No Longer Trapped

THE FIRST BATTLE

            Months of training and years of watching action movies with Drew and our dad had prepared me for this, right? I ran into the clearing, hearing the pounding of a couple hundred feet echoing around me as the little army we'd gathered followed suit.

Liam and Faith were currently nowhere to be seen, but the sheer number of rogues rushing to attack unsuspecting morties was enough to keep us busy for now. Emmelia and I created little holes in the ground to slow them down, Landon and Will started slashing at everything with their swords, and the rest of the army took up their assignments.

For a split second, I caught myself thinking of going to find Drew and Josh to make sure they were both okay. Before I could act on this, however, Erin was tossing me a sword and rushing into the heat of the battle.

The Dark Ones were the last to come through the gate, leaving an army of rogues between us and them. With a nod to Erin and Todd, the three of us began fighting our way through the swarm.

I didn't have time to think about who I was slicing, all I knew was they looked to my friends with hatred and that told me they were enemies. Erin and Todd were keeping pace with me, not needing their Fae gifts against such weaker opponents.

I hated to be that way about things, but that was the reality of the situation. Witches, werewolves, and vampyres were diluted in their abilities. The Fae, like myself, were not. It was like the difference between a drink with ice versus one without, eventually the ice will make the drink weaker.

We reached the back of the mortals without issue, and I couldn't help but notice Liam didn't have any Fae on his side. If he had, we wouldn't have stood a chance.

Erin and Todd's eyes glowed a shocking electric blue as they met the Dark Ones head on, giving them an honestly terrifying look. I was incredibly glad they were on our side for this.

"Jane!" Erin called, pulling me out of my thoughts in time to see a Dark One's claws coming straight to my face. I raised my sword in defense, slicing the hand clean off before swinging the blade at it's neck. I shook my head, clearing the thoughts to focus on the battle at hand.

I lost track of time, only noticing the sun raising higher and higher in the sky to make me aware that time was passing. A lot of time, actually. We had been fighting for a while, and Liam hadn't even shown his face yet.

Something wasn't sitting right with me, but I couldn't stop and decipher it at the moment. As soon as we'd defeat one enemy, three more would take it's place. It was like fighting a Hydra, but each head had different abilities and challenges to come with it.

"Jane!" I heard Todd yell, and my head shot over to find him. My eyes met his, and he pointed to a spot a few feet away from us. "Erin!"

I looked over, spotting immediately what the issue was. Erin's eyes were flickering, a sign she was growing tired, but the Dark Ones weren't letting up. As if sensing her weakness, they began to swarm to her first. I took off to help her, grabbing whoever I could reach and ripping hearts out as I went.

As I neared the center of the group, I could see how bad Erin really was. She was bleeding from a long gash on her abdomen, and there were little cuts all over her arms and face. I grabbed her shoulder, letting her know I was there to help, before turning back to the crowd.

Now that there were two of us there, it got even worse. The Dark Ones continued to crowd us, separating Erin and I from each other again. I raised my sword to slash at an incubus that was trying to wrap his tail around me, meeting another sword with a metallic clang.