Masked

Chapter 9- Highway to Hell

Jack darted through the woods, dodging trees and brambles that were possibly placed there to make him trip. The mist, the cunning wind tearing through his jacket and chilling his bones didn’t worry him anymore. He had only one thing on his mind-he had to protect Freya. All wards had been broken, leaving almost the whole city defenseless against any attack from those shadowlings who were not that capable of co-operation. Especially with the maskeers. It has left the city borders pervious to any harm. But Jack only cared for one person, who right now was as vulnerable as a fly in the spider’s web. If Thaddeus was truly after Freya he would not let go of such a golden opportunity. Lost in his own thoughts, he stumbled over Vivo Viere, living vines, rendering them alive. He turned around in time to perceive one of the crawlers shooting out from the undergrowth, targeting his legs. Out of pure instinct, he leaped off the ground doing a midair summersault, steering himself clear of the surprise attack. When he landed back on his feet, silent as a puma, he observed that the vine now had certain companions. Dozens of vines lifted off the ground in synchronization, as if awoken from deep slumber. They swayed in the air like a cobra observing his prey, and without a prior notice lashed out widely towards Jack. Jack tried to duck the attacks but they kept on coming. If it kept going on like that he would soon loose his strength which he might as well require afterwards. There is no other way, better go offensive.

He scampered back, putting quite some distance between the Vivo Viere and himself, buying a little time to think up a strategy. Following the pressure differences in the air created by Jack, the vines bent in his direction and Jack imagined a light bulb switching on above his head, he had an idea. He pulled out the two misericords stuck in his belt loop and aimed his attack. He knew exactly what he had to do. Jack sprang meters into the air, balancing the weight of his daggers. As the hunter instincts kicked in, it seemed like everything had been switched to super-slow motion mode. His grip on the hilt tightened and he flicked his wrist, sending both the daggers reeling towards the vines. The daggers missed the frontier vines by inches and swished past them. Jack smiled. It was what he wanted. The misericords cut through the air and decapitated the vines towards the back of the whole pack. The vines twitched as they considered the change in air pressure and like some dumb bulls entangled themselves around the injured vines, going down like the London Bridge. Without wasting another second Jack sprinted towards the gates that now appeared in front of him. God knew in what condition he might find Freya in!!

-----------------------------Xxx---------------------------

20 minutes ago

According to her, Freya wasn’t in a really good condition. Who likes to be locked down in a stranger’s house where everything is either too expensive or hardwired to blow up in your face if you even tried to touch it? Freya felt like her last strands that had kept her connected to the outside world after her mother’s disappearance had snapped, leaving her feeling like a caged bird. Empty with loneliness as well as full with longing. Even her phone battery had gone dead. Just what she wanted. Not that she was planning on calling Anna or Diana up and telling them about her whereabouts. Anna particularly. She would probably go bonkers and try to kill someone. Suggesting the fact that she had tried before and might have punched the daylights out of the guy if Freya wasn’t around. Poor William. He just wanted to take Anna out on a date. Well, the courage to ask got him into an ICU, anyway. Freya imagined Jack with a smashed nose and took pleasure in the daydream.  

In an attempt to keep her self busy she decided to give herself a tour of the house, not forgetting the fact that the previous time she tried, it got her hanging the wrong way up. She now ambled in the corridor, testing the doorknobs.