Obsidian Souls (Soul Series) (33 page)

“I see you felt you needed quite a bit of support,” Caden mocked him.

“Some of us have unfair advantages. I see nothing wrong with evening the playing field.”

Caden laughed at him. “You think this is enough to take me down? You’re wrong. Just so we make everything clear. I’m playing by my own rules now. You won’t be able to crawl away like you usually do. You’re standing on your death bed.” He eyed Rufus and his men, and I could see them visibly cringe. “That goes for everyone here. I’m done giving mercy. You attack me here at my home, you won’t see tomorrow. Know that.”

I could see more than a couple of them waiver. Rufus, obviously afraid of a defection, hastily raised his hand in the air and screamed an order of attack, not wanting them to have any time to rethink their alliances. Wave after wave of Rufus’s men heading at us. My first instinct was to pee my pants, quickly followed by an overwhelming urge to run for safety, like Caden had asked me to do. I had a friend when I was younger that was all muscles and toughness that had once told me, “Everyone is afraid of a fight, even me. That’s how you know what you’re made of, if you fight in spite of the fear.” I didn’t do any of those things that I thought I might. I didn’t cower and I didn’t run. I stood my ground. This was my ship, and I was willing to go down with it.

The adrenaline was coursing through my veins. I felt like I was running on overdrive. I was glowing as if I’d been born at a nuclear meltdown. I was so bright it was generating heat. I could feel the warmth I was throwing off.

I walked toward Caden, ready to help him, but it didn’t seem necessary. He was taking out everyone that came at him like they were fruit flies he was swatting at, just a minor nuisance.

I saw three huge Drauths getting the best of Dave and ran to get in the fight. I swung like I had been practicing in the gym. I knew that I didn’t have that much strength behind the punch, but my glowing light seemed to zap the Drauth on contact. Clearly stunned from the shock, I delivered a followed up with a swinging kick to the head. I’d always wanted to try that out, they are just too cool. The guy landed flat on his back. Dave quickly finished off the other two once he had better odds and was smiling at me.

“Nice kick!” Dave said looking at me impressed.

I was grinning ear to ear, feeling like a total bad ass.

He reached down to the guy I had knocked out and quickly severed his head.

The other guys were picking men off the perimeter that managed to get past Caden, and I stood and fought with them. It was quickly becoming difficult for them, to move forward toward us, because of the pile of dead lifeless bodies piling up.

Anytime one of us got ganged up upon, there was always someone else at our back to help fight them off. It was a rush fighting amongst the guys, and the motions I had been practicing for weeks in the gym came completely natural to me now. A stray guy managed to get behind me while I was fighting, but he fell in agony as soon as he touched me. Dave walked over and snapped his neck off his body before he even had the opportunity to stand up again.

Someone was being ripped apart everywhere I looked. You would have thought Charlie was in his prime the way he was taking down some of Rufus’s men.

The onslaught of men was thinning out and whatever men Rufus had left were hanging back now, clearly afraid, not that I blamed them for a second. I looked at the group surrounding me and realized they were a killing machine. The love of my life was standing in front of me in a pool of blood from all the lives he had ended. It didn’t change how I felt about him in the slightest. He hadn’t looked for this fight. He’d even tried to warn them off, but they had come anyway.

Rufus, true to form, had stayed out of the fight. He was still standing where he had when this had all began.

“You fight well Caden, but let’s see how you do against some of your own?” Two of the guys from the card game from that weird day with Jack appeared behind Rufus out of thin air.

Oh fuck. I didn’t say it, I just thought it. I looked at the guys trying to gauge their reaction. They stood as firm as ever behind Caden. There would be no breaking ranks from our side.

“This has nothing to do with you,” Caden said to the two full blooded demons.

“We’ve decided it does,” the demon called Fritz said.

“We think we want some of the action going on here,” the other demon Gerald chimed in.

“That’s unfortunate for you,” Caden said.

They both took several steps to close the ten-foot gap between them and us. Alarm shot through me. This was different. I could physically sense the difference in the energy that these two were throwing off. Their raw menace and dislike for Caden was rolling off them in waves of energy that felt abrasive to my senses. It must have triggered something deep within me, because the pale yellow glow that surrounded me that I was becoming accustomed to, was darkening into an orange shade.

I stepped closer to Caden’s side and he shot me a look that silently told me to distance myself. That’s when it really hit me, he might not win this.

He made eyes toward the back. I knew what he wanted. He was silently asking me to place myself where I’d be able to leave once the fighting began again, but it wasn’t going to happen. It took him a few seconds before he realized, I wasn’t going anywhere. He looked furiously at me, and I just took a step closer to him anyway and nodded my head no. He’s was irate, and I didn’t care. I was staying.

“Don’t be too mad at her Caden. We would have just tracked her down anyway. She’s way too interesting to leave alone,” Gerald said and they laughed in unison. They eyed me and it felt like a million tiny needles poking my skin.

“And what is that lovely aura of orange you’re putting off little Lexie?”

“Why don’t you come a little closer, and I’ll show you?” I went to step forward, but Caden blocked me. Anger was overtaking everything else I was feeling. I knew it was some sort of fight or flight instinct kicking in to full gear, because it definitely wasn’t rational to egg them on. I had no idea what these two were capable of, but my instincts screamed they were formidable, but I couldn’t contain myself. The rage was causing me to become aggressive. I wanted to tear them apart with my hands and for some crazy reason I believed I could, even though it was probably completely illogical to think it.

I could see their next move clearly. The two would take out Caden. With him out of commission, the other guys would be quickly overwhelmed by the numbers of Rufus’s men. The two demons started edging closer to Caden, and I saw the other men getting ready for the second wave of the attack. I wanted to get past Caden, but I knew he would fight me. I held back. I would wait for them to attack, and then I guess I’d see what I really was capable of.

I always thought I would fear death when I was looking it in the face. These men would rather have me alive, but they wouldn’t hesitate to kill me if it was more convenient. I had no disillusionment on that, but I wasn’t afraid. I was more alarmed at living without Caden. Watching him die and not giving everything I had to stop it wasn’t something I could go on living with. It wasn’t even a choice. It was instinctual. I’d willingly give my life for him.

The tension was mounting to an unbearable level when the one demon struck out at Caden. The other demon quickly came at him from the opposite side. Rufus’s other men quickly ganged up on the others.

Time slowed, as I stepped forward toward what would most likely be my death. Even with the two of them, they struggled against Caden’s superior strength, but he was still slowly losing ground. They got him to his knees, and the one looked like he was preparing to rip his head from his shoulders, when I launched myself at his side. I was glowing almost red now, and I don’t know how I did it, but I managed to stun him enough to get him off Caden. It didn’t last long, as he easily reached around for me and slammed me to the ground.

Black dots flittered over my eyes. I was laying not even five feet from Caden as they overpowered him, and I couldn’t move. I felt nothing from the neck down. I’d lost all control. I couldn’t even turn my head from the gruesome scene before me, that I was unable to stop. I was frozen. It was difficult to breathe as I tried to swallow air into my lungs.

So, this was the end. Tears blurred my vision as my head laid turned toward the scene of horror in front of me. I had no regrets. I’d given everything I had. Sometimes in life, that’s just not enough.

They were saying something to him now before the final deathblow that I couldn’t hear, but I was glad for it. I didn’t want to know what vile things they said. I didn’t know much about what a demon could survive, but there was a look of finality as I looked into Caden’s eyes. They were silently saying goodbye. Whatever was about to happen, it would be the end.

He looked away, and I closed my eyes, not wanting to see the last strike.

“Really Fritz? And you too Gerald? This is my daughter’s home. Have you no respect?” I heard Jack’s voice, and I opened my eyes quickly. “Uuughh, look at her! You could have broken her for good you clods!” Jack stepped over me and grabbed my awkwardly bent head, quickly shifting it into alignment. “There, that should fix itself. Just give it a couple of minutes. I’ve got to go even the numbers for your boyfriend now. I’ll be right back.”

Within seconds of his movements, I felt tingling in my toes and fingers and I knew he was right. I couldn’t see anything anymore. I could only hear as I watched the night sky. It was oddly beautiful tonight. Odd because even on a gruesome evening such as this the stars still shone brightly. I would have expected a blood moon on a night like this.

“The rest of you don’t need to be here. This is above your pay scale. That includes you Rufus,” Jack informed them.

“We’re sorry Jack.” And I heard the scurrying of footsteps receding.

“Jack, we’re tired of him hogging New York…” was cut off by a loud cracking noise.

“Now Caden, was that really necessary?” Jack said.

“I didn’t want to do…” another crack.

“Caden, I’m came here to even the odds, not to be a distraction so you could kill all my poker buddies. Now who am I going to play with? You don’t come to the games!” Jack said. “And you better not touch me, Frank will have your hide regardless of whether he is talking to me or not. You do know I’m his favorite,” I could hear the gloating in his voice as he declared this last statement.

“I won’t touch you. You’re her father. I think it would upset her. Plus, you did just save my ass so I guess were even.”

“Then we’re good?” Jack asked.

“Not good, even,” Caden said.

I saw Caden’s face above me as he knelt by my side.

“How are you?” he asked as he touched my face with his hand then quickly did a check for other broken bones.

“I think I’m going to be okay. I can feel my limbs.”

“Nothing else feels broken. Okay, just lay here still. I’m going to check on the guys. I’ll be right back.”

“Okay,” I said like I had a choice. I was far from being able to sit up. He smiled sweetly at me and was gone again.

Jack’s face darted in front of my vision. “Hi darling.”

I was ecstatic to see him at this moment, regardless of how messed up of a role model father he made.

“Thanks Jack,” I said, smiling at him, and really meaning it. He’d saved me and the man I loved, that made up for quite a bit in my book.

“Call me Dad,” he said.

“Um, okay…….Dad,” I said awkwardly.

“We really have to talk about your choice of boyfriends.”

“Jack, you’re pushing it!” Caden shouted from wherever he was.

“Another time then.” He smiled at me. “I hate to run out on you, but I’ve got a date I’m late for. Hot leggy blonde. Might be your new step mother.” He gave me a wink and smiled down at me one last time before he disappeared.

My breathing was coming easier. I had just enough feeling back in my legs and arms enough to hoist myself up into a sitting position to see what was going on. The place was a wreck. Dead bodies and dismembered parts lay scattered all over the bloodied street. Now that the adrenaline had started to subside, I felt sick to my stomach seeing the destruction, blood, and gore. I leaned over, dry heaving onto the pavement.

The guys were in awful shape, but they all looked like they were in one piece, except for Charlie that is. His head torn from his body completely, as he lay lifeless on the dirty bloodstained pavement. It didn’t look like something he was coming back from. This was confirmed when Dave walked over. I could see him lay a consolatory hand on Caden’s shoulder, trying to comfort him. Caden stood as stiff as a steel blade.

Mike was up and helping Alex to his feet. I saw on their faces the moment they realized Charlie was gone. Joey seemed to be in a complete daze. He looked almost as shaken as I was, and it made me wonder if this had been his first real battle.

Sergeant Metulla walked over, side stepping bodies, as he made his way across the filthy, bloody street.

“Is it over?” he asked. “God I hope so, this is a mess.”

Caden nodded. “For now, but there are still some issues that aren’t resolved.”

The sergeant nodded his head.

“We’re going to need a few hours to get this situation taken care of.” Caden waved his hand at the mess of blood and guts.