Immortal. (Book One) ✔️

Chapter Twenty-Eight - They May Have Won This Round...

Chapter Twenty-Eight

They May Have Won This Round

Part One:

Screeches fall silent, howls were hushed. The only noise now was the screams and shouts from the frantic demon Hunter's. Kirstie was slowly coming around from the attack. Andrei and Felicity were about to rush her back to the Hall to recover properly, hopefully, if Lukas could make it quickly to them. Jessika was being carried by Cody, unconscious and barely breathing, it would be a miracle if she survives. Ava and London held up an unstable Tria as they all gathered in the demon corpse ridden courtyard. There was no guarantee that all the injured demon hunters would survive, but thankfully, for now, they were all still here.

Skarlet was covered in blood, and Jayden screamed when he saw her. "Don't worry, it's not my blood. Well... Not all of it." He hugged her so tight she swore she heard her ribs cracking and thought he might break them.

"Careful, dude. You might break her." Zavier said, nudging Jayden ever so slightly with his elbow, which seemed to be sore and bleeding.

"I can't believe we did it. And we're all still alive." Tria said between gasps for air. She leaned on London who was also gasping for breath.

Kaine was bleeding badly from the head. "Well, sis, we're doing this for our parents. That's why." He said, as he kicked one of the demon's corpses, then smiled at his sister. His short black hair glistened with what looked like black slime: demon blood.

The familiar blue portal, shimmering like a diamond in rippling waters. "It's time to go home." Felicity said. They slipped through, disappearing into thin air.

The echo of the empty park as they landed was a beautiful welcome. The familiarity was overwhelming to know it meant safety and home. But no sooner had they got to their feet, they heard howls and screeching and screams. The town of Aura was under attack...

Part Two

"Just when you think you can relax." Jayden sighed, and he drew his blood-stained sword and ran toward the chaos.

"Jovah must have had the protection charms taken down while we were in Helroute." Kirstie pointed out. "Either him or Toby."

"Tobias." Zavier corrected her.

"Whatever." She took off quickly, catching up with Jayden in no time.

The towns people did either one of two things in these situations; locked themselves in their homes with curtains closed and lights off or ran out to fight. Mothers protected their children, the weak and vulnerable accepted that they were most likely going to die, while the trained demon hunters tried their absolute best to end the ongoing war.

'A war which may never be won' Jovah had always reminded them. Victoria and Andrei had once believed Jovah was hiding something, Ava and London had overheard them whispering in the training hall, but they never believed he was capable of deceiving his own people. As for Lance Merriweather, killing his own child simply to get his hands on a dusty old book, that was unimaginable. Of course, now everyone knew why that book was so important. The Hunters Shield. One of the sacred and most powerful relics in their world, lay in its pages, invisible, innocently hiding, unknowingly starting a war.

Tria and Kaine were behind the others, keeping an eye out for an attack from behind. They could only hear the screeches and the howls of the demons but hadn't seen any yet. They had no idea what they would be up against. The metal gates to the park swung open and a group of people with small children ran through, screaming, and trying desperately to get the children to safety. Victoria and Andrei stopped to help, with them running by their sides until they reached the small children's nursery at the edge of the park.

The nursery had been built specifically to withstand attacks from most demons, but not all. Considering that the town usually had its protection charms up, they would be expecting to have to hide from demons. The building had large metal doors, which could locked and bolted from the inside. The glass was reinforced, hopefully helping to protect them from the demons as much as possible. Once Kaine and Tria were confident that the children and staff were hidden and locked in, they pulled down the steel shutters outside the windows and ran to help the others.

In the town centre, many demon hunters had armed themselves and were huddled in the market square, figuring out the best plan of attack. Skarlet broke away from the huddle as she saw Kaine and Tria approaching. She seemed almost breathless. "Have you seen Jayden? He was behind me then he just dis..."

"He's fine, he's with Kirstie and Cassie... And whatever her mother's name is. Damn I can't stand that bitch." Kaine shook his head.

"Felicity?" Tria asked.

"Yeah that's the one." Kaine said. "What's the plan then?"

"We got as far as attack, no plan as such just attack I suppose."

"Very helpful..." Tria said sarcastically.

At that very moment, a loud roar exploded from behind the town hall, a large cloud of smoke followed by a fireball that obliterated a small cottage-like house nearby. "Anyone would think dragons are attacking us." A man nearby said, staring at the demolished house with intense fear shimmering in his smoky grey eyes.

"In this world, anything is possible." Skarlet said.

Part Three

Once the town had become once again silent, the mood very sombre and everything was still, the demon hunters looked around them at the devastation the battle had left behind.

The battle had spilled out onto the park, where the children and staff from the nursery had taken shelter, luckily, the building had held up for most of the battle but had been torn down by the end. Not all of them survived...

The surviving children had been reunited with their parents; the other parents were only able to see their children's bodies lying in a pile of rubble.

Sobs and wails brought Kaine back to the present. He had been in a daze since seeing the unfortunate little souls that would never wake up. He could not take any more, he turned to walk away. Ava sat on her jacket which had been torn during the fight. He sunk down beside her and put his arm around her tiny, blood-soaked shoulders.

"I would say it gets easier... but I wouldn't want to lie to you." He said, almost in a whisper. His throat was sore, from all the yelling and screaming during the battle. He knew he would be in some pain tomorrow when the adrenaline had worn off. He tried his best to clear his throat before speaking again. "Come on," he said, helping Ava to her feet. "Let's go find the others."

As they crossed the field behind the nursery and made their way to the path, they noticed the small children's park had been destroyed. Parts of the wooden climbing frame was on fire; the gate was torn from its hinges and the fencing was battered and bent.

He looked away to continue helping a limping Ava to the marketplace, where they knew they would be able to find the others, just as he did something caught his eye. Something beneath a slowly burning tree that had come down.

From under the tree he could see something, like a sword maybe, something silver and shining. As he approached he found that it was a demon hunters wand. But the wand was in someone's hand. And that hand belonged to his sister, Tria...