The Sons of Satrina: A Sons of Satrina Novel (28 page)

Chapter Twenty-Nine.

Kayleigh rushed towards the front reception.  She was hoping beyond hope that the warriors would have enough time to get out of here before Aisline’s parents turned up.  Jainey had come rushing to find her to tell her they had word that their driver was on the way to the academy and they had no way of knowing how far away they were.  This was just what they didn’t need right now.  Sure, they were her parents and anyone in their right minds would be concerned for her safety, but they were the last people that Kayleigh wished to deal with right now.  They’d abandoned her.  The Sons were her family now.

Kelton meeting up with Andre
Kellerman in the car park?  Not such a good idea right now.  Kelton would probably floor him without a second thought.  He was focused on the task ahead and having a snobby little jerk like Aisline’s father holding him up…. Well, it wouldn’t be pretty.

Just
as she skidded to a very un-lady-like halt at the front desk, she saw all of the warriors piling through a door that would lead them to the sheltered underground garage.  Which was extremely fortunate as the security monitors showed the Kellerman car pulling up outside the front of the building.

Mr
Kellerman didn’t even wait for his driver to slow down or stop and park up before he came flying out of the back door of the car.  She’d expected him to remain in the car, allowing the driver to open his door in a dignified manner.  This surprised her.

Running up to the main doors, he repeatedly jabbed at the buzzer, carrying on with the incessant noise even as Kayleigh came into full view to unlock the door.  The look on his face was pure annoyance.

“Where is she?” he demanded the moment she released the door locks and pulled the door open for him to enter.

With an internal sigh, Kayleigh knew this was going to be hard work.  Obviously, any parent of a missing child was sure to be beside themselves, but Mr
Kellerman was a whole different matter.  This man thought more of social standing than he did of the love for his daughter. 

It was almost as if this latest drama was sure to blemish his reputation even further, for he didn’t exactly radiate any fatherly concerns.  It was infuriating.  Kayleigh and the
other warriors showed more concern for her wellbeing than the man in front of her did.  They had love for her and wanted her to return safely.  He simply wanted to avoid any further issues with his family’s reputation.

“I’m waiting.  What have you done with my daughter?  I’ll have the lot of you strung up for this!  My lawyer is on his way here as we speak.”

Great, just what they needed.  A lawyer was sure to be able to help Aisline out in her time of need.  Who did this man think he was?  It was the warriors who were going to get her out of this, not some jumped up lawyer in a stiff suit.  Sure, Leigh knew that she had gone missing while in their care, but they were also the ones who were going to get her back.

“Mr
Kellerman, please-”

He cut her off straight away, “Don’t you dare tell me to be reasonable.  This is my daughter we are talking about.  And your academy’s incompetence.”

Kayleigh felt a fresh flare of anger run through her body, igniting her mind in rage. “Your daughter?   Your daughter?” she said, incredulously, “The daughter that you abandoned?  The daughter that you threw out of her home?  I hoped to see a bit of remorse from you when you walked in here.  I wanted to see understanding.  You have a wonderful daughter, but your goddamn social standing and reputation within the community meant that you were too blind to see it.  She is going to make an awesome and formidable warrior and will be an asset to the whole team.  You should be proud of her, not denying her.”

That stin
g shut him up for a mere second and she saw the brief glimpse of emotion in his eyes before he shut off from her again.  He truly wasn’t thinking about Aisline.  He was thinking only about himself.  Asshole.

Kayleigh sighed loudly.  She’d already had had more than enough of this pompous little man.  She couldn’t even be bothered to keep up a professional appearance for the sake of the academy. After all, he couldn’t hold her actions against the academy - she had no official ties here.  Even her mentorship with Aisline was in an unofficial capacity. He had gotten under her skin and she wanted to rake his eyes out with her nails, and had to hold her hands in tight fists at her side to make sure that she didn’t carry it out.

“I was actually going to say please come in.  But, in all honestly, I am not too sure if your being here is going to be very helpful if you are going to continue talking to me in that tone.  Threats of lawyers will not help your daughter.  That is the warrior’s duty.  And you need to back up out of my face and let us get on with the job.”

Kayleigh held fast to the open door, blocking him access to the school.  She may have been female, but she still towered over the little man and had the power of her rage behind her.  He was no match for her.  Raw fury ran through her veins, the likes of which scared her, because of her natural nature.  It was times like this when she doubted herself.

“The warriors?  They were the ones who lost her in the first place!  My lawyer will hear about this!” he sneered and jabbed a finger in her direction, not appreciating being spoken to like that by a woman.  In his world, women should know their place, and that was always behind the man in charge.  Who did she think she was?  Did she not know who she was talking to?  She had clearly been raised in a modern family that did not know of the ways of the old.  Disrespectful whipper-snapper, he thought to himself.

“No problem.
I’ll tell him all about it myself when he gets here.  You did say that he was already on his way, did you not?”  Kayleigh threw him a sickly sweet smile, “Now, get out of here and let us get on with our job.” And slammed the glass door in his face.

Honestly, the last thing she needed right now was to deal with some arrogant, pompous prick who didn’t know when to shut up and listen to others.  She knew that she would later regret speaking to him like that, but right now, she didn’t give a damn.  His mere presence here was driving her nuts and she
needed him to get out so she could think straight.

Slamming the door in his face, the man looked shocked.  Surely no one had ever
treated him like that before. And, Kayleigh couldn’t give a shit.  She had more on her plate than worrying about his hurt feelings.

Walking away without a backwards glance, she instructed the warrior who was manning the security desk not to allow the ‘gentleman’ with whom she had just been conversing any access to the
academy under any circumstance until he was instructed otherwise.

She needed to get back to Kelton’s office.  She needed to be doing something active.  She needed to check on Denver and the other students in Aisline’s class who had already heard about her abduction.  There was so much to do that she didn’t know where to start.  She needed to keep moving.  For if she stopped, she was liable to break down under the pressure.

Firstly, she had to call up Jainey to see if she had any more news, and then she’d set up the radio communications in Kelton’s office so she could listen in and possibly gleam some information from.

And then?

Then, she’d just pray and wait.

Chapter Thirty. 

The pain was unbearable.  She’d never felt anything like it before in her life. 

At first, Aisline had thought they were just going to hold her, for a ransom or whatever,
but the peaceful side of them didn’t last long and their true monstrous colours had shone through.

The lump on the side of her head throbbed with such an intensity that she that she thought her head was going to explode.  The cuts on her arms and legs were from the struggle with the Mortuorum who had jumped her, stinging like battery acid.

She couldn’t believe that she was in this situation.  The nauseating ache in her head was making it hard for her to think.  She was trying her hardest to remember everything in her training, but the world was a white hot haze of throbbing pain.  She couldn’t see any way out.

They’d beaten her, laughing at their good fortune of abducting what they thought was one of the greatest assets that the Sons of Satrina had.  She’d hated the beating, but her loyalty for the warriors made her detest their words even more.

They were a brutal bunch. No humanity, no conscience.  At first, she’d remained defiant, refusing to scream out at the pain they were inflicting.  Biting down on her lip and scrunching her eyes tightly shut, she didn’t want them to see the weakness in her.  But, what she’d endured was more than anyone could bear.

She’d blacked out for a time, that pain consuming her in its entirety.  But, she’d never uttered a si
ngle sound. Her body and mind had fought for peace and finally shut down on her, which she was grateful for.

They’d taunted her, threatened her, and degraded her.  Running their hands over the hills and crevices of her body, before repeatedly whipping her.  Her back was a criss-cross designs of raised bloody welts
, the leather of her warrior uniform in tatters.  They’d relishing every pain bitten moment of it.

She’d hoped to appeal to them, that at least one of t
hem would have something in her to ease up on the beating.  After all, she knew that Kayleigh was Mortuorum and that she would never allow this to happen.  But, each of the monsters in from of her were enjoying her pain, enjoying inflicted a new kind of damage unto her.  They were truly the monsters that she’d had nightmares about when she was a child.

There wasn’t a single part of her that didn’t scream out.  Not a single bit of flesh that wasn’t raw, bruised and beaten.

Right now, she was sat tied to a chair with thick rope wrapped tightly around her ankles, wrists and neck.  There was no way that she was moving from here.  She couldn’t move at all as the rope bite painfully into her broken skin.

All she could hope was that the warriors were coming to find her.  Not that they would know where to start.

She didn’t want to die. She didn’t want to die at their hands.  She didn’t want to give them the satisfaction.  But, she wasn’t quite sure how much more she could endure.  Her body was broken, her mind was faltering.

B
ut she still had her spirit.

She still had hope.
             

After all, she was a Warrior with the Sons of Satrina.  She could handle this.

She hoped.

Chapter Thirty-One.

At the reception area of the school, the Sons paused for a moment to listen to run through orders.

Quickly, they split up into their designated teams and checked their radio contact.  They didn’t want to leave anything to chance.  If the Mortuorum had one of theirs, they could well risk the chance of taking another.  There was a good chance that they wouldn’t all return, though not from the threat of further abduction, but from the bloody battle that they had in front of them.  They were the Sons of Satrina and they had a job to do and each and every one of them would fulfil their directive to the best of their ability. This was the chance they took as a warrior.  And this was the chance that they were willing to take to rescue Aisline.  She was one of them.

Kelton motioned for Jackson to join his team.  There was no way on this earth that he would allow the boy out of his sight.  He may be willing to allow him to go on this mission, but there was no way that he was going to allow him to become a casualty of this war. They’d already lost one student, albeit temporarily. They weren’t losing another.  No way.

Jackson put a hand on the dagger, testing the grip and positioning.  Once satisfied, he stood in the uniformed way - feet planted shoulder width apart and hands clasped behind his back. 

He was ready for this.

Moving out, the warriors split off and moved through a secondary exit door that headed over toward the garages that held their cars.  The warriors that had come from the council had brought their own transport,
and the Sons would use theirs.  They had many vehicles at their disposal, including high end sports cars, which wouldn’t be appropriate for a mission such as this.  They needed speed, but they also needed space.  So, Kelton opted for the blacked out, pimped up SUVs, plucking keys off of the wall and tossing them to the designated drivers.

Crowding in, Kelton made sure that Jackson sat up front with him.  He knew why the boy was here and respected his determination.  But, he didn’t want his feelings for the girl to cloud his judgement and put anyone else in danger.  They were here to do a job, keeping things professional.  Feelings could come later, after they’d been successful in their extraction.

Setting off quickly, the convoy made their way across town.  Kelton wanted to put his foot down more than anything else, but attracting the attention of the local police and drawing them to the location they were heading to would just ensure that there were further casualties of this battle.  He didn’t want to endanger any more lives.  The humans weren’t part of this - this was personal to the Lamia.  The Mortuorum had crossed that line and now they were going to pay.

Heading out with caution, it didn’t actually take that long to get across town.  After all, this was the middle of the night and there was very little human traffic on the streets.  Pulling up a way away from the location, Kelton checked his radio contact with his team and the other leaders before exiting the car.

Jumping out of the car and into the shadows, the teams spilt off. 

It was go time.

Jackson headed up behind Kelton.  He had no choice, but if he had of, he would have chosen that to be his place.  There was no way that he would have been able to sit on his ass back at the academy, doing nothing, while the others were out risking their lives in their to get Aisline back.  Kelton had already told him to stick by his side no matter what, not to deviate, he was to be his shadow and stay with him or he was getting kicked out of the school.  Period.  No second chance.  Gone.  That
was fine by Jackson. He knew that if anyone was going to be on the front line and have first shot at getting close to Ash, it was Kelton. 

But, if it came to it, he’d risk his position at t
he academy and with the warriors to get Aisline out of there.  If he saw a chance, he’d take it, with or without the express permission from the Master Warriors.  That didn’t mean that he was going to go all soft and declare his love for her, but for some reason, it felt like it was his duty, his responsibility.  He was meant to be the one to get her out of there.  She was his friend.  End of. He had to do this.

Their team consisted of Kelton, Jackson and six other warriors and as they jogged along in the shadows, Jackson knew that this was how it was supposed to be.  It was a different feeling to that when he had been out on the field exercise only a few hours earlier.  Was it really only hours?  It felt like a lifetime ago.  Since they’d learned of Aisline’s disappearance, time had stood still for him.

This was what he’d been born for.   He was a warrior.  It had just come a little earlier than planned.  Their training exercise had felt too cushioned, like had been a calculated task for the most part.  But, this was for real.  It was a life or death situation and he was out kick some Mortuorum ass. 

As they rounded the corner, Kelton signalled for them to be on guard. 

Straight away, the hairs on the back of Jackson’s head started to rise.  They were here.  The enemy.  He could feel them.  He could sense them.  And he was ready for them.  He wanted blood.

Pausing, Jackson reached for his dagger and crouched down low.  Turning the corner, Kelton started in a flat out run and Jackson followed close on his heels.  A flash of movement to his right warned Jackson to unsheathe his dagger, ready to fight.  And it wasn’t a moment too soon.  Four Mortu
orum fighters ran out at them. Stealth sure wasn’t their bag as they ran at them, shrieking and yelling, their war cries filling the air.  The Sons turned and fought. Jackson didn’t need his weapon as these were clearly new recruits.  All violent enthusiasm and no substance.  Kelton and Jackson took them out with a few simple punches and round kicks, snapping their necks like chickens.  All that was left of them was a rush of crimson blood, spreading in pools around their inert bodies.

The other four Sons stood back and watched.  Turning to them, not even panting from the exhaustion, the others chuckled, although not with outright humour.

“Good going, man.”  One of them said to Jackson, “We’re going to be redundant here if you keep going at this rate.

Jackson took the compliment in his stride and took up his position next to Kelton again.  Any other time, he would have flushed with pride but here and now, there wasn’t the time for him to relish.  He was doing only what he’d needed to do. 

Kelton signalled for them to focus and get moving over the other side of the street again.  He was pleased that Jackson had been able to handle himself so well and was glad that he didn’t regret the decision to bring him here.   It was a risky business but they needed all the competent fighters they could get for this mission. Jackson was competent as long as he kept his head in the game.  This is war.  They would fight to the death.  They were the Sons of Satrina.
They’d get her back.

Standing with their backs against the wall, they stopped as Kelton radioed their position through to the other team leaders, mentally calculating the distance between each team, and totally up the death counts.

Once everyone else was in position, they simultaneously performed their raid on the building. They had to get in there fast.  The whole place was covered in copious amounts of dirt and dust and decay, with weeds and garbage littering every available surface.  The stench of death hung heavy in the air.  The emptiness of the place echoed with past pain and suffering.  Each footstep kicked up a cloud of dust.  Just the sort of place that they would expect to find Mortuorum.

But, the Mortuorum weren’t taken by surprise.  They’d been expecting them. They’d known that the warriors would come for them, come to retrieve their own.  They were ready for them.

Their numbers were great and as soon as the Sons stepped foot in the building, the fight was on.  Jackson had his dagger in his hand and slashed at the first Mortuorum who challenged him.  Taking him out wasn’t as easy as those out on the street were, but he’d always thrived on a challenge.

Unceremoniously leaving the enemy lying in a pool of his own blood on the floor, he glanced about to check out Kelton’s location, finding him a few meters away, fighting off two of the Mortuorum.   Jumping in, Jackson delivered a swift
upper cut blow to one of them that nearly knocked his head clean off of his shoulders, leaving Kelton to face off with the other.  He was dealt with in less than a second and Kelton turned and nodded a quick look of thanks at Jackson.

They both turned to fight the rest of the enemy in this section, but found that the enemy had been eliminated.   These w
arriors were the epitome of badass.

Proceeding with the plan, they jogged through some double doors and into a dim corridor, heading in the direction of the rear of the building.  Kelton and one of the other warriors headed up the team, checking the doors on either side of the hallway, their guns cocked and ready, making sure that the doors were either locked or that the rooms were void of Mortuorum, while the rest of them covered the rear.

At the end of the corridor, Kelton checked his gun, clipped in another round and listened.  The sounds of fighting echoed from every corner of the building, gun fire sounding like a marching band parade.  He could only hope, like in any battle, that the Sons were victorious.

With another signal, he swung open the door and they all prepared to fight.

But, there was no one there.

With a questioning glance at one another, they proceeded into the room, searching every corner, behind and underneath every piece of furniture, but there was no one, nothing.

Moving towards the other door in the door, they circled it, ready for an ambush, when out of the blue, the door behind them slammed shut.  But, not before an alcohol filled bottle with a flaming rag stuffed down its neck was thrown into the room, engulfing the door and half of the room in raging flames.

Kelton shouted to the others to follow him and he turned to make his way to the other door, when he found it was locked tight.  With an inhuman shout, he tried to turn the knob, and then ram the solid steel door with his shoulder, to no avail.

They were trapped.

Trapped in a room that was rapidly filling with fire.

They may have been vampires, but they were mortal, and fire or smoke inhalation would kill them as surely as it would a human, just taking longer and a lot more painfully.  Kelton ran at the door again, but it wouldn’t budge an inch.

The rest of them started to work together to break the door down, but Jackson could see the futility of the situation.  They were stuck in here and if they didn’t get out soon they were going all going to die.  That door wasn’t going to budge and they had to find an alternative exit.  Even if it was breaking down the concrete walls with their bare hands.

Looking around, he focused on the window.  Sure, when they had entered the room, they had followed protocol and assessed the area for entrance and exit points, finding only the door they’d come through, which was now behind a wall of flames, and the other one, which was locked.  And a window.

But the window was covered with steel bars that were screwed tightly into the wall.

Running over to it, Jackson starting pulling at the bars.  They didn’t give at all.  Yanking with all his might, he knew that they weren’t going to find another way out.  This was it.  He could only hope now that one of the other teams successfully extracted Aisline from this hell hole.

And just when he started to feel his strength failing, Kelton joined him, pulling at the steel.  The others grabbed the bars where they could and together they pulled, and pulled.  At first, there was only solid resistance, but gradually, they could feel the bars start to bend under the immense strength and pressure and the screws start to loosen from their anchors.

After a painstakingly long time, or so it felt, with the flames licking at their ankles, a corner suddenly shifted and the bars started to loosen further.  Kelton shouted something, Jackson didn’t catch what it was, and they all wrenched the bars off of the window, sending the tangled steel to the floor with a deafening clang. 

T
hat was when Jackson fully registered how close the fire was to them.  The temperature was unbelievably intense. He could feel the blush of heat racing over his skin.

Without another thought, he quickly removed his t-shirt, his chest heaving with rasping breath, sweat sparkling on
his pecs in the firelight.  He balled up the material around his hand, padding and cushioning it as best he could.  Swiftly, he put a fist through the corner of the window, sending glass shards shattering in all direction, and quickly punching out the jagged pieces that were left in the frame, he hopped up and out of the window, landing in the cool night air.

The rest of the team followed quickly, landing in an undignified heap in the cool night air, just as the fire roared to attention.  The oxygen from the broken window fanning the flames and driving the inferno through the room at a rapid pace.

Coughing and spluttering from the smoke, Jackson put his hands on his knees and dry heaved.  Nothing came up, but the burning sensation in his chest choked his throat and smoke stung his eyes.

Kelton, coughing himself, laid a hand on his shoulder and
with a raspy voice said, “Damn good work, son.” he was interrupted by another bout of coughing, “You and the rest of the team head back to the car. I’m going to catch up with Dixon and his crew.”