My laugh was as loud as the crashing timber. “How’s that for taking the teacher to school?”
“Ouch.” Patrick chuckled as I made my way over to him. “If you tell anyone, I’ll key your Camaro.”
“Sore loser,” I said, extending my hand for him. He took it and I pulled him up from the splinters of pine scattered around him. I pulled a large chunk from his tangled hair. “I’m afraid I made a mess of your lovely locks.”
I felt it a moment after his expression turned to stone. We were no longer alone, the energy surrounding us we both felt was not familiar . . . nor friendly.
“What an opportune situation you’ve provided us with,” a voice called out from the shadow of the trees. It sent chills cascading down my back.
“Consider it an early Christmas present,” Patrick called out. He placed his hand over my back and its firmness calmed my chills. “Although it would sure be nice to know who we’ve so pleased.”
The sound of multiple footfalls came from all around us, like a battalion bearing down on an enemy target. Patrick’s hand pushed me towards the center of the ring as a circle of bodies erupted from the trees. All Immortal, obvious from the shades of blue staring at us and the way the decades of existence tainted their expressions.
I scanned the dozen surrounding us, my stomach dropping when I recognized two of the faces. The two faces that had held William’s arms behind his back when my name had been called out in death. Two beings whose names I didn’t know, but their faces had plagued my dream and awake state for the past three months. Faces I prayed I’d never see again, but somehow knew I would.
I cleared my throat, trying to force my vocal chords open. “They’re from—”
“John Townsend’s Alliance,” Patrick finished, glaring around the ring of men that were easily double, if not triple, my size. “I thought I smelt your foul scent, Andre.” He nodded at a man standing several steps farther in than the rest. “These your newest set of goons created to do John’s dirty work?”
Andre sniffed the air. “Patrick, Patrick, Patrick. I knew I smelt a rat, although I thought it would be the other Hayward rat.” He wrinkled his nose and sniffed the air. His eyes fell on me and he eyed Patrick’s hand resting on my back. “I guess Miss Dawson found she preferred another Hayward. But you’ll do for now. We can take care of William later.”
I shook Patrick’s hand off, charging forward in Andre’s direction. Patrick’s elbow stopped my advance.
“She finally came around, I guess,” he said, brushing his shirt. “Why settle for my bore of a brother when she can have all this?”
“If there was anytime in your life to be serious, now would be the time,” I sneered through gritted teeth.
“Especially when that life is so near its end,” Andre flashed us a smile and snapped his fingers. The brigade surrounding us took a unified step forward.
Patrick snorted through his nose. “You mean you aren’t here to shine my shoes?”
Andre unbuttoned his suit jacket, loosening his tie. The eleven others followed suit. “We’re here to complete a mission,”—he eyed me as if in explanation—“and to send a message,” he finished, looking Patrick over head to toe.
“John wants the girl alive,” he hollered as I sucked in a breath, favoring death to whatever I’d endure at the mercy of John. “Kill the rat.”
“Remember your training, Bryn,” Patrick ordered, the lightness no longer in his voice. “I’ve got your back, you’ve got mine.”
“I won’t let you down,” I vowed and although there were twelve men—likely well-trained and merciless—to our two, these men wouldn’t succeed in at least one of their missions today. There’s no way I would let them take Patrick’s life. I would die in my defense of him as readily as I would his brother.
Andre took a step forward and the rest followed, closing the gap between us to twenty paces. Patrick and I turned our backs to one another and began side-stepping in a circle, waiting for the avalanche of bodies to descend. Andre winked and kissed the air in my direction before turning into a streak of blue bolting our direction.
It was like viewing a meteor shower in the night sky as twelve bodies streaked towards us. Three sets of hands seized on me, but their holds were barely set before I was able to crouch into a sweeper kick, sending them sprawling to the ground.
There were two more on either side of me instantly, one’s fist connecting with my jaw. The pain was as intense as any I’d known as a Mortal, but only fueled the fire I could feel raging inside. My arms and legs were a fury with movement, delivering the strikes my teacher had taught me so well. Instinct and training took over, as if my body was being commanded by some third party, because I was making no conscious command of it. I heard the same yells of pain and surprise behind me, knowing Patrick was more than holding his own.
My kicks and punches began to slow and only then did my consciousness resurface enough to realize I was only thwarting off two men, the remaining ten not in view. I lunged at them feet first, my legs spread in a v formation, sending them careening off into the tree-line before spinning around.
Patrick was moving faster and with more skill than I’d ever seen him, but it was futile against the ten men pummeling him from every angle.
“Patrick!” I screamed, lunging at the ball of Immortals who were gripping their fingers into his skin in a way that terrified me. I knew what those fingers were capable of and what they were taking from him. His face fell a moment later, his body going limp as it fell to the ground.