Drawing Bloodlines (31 page)

Angela and Jonathan followed Lafonda’s lead and sprang to their feet. “Necrocritters?” asked Angela, and she
took ahold of Jonathan’s hand.

The sounds of shuffling and scratching echoed from se
veral dark corners and shadows around the room. “This is not good!” shouted Taylor as Sweet Pea joined his side, both drawing their swords.

Suddenly, there was silence. Everything had stopped. N
athan’s heart was beating so hard that he could feel it pounding in his ears. Underneath the rhythmic sound of his heart, he heard a monotonous tapping noise. “What’s that?” he said.

Tap, tap, tap ....

Malick turned around to look at him and Lafonda’s eyes became alert, as if she had heard it too.

Tap, tap, tap
....

Slowly, Malick inched toward the sound. He lowered his head, trying hard to pinpoint where it came from. Malick looked up and, to his su
rprise, he stood in front of the large stained glass window. Malick drew closer and pressed his ear against the cold glass. He then tried to peer through the window.

Tap
....

“Everybody, get back!” he yelled, and the window i
mploded.

19

THIRD TIME’S THE CHARM

There was an enormous rush of cold air as shards of glass blanketed the room. The fire in the fireplace fiercely flickered, but eventually went out. Moonlight from the open window crept into the room.

“Is everybody okay?” asked Nathan. He wa
s the first to get to his feet.

Although there was light from the full moon, the room was still dark. Nathan struggled to see his friends. “Ow!” he said, instantly touching his cheek. He examined the bright speck of blood that rested on his index finger.
I must’ve gotten cut from the glass
, he thought.

Nathan heard movement and the sounds of crushing glass. “I’m okay,” said Leah. She stood up and rested against the couch, making sure she still had her brown knitted bag. “What happened?”

“I think we’re okay,” said Jonathan. He, Sweet Pea, and Taylor were helping Angela, Alan, and Lafonda.

Suddenly, Nathan heard what sounded like voices and movement coming from outside the window. He immediat
ely headed toward the sound.
It almost sounds like somebody’s laughing
, he thought.

Nathan stood in front of the busted window and gasped. He was surprised by what he saw in front of him. Slowly, walking up the fog-swept, stone steps were two men dressed in long black cloaks, their swords drawn at their sides. One of the men had a devilish grin on his face as his eyes co
nnected with Nathan.

“Those two nasty characters are the Blackwater twins — Eleazar and Jordan,” said Malick, joining Nathan at his side. “The one with the smirk on his face is Eleazar. He was ta
pping on the glass with his sword to draw us near the window so he could blow it up with an energy ball.”

Eleazar noticed Malick standing next to Nathan at the window, and he immediately froze in his tracks. He then grinned wide and pointed his long silver sword at Malick.

“He’s very sadistic,” said Malick, frowning at Eleazar, “and he will find any excuse to inflict pain on his enemies. I know it’s only because of my grandfather that they tolerate his antics.”

“They?” asked Nathan, sounding surprised. “The Order?”

Malick nodded, pausing to run his hand backward through his hair. “Yeah, and we’re not exactly the best of friends.”

The high-pitched wail they heard earlier pierced the air again, and Nathan spun around. His friends, now nursing minor cuts from the flying glass, looked frightened
.

“Well, I don’t scare easily,” said Nathan, forming a
blue fireball. He stared directly at Eleazar, the blue flames flickering angrily in his hand. “Regardless of the issue, you don’t hurt my friends.”

Suddenly, in the darkness, in the field directly behind Eleazar and Jordan, a tiny blue light appeared, hovering in the air. Soon the light grew, stretching out toward the ground. In a blink, it expanded, developing into
a blue rectangular doorway.

“Now what?” asked Nathan. “I wonder who that is.”

“Considering that Eleazar and Jordan are a part of Liz’s line,” said Malick. “I’m guessing it’s Liz.”

“Nice try,” rang a voice behind them. Nathan and Malick quickly spun around. Another blue door had formed, but this time near the fir
eplace inside of Black Manor.

“What are you doing
here, Liz?” shouted Sweet Pea.

Haughtily, Liz stepped from the blue doorway as she a
djusted her black trench coat. “I asked myself, what could have happened to make Malick so confused that he would betray us, and fight for the other side?” she asked. She then removed her dark sunglasses and gawked at him. “If I knew you were going to be this lost after we broke up, I would have fought harder to keep you at my side.”

“Us?” asked Malick, with disdain. “Who is 'us'?”

She shook her head. “Turn over everything you have about the cave symbols,” said Liz. “And this won’t have to get ugly.”

Suddenly, there were sounds of crunching glass over by the window and Nathan and the others turned to find Eleazar, Jordan and a dark-haired woman stepping through. “Umm, Sweet Pea, Taylor,” called Alan with trepidation. “They look like your guys.” He swallowed hard, backing up to huddle closer to the group. “Please tell me these are your guys.…”

“Liz,” said Sweet Pea, sword still drawn. She gestured for Taylor to lower his sword. “What are you doing here?”

“This doesn’t concern you,” she responded, sharply. She raised her arm, revealing the long sword sheathed at her side. She then formed a bright blue energy ball in the palm of her hand. “I’m here on official Order business.”

“Oh?” said Taylor, skeptically. “On whose command?”

“Wow, the resemblance is uncanny!” said Jonathan, a
bruptly. At first, everyone appeared confused by Jonathan’s sudden outburst. They then began to follow Jonathan’s gaze. Light from the nearby blue doorway fell onto the large oil painting above the fireplace. “Besides the subtle differences in eye color, I would think that was Liz in the painting.”

“Really, Jonathan?” asked Alan in disbelief. “That’s just so random!” Alan pointed drama
tically. “The creepy guy just tried to lure us to the window so he could impale us with shards of glass, and she’s threatening us with an energy ball!”

“It’s going to take a lot more than a blown-up window to make us hand over all of our r
esearch,” said Lafonda. She stared into Liz’s hazel brown eyes and then turned to regard the brown eyes of the little girl in the painting.

“I agree,” said Angela. She pointed to the pair of silver-rimmed dark sunglasses that hung from the collar of Liz’s long black trench coat. “And now we see where Malick gets his bad habit of wearing sunglasses indoors.”

“Yeah, like, who wears sunglasses at night?” asked Alan. He laid his arms across his chest. “It’s silly, not to mention a sign of bad fashion sense, if you ask me.”

The blue ball of energy hovering slightly above Liz’s hand grew brighter, illuminating the frown on Liz’s face. “Awe, you’ve made friends,” she said, sarcastically, staring at Malick. “Now, if you’re done playing with the children …
you know where you belong.”

Sweet Pea watched in disgust as Eleazar continued to trace the blade of his sword with his index finger, while making a threatening face at Lafonda and Angela. “Eleazar, enough!” she shouted. “Do you even know what you’re d
oing here?” She then turned to address Jordan and the dark-haired woman. “Do you know why you’re here? Or are you just following Liz blindly, like you usually do?”

“I’m sorry, Sweet Pea,” said Liz, with a sarca
stic grin. “It sounds to me as if you’re having a hard time with your line again.” She turned to look at Taylor and then shrugged. “The members of my line just never seem to question
my
leadership.”

“Whatever, Liz,” snapped Sweet Pea. She raised her sword again and Taylor followed suit. “You’re not going to distract me, and no one is giving up anything until we di
scuss all of this with the Order.”

“Ugh, you’re just as bad as they are,” grumbled Liz. “When will you people ever learn?” She drew a deep breath and, without warning, threw the blue energy ball straight into Sweet Pea’s chest. “You know what they say, third time’s the charm.”

Sweet Pea’s tiny body hit the ground with a thud; forcing the air out of her lungs. She attempted to gain composure but gasped for air. Taylor looked enraged as he raised his sword and charged Liz, but his blade was met by Eleazar’s sword.

“Destroy all the evidence,” smirked Liz. She watched as Taylor and Eleazar exchanged blows with their swords. “D
estroy the house too, if you have to.”

Jordan and the dark-haired woman’s eyes lit up; it was as if they were waiting for an invis
ible green light. Quickly, the dark-haired woman stampeded toward Leah as Jordan drew two silver knives from his side. He threw them at Nathan, in a fury.

The dark-haired woman shoved Leah to the ground, hard. Leah tried to hold on to the cre
scent-shaped medallion in her hand, but upon impact, it went skidding across the hardwood floor.

The dark-haired woman snickered as Leah frantically searched for the medallion in the darkness. She then u
nsheathed her sword, raised it above her head, and plunged it into Jonathan’s laptop, which lay on the couch.

“Nice one, Monique!” said Liz, to the dark-haired wo
man.

“My computer!” yelled Jonathan. In a dash, he attempted to retrieve it, but Angela and Lafo
nda held him back.

“Don’t forget the notebook,” said Liz. She squinted as she scanned the couch and flat surfaces around the dark room. “Now, where is the cell phone with the pictures?”

“Okay, how does she know about the cell phone?” grumbled Alan. He was huddled behind Lafonda and Angela.

“No!” screamed Jonathan. He watched in horror as Monique began ripping pages from his
spiral notebook.

Nathan heard Jonathan’s scream and wanted to help, but he barely escaped Jordan’s onslaught of flying knives. “We have to do something to stop them!” yelled Nathan to Malick
.

“Oookay,” said Malick, hiding behind one of the lounge’s large end tables. They had knocked off the lamp, and both were hiding behind the tipped-over table. “I’m ki
nda busy at the moment — you know, trying to stop from being impaled!”

“Cover me,” said Nathan and he tried to t
hrow an energy ball at Monique.

“Are you kidding me?” he asked. “What do I look like, a body shield?”

“Yo, Firewalker!” called Liz. She still stood over by the fireplace, and as soon as Nathan turned to look at her, she threw the ball of energy in her hand.

Liz’s energy ball soared through the air, missing Angela and Lafonda’s head by inches. The girls cringed and Liz laughed heartily. She also smirked at Nathan. Infuriated, N
athan switched his focus from Monique. He transformed the blue energy ball in his hand into a blazing blue fireball. He threw it at Liz.

The fireball hurled at her, lightning fast, and at the last second, Liz moved out of the way, a
llowing the fireball to smash against the blackened walls of the fireplace. It rekindled the fire.

“Thanks!” said Liz, proudly. Nathan looked confused, but his confusion was short lived. Swiftly, Liz approached the couch, picked up Jonathan’s backpack,
and tossed it into the fire.

Jonathan’s backpack went up in flames, causing a cloud of black smoke to rise up from the fire. “No!”
Jonathan yelled. Jonathan began to struggle against Lafonda and Angela’s grip.

“Jonathan!” yelled Lafonda, but Jonathan was free. I
nstantly, he dove toward the fire.

The flames from the fireplace roared and tiny fragments of ash floated through the air, as Jonathan tried to retrieve his backpack. Liz hovered over Jonathan, drawing her sword. It was as if she waited for him, as if it were her plan all along
.

“Look out!” shouted Lafonda. Forcibly, she shoved Liz in the back, right b
efore she could smite Jonathan.

Liz crashed into the stone of the fireplace with a thud, causing her to drop her sword. Startled, Jonathan crawled out of the way, leaving his backpack to burn. Lafonda turned to help Jonathan, but before she could walk away, Liz had r
egained composure. In one swift motion, Liz picked up her sword and seized Lafonda by the neck.

“Come here, you!” Liz snarled. Aggressively, she led Lafonda by the neck, thrashing her against the stone of the fireplace. She then took her sword and pressed it against Lafonda’s side. “How does it feel to be
knocked around?”

“Let go of me!” said Lafonda, through gritted teeth. She tried to lift her head, but Liz forcibly pushed he
r against the fireplace again.

“I’m a patient woman,” said Liz. “Just tell me where the cell
phone is, and I’ll let you go.”

“Like I said before,” said Lafonda, defiantly. “It’ll take a lot more than a blown-up window to make m
e just hand over our research.”

“Oh, you have balls!” said Liz. She began pressing the blade harder into Lafonda’s side, cau
sing Lafonda to squirm. “Let’s see if I can change your tune.”

Malick witnessed what was happening and, in a flash, picked up the end table and tossed it at Jordan. It knocked him to the floor. “Liz, stop!” Malick yelled. In each hand, he for
med two enormous balls of fire.

The first fireball hit Jordan square in the chest, igniting his black coat. “Aah!” he yelled. He immediately began to run around in circles, a
ttempting to put out the fire.

The other one hit Liz in her sword-carrying arm, causing her to release Lafonda. “You choose now to show that you’re a Firewalker?” shouted Liz. She still looked sho
cked as she put out the flames.

“There are two Firewalkers!” shouted Monique. She abandoned shredding the last remaining pieces of Jonat
han’s notebook to help Jordan.

There was a loud crash from the back of the room. “Liz!” shouted Eleazar. Sweet Pea had joined Taylor, and he was in engaged in a duel with both of them. “Stop messing
around and get the cell phone!”