The Enchantments: Book 4 - The Key of Mulastef

Chapter 10: Elite Shadows

Stirring in a restless sleep, Marlanda felt the pressure of the last few hours rush back into her psyche like a tidal wave. She shot up from the floor her eyes Large and unseeing. A hand reached out to her and stroked her arm, but her senses were on overload, and she jumped back in terror.

"Relax it's just me." A soothing voice said from beside her.

Her heart still hammering started to return to its normal rhythm as she saw Shawn before her a slight grin on his face.

"You think that's funny?" She said curtly. "You scared the crap out of me."

Shawn laughed slightly coming up to her back and placing his arms around her. "I'm sorry, we've been through a lot in the last few hours, and I just made it worse."

She sighed deeply allowing the warmth of his body to calm her. She had come to rely on his touch to relieve the everyday pressure the two of them were under and the longer he held her, the better she felt.

"We can't stay here forever we have to save the professor." She whispered.

"There's plenty of food here and to be truthful everything we'll ever need." He responded.

She turned around to face him. "I don't want to stay here forever; we need to get back and help fight."

"We can't fight if we're dead!" He said harshly.

"But this isn't living!" She moved away her arms crossing her chest in frustration. "There's so much going on out there that I want answers to a whole lot of questions that's been running through my mind. I'm not a big fan of Simeneon, but we're both closer to everyone involved. They are our family now, and they're relying on us to help with the cause. Simeneon has it right in one respect. If the minions and their boss take over this world, we're all screwed."

Shawn sighed deeply. "I just don't want to see you get hurt again."

She smiled then took him in a hug again. "I can't promise you that, but what I can do is give you my guarantee that I'll try and stay out of harm's way."

He stifled a sigh and nodded to her in defeat. "For the cause right?"

She nodded back. "For the cause."

"Damn cause." He whispered as he moved to the back of the room to get the equipment they would need.

The latch clicked on the large door, and both he and Marlanda looked at each other apprehensively.

"Here goes nothing," he said and pushed open the metallic door. The area within the door filled with a gust of cool air, circulating the room with the scent of water and pine needles.

Nothing rushed them.

Marlanda thought it might be a good idea to extinguish the lights as not to give their enemies the opportunity to target them. They stood transfixed in the doorway waiting for any sign to slam the door closed again yet their fear was unfounded.

Shawn walked hesitantly out into the night air and stared around in the darkness. "This is the creepiest thing I've ever felt. I know there's something here and yet they don't come forth."

"Wait a moment," Marlanda said then went back inside the bunker grabbing a large flashlight and bringing herself back to where Shawn was standing just outside the door.

"Go ahead," Shawn said.

She switched on the light, and it was like the gates of hell erupted before them. Streams of shadowy figures rushed at them from every direction. Shawn felt the blow on the side of his face sending his head backward into the wall. Another shot to his midsection sent the breath from his body. Claws grabbed at his clothes ripping them into shards as others shared his flesh.