Glory Days

Chapter One

“You know, I’ve been thinking… next time we’re on a job you should stay back and handle the admin work.”

    “Admin? There’s no paperwork for what we do, idiot.” Rob felt the ghost of a smile cross his face at Emma’s cutting response. He was glad she couldn’t see it.

    “Yeah I know, I was thinking… sandwich making.” It had the desired effect.

    “Rob Aston, I swear to the heavenly father if we weren’t tied up right now, I’d be beating your stupid face to a pulp.”

    “I’m just trying to pass the time before we get to taste our own intestines as they’re pulled out through our mouths. Of course, there’s no one I can think of that I’d rather be tied up with.”

    “Drop the sarcastic remarks and start thinking with your head for once.” Emma’s long, dark curls tickled the back of his neck as she struggled against their bonds and only succeeded in giving herself splinters from rubbing too hard against the stake of wood they were strapped to.

    “Chill out. It’s going to be fine. Blake will get us out of here. He always does.” Emma slumped back in defeat, looking up at the stars which shone coldly down on the lonely field in Surrey.

    “Do you really trust your little brother to get us out of this mess?”

    “Well, he is the brains in the family.” That really isn’t saying much, Emma thought. It was true, they had slightly more chance with Blake than if the situation had been reversed and it was Rob upon whom they were relying. But on the flipside, Blake would have made a far less annoying companion to die with.

    She turned her head ninety degrees to the left and watched the group of hooded figures talking amongst themselves in a tightly huddled group. Their dark red robes and pointed masks made them look like the KKK after a massacre. Something told her these guys were serious. One of the men in red detached from the group and shuffled towards the bound duo. Emma observed that walking in a long robe was not something this person did often.

    “We were wondering if you might happen to be er… uh… a virgin,” he stuttered, not making eye contact with Emma. She had no doubt that underneath the headgear his face was as red as his robes.

   “The only one with their v-plates around here is you and your dumb friends. You don’t know what you’re getting into. Let us go or you will all die a horrible death.” The man in red tried to sweep away dramatically but slipped a little on the mud which ruined the effect.

    “That’s just great Emma, why don’t we all make fun of the devil worshippers and then give them death threats. That’s definitely going to make them decide not to kill us.” Rob performed his trademark eye roll before he realised that no one could see it. What a damn waste, he thought.

    He craned his neck so he could see what the bad guys were doing. They were standing in formation chanting.

    Well, that was never a good sign.

    Rob turned his head back to face the perimeter of the large salt circle that would be acting as a demon container and prayed that there were no breaks in it. That was the problem with novice summoners, they never knew what they were doing.

    “Urgh do you smell that?” Emma muttered and a second later he did. The unpleasant stench of sulphur assailed his nostrils and he instantly knew they’d skipped a part of the incantation.

    “You’re doing it wrong, douchebags!” He shouted at the group whose concentration didn’t break.

     “What happened to not antagonising the people who hold our life in their hands?”