Elemental Awakened by Helen Scott

23

Finn

The caretakers appeared out of nowhere, something that made us all pause for a second. It was like the whole world stopped spinning as we all took in the creatures that surrounded us. When they roared, it sounded like a sonic boom going off around us. I knew intellectually that it wasn’t, but it made my ears ring and the world spin. I tried to focus on the fight, but it was hard when it felt like everything was spinning around.

Evidently, the roar had the same effect on the distorted that we were fighting. Fortunately, it gave Griffin and Kai an opening. Flames tore from Griff’s hands as he blazed a streak of fire across our opponents, while Kai held them in place where he could, using the earth to anchor them. It was the break we needed, and they were able to dispatch most of them before they could recover.

For a brief moment, I watched to make sure that they were all down. When none of the bodies moved, I turned toward Tessa and began running toward her and waving. We needed to get to the pier. She was smart enough to figure out where we were going, and as I continued to move toward her, she backed up, or tried to and fell on her ass. Her hands spread out as she tried to catch herself and grazed the ground. I was there a second later though, scooping her up and running toward the pier. She barely weighed anything in my arms. I had to grip her tightly to reassure myself that I had a hold on her.

We hadn’t even made it halfway there when people started appearing on the dock, almost out of thin air. There was just a little shimmer in the air, before bam, a person was there. I skidded to a halt as I took in the new fight that we were facing. They had someone with them who was from the realms, someone who had made it to this one without having to resort to black magic, someone who was in their own body and had access to their own powers.

“Problem!” I shouted over my shoulder at the others before setting Tessa down on the ground.

The last person to appear was a woman, flaming red hair fanning out behind her as though it had a life of its own. She wore all black and slowly strutted toward us. I wanted to hide Tessa behind me, but that wasn’t going to accomplish much of anything, and I wanted to be able to signal her to run if I needed to, which I couldn’t if I couldn’t see her.

“Are you the one?” she asked pointing a dagger at my siren.

Rage flared to life inside me as the woman’s sea green eyes narrowed to slits while she came even closer. I couldn’t help myself and stepped forward. We were trained to search for and protect the key. This was my responsibility. I’d protect Tessa any way I could.

“Come any closer, and I’ll drown you,” I growled out.

A peal of laughter ripped from the woman’s throat. “As if you could do any worse to me than you’ve already done. My mate is dead because of that whore behind you!”

“Your mate became a distorted?” I asked, not bothering to hide my revulsion.

“He gave up everything he had for a better world, and you just killed him!” she screamed and launched a dagger at me. We’d killed a few distorted recently, so I wasn’t sure who she was talking about, but this wasn’t good.

I stepped to the side, taking Tessa with me as we avoided the weapon. A grunt from behind us had my head snapping around to make sure none of my brothers were injured. I knew I shouldn’t have looked, should have kept my focus on my enemies, but I couldn’t help it.

When I saw that another distorted had been approaching us from behind until a dagger to the heart stopped it, it made me even angrier. They were trying to surround us, to keep us from getting to the gate, and they were trying to kill Tessa. I couldn’t let that happen, but our enemies seemed to be popping up everywhere and there was only so much we could do.

There were distorted surrounding us now, I could see them forming a loose ring around us. What I wasn’t sure they realized was that popping in behind them were caretakers. I’d never seen so many in one place or so protective of one person. Everything that was happening in this moment was unheard of. Caretakers were reclusive creatures, they only ever appeared when they wanted to. There was no way to lure them out or convince them to show themselves, which meant that they were choosing to be here to help us. The thought gave me hope.

Some of them were bigger than I had ever seen, and I could practically feel Tessa vibrating with curiosity. Everyone had stopped for a moment once more, the distorted sensing that they were in the presence of creatures that even they thought were holy, though most of them wouldn’t be able to see the caretakers without their magic to assist them. Still, none of them would risk hurting a caretaker, would they?

“Cover your ears!” Tessa hissed at me.

There was something in her tone that had me obeying without question. I mentally shouted at Dres and knew he would pass the message on to Griffin and Kai.

The dragons let loose a terrible sound, and it was almost as though they had been waiting until we were somewhat protected. The distorted and demons around us seemed to be stunned by the force of it, and when they realized where it had come from, some of them even dropped to the ground as though paying worship to the creatures.

One large dragon made its way through the felled demons toward us, and I couldn’t help but stare. It was only the roar of the woman I’d been facing off with that pulled my attention away. She was charging at me.

I lifted my arm, using my own blades to protect myself as her daggers clanged against my arms. The female demon had two silver blades winking in the light as she twirled them around in a similar fashion to Kai, making me wonder if she was from his realm.

She swung at me again, and I met her hit for hit with the blades on my arms, while I tried to strike out with the ones on my legs. When a second demon joined in, I knew that I wasn’t going to get out of this unscathed.

In my peripheral vision, I caught glimpses of Tessa looking around before seeming to give up and focus on the caretaker that had been walking toward us. The two demons I was fighting were tag teaming their attacks, which helped keep them manageable, and I wondered why. Had they never fought together before? It was something that every team struggled with at first—how to work together against the enemy and take them down as quickly as possible. My brothers-in-arms and I had experienced the same thing, and it was only practice that allowed us to start working together more cohesively.

I turned to attack and was almost distracted by the sight of Tessa kneeling down and touching the caretaker. I tried to ignore it, but that was something only the most devout of our priestesses could do. The fact that the caretaker was letting—no, encouraging Tessa to touch him was beyond unheard of.

Another blow landed from my unarmed opponent, a punch to the ribs. It didn’t feel great, but it did refocus me on the fight at hand, not the amazing spectacle behind me. The redhead swiped at me with her daggers, seeming to be adapting to fighting with the other demon faster than I would have thought. I barely dodged in time. As it was, the tip of the blade caught my suit, slicing it open on my shoulder.

Movement from Tessa caught my eye, and I couldn’t stop myself from trying to go to her. When she threw something high into the air over the middle of the fight, I was confused, a feeling which only doubled when the caretaker she’d been standing with launched into the air and beautiful blue and purple wings opened out from the side of its body, propelling it toward the object.

When it was within range, it launched a long breath of blue flame toward the thing that was falling like a stone. The flames seemed to ignite it somehow. Sparks rained down on the fights, knocking most of our opponents out. As I watched, Kai and Griff took a couple hits as the demons they were fighting went down, but most seemed to glance off them.

A sharp pain brought my attention back to the woman I’d been fighting. We’d both been distracted by the sight of a caretaker in flight, but she recovered faster than I had and had taken the opportunity to attack. I hadn’t blocked because, like an idiot, I hadn’t been paying attention, too distracted by the caretaker.

As she withdrew her dagger I grunted with pain and clutched my side. The teeth on the blade tore at my skin and doubled the pain. I prayed that she hadn’t hit anything vital as I crumpled to the ground. I needed to get back up and fucking fight, but I couldn’t seem to breathe right.

A second later, Tessa was there with a dagger that had come from who knew where and was blocking the hit that the red-haired demon had been about to land.

The demon screamed in Tessa’s face as though it was her fault that all of this was happening. When Tessa screamed back and charged at her, she stumbled in surprise. My little siren launched herself at the woman, and they both went down under her weight. Tessa’s dagger landed in the redhead’s side, wounding her in a mirror to my own.

While the stab wound itself may not have killed her, the thunk of her head hitting the tarmac of the road was enough to tell me she’d be out for a while. When she let out a groan before going limp, I knew I was right, and it made me hopeful that at least Tessa wasn’t in immediate danger.

I saw my siren lean down and whisper something to the woman before she climbed off her and ran toward me. She grasped at the torn edges of my suit and tried to press it into the wound which only made the pain grow so intense that darkness rimmed my vision and my head lolled back. Try as I might, I couldn’t force myself to get up and fight.

Apparently, my suit wasn’t doing what she wanted, because as I blacked out from the pain, I saw Tessa pull her T-shirt off a second before she pressed it to my wound. I knew that the wound was even more serious than it looked. I could tell from the lightheaded sensation that was making it impossible for me to sit up.

“Tessa,” I called out to her, or tried to. When she looked up at my face instead of the wound, I knew I’d managed to speak aloud. “Go. Run to the gate and go through as soon as they get it open. They can’t leave without you.” I coughed, and it made her press harder on my wound, which took my breath away and the darkness closed in.

When I opened my eyes again, Griff was there and putting pressure on the wound as he held my body in his arms. Was this what death felt like? Your body giving up while your mind still raged?

Dres was opening the portal though, so I had to hope that they would get me to the healing chambers in time. Even from my perspective, I could see the blue waters of my home realm. If nothing else, I was glad to see them before I died.