My demons: Healing (book 3)

The shadows' territory part3

"Over here" Alex heard just as her vision was starting to get blurry, her body slouching against the tree more and more as minutes ticked by and the wraps failed to hold back the steady stream of blood oozing out of her wound. 

Her brain connected the voice to the person just as the image of Aisha invaded her vision. "Aisha?" she asked as the woman towering above her crouched down. "What did you do?" she questioned, pushing herself to sit a little straighter against the trunk. 

"Got help, of course," the brunette responded as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. Before Alex could remind her of the time she had wasted with that, two warriors flanked her from each side, lifting her up. 

"We got you," she heard Jade's voice. "They'll treat you as best as possible and Nathan will take my place at the post. I'm going with Aisha."

...

"Rose what the hell?" Sky hissed upon discovering the other blonde had left her side. 

They had made it to the church far later than she had hoped, but at least they could say they made sure to not be followed. Overall, it all went more or less according to plan. Well, until she somehow managed to misplace her partner. 

She looked around, trying to locate her to no avail. Only when she heard a faint yelp from the inside of the church, she was able to breathe again. The relief however, was shortly replaced by annoyance. 

She rushed towards the entrance, ready to drag Rose out by the ear, but was rendered motionless by the sight that greeted her. 

Knowing that the church was being renovated, she had expected a healthy dose of chaos inside the building. What had greeted her, was far more than she'd anticipated. The tipped over statue was lying directly in front of her, facing her. She maintained eye contact with it for a while, before remembering that it was made of stone and could not, in fact, hold eye contact with her. 

She shook herself out of the haze, stepping over it with one final glance. "Rose, what are you doing?" she whisper shouted, while walking over the tipped over bench, or at least the half of it that had been in her way, careful to avoid the spilled bucket of white paint. 

"I felt someone watching us. Stay alert," came the response from the other side of the room. "There is no one here, let's go," Sky hissed back, pulling out her knife just in case. The unmistakable sound of a gunshot proved her wrong before she could even sound out the last of her sentence. 

The bullet hit the statue next to her, creating a gaping hole in the forehead of the stony victim. Sky cursed under her breath as she ducked for cover under the spray of bullets following the first one. She stayed down, wondering if she should just wait it out, until she heard Rose's scream. She felt a chill running up her spine and at the same time felt the fire igniting in her veins. 

Red replaced the blue as she let go.

...

Claire's skin prickled as they kept walking, and she glanced over to Manuel. He was sporting the same concerned expression as she figured was mirrored on her face. "I don't like this," she murmured, her words nearly inaudible. She knew if the eyes she felt on her were real, and not her sixth sense playing games with her, the owner of the eyes would be capable of hearing. But dealing with all powerful entities, there aren't many ways to communicate without them hearing, so she hoped the sounds of their feet against the tunnel's flooring would drown her words out. 

"Me neither," she saw Manuel mouthing back while slowly inching her fingers closer to her holstered dagger once again. Manuel's gun was still drawn but she worried in the echoing tunnels, the gun might be more of a hindrance than an advantage.

As they turned a corner, Claire felt more than heard a crunching noise underneath her feet. Looking down, she eyed the now crushed bone with disdain. "I knew I had recognised the smell," she muttered towards Manuel who nodded in response. "Can never deny the presence of death for too long. She will make sure she is acknowledged."

"I have a bad feeling about this," Claire responded quietly, crouching down to observe the iron bars on what looked like an old sewer. The ground had been drained, revealing the dirt and rubble remaining behind. She quickly scanned the area, when a slight glint caught her attention. "Why are there blades in an old out of use sewer?" she groaned. "I hate this place."

Pushing herself up, she felt a sharp pain in her palm, from where she grabbed the supporting beam to pull herself up. "Son of a b-" she cursed under hear breath, noting she had impaled herself on a rusted nail sticking out of the rotten wood. 

"Careful," she heard Manuel's voice and turned towards him to cuss him out. Looking his way, her eyes went wide and her heart was suddenly in her throat. "Duck, she hissed.

She took only a moment to ready herself before she whirled and threw her dagger so hard that it hissed as it split the air. Luckily, Manuel had listened and ducked before the throw, ensuring the blade had hit its mark. The person behind Manuel fell with a sound thud, echoing all around them. He started looking around, gun ready, while she rushed towards him, pulling her dagger out from where it had lodged itself in the attacker's throat.

"Run," Claire commanded. 

She knew fighting in a tunnel is a dangerous business, the echoes making it impossible to determine positions of your enemies and the fact the enemies knew the tunnels along with the potential of being heavily outnumbered posing a threat she didn't feel like taking on. 

"I'm not running away just to be shot in the back, gunned down like a damn coward," the boy responded stubbornly. 

"The only difference between being shot in the chest and being shot in the back is that in one of those instances you at least tried to survive," she hissed. "I can still feel their damned eyes on me."

"We can't outrun this, Claire. You know we can't," he sighed, back to Claire with his weapon drawn.

"So we die here?" she asked, resigned, as she re-gripped her own weapon.

"Together."