When we got inside the truck, we realized that the fight going on outside the house were monsters versus monsters. The ones who were trying to protect us and the ones who wanted to kill us. We got blocked by Skinwalkers and some vampires, then Haze whistled. We all looked at him and motioned for us to pass through the barricade. Collin drove to it, running over a few vampires, he honked to thank Haze then he transformed into a white Labrador retriever. I felt sorry for Haze, I wanted to go back and take him with us. But right now, time is of the essence. We need to get away. We passed by a few black cars, thinking that might be Mr. Roth and his entourage.
“Uh, guys,” Azriel said, “I don’t mean to alarm you but two of the cars in that convoy just took a sharp turn and they’re now following us.”
“Shit,” I heard Collin say under his breath as he stepped on the gas, accelerating the truck faster. I looked at Merikh and he immediately gave me a shotgun and the ammos from inside my duffel bag. I cocked the gun and started opening the window. “What are you doing?!” Collin asked.
“Just keep driving,” I said as I let half of me out of the window with my gun in hand. I aimed it to the car behind us and shoot my shot. I cocked it again and started to shoot. The other car also has a gunman, he tried aiming and shooting at me, but he wasn’t successful. I cocked the gun one more time and aimed for the front tires, the car abruptly stopped and tipped over. The car behind it overtook and drove faster. I went inside to reload, now it’s Merikh’s turn to go out of the window. I went out again and saw that Merikh’s balancing himself to get to the other car. The gunman on that car tried shooting at Merikh but his staff blocked them. He then jumped to the roof of the other car and stuck his staff on to the steering wheel, then I aimed the gun to them – BANG! BANG! – both the driver and the one on the passenger seat were dead. Merikh pulled out his staff then jumped back to the truck on time before the car went straight to the ditch. He sat on the back of the truck, panting, and then he lied down on it. “I’m never drinking again!” we heard him yell from the back as I entered the window. I chuckled as I sat down but seeing Collin serious, made me stop and realize that he just lost someone close to him. First his family, and now, William’s gone.
Collin drove to an abandoned farmhouse. There were no electricity inside the house, the only light we got are our improvised candles and a bit of firewood. Azriel, Merikh, and I were sitting around the fire when Collin went outside and started screaming. “Fuck!” he yelled, “God damn it!”
I stood up and went outside, Collin’s kneeling on the ground, crying. I went closer to him, knelt beside him, and I just gave him a hug. He cried softly, “he killed him. He killed William.”
“Shhh. It’s okay. You’re okay. We wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for William, and that’s him trying to protect you. Protect us,” I tried comforting. Later on, Merikh and Azriel sat on the ground outside with me and Collin. We all moved closer to each other. It’s now us against the world.
We decided to get more firewood, bringing my machete with me. As we walked around, I heard a twig snap. I stopped and looked around, “what’s wrong?” Collin asked when he saw me stopped walking.
“I think I heard something,” then another twig snapped like someone stepped on it. Collin’s eyes started to glow ice blue and his fangs started to show. Merikh readied his staff and Azriel with his sword. Then I heard a snarl from my side, I slowly turned my head and saw two eyes glowing in the darkness. I backed away slowly, then I heard rustling sound from the bushes. “Uhm, guys, I am sure these are not wild animals,” Azriel commented.
“You think?!” Merikh answered his brother. The one in front of my emerged from the shadows, I rolled my eyes, then I motioned for it to come closer. He snarled at me then he lunges forward, the rest of the vampires that were hiding started coming out one by one.
I met the vampire’s mouth that attacked me with my machete, he was about to stick his fangs to my neck. I pushed my machete hard. I didn’t care how much he was in, I just pushed it, beheading it from his mouth. I pushed the body off of me and helped the trio to fight. Azriel not only used his sword, but also his angelic touch. Collin rips his fellow vampires with his bare hands like he was just ripping papers. I actually forget how strong vampires are until I see Collin doing his thing. “Mia! Duck!” I heard Merikh yell, I ducked down, and I heard a whoop overhead. He threw his staff at the vampire behind the bushes, he lifted his hand and said “anima tua nunc in purgatorio jacet.”
The vampire stuck on Merikh’s staff slowly burned and the ashes fell to the ground like it was nothing, he took his staff from the tree and smiled smugly at me. I rolled my eyes and swung my machete at the vampire who ran towards me from my side. “Not bad,” Merikh commented, then he jumped on the vampire behind me. He stuck the end of his staff on the vampire’s neck, stepping on its chest, before ripping its head off.
I got to admit, we are ambushed by vampires right now. They were probably a whole nest or two, but since we have Azriel and Merikh, we’re still stronger than them. Besides, Nephilims have powers. This is another reason for me to use them again. These bloodsuckers have no idea what’s coming to them, I thought, no offense, Collin. He probably read my mind, “none taken!” he yelled from across the field.
The fight didn’t take long. We might have beheaded and burned a few of them before the four of us were surrounded. None of them tried to attack when a powerful feminine voice shouted, “ENOUGH!”
Collin retracted his fangs and looked at the direction of the voice. One side of the vampires moved, making a way for this gorgeous, model-looking vampire I have ever seen. Not that they look hideous, but this woman looked like she came from a wealthy family of vampires. She has long wavy blonde hair, her eyes are glowing gray, and she’s wearing an old rose shade of lipstick. I can say she’s well fed. Then she smiled, “hi Collin. Long time no see,” she greeted him.
“Lia,” he said, “what’re you doing here?”
A vampire suddenly snarled. Her smile slowly turned into a straight face, her eyes glowed intensely, then she looked at the guy on her right. He was ready to attack, but when this Lia looked at him, the snarl disappeared from his face and was changed into a writhing pain. He dropped on the ground then we heard a loud snap, his neck broke! HIS NECK FUCKING BROKE! I thought, Collin then took my hand like he was telling me to calm down. My light brown eyes were wide, and my mind was screaming, looking at the man on the ground.
“So, where were we?” she cheerfully asked, like she didn’t snap a vampire’s neck, showing her perfect pearly whites and a dimple on her left cheek, breaking that God-awful silence. “Lia, what the Hell is going on? Why are you here?” Collin asked sternly.
“Is that really how you say hi to me now? I mean, as far as I can remember, the last time you said hi to me was when we couldn’t keep our hands to each other,” she tilted her head to her right shoulder, being all cute. Collin stood his ground. “Oh fine!” she finally broke, “your dad’s looking for you. He said you have something that he wants.”
Collin touched his chest, he had forgotten that he gave me the flash drive. “He’s not talking about the flash drive,” she said then her eyes shifted to me. “He doesn’t give a fuck about that but the Nephilim. Oh he’s gonna score a jackpot with this one,” she continued as she took a step forward. Merikh stepped in front of me, “don’t you dare take another step,” he warned.
She scoffed, “is this how low you are now, Collin? Really? Working with a demon?” she lets out a laugh then she took another step. “I am warning you, I will rip your head off! Step. Back!” his deep voice boomed, and his eyes turned red. “Fine. You don’t want to give her, then I guess we’ll just take her away from you. Boys,” she snapped her fingers, and all the vampires started attacking us.
Azriel used his angelic powers to kill them off. Burning them two at a time with just one touch. Merikh and his staff made it look easy to chop their heads off in full swing. Collin fought them like they weren’t his kind. I was chopping heads left and right, and man, it felt good! I forgot what a stress reliever this was.
Model vampire was just standing there watching us fight for our lives. She was smiling, enjoying the show she created. I felt angry. I felt like we were being played by some higher being. I felt my powers surging through me, then a vampire ran towards me. I lifted my hand, and I was able to send him off flying to a tree branch that went through his skull. I turned to face Lia when a group of them started coming for me. If I flicked them off one by one, I might die, I thought. I closed my eyes, everything felt like it’s in slow motion. Once I felt that my powers needed to be released, I opened my eyes and all of them dropped to the ground. The others, well, they dropped dead on model vampire’s feet. Her eyes widened, I can feel her anger from where I was standing. She shows her fangs to me. She was about to attack when Collin grabbed both her arms and the sharp end of Merikh’s staff was pointing to her face, “not so fast, sweet cheeks,” Merikh said.
The sun was almost up when we held her hostage at the old barn near the farmhouse. We sat her down on an old chair and tied her up real good. “I will ask you one more time, Lia. What does my father want with Mia?” Collin asked, he’s pissed alright. She didn’t retract her fangs, and all she does was snarl as an answer to any questions that we throw at her. “This chick ain’t gonna speak,” Azriel commented with his arms crossed on his chest, then he turns to me, “do you have anything that can make her talk? If I get pissed and touch her, you won’t get an answer because I killed her.”
“Oh, I have something for her,” I replied smiling then I went to the truck to get my duffel. I came back and placed the bag on top of a box. I took out a long pouch and held on to it as I walked closer to Lia. “Let me make this easy for you. Answer his questions and you’re free to go. Snarl at us one more time and I will stab you,” I warned her and she snarled t me. Surprise, surprise. I took the syringe out of the pouch, and stabbed her on the neck, pressing down the dark red liquid inside. Collin, Merikh, and Azriel suddenly looked at each other then back at me as she started to groan in pain, retracting her fangs. “Let’s try this again,” I started, “what does Collin’s dad wants to do with me?”
“Screw you, bitch!”
I took another syringe out and stabbed her on the neck one more time. She yelled in pain, gagging like she just drank a silver cleaner. “Hold on, Mia. What is that?” Azriel asked.
“This? It’s dead man’s blood. It’s poison to vampires.”
“Really?” Merikh stood up straighter then looked at Collin.
“Don’t even think about it,” Collin rolled his eyes. Merikh crossed his arms on his chest and leaned on the wall. “Okay, let’s try again. What does Collin’s father want?!”
“I don’t know,” she whispered.
“I’m sorry, did you say something?” I asked sarcastically, then I took out another syringe. When Lia saw it, she flinched. I bent down to level with her, “okay. Let’s change the question,” I said. “Lia, where is Collin’s father? Where’s he hiding?”
She looked at me, fangs out. Then I lifted the syringe to her face, “if you do anything stupid, I have three other people here who can get more of these and stab you with it.’
She retracted her fangs. “Fine,” she surrendered, “he’s in a small town called Summerdale. The witches enchanted it to look like a ghost town, but all the elites are there, including Mr. Roth. Happy?!”
I stood up straighter. “Not quite,” I turned to the three boys, “can anyone of you confirm she’s telling the truth?” Collin, with his arms crossed to his chest, walked closer to Lia. He bent down and looked her in the eye, “yeap. My dad is in that small town. But I do have a question for Lia,” he said as he stands up, “what’s in it for you? To do this, I am sure as Hell, there’s something for you,” Collin was staring down at her.
“Immortality,” she replied as she glared at Collin. He glared back at her and started walking away, then I looked back at her. I walked closer, she snarled at me then I injected the dead man’s blood again. She was already sweating, groaning in pain, shaking in anger.
“Let’s go,” Collin said as he took my duffel bag from the box, “if we want to catch my dad, we better get going.” Then he walked out of the barn, Merikh followed. “Wait, what about her?” Azriel asked, “we can’t just leave her here.”
“She’s a bitch, and I don’t trust her,” Merikh pointed out, “besides, she’s the whole reason we got attacked.”
Azriel and I looked at each other and shrugged our shoulders then we walked out of the barn. Lia started yelling for us to come back and release her. I went to the back of the truck and grabbed a jug of gas and a matchbox. I turned around and went back to the barn. The trio were watching from the truck as I unscrew the cover of the jug. I splashed the barn’s wall and the ground, then I went inside. I started pouring gas all over the hays, then I emptied it on Lia’s clothes. She was shouting and begging for me to not do this. I kept a deaf ear from her pleading. I walked out of there with the jug in hand, and before I continued walking towards the truck, I turned to the barn. I took out a few matchsticks from the box and lit them up, then I threw them on the ground. I turned back and started walking away. The fire spreads quickly. I felt like a badass walking away from a burning barn behind me.
I saw the look on Collin, Azriel and Merikh’s faces when they started to hear Lia screaming inside. Both Collin and Azriel have their mouths open in shock. Merikh, on the other hand, smiled and raised his hand to give me a high five as I passed by him to put the jug back to the truck’s compartment.
“Let’s go,” I said as I went inside the passenger’s seat. I looked at Collin, “you ready?”
He started the truck, “let’s do this.”
We drove off going to Summerdale in Pennsylvania to pay Mr. Roth a visit. But this visit isn’t going to be a friendly one nor is it going to be a family reunion for him and Collin. Nope, no siree. Whatever it is that he’s up to or has been doing, we need to know how to stop it. We need to know why he wanted me and deep inside, I wanted to know why my father’s information on a folder in the flash drive that Collin gave me.