The Divine Twelve (Urban-Fantasy)

Chapter twenty-three: IT Team

Lennox drove down a secluded road, turning off his car lights and slowing down.

"We'll be on foot from here." He said as he stepped out of the car. "Ready 'IT team'?"

"What?" Kori looked at him from over the car.

"'IT Team'?" Lennox repeated himself glancing between his partners. "No?"

"What is 'IT'?" Penelope asked, using her hands to create air quotes.

"It's us!" Lennox smiled.

"No," Kori said as the other two shook their heads. Lennox crossed his arms and sighed.

Penelope looked up at the sky, the stars shining bright above them. Sahir used the last seconds of light to analyze where they were, taking note of the broken-down tree sprawled across a large rock.

"Are you sure you guys want to distract them?" Penelope grabbed onto Lennox. "Will you two be okay?"

"We'll be better off than trying to fight them head-on," The man nodded, kissing Penelope on the head. "We don't want a war, we just wanna get the kids."

"We need to hurry up," Sahir said, taking lead into the tree line, Kori on his heels.

Penelope sighed and took off her shoes, hissing as she touched the cold ground.

"Let us know what's going on," Lennox whispered in her ear.

Penelope nodded,  jogging slightly to get in front of her brother. "The treeline ends in about 50 feet." She muttered.

She walked a few more steps, "There's several people patrolling our path in the clearing, five."

Sahir grunted, digging in his satchel and pulling out a small container. "I'll handle them."

"What's that?" Lennox raised an eyebrow.

"The way we're going to handle the issue," Sahir whispered over his shoulder.

They kept walking and Penelope stopped, causing Sahir to bump into her.

"What is it?" Kori hissed followed by the sound of her drawing her bow quickly.

"There's two other figures," Penelope cocked her head to the side.

"Two more vamps." Kori dismissed her.

"No, these two are circling the area, they're bigger, heavier." Penelope shook her head. "It's... gluttony I think and someone else."

"The sins are here," Lennox said as if he expected it.

"Is this why you wanted to have a distraction?" Sahir asked, "and why me and Nel gotta get the kids?"

"Yeah." Lennox sighed. "Me and Kori have a better chance at drawing their attention and keeping them preoccupied. We're not fighting, we're being evasive."

"I'm not letting you fight alone." Penelope turned towards the others.

"And you're not letting your brother go by himself." Kori retorted. "We'll be fine."

Penelope sighed and turned back towards the castle. "We're approaching the clearing."

Sahir grabbed Penelope by the back of her jacket, stepping in front of her. He sprinkled a translucent purple powder into his hands and blew it into the clearing.

The group watched as the vampires started dropping one by one.

"What the hell?" Penelope looked over at her brother, pointing at the heaps of vampires.