Chapter Thirty
The doors burst open and Marcel appeared. His hands clenched the doorway so tightly his knuckles were white and strained, and his eyes had a wild haggard look to them. “Andrew is at our front door with his mercenaries and over two dozen reanimated corpses that refuse to go down! The younger children are to report to the Council room under protective guard, and the rest of you are to come with me, immediately.”
Everything went into overdrive, and people wasted no time in getting up and following Marcel’s orders. A couple of older girls took the younger kids that looked to be about thirteen or fourteen years old, and ushered them past Marcel and down to the Council room while Marcel walked over to our table.
“Veronica, Annie is going to the roof to try and take care of the zombies he’s brought with him. I want you and Finnley to go up there and join her.”
“But–”
“No arguing, Finn!” Marcel snapped. “I know you’re anxious to get your hands on Diego, but this is more important. We can’t re-kill these people. Only Annie and Veronica are capable of doing that, and we can’t forget why Andrew is here. If he gets inside the compound, you need to protect Veronica, no matter what happens. If this place gets overrun, take her and get out. If he gets his hands on her, we’re finished.”
Finn nodded solemnly and looked down at me. “Let’s go,” he barked harshly, gripping my arm. He was gentle despite the fact that he looked savage and ready to kill something–or Diego–and I trusted him wholeheartedly. Finn would do whatever he could to protect me, just like he had before.
Finn dragged me from the cafeteria, and I fought him every step of the way. I didn’t want to leave Tanya, Ezra, and Holly to their fates–whatever those fates might be–but Finn refused to let me stay. I dug my nails into his hand, which was wrapped around my wrist, and even though he wasn’t hurting me, I was still furious that he wouldn’t let me go.
“Finn!”
He spun me around to face him, and before I could even react, he pulled me close and pressed his mouth roughly to mine. One hand rested against my hip, and the other was fisted in the back of my hair as he moved his warm lips against my chapped ones. When he pulled away a second later, his eyes were dark and serious. “Just in case.”
He grabbed my wrist again and pulled me up two flights of stairs until we came to an open door before I could even object to his random kiss. It led to the rooftop of the compound, and we found Annie standing at the very edge, looking down at the ground far below her. I leaned over the edge and gasped. A group of mercenaries were fighting with some of the residents, including Tanya and Ezra.
They stayed side by side, fighting with their powers and their hands, while Holly moved so fast she was little more than a blur. One moment she had her fangs buried in some man’s neck, and the next she was doling out blow after blow, knocking down men much larger than she was. I was the least worried for her, since I’d seen her fight before, and I knew she could handle herself. It was the others I was most worried about.
Finn growled. “I should be down there,” he said tightly, watching the others fight.
“No, you shouldn’t be,” Annie said. “We need you to make sure we’re protected while we’re doing our thing. We’ll be out of it, and will be open to attack. Make sure nothing happens to us, Finn.” She looked at me and gave me a sad smile. “Ronnie, I know we haven’t practiced this stuff in a while, but I need you to really concentrate and remember everything I taught you. Can you do this?”
I nodded, shrugging off my light sweater and tossing it on the ground. “Let’s do this.”
Turning away from Finn, I closed my eyes and began the quick task of locating my power. It was where it always was, and I found it in a heartbeat. My power began to grow and pulse as I called to it, and I focused on my breathing and on trying to clear my mind of everything but the task at hand. Right now, I had more important things to do than worry about my friends or the people that were possibly dying to keep me out of evil’s grasp.
I could see the recently reanimated souls in my mind’s eye. They were far below me, glowing a bright silver color, and they seemed to be moving very slowly, although with deadly accuracy. They latched onto anything around them and began to chew, ripping chunks of flesh from the bone, causing screams of agony that made my skin crawl and my resolve waver.
How am I supposed to fight against a small army of these things? There are almost thirty of them! When someone else screamed, I gritted my teeth against any discomfort I was feeling, and set to work freeing the trapped spirits that were being forced to fight for Andrew against their wills.
Focusing on the first one, I gripped my amethyst pendant tightly in my hands, and began the slow work of banishing the spirit from its rotting corpse. I could feel Andrew’s presence in each of the spirits, binding them to their corpses as if with rope, and I tried to unravel the rope. Sweat began to break out on my forehead and my stomach muscles cramped painfully as Andrew fought against me.
Andrew was powerful and the spirit fought me each step of the way, but finally I banished it. I could feel the second it departed, and I wasn’t sure, but I thought I felt a gentle caress that might have been some form of thanks before it disappeared for good. When I was sure the first spirit was gone, I set my sights on the next one, and began banishing its poor spirit.