Vilmo's Wrath: Deglon Blood (18 page)

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obbie and Nora spend days hunting, to the point where they spend very little time with their family. Their only communication is through the Szion call. Zen tells them that Jonny has become distant and bitter with everyone, but the children. When Nora and Robbie do make it home, life is dim. Losing Dave made a hole in their happy home. Robbie and Nora both try to find a way to comfort Jonny, but his only joy is when he is with the twins. They seem to ease the pain for everyone.

“Robbie, it is time we end this. I’m tired of hunting and waiting. I want to call her,” Nora says, as they clean dinner dishes.

“We can’t, not here.”

“There is no other way. It has been years. Aria is creating more and more monsters to destroy this world. It will not end. My dreams are her reality. You told me they are her memories. What if we can search my dreams for landmarks or anything that can help us find her?”

Robbie nods.

“Okay, that’s actually a good plan, but I join in. You will not face any more dreams alone.”

Nora’s urge to kill Aria becomes stronger every day. Her only fear is she doesn’t know the cost of doing so. Robbie and Nora sit with the others and explain their plan. Mia objects, of course, and Jonny and Zen demanded not to be left out of the battle. Robbie and Nora had no choice but to agree to take the two of them. They knew if they left them behind they would follow anyway. Mia continually protests against the idea, but after a private talk with Zen, she changes her argument and sits in silence for the rest of the conversation.

Robbie and Nora sit quietly on the couch until she falls asleep.  Although nervous, Nora had kind of missed dreaming. Not necessarily the bad dreams, but any dream. Robbie sealed her mind completely until eventually she stopped dreaming.

Aria sits perched, high on a building looking down at all the miserable humans. They discuss her and she hates the fact that she needed their energy to stay strong. Her only joy is watching her Shadows terrorize them as they pass by. Nowadays, only the criminal and druggies hang out at this time of night, but that is fine with her, they are more fun to watch. They give off, more power than the families. Their vile ways feel good running through her veins.

“I wonder what news Trouse has for me,” she mutters, leaping from the building and landing in front of him.

He holds his head down. It pleases her to feel how much he fears the sight of her.

“Well, what do you have for me?”

“Nothing, my lord. No one knows anything,” he answers weakly.

“You lie!”

“No! I have searched and asked around, but no one has seen them. Maybe—maybe they have gone. We should leave them be,” he says, backing away from her.

“What are you hiding, Trouse?” she yells.

He flinches at the sound of her voice.

“Nothing, no one knows anything,” he whispers.

“It’s a shame the love of my life came from you. Nora kills my one true love and you want me to let her be. What are you hiding?”

He looks her in the eyes for the first time and forces a smile on his face.

“You will die tonight, bitch! My son never loved you!” he says, letting out a scornful laugh.

She strikes him, hitting him hard enough to bring down the brick wall he slams into.

“Get up you fool! Get up you traitorous bastard! Face me like a true Szion!”

He lay there ready to die.

“No? Fine, then die!”

With the swipe of her blade, she removes his head and walks away.

“Ah!”

Pain pierces her stomach. She clenches it and drops to her knees. Blood pours from her mouth and she gets weak in seconds.

“Now, we die together,” Aria says.

Nora wakes in a sweat. Robbie holds tightly to her hand and they stare at each other in fear.

“We got nothing,” Nora says, sitting up.

“Jacksonville,” Robbie says, standing to his feet.

Worry fills his eyes, but he keeps Nora from hearing what he is thinking.

“Well, we know that Trouse will be of no help,” Nora says.

“No, Nora. That hasn’t happened yet. Your dreams are telling us the future. At least part of it. We must find Trouse before it is too late. She thinks you killed someone she loved, which means she has a weakness. If we learn more about Trouse’s son, we can use that.”

They sit quietly and watch the sunrise through the curtains.

“Nora and I will leave tonight. It is imperative we find Aria now,” Robbie announces.

“I am going with you, we told you yesterday we will not stay behind,” Zen declares.

“We don’t know what will come of this. You two should stay with the family,” Robbie answers.

Zen shakes his head and Jonny straps his blades to his calves.

“There is no sense in arguing, Robbie. We are going with you. I will not sit in this house and hide,” Jonny says.

“Okay. Stick with Lights and Shadow and stay close. We need to be able to see one another at all times. The man we are looking for is Trouse McLane. We need to find him and keep him and ourselves alive.”

They all nod in agreement.

“Robbie, thank you for giving my father and me a family again. If I don’t …”

Robbie lifts up his hand and silences Jonny.

“I am sorry for the loss of Dave. We were lucky that he was a part of this family. I do promise that I will die before letting anything happen to you. So, please don’t speak to me as if this is our last conversation. You are my brother and uncle to my children. We need you. Besides, who else will the twins ride?” Robbie jokes. “From here on out we need to make good decisions and never let each other out of our sites. For now let’s enjoy our day and be ready to leave at sunset.”

Jonny smiles. Robbie pats him on the back and Nora kisses him on the cheek and heads to her room.

She lies on her bed. The breeze from the open window brushes her skin. She wraps her arms around her shoulders and smiles. She thinks of all the good things in her life, then for a quick moment she is struck with the possible pain that could come from the hunt later this evening. This could very well be the last hunt they ever make, and unlike before she is okay with not knowing the outcome. Another breeze sweeps across her face, only this one is warm.
We will be fine,
Robbie whispers silently into her ear from the other room. Nora grins. Completely at ease with everything. Not distracted, frightened, angry, or even anxious.

“Mommy are you sleeping?”

JR slides next to her on the bed. He holds her face with his small hands so that he can see her eyes.

“No, I’m up. Good morning, handsome,” Nora says, hugging him and smothering him with kisses.

“Save some for me!” Lizzy says jumping on top of JR.

They laugh as Nora scoops them in her arms and smothers them both with wet kisses. Robbie stands in the doorway, smiling sipping his coffee.

“I love seeing you with them,”
he says with no words.

“Oh yeah? How about you join us.”

As Nora tickles the twins, Robbie slides in next to her. JR points to the TV and Lizzy cuddles up in Robbie’s arms, twisting her curly hair with her finger.

“Movie, Daddy,” Lizzy says.

“It’s too bad you couldn’t get any more of these fancy items from Boligon. I wish I could have seen all the amazing things there,” Nora says.

Robbie nods his head.

“Boligon no longer exist for us. Just like how he made this movie player, Mike can make almost anything Boligon has. It is one of his gifts. Being able to recreate any object he has seen,” Robbie says.

“What a gift to have,” Nora says.

They watch TV for about ten minutes, then Lizzy sits up, quickly.

“Daddy, is bad coming?” she asks.

Robbie and Nora sit up and look at each other.

“Lizzy, do you see bad coming?” Robbie asks.

Lizzy nods and continues watching TV.

“JR, do you see bad coming?” Nora asks, turning him toward her.

“Soon Mommy,” he says, turning back toward the TV.

Robbie and Nora jump out of bed. Nora snatches JR into her arms and Robbie heads out the room with Lizzy.  They take them to their room and the others race in behind them.

“What’s wrong?” Zen asks, looking out the windows.

“They're here, the twins see them!” Nora answers.

“What? How?” Marina asks, taking the kids from Robbie and Nora’s arms.

“Take them downstairs,” Robbie says calmly.

Marina and Rocco race the children to the basement and lock the doors.

“How do you think they found us?” Mia asks, peeking out through the living room window drapes.

“We may have opened Nora’s mind a little too much,” Robbie answers.

Nora’s stomach turns and her adrenaline goes into overdrive.

“It’s time,” Zen says, smiling as he heads out the door.

The six of them stand awaiting their attackers, which are only a hundred feet away and are closing in fast. Robbie places a shield around the house, and everyone takes their place. Zen and Mia take the back of the house, Mike and Jonny take the front, and Robbie and Nora will meet them head on in the center of the yard.

A light morning fog covers the damp ground and the smell of the moist earth fills the air. Only the sounds of the scattering wildlife and heavy breathing surround them. Nora can feel the strength of their enemy. Her stomach is in knots. After a few more seconds of fresh air, Nora and her family are once again fighting for their lives.

Robbie and Nora take out the Light with ease. Back to back they wait for the shadows to attack.

“Where are they, Robbie?” Nora asks impatiently.

A howling scream rattles their ear drums and sickens Nora with fear. They race toward Mia’s call. As Robbie joins Zen in battle with six Shadow, Nora rushes to her mother’s side. Mia is covered in blood and is barely breathing. Adrenaline heightens Nora’s senses, and she leaps at the Shadow attempting to attack her from behind. Soon her anger is in control of her. She kicks the shadow and it lands in the middle of the back yard. Robbie reassures Nora that Mia will be okay, but even then she cannot control her rage.

Aria is here somewhere, hiding among her beasts. I want her dead!
Nora leaps on top of the Shadow, using all of her strength to hold it down.

“I want to see your eyes before I kill you!” Nora growls in a monstrous voice.

Nora, that’s not her!
Robbie thinks.

The Shadow twists and sends her flying into a tree. It holds her by her neck. Nora’s blood boils and her heart races. Its red eyes lock on her and it smiles. Nora smiles back and plunges her spike into its eye. She lands on her feet, ready for the next one.

“Where is she, Robbie?”

Then out of nowhere and a slight numbness covers her body.
Something is wrong,
she thinks. Darkness travels fast throughout Nora’s body, reaching her soul, leaving her cold. The trees howl as a strong wind blows through them. She watches as a group of beasts, like the ones they fought in Washington, waste no time in attacking her. Excitedly, she waits for the first to approach. One-by-one, she takes them out. The sounds of crashing of trees echoes through the field.