woods as soon as Ash gets here and fixes this stuff
ok?” 

Gwen was so confused. How had he told Tok and
Koli already? And Ash? “Ashton is coming?” Gwen asked through her
dreamlike haze. 

“Yah Ash is coming,” he said full of
sympathy. Just then Ashton appeared in the gym. She stopped short
and ran her hand through her long, blond hair in
frustration. 

“What the hell happened?” she asked. “How’d
they find her? Good thing I made some of this last week.” She
rummaged through the black bag slung over her shoulder. That didn’t
sound like the ditsy Ashton Gwen knew. 

“There was a group of them. They pulled the
alarm to find us. Must have followed one of us through the portal,”
Andrew answered. 

“Does she know anything yet?” Ashton motioned
to Gwen who was still mostly in her own world. 

Andrew shook his head. “Bits and pieces but
not really.” Andrew started to shake. “Can you hurry up, I think
I’m gonna pass out.” 

Ashton motioned to Gwen as she pulled out too
vials. She mixed them together.

“Lay her down.” Andrew slid from behind Gwen
laying her onto the cold wooden floor. Noticing more blood seeping
from her wound he pressed his hand harder. Ash waited. “You know
how this works. You have to move your hand while I put this in the
wound.” Andrew slid his hand to expose one side of the wound. “No I
need all of it. Get out of the way Andrew, gosh what’s wrong with
you?” 

Andrew shook his head in objection. “She’ll
feel all of it.” 

Ash looked confused, “Why do you care-” she
looked up from her vials, with a furious expression on her face.
“You initiated the bond! God of course, that’s what you meant by
all that taking her pain stuff!” Ashton exclaimed. She wiped some
blood from Andrew’s chest with her bare hand revealing the
mark. 

“I had no choice. I had to touch her she
couldn’t hear me over the buzzer and besides no one was sure we’d
bond anyway. The chances were so slim I was meant to be her
protector…”

“You could have killed her! You know the
bonds have to be initiated with a first touch in a controlled
environment, alchemist and council member present! You are lucky
neither one of you went into a coma or had a brain aneurysm!
Especially you two, her being a Regal and all. The pain had to be
awful.” Ashton lectured. 

She forced herself to look compassionately at
Andrew now. “The pain is more than any one person can take, it’s
amazing you haven’t passed out already. You have to let go. I’m
here, she’ll be ok. This stuff is extremely fast acting even on a
wound this size but the sooner I get the process started the
better.”  Andrew nodded his head in agreement. 

Ashton spoke loudly to Gwen. “Okay Gwenny,
look at me honey.” Ashton shook her friend a bit. Gwen opened her
sleepy eyes. “This is going to hurt…well…really bad sweetheart.
Take a big breath when I tell you ok? Andrew, on three take your
hand away ok?” she readied the blue smoky vial, positioning it
above Gwen’s bleeding lesion. “Alright here we go. One. Two.
Three!” Simultaneously Andrew forced himself to move his hand away,
Ashton poured the liquid, and Gwen screamed. Her wound healed
quickly before their eyes.  Andrew lay beside Gwen as Ashton
poured the second half of the vial onto his chest. It was gone.

“There you two now get going while I clean
the rest of this up.” Ashton examined her surroundings. “Woah. This
is going to take a little while. I hate dissipating these things;
they’re so ugly and they smell when they melt,” she complained as
she sprinkled different colored powders over the bodies and blood
stains holding her nose. Smoke rose from the saturated areas as the
evidence disappeared. 

Gwen quickly became completely coherent.
“Ash? You know Andrew? You understand all of this?” shaking, she
felt betrayed. Why had no one told her about this? Any of this?
Wait what was all of this? Especially Ashton. They’d grown up
together. She thought she knew everything about her ditsy best
friend, the one who was a bit vain, loved shopping, and bribed
smart boys to do her chemistry homework. Ashton looked over her
shoulder at Gwen as she hurriedly mixed vial after vial and bag of
powder after bag of powder. She looked like a crazed chemist in the
midst of an intense lab experiment.