Protecting Zoey

Chapter 23: Perdition

The three of them walked through the house, none of the girls were in the living room so they were able to make their way to the back yard without being interrupted. Mason sat down at the table outside and Zoey crossed behind him and sat down on his lap wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing him softly for a moment before pulling back and looking into his eyes.

"I'm so happy your alive," Zoey said with a small smile still fighting the tears from her eyes. "I don't know what I would have done if you would have died."

"I'm okay Zoey," Mason said looking down at himself for a moment. "I'm not sure how, but I am. The last thing I remember was opening my eyes and seeing Markos hit the ground, I thought we were finished. Then I saw Charles."

"It was bad," Zoey said faintly looking down at his chest. "Darren hurt you really bad, then Harrison... He, well he tried to rip your essence out. If Markos hadn't attacked him when he did you would have been dead."

"What did Markos do to Harrison?" Mason asked as he looked toward the house, everyone was gathered in the living room talking and looking out at them.

"He started by stabbing him with a huge knife." Zoey said looking up at him. "But it didn't do anything, then Harrison started fighting him. He fought like you; he was quick and strong and took Markos down pretty quickly. I'd never seen him move like that before."

"Because he probably never had," Markos said as he walked through the sliding glass door. "Harrison is a lich, he's able to absorb someone's essence and use their abilities. He fed on anyone in the house, so I have no doubt that he had been using Zoey for a long time and grew a taste for Mason when he first arrived."

"So, he was trying to take my essence?" Mason asked as he looked down at himself again. "What exactly is that?"

"Your essence is what makes you who you are," Markos replied as he sat on the edge of the table. "A lich can absorb pieces of it and use your skills and abilities, but if they take it all."

"It would have killed you." Zoey said as she ran her fingers over the bruises on his chest. "But Charles showed up and everything just stopped."

"Stopped?" Mason asked in disbelief as he looked up at Markos. "How is that possible? How could Charles stop that? You couldn't even do anything."

"He's not just some old rich guy Mason," Markos said with a sigh as he sat down at the table. "Charles didn't have to fight when he arrived, Harrison simply stopped. Darren looked like he was going to try and make a move, but Harrison stopped him, and they left. Charles could have wiped them all out without trying."

"Then why does he send you to deal with things?" Mason asked with frustration. "If he's so powerful, why didn't he just bring Zoey out of there instead of making us go through all this."

"Charles doesn't like to get involved in the affairs of others, everything he did for you prior to showing up he considered trivial." Markos said leaning back in the chair and kicking one leg over the other. "He never saw himself as involved until I was in danger, he didn't want to lose one of his investments."

"That seems," Mason paused for a moment as he thought about it. "I'm not sure if pragmatic or morbid is the right word for him."

"Probably both," Markos replied with a light chuckle. "Compared to the other supernatural crap around town, Charles is a saint, so I appreciate working with him."

"I guess I can see that," Mason said as he looked back at Zoey. "But I'm still not sure why he would want to help me, I've never even met the guy before the night with Elizabeth."

"I don't know," Markos said with a shrug as he looked at Zoey. "I'm not sure what your connection is, but it's obviously strong enough that he's willing to go against his usual nature."