Enlightenment

Part 8

            One of them in the middle stepped forwards ever so slightly, he was slightly older than the others, and had the occasional grey streak in his hair, although he was tall, and hard muscled. He had cold eyes that bordered between grey and green.  

His voice was as icy as his eyes. "Let the girl go, and step away from her now"

I frowned. "I am not restraining her in any way." I held my hands up, "Anna run, go now." She glanced back at me with frightened eyes.

"No way! I'm not leaving you." She faced the man bravely; her voice only shook slightly "what do you want? We haven't done anything!" 

He regarded her the way a cat may see an irritating fly."You are free to go, we only want the parasite behind you; she is dangerous"

"She is my friend, she hasn't done anything!" her voice was getting higher, I said quietly, "Anna, get behind me, and run. Go back to the shop or something, they only want me." I raised my voice "Don't hurt her, she doesn't know anything. You can have me" I raised my hands slowly in front of me. Of course I didn't intend to let them kill me, or capture me, but I didn't want them to hurt Anna. 

The leader aimed his crossbow; he knew I was bluffing."You have five seconds, and then I will shoot the girl, then the rest of my men will shoot you. You can't dodge all of the arrows," I was shocked I didn't think they would hurt one of their own, but I could see the decision in his eyes, he was willing to go to any measures to kill me. He started counting "Five... Four... three... two..."

            I sprang, pushing Anna to the ground before swiping at the nearest man, sending him flying back into a wall. I jumped, and swung my leg, knocking another two unconscious with a single kick, using my momentum I landed on a fourth, and punched the next, breaking his nose, and knocking him out. I twisted in midair to avoid the arrows the three remaining had managed to shoot towards me, a sharp pain burned through my calf muscle. I ignored it, and landed on my hands, bent my elbows, pushed and flipped, and then I punched another two. Ducking I swiped the legs of the leader so he fell back. I heard the air whoosh out of him as he hit the floor roughly. It was all over in seconds.

                I stood over him; he glared angrily, and tried to stand, so I pushed him back down.  He didn't bother to struggle anymore.  Although he was stronger than I expected for a human, even a trained one "Who are you?" he didn't answer, I moved on, "why are you doing this?" 

I thought he wasn't going to say anything, but he finally answered."You are a monster, you have to be stopped... we are dedicated to fight for the greater good, we eradicate things like you" 

I considered for a second. "Who is we?" 

He spat, missing me; "I'll never tell you anything Vampire." 

His hatred made me go cold, my voice was sad. "I don't hurt people" then I hit him in the side of his jaw, knocking him out cold. I heard a small squeak and a sharp intake of breath from Anna, but I couldn't tell if it was for his words or my actions. I turned and approached her cautiously, stopping a few feet away.

             She was still on the floor where she had landed, although she had sat up slightly, her breathing and heart rate were fast, her blue eyes wide and staring. I wondered if she was going into shock... I made my voice calm and gentle.

"Anna?" I got no response, I hoped she wouldn't faint or anything. "Are you okay?" after a moment her eyes focused on my leg, her voice was weak.

"You're bleeding." I glanced at my calf, the injury was minimal, the tip of an arrow had just scraped the side, creating a long thin cut. It was clean; I could feel there was no silver left in the wound, so it would heal rapidly. I put the pain out of my mind; it was unimportant. "I'm fine" I glanced at one of the men, who was just beginning to stir, "we need to go. Now. Can you run?" she just stared at me helplessly, so I bent, and pulled her up, supporting most of her weight I ran, allowing myself to go much faster than any speed an Olympic runner could reach, towing Anna along with me. Ignoring her squeak of surprise and shock and the faint protests. I wanted to get away quickly and it was too late anyway. She had seen everything.