Keeper's Knowledge (Balancer's Soul cycle) (37 page)

Ryan
was going to strike Sarah.

He
turned around to see Mark and Ka
ra’s heads right in front of
him
and they were both
looking dangerously calm.
Connor
rubbed the tops of their heads and they enjoyed it a litt
le too much. “Thanks you two.” He
looked to see Sarah standing beside Veronica’s right leg with each hand on
a
Fang.
Veronica was standing in a protective stance
while
Clarein
was
gently cradling the egg.
He
stepped around the two and moved closer to Sarah. “I’m sorry for losing my temper like that.”

Her face went
a shade
red. “They should be the one
s
to apologize. They had no right to treat us like that on our first meeting
together
.”
Veronica sat a single claw on her shoulder. Sarah looked up and said “I’m sorry you had to see that, my friend.”

Veronica’s eyes were soft as she shook her head.
“None were at fault, but them. I saw that man trying to do something malicious, but Connor moved before I could
strike
.”
The golden eyes turned
in his direction
.
“That was a very fast move. If I were to have reacted, things would probably have become…
Messy
.”

“I don’t d
oubt your words for a second.” Connor
looked around to see several of the closer s
pectators intently looking at them
. “How about we all ge
t back to the game and let the
little
intermission remain in the past.”
Reluctantly everyone sat back down and watched the game. Veronica got her egg back
and she win
ked at him
as she lightly tapped the metal covering.

They
all stayed and watched play after play. Some of them gave
great
ideas that
he
could easily implement into
his
skills.
They
all left and ate dinner together and Firon didn’t show up, but
they
had already known
that
. After
all came to an end they
all split up
.
Sarah and
Connor
went to the bath house before going to bed.

When
they
made it back to
their
room that night after having a pleasant meal with everyone
,
Connor and
Sarah
found
the
room to be quite chilly. The bed sheet barely knocked the chill away so
they
both put on
their
clothes minus the armor before finally getting
to sleep.

Sometime in the middle of the night
Sarah
awoke when Connor sat up
abruptly
and made the springs bounce
.
She
rubbed
her
eyes and also sat up.
She
yawned while asking “What’s wrong
,
Connor?”

All
that could be seen
was the silhouette of his head and body in
the
dark
bed
room.
She
scanned the room to see nothing out of place. He spoke calmly and extremely quietly. “I’m not sure, but som
ething doesn’t feel quite right.
”

“Did you hear something that woke you up again?
I swear your hearing is something to be
both
desired
and cursed
.
”

She
saw his shadowy head shake
side to side
. “No
,
I didn’t
wake up from a sound. S
omething else woke me up
… a warning feeling
.
I feel
as if
something bad is about to happen.
”
His head turned to the right wall that separated
their
room from Mark’s.

Suddenly
a violent sound of
a door crash open
was
followed by Kara’s bloodcurdling scream. “
AHHHHH
!
!!!
”

Instantly
,
Connor
flew
out of bed and at the door
,
ripping it from its hinges
as he tackled it into the hallway
. Before Sarah
leapt out of bed
,
their
room filled with
ambient
light as Connor le
apt into the hallway
and
vanished
to the right
.
Sarah’s
bare feet landed on the
cold
wooden surface as
she
ran
around the door frame. Kara scream
ed
again
and it was
followed by a sudden sound of
snarling
animals.

Sarah
made it to Mark and Kara’s room
in the blink of an eye
.
She
couldn’t see well
in the dark room
, but knew Connor was already inside
so
she
flicked the light switch on.
T
he
ir
r
oom was set up exactly like theirs
is. S
uddenly she
saw what was happening
inside
and it wasn’t good
.

Mark was panting face down on the floor, naked, and covered in blood. His eyes were tightly closed and his teeth were grinding together
from
tremendous
pain
. Kara was in shock on the bed with the white bed sheet covering her chest.
H
er silver eyes were wide and
her eyes were only on Mark
as he
became
still on the floor
.
A
crash
ing noise
on the wall
brought Sarah’s attention to see
Connor holding the
back of the
necks
,
or
manes
,
of two
enormous
Changers who were in the form of golden lions
,
to the wall
.
Connor was taller than both of them
and his face was red with rage
and unleashed fury
.
Connor instantly
became
prepared for battle
and his victims didn’t stand a chance
.
He pulled them back from the wall and lifted
them clear off the ground
. As they swung back like a pendulum
,
Connor pushed down when they were both facing towards the wood floor. Then he
slammed them face first into the ground. They both
jerked and
went instantly limp under the force
he
put them under
and the impact with the
solid
ground
.
They were lucky Connor didn’t send their heads through the floor
ing
or shatter their skulls completely.

Off to
her
left
Sarah
saw a sudden
flash of movement heading
her
way.

A
third
, uninvited
Changer
stood
in the room
trying to make a quick escape, but they screwed with the wrong family.
Sarah
entered
the female’s
mind out of habit. She
w
as
afraid of what would happen if Connor gotten a hold of her
and she
thought
Sarah
would be weaker
. Sarah
stepped
to
her
right as the female panther
,
covered in black fur came within
striking
range.
She
swung with
her
left hand to
impact
the base of
the attacker’s
skull.
She
connected with enough force to render
the Changer
unconscious
,
even before she slamm
ed
face
first
into the flooring of
the hallway.

Jillian and Jack
flew out of their rooms a second later.
Sarah’s f
ather looked
quickly
at the unconsc
ious panther
at
her
feet and demanded
“Sarah, what is going on
out here!
?”

She
couldn’t
stop and answer
that
just yet.
She
entered the small room
and
ran up to Mark
and knelt
. “What is going on?
Are you hurt anywhere?
”

He sucked in a deep breath and Sarah
saw he was clutching his
wrist with his left hand
. His
entire
right hand had been eaten
down
to his wrist
.
His blood was beginning to pool
beneath the stump
.
I
n
a panting breath he said through gritted teeth “Three of my kind…tried to kill us…as we slept. I tried fighting, but I…was
knocked
off my
balance
when they surprised me…the big one bit my hand clean off… Is Kara safe?
How…is she?
”

A
familiar
hand on
her
shoulder
told her that her husband was right there
. “She is unharmed, Bud.
They didn’t get
even
close to her. You protected her properly.
” Connor spoke calmly. “When I arrive
d
I pulled the two off of you and
knocked them
out cold.
It will be awhile before they regain conciseness
again
, if at all
.
” Connor smiled. “Sarah took care of the other one before she could get
close enough
to Kara.” Connor pointed
for
Sarah
to go to
her sister-in-law. She
stood and wrapped
her
arms around Kara as she shook from the shock.
Connor scooted closer to Mark so that his
large
body could cover up most of the blood that came from his best friend. He did it for his sister’s sake
and sanity
.
“Listen to me
, Mark
. Focus on healing and let me worry about them
.”

“I’ve already
…
begun healing.” It was true because
a strong light reflected off the
bloody
floor from his pupils
.
All
Sarah
could see from Mark was the back of his head.

She
looked at the front door to see that
her f
ather had gone to get Haunt and he held it at the ready
as he guarded
the
unconscious captive
.
All he was wearing were his brown pants.
Jillian
briskly ran inside the blood soaked room
,
wearing nothing but her red silk night robe.
Her dark hair flew behind her.
She
came over to Kara and her daughter
. S
he spoke directly and soothingly to Kara. “It’s alright Sweetie, Mark will be fine in
just
a minute.
Let the men take care of him. I promise that he is in good hands.
We need to get you dressed before someone anyone else gets here.
I don’t think you want other men
ogling
at you.
”