Betrayal: Book 3 of the Guardians Saga

Ch. 9.2 Casualties

Alex's apartment in the carriage house was empty. Rile raged while he paced. Cale sat, head bent, hands folded in prayer. Gabe ran a whetstone down his sword.

All stopped when blue and white light flooded the apartment.

"Hurry, my Guardians. The evil done to your teammate was severe enough to Call to me across timelines. I have found her," the glass voice of the Portal Guardian crashed.

Gabe and Rile drew their swords, but Cale his staff. A portal opened and all three brothers dove in.

They entered a dingy motel room and the stench of burning flesh assaulted their senses. Morgan knelt on the bed, one knee on Alex's back, his hand wrapped in a towel as he pressed something into her back.

A washcloth was stuffed in her mouth and a strip of cloth tied it in place. Both of her hands were tied with electrical cord to the bedposts, the lamps they belonged to lying smashed on the floor.

Gabe and Rile lunged at Morgan: Gabe's sword slashing high at his face, Rile low for his belly. But it was Cale's longer reach with the staff that knocked the hot metal out of Morgan's hand.

The heated metal dragon decoration landed on the stained beige carpet, which started to smoke from the heat.

Morgan tumbled off the bed, face and belly streaming blood, and screamed, "Great One!"

A black portal opened, venomous yellow and red flames licking its edges. As Morgan started to fall back into that dark abyss, the hotel room exploded with white and blue light.

The Portal Guardian manifested as an armored human female reaching from floor to ceiling, flaming blue wings reaching from wall to wall.

"You dare open a dark portal on this world?" she screamed and the mirrors and windows shattered, along with Morgan's eardrums.

Her voice washed over her Guardians, causing them no harm. She reached for the black portal but it blinked shut before she touched it.

Cale cut the electrical cords that were binding Alex's wrists. He gently untied the cloth holding the washcloth in her mouth and carefully pulled the sheet over her naked body.

"Enter my portal with your teammate. I will transport you to the human's hospital. The war on this world just escalated to a higher level than I am prepared for. My warriors are spread far too thin. If I cannot recruit enough higher level Guardians, I will be forced to seal this lonely world until the Final Battle."

A regular portal, with a shining blue aura, opened, light streaming through.

Cale tucked the sheet under Alex and tried to pick her up, but she cried out in pain. She pushed feebly at him and he withdrew.

"Leave me to burn," she whispered.

The faded beige carpet was on fire now and sirens sounded in the distance

"Hurry," the Portal Guardian said. "The human emergency responders are on their way."

Gabe pushed Cale aside and picked up Alex, flinching at her sobs. He strode through the portal and his brothers rushed after him.

**

Charity Hospital emergency department was its usual chaos, with children and babies wailing, patients coughing and sneezing, personnel in scrubs scurrying about the cinder block rooms and hallways.

Occasionally, ambulances pulled up and the stretcher was rushed in, EMT's and nurses exchanging hurried orders while the patient was wheeled into one of various bays.