Don't Summon Me Pt. 04

Ten

The shotgun went off with a deafening bang!

Time slowed down as I turned. Beth stood behind me with wide, terrified eyes. Something struck the top of my shoulder, but I was already grabbing Beth and swinging her around the corner. Feet stumbled and the two of us crashed onto the floor.

There was no pain, but I could feel heat blooming along my shoulder, followed by wetness. I ignored it as I grabbed Beth again and helped her to her feet. The pair of us darted down the corridor as a voice rose up from behind us.

"We know all about you, Gerald Umbra! This sick pit will be your tomb and the tomb of every abomination here!"

I stumbled along, trying to keep my feet under me. I had no idea where my mother, Aunt Lily and Dana were, but the shotgun blast should have alerted them. I prayed to the dark gods that they were sensible enough to find the hidden passageways and find cover until we could regroup.

Beth was breathing fast. Her eyes were wild with fear and her hand clutched to mine. I tried to ignore the dripping heat from my shoulder. I didn't dare look at it, fearing it would weaken my resolve. We had to be safe first. Beth had to be safe.

I slammed my wounded shoulder into a nearby door. Pain exploded and I grunted. I wasn't thinking, I knew I could only act. The two of us spilled into the room and I rushed to a bookshelf. I lifted my right hand and began pushing a several books, completing a sequence.

The shelf silently unlocked and parted from the wall. I took hold and opened it further.

"Get in," I hissed to Beth.

My cousin didn't hesitate. She rushed into the dark corridor behind the bookshelf. I followed, pulling the case closed behind me and hearing the familiar click of it locking into place.

I let out a small, relieved exhale as I turned and followed Beth. She had slowed down the further we went in. I reached out and took her hand into mine. The two of us rushed into the darkness.

My thoughts swirled amid the chaos of the moment. My family was no stranger to hunters. The mansion was filled with secret entrances, rooms and passageways. It was never a question if hunters would find us, only when. I was brought up to be ready for anything and I was prepared for such difficult times.

I glanced over to Beth as the darkness parted from a small light on the other side of the hidden corridor. Her shock had bled away and a deeper knowing took over.

I led the way to a small door, a small light surrounding the edges. I tapped at a keypad next to the doorknob. A thick lock slid back and the door opened. I pushed my way in and Beth followed.

I glanced around the hidden armory. A large glass cabinet stood against one wall. Inside were a variety of rifles, machineguns and shotguns. Next to it was a small cabinet with a row of handguns and pistols. To my left was a small desk with several screens on it. They blinked to life, the internal camera system activating when the armory door code was entered.

I sat down in the seat and looked at the screens when I heard Beth gasp behind me.

"Gerald, you're bleeding."

I glanced to my shoulder and sighed. The fabric over my left shoulder had several small holes in it. Blood soaked into the shirt and I could see my bloody pulse with every pump of my heart.

"Med kit is by the cabinet," I said to Beth as I turned my attention back to the camera feeds.

I heard Beth move behind me as I drank in what was happening. The two hunters moved cautiously through the second-floor corridor. They aimed their shotguns with cool confidence. The male took the lead, the female behind and watching his back. They nudged the door to the room we entered and peered in.

"They're fucking amateurs," I growled.

Beth was beside me. She pulled out a medical sand pack from the kit. She tore my shirt open first and then tore open the sand pack. She poured the contents onto my wound and it stung like a hot poker. The wound puckered and sealed. I let out a small grunt before Beth took out a bandage and began to wrap the wound.

"But, for amateurs, how did they slip past all our eyes and ears in town?" I asked out loud, trying to understand how they made it this far.

The town of Whitmore was very much in my family's pocket. The mayor, sheriff and many others were paid well to guard our family from outside forces. To reach my estate, they had to go through town to reach the road here. Either they paid someone off, which seemed unlikely since they arrived with shotguns and simple protection symbols on their trench coats, or they slowly and painfully made their way around the town and climbed the fence along the unused sections of the estate. I was willing to bet they went the long way around.

Something caught my eye in one of the feeds, the hem of my mother's silky dress as it moved out of frame.

"Shit!" I said and stood up.

Beth backed off as I turned and moved to the glass cabinet. I punched in the code to unlock it and the glass door popped open. I grabbed an AR-15 and pulled it out. I hoisted it up to look it over when pain and weakness surged along my left arm. I looked down at the bandage and slivers or red leaking into it. I wasn't able to hold it up and use it effectively at this rate.

Beth grabbed the rifle from my hand. She lifted it up with one hand and grabbed a magazine from the cabinet with the other. She slapped it in, cleared the barrel and switched off the safety.

"Can you hold a pistol?" Beth asked as she seemed ready for war.

I nodded and moved to the next cabinet. I opened it and took hold of a Glock 19. My left arm was weak, but I had enough strength to load a magazine, clear it and switch off the safety.

"There is a passage way that can take us around. We will be behind them, but we have to be careful. We can't go in guns blazing because the rest of the family will be hiding or possibly nearby. I rather wound them so we can interrogate them."

"Shoot to wound," Beth nodded and grabbed some plastic handcuffs off a nearby table.

I nodded as pain pulsed. I beckoned with my head and we made our way out of the secret armory and back into the passageway. I took the lead, Beth close behind. We made our way along the corridor and turned at a thin intersection. We made our way down the dimly lit corridor, my heart hammering in my chest.

I knew this was dangerous, but I wasn't going to let those hunters hurt my family.

We reached a dead end. I pressed my ear to the thin wall and listened. I could hear small whispers, most likely the hunters talking to each other. They sounded far away, but I knew sound could play tricks. I could feel Beth near me, ready for my command.

A familiar voice touched the air and my heart stopped.

"What do we have here?" my mother's voice was loud and haughty.

My body moved without my permission. I slammed my right shoulder against the wall and the hidden door opened wide. I stepped out into the corridor, pistol up. Time slowed down as I took in the scene before me.

The two hunters had their backs to me. Past them, my mother's seven-foot-tall frame stood. She had a wicked smile and a dark gleam in her eyes. Her stance was relaxed and calm.

Shotguns rose up and triggers were pulled. Two loud blasts filled the corridor. I watched with haunted eyes as both blasts struck my mother in the stomach and she stumbled back.

My finger squeezed the trigger. The world fell into instances as my pistol went off in rapid succession. Light flashed as I marched toward the hunters. My gaze blurred as the symbols on their coats played with my mind. They were using protection runes. The magic caused my aim to be off. Bullets struck the wall and floor as they pumped their shotguns, turned and aimed at me.

I saw my life flash before my eyes before I heard a roar to my right. I glanced to the side, Beth stepping past me and her AR-15 roaring like a primal beast. I glanced back to the hunters as their protection runes would have a harder time protecting them from a much larger spray of bullets. The two hunters couldn't get a shot off as they both dove to the side and into an open room.

The smell of cordite filled the corridor as Beth and I rushed ahead. We reached the doorway the hunters dove for cover, ready to spray the room with bullets when a tall figure touched our senses.

I watched in stunned silence as my aunt reached down and grabbed the male hunter. The moment she touched him; smoke rose up from her hands. Fingers curled into the coat as she lifted him up and snatched the shotgun from his grip. The man cried out before my aunt slammed him into a wall and cracked it.

Dana snatched the shotgun out of the dazed female hunter before pulling back her foot and slamming it into the female hunter's face. Her head snapped back and she moaned as she was on her back. Dana aimed the shotgun down and smiled.

"Gerald, check on your mother. We have these vermin," Aunt Lily smiled evilly.

Beth stepped in as I turned and bolted out of the room. I charged down the corridor, seeing my mother on her back and black blood oozing from her stomach. I fell to my knees with wide eyes. My mother stared up, her eyes and body unmoving.

Panic stormed through me until she turned her eyes to me and smiled.

"My son, you worry too much," my mother purred.

I looked down at her stomach and watched in relief as the black blood crawled back into her stomach and the wounds closed on their own. In a blink, she was completely healed.

I took hold of my mother's hand and pulled her so she could sit up. She looked into my eyes with concern and loving warmth.

"It was only a matter of time before some of the hunters would be bold enough to attack our family."

I nodded. "We have to interrogate them before we dispose of the bodies," I said coldly.

"We will find out more, but they can be useful in other ways," my mother said with a sinister smile.

Eleven

I stood before the two hunters. The pair were tied to the chairs with plastic zip ties around their limbs. They struggled, their bodies trying to break free. The thin plastic strained against the chair legs and the backs of them. The wood groaned as they tried with futile effort to break free.

My mother and aunt stood behind me, side by side. Dana and Beth stood on either side of the captured pair with shotguns aimed at them. The atmosphere in the plain room smelled of desperation and a deadly gloom.

I glanced over my shoulder to my mother. Her wounds had healed, but her dress was still torn and filled with small holes along her stomach. Alabaster skin glowed underneath. I glanced up to her eyes and they were filled with warmth and shadows.

The male hunter grunted before he looked up to me, my mother and my aunt. His eyes seethed with hatred before his lips curled in contempt.

"If we don't notify our people my morning, this place will be raided by a dozen hunters! Everyone will be killed and the mansion burned down!"

I looked down on the pair, my eyes narrowing. "Do you really expect us to believe that? Send in two hunters and keep the rest behind? There is no one else. If there was, they would have come with you."

I took a step closer and looked down with on the hunter with my own, snide contempt. "You burst in like amateurs. You start shooting. You didn't have a plan beyond that, otherwise you wouldn't have been captured so easily."

I glanced to the mystical trench coats on the floor, far from the hunters, "You thought you had all the protection you needed and yet you were still captured. No, I think the two of you worked alone."

The male hunter sneered. "You'll find out, come morning."

I glanced over to the female hunter. She looked at me with rage filled eyes, the mere sight of us a sickening poison to her senses. She didn't understand, neither did her partner, just how dangerous it was to fuck with my family.

I lifted my hand and reached for the woman's hair. She flinched and pulled back, but she couldn't escape my touch. I plucked several stands of hair from her head. I then did the same to man. I took their strands and weaved them together. In a short moment, I was finished and held it up for them to see.

The two hunters looked to the round loop of hair and back to me with fury etched into their brows.

"You're going to tell me everything, whether you want to or not," I said and began an incantation.

An invisible energy filled the room. I mentally took hold of the invisible strands and pulled them to me. A connection blazed between the hunters and myself. The moment I was to tap into their minds to control them, energy rebounded and struck my psyche. I stumbled back a step, my mind buzzing like an agitated beehive.

"You think we wouldn't be protected," the male hunter smirked.

I pushed away the mental buzzing and looked down on the pair again. I could sense it, they had added protection, most likely a tattoo or birthmark. They were captured and proved to be a major annoyance, but my family has had many run-ins with these kinds of people and knew how to deal with them.

A sliver of concern touched my spirit. I knew what to do, but I hadn't done it before. My family often had others skilled in such ways. With my mother and aunt returned, I couldn't call on those individuals for fear they might tell the rest of the family. We weren't ready to disclose what was happening. To be honest, I wasn't sure what was happening. My mother had some master plan to bring dark knowledge to the world, a secret told to her by the ancient ones from the dreamlands. I wondered if she was going to tell me? I could make her, but I wasn't sure the time was right.

"My son, I can assist with making them talk," my mother's voice drifted over my soul like fine silk.

I shook my head. "No. I'm doing this my way."

I turned my gaze to Dana, "Retrieve one of my daggers."

Dana nodded, turned and marched for the door.

I turned my attention back to the hunters. "You won't live beyond tonight. You will tell me everything before we take your souls."

The male hunter let out a sharp laugh. The female hunter looked to the side.

It didn't take long for Dana to bring me back a dagger. She handed it to me and stepped back to the side of the hunters. I stepped closer to the hunters, my dagger at the ready.

The pair were silent, watching me with dark eyes. I lifted the dagger, grabbed the male hunter's shirt and began slicing at the fabric. I worked meticulously, slicing at his clothes and pulling off pieces of fabric. My eyes searched his skin, trying to locate what I was looking for. When I sliced off his left sleeve and pulled it away, I saw it, a rune tattoo of protection.

I smiled before looking to the female hunter. Worry touched her eyes. She knew their last piece of protection would soon be gone. I stepped to her and did the same. I sliced and pulled at her shirt. She cried out like I was harming her, but she didn't know the depths I was willing to go to protect my family. When her shirt was in shreds, I saw a small rune over her right breast. She still had her bra on and I didn't see the need to take it off. I had my own dark addictions, but taking another against their will was not one of them.

I stepped back to the male hunter and stood by his arm. The sound of their breathing quickened. I knew I had to make this quick. Torture has its place, and I wanted answers.

I lifted the dagger and touched it to the skin above the rune. The male hunter let out a growl before I began cutting.

Grunts rose up and soon turned to shouts of horror. I focused on my work, slicing into the flesh and running the sharp edge in a sawing motion. I cut down further into flesh and muscle. I hadn't had any practice in it and it showed. Blood spurted and ran down the arm. I continued to saw as the man's shouts turned to screams.

"No one will hear you," my mother said with a sinister giggle.

My grizzly work nearly complete, I ripped off the piece of tattooed flesh and tossed it to the floor. The male hunter whimpered in pain as blood seeped into what was left his shirt, his pants and onto the floor.

I then turned my attention to the female hunter.

"All of you are dead," the huntress said with a quiver in her tone.

"Some of us are already dead," my mother cooed.

I stepped to the female hunter with bloody hands and dagger. She let out a scream as I stabbed the tip into her flesh, above her tattoo. She writhed in deepening torture as I cut around the tattoo. Blood dripped and her screams carried on like a pig to slaughter. When I was finished, I pulled off the piece of flesh and threw it to the side.

I glanced to Dana and Beth. Dana's face was a little pale. Beth's face was blank, devoid of emotion. I cared for them, but they had to know what our blood coven was capable of. What I was capable of.

My blood-stained fingers took the small hair loop from a pocket and pulled it out. Sobs and moans filled the small room as I whispered the incantation. Energy flowed between the three of us and a connection blazed again. This time, there was no resistance. It bonded and control fell into place.

I looked down as their sobbing continued. "Quiet," I commanded.

The pair of hunters were instantly silent. They looked up to me with glassy eyes.

"How did you get here without being stopped?" I asked.

The male hunter parted his lips, "We were not stopped because we parked outside of town. We then hiked through the woods for two hours to reach here."

I made a mental note to have words with the Mayor and Sherriff about our protection here in Umbra Manor.

"Are there more of you?" I asked.

The two hunters nodded.

"Are they on their way, like you said before?"

The female hunter spoke up, "They will come looking for us. We were warned not to take on this mission, but we ignored it. We thought it would just be you, Gerald Umbra. We didn't know there would others. We thought you might have some monsters to protect you. We didn't expect your dead mother and aunt."

The male hunter nodded. "They will not come by morning, but they will come. With time, they will notice we are gone and send more to find out what happened."

I could feel my own rage drip from my eyes. "How extensive is your information about me and my family?"

"Extensive," the pair said in unison.

The male hunter continued, "Those gifted in our circles felt your use of ancient, dark, and forbidden magic. They know what is to come."

"I need information on your cohorts and allies. Tell me everything," I commanded.

The two prisoners bowed their heads, shadows covering their eyes.

The female hunter spoke, "We cannot tell you everything because our network is not centralized. We are soldiers in the great war of light and darkness. We don't know how many we are, but we know we are many."

In that moment, I knew any further questioning would be pointless. These two were overzealous and broke from their orders. It could have been a test, their masters giving them the information to see if they could do it and test our strength. I was speculating, but it was enough to cause concern.

I stood to my full height, heat and pain radiated from my left shoulder.

My mother stepped closer and touched my hand. "My son, I have to tend to your wound. Why don't we leave these two to your aunt and cousins? I'm sure they can watch them."

"We have to kill them and burn the bodies in the furnace," I said plainly.

"I have another idea on how they can be useful, but it can wait until before dawn. Lily can make sure the hunters are of no trouble."

Before I could say anything, Aunt Lily stepped closer to the hunters. I watched as she lifted a hand. Long, black claws stabbed out from her pale fingertips. They stretched out until they were two feet long. She reached over with her other hand and took hold of two claws, side by side. She broke off a few inches from the tips and held them in her open palm.