Number of the Beast (Paladin Cycle, Book One) (37 page)

The birds dropped their
writhing and hissing cargo of serpents onto the Beloved’s hood and
roof. Her car swerved, fishtailing out of control and veered into
the ditch. Her grating screams sliced through the humid
air.

Isaac pulled over. He
smiled at his mistress. “Time for your first lesson.”

“
Yes, master.”

“
Time to hunt our prey.
Together.”

# # #

“
Push it harder,” Carmen
yelled at him like a fevered banshee.

“
This is the car’s top
speed,” he snapped.

“
I could get out and push
faster than this.”

Atticus cut a glance
toward her. She still held the gun but the weapon was trained on
him more lazily. “Perhaps you should.”

She waggled the weapon. “I
said not to get smart with me, Mr. Renaissance Man. You just tried
to kidnap my best friend…and with a sword no less. And you think
being a smartass to the girl holding the gun is a good
plan?”

“
The Geminus are after
your friend. And they will stop at nothing until she is in their
possession. I am here to protect her.”

“
What happened? You get
bored with your Warcraft subscription and decide to play for
real?”

“
I have no understanding
of this ‘Warcraft’.”

“
You ain’t shitting me,
are you? That’s fucking scary. What did you plan to do with Amy if
you’d gotten her?”

“
I would transport her
back to the Paladin compound.”

“
The compound,” Carmen
said. “Makes perfect sense. Probably lived your whole life
underground and now you were sent out to kidnap new women for your
sick and twisted cult brothers.”

“
No.” Atticus shot her a
stern look.

“
Amy is like a sister to
me and if you dare put a hand on her, you may as well be putting
your hands on me.”

Atticus sighed. “I have
given that serious thought.”

“
What was
that?”

“
I said...I hope she’s not
caught.”

“
Look!” Carmen pointed.
“They’re turning! Turn. Turn!”

“
Yes. I can see, Miss
Magellan.”

As Atticus turned his car onto
Blackwood Road shrill cries filled the sky. Hawks, crows and
buzzards, soaring overhead, dropped piles of snakes onto the
car.

Carmen screamed!

And she screamed some more.

“
Stop that!” Atticus said,
having to raise his voice due to Carmen’s screams coupled with the
loud clacking and thumping of the snakes.

A large tortoise shell struck the
windshield and cracked it clean down the middle. A white web
expanded across both the driver and passenger side. Luckily the
crack over the driver’s side hadn’t created too severe of a blind
spot.

A wide-eyed hawk soared
straight toward them, dropping a twelve-point rack of antlers in
the middle of the road like a makeshift caltrop.

Atticus jerked the wheel
to avoid running over the sharp horns. The back of the car swung
too far.

“
Blazing
ghost!”

The car whirled into the
ditch, bucking up and down. Something smacked the passenger window
and Carmen squealed.

“
Shiiit!”

The car came to a
halt.

“
You drive!” Atticus
ordered before shoving open the door.

“
Don’t you fucking go
anywhere?”

Atticus jumped onto the
hood of the car. “Drive!”

Carmen scooted behind the
wheel, a deep scowl on her beautiful maiden face.

“
You can’t ride on the
hood of the car,” she said.

“
Just drive the rotten
car, wench! There’s no time!”

Atticus fell to his knees
on the hood, and stared down at the pendant. He had to think. Had
to think quickly.

“
You’re not Bruce Willis
and this isn’t the next Die Hard movie, you insane idiot!” Carmen
shouted at him through the lowered window.

Atticus racked his brain.
Muttered some words.

Carmen reversed the car
out of the ditch and back onto the highway.

Atticus gripped the hood
with his palms, knees and toes.

Three large buzzards rose
up out of the woods. Two carried angry copperheads, the third
carried an armadillo.

The buzzards circled
overhead and in front of the slow moving car.

Summoning the powers of
Earth and Mind, he shouted an ancient battle cry.

The two copperheads
dropped.

His sword tore from its
sheath. He sliced through one of the snakes in midair. The tip of
the blade burst, releasing a solid beam of gleaming onyx; the stone
bar struck the third bird carrying the armadillo. Both bird and
armadillo imploded into feathers and bloody gristle.

Carmen screamed again, and
the car swerved. Losing his balance, Atticus fell. His face smashed
into the windshield. In horror, he gawked inside the vehicle.
Between Carmen and him, divided only by glass, Atticus watched the
Copperhead writhing on the column of the steering wheel.

The snake suddenly arrowed
straight into Carmen’s face, piercing into her skin. Both her hands
flung to her face. The car skidded chaotically along the
asphalt.

Atticus braced for the
inescapable wreck. The tiny car careened left, rocketing over the
ditch and slamming into a tree.

Atticus was hurled from
the hood. He tucked himself into a ball and rolled onto the
ground.

Regrouping his faculties,
and steadying himself, he stood several yards from the
car.

The crash pried the
driver’s door open. Carmen lay slumped halfway in and halfway out
of the car. The copperhead coiled within her hair.

“
Carmen!”

No response.

Rustling prompted Atticus
to whirl, facing the woods.

A pack of coyotes stood on
the edge. Foam poured from their open maws and their paws scratched
threateningly at the soft pliable ground.

Six of them. They had
already begun to spread out in an attempt to flank him.

“
Bloody lotus,” Atticus
muttered. Here he stood, a champion of holy warriors sent to track
down the greatest Beast known to this world and beyond. He would
not succumb to death by the teeth of mangy coyotes as a beautiful
maiden lay dying only feet from him.

Carmen uttered something.

Atticus gripped his
sword.

Coyotes bound toward him.
Atticus turned his side toward them making himself a smaller
target.

He charged. His blade
slashed, thrust, and sliced; his body danced side-to-side, but
always forward.

Two coyotes
fell.

Two more on either side.
They circled. The sound of snapping jaws and yelps only served to
fuel his rage.

Atticus raced forward and
turned.

The four canines
charged.

The blade jumped forward,
swooped. Atticus kicked one of the coyotes in the ribs, hard,
deadly. And his sword finished it, plunging into its
neck.

The last coyote backed
away.

“
Run,” Atticus said. “Or
perish.”

The coyote let out one
last defiant howl before whimpering and scurrying into the
forest.

He glanced to Carmen and
his electric vehicle. A faint but sickly whirring from the engine
pierced the fury coursing through him. Raising his sword, he ran to
aid her.

Swiftly, he stabbed the
snake still writhing in her hair and flung it aside. Gripping under
her shoulders, he carefully slid her from the crumpled
vehicle.

Her bosom heaved as her
wheezing breaths came in frantic spurts. Pressing two fingers to
her neck, he checked her pulse. Barely discernible. Swollen face.
Lips a pale shade of blue.

Two points on the pendant had burned
out. The last one during his attempt to kill the birds.

He called upon the realm
of Heaven and the healing power of the Heart. Dusty pages of
archaic grimoire passed through his memory as he tried to recall
the proper incantation. Placing a hand on her forehead, he began to
chant.

White glow radiated from
his hand and pulsed through the dark skin on Carmen’s face. It was
only a minor healing spell, a physical detox of sorts. But Atticus
prayed it was enough to rid the snake venom from her
bloodstream.

The glowing point on the
pendant abruptly faded, and turned black, charred.

Carmen remained limp on the
ground.

Not since Rourn’s death
had he felt such sorrow. This maiden of such beauty, intelligence
and spitfire was one of the most astounding people he’d ever
met.

“
I failed you, Miss
Carmen…but I cannot fail Amy.” Atticus stood. He lost the battle
but the war waged on.

Atticus pumped his legs
faster and faster. Something deep inside his core told him he was
about to face things far greater than coyotes and giant worms. The
Glorious Seal only had one point remaining.

Atticus came upon Amy’s flipped car.
He circled it, panting, and searching.

Footprints led into the
woods.

Followed by animal tracks.

# # #

Amy tripped over a thick root. Her
shoe sailed into a thorny bush. A strip of blood trailed down her
left cheek. She picked herself up and continued tearing through the
forest, her pace slowed with only one shoe.

A bird cawed from the
left, locust chattered behind her; a snake rattled to her left then
her front. Branches and bushes stirred with movement.

She’d lost her sense of direction. The
plan had been to ditch her car and shoot through the woods, double
back to the road and head back to Roxy’s. But she wasn’t sure which
way led to the road.

Everything looked the
same—oak, cedar and Buckeye trees, dead brown leaves, root-infested
soil, slanted hills and deep creeks carved through the
earth.

When she was a little girl
she used to spend hours in the woods. She was Indiana Jonah, always
on an exploration into jungles in search of lost ruins and relics.
Her worst fear was her mama when she would threaten to blister her
bottom if she got her new clothes dirty.

Indiana Jonah had never gotten
lost.

She sure missed that
girl.

Snorts and snarls came from behind.
Amy’s lungs were sore, her heartbeat refused to slow.

The trees became a
palisade fence. She had no more of a chance to live, than a rat
cornered by Freya. There was no more running left in her body. The
adrenaline in her blood had depleted, and she was left with the
bitter truth of the inevitable. Whatever that might be. Whoever
that might be.

She clutched a tree...and
cried.

Tobias...what do I
do?

“
Come to me,” a man’s
voice spoke. “Come to me, female.”

A tall naked figure stepped toward
her. The moonlight glittered off his tanned stone-like skin and
deep green eyes. His grotesquely large uncircumcised penis dangled
between his bare legs. And a stone jewel in his chest shimmered
bright as a ruby star.

Amy’s breathing quickened.
Her heart caught. She backed away, but a snorting sound caused her
to glance back.

A large black cat with wings and green
eyes blocked her retreat. Yellow saliva dripped from teeth as large
as her forefinger. The glow of a ruby stone also flickered from the
creature’s underside.

“
There is nowhere for you
to go, Beloved one,” the man said. “Fear not, for I have come for
your body, nothing more.”

# # #

Shane
felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. He stopped the bike and cut
the engine. Birch did the same. Sliding it from his jeans, he
checked the caller ID.
Carmen.

“
Hey,” he said.

“
Amy’s gone!” Carmen
screeched. “She’s gone! Some car chased her and she’s
gone!”

“
Take a breath. Slow the
fuck down. Start from the beginning.”

“
I found Amy’s car. It’s
flipped over but she’s not here. I don’t know where she
is!”

Shane gripped the cell
phone with a sweaty hand. “You lose an earring, Carmen! You don’t
lose a fucking person, especially my fiancé.” He kicked a fallen
tree and the rotten trunk crumbled. “Where’s her car?”

“
Blackwood Ave. Just
outside Sacred Oaks.”

Shane hung up. He shoved
his phone into his pocket. “Amy’s been in some kind of accident,”
he said to Birch.

“
She okay?”

“
Don’t’ know. Her car
flipped and she’s nowhere around.” Shane inclined his head
gesturing toward the path leading back to the trailer. “Meet me
just past the fork on Blackwood.”

“
We’ll find her,” Birch
said and sped away.