A Glimmer of Hope (The Avalon Chronicles #1)(93)

The building was two stories high, but about a fifth of the size of the main farmhouse, and from the outside Layla had guessed it was probably about the size of a two-bedroom cottage.

She entered what at one time had probably been the front room to the property, but which now sat disused. It had clearly been used as a rubbish dump and was full of bits of trash and old pieces of rusting machinery that had long since outlived their usefulness.

Layla navigated her way through the throng of junk and reached the staircase, which was beside an open door. She poked her head through and found a kitchen that she wouldn’t have eaten in if it was the last place on earth. Old food, dead rats, and the smell of mold and rot made her gag, and she quickly walked up the stairs to the floor above, taking them two at a time in case the smell somehow prevented her from escaping.

“Jared, you up here?” Layla called out.

“Back here,” Jared shouted from the room at the far end of the hallway.

There were only three rooms upstairs: a bathroom and two bedrooms, but the door to the second bedroom was considerably further away from the other two and required stepping over some floorboards that had probably seen better days.

The wooden floor creaked as Layla placed a foot on it and, for a second, she thought that she would go straight through to the other side. She launched herself over the floorboards, hoping that whatever she landed on would be slightly less wobbly. Thankfully, it was and she maintained her footing.

She reached the bedroom door and stepped inside. Jared was on his knees, Elias behind him, a blade to the younger man’s throat.

“Layla,” Elias said. “It’s a shame . . .”

He never got to finish the sentence as Layla’s rage flooded through her. She controlled the metal in the blade, detaching it from the hilt, before throwing it to one side and into the far wall. Elias pushed Jared aside and stepped toward Layla, blocking her punch and kick, before delivering one of his own to her chest, sending her spiraling to the ground.

Layla scrambled back to her feet as Elias kicked Jared in the face, busting his nose. He picked Jared up and threw him at Layla, who couldn’t move in time to stop the collision, sending them both crashing to the floor. The air was knocked out of her and she struggled for breath.

“You should have worked with me,” Elias said. “Now I’m going to kill you.”

Wiring leaped from the ceiling, wrapping itself around Elias and keeping him in place while Layla got back to her feet. She’d twisted her ankle in the fall, but it wasn’t bad enough that she was unable to fight. And she doubted Elias was just going to lie down and accept defeat.

Elias gave a roar of anger and used his brute strength to tear the wiring apart, throwing it aside as he ran toward Layla, who couldn’t move fast enough. He grabbed hold of her and drove her back out of the doorway, landing on the floorboards in the hall, which finally gave way.

The pair crashed through the floor, landing in the kitchen with a loud bang. Layla had managed to twist out of Elias’s grasp at the last possible second, so instead of having his whole weight fall on her, it landed only on her legs. It hurt like hell, but she punched Elias in the face as she scrambled out from under him and dragged herself upright.

Elias was back on his feet in a second, grabbing hold of Layla and throwing her to the side. Layla slammed into the rusty freezer and hit the ground once again, scaring off a large rat in the process.

She rolled to the side and used her power to throw the freezer at Elias, who caught it mid-flight, but that only allowed Layla to turn the knives and forks in the drawer next to the sink into a dozen small missiles.

Elias kept the freezer in front of him, blocking the incoming weaponry, and then flung the freezer aside as voices came through from the front door. “We’re not done,” he said to Layla, before running toward the sink and launching himself up and through the window behind it.

Layla got back on her feet, watching as Elias sprinted faster than any man could possibly move. She stayed there until he reached the tree line and vanished from view.

Layla placed her hands on the metal sink and screamed in rage and frustration, tearing it free from the base and throwing it through the remains of the window, along with most of the other metal in her vicinity. It included an old stove, which made a large hole in the side of the building.

“He escaped,” she said to Diana, as she entered the room. “I couldn’t stop him.”

Diana nodded and looked out of the rear of the property in the direction Elias had run. “Reyes is gone too. And Masako.”

“Tommy told me.”

“The ogre still hasn’t been found, although we’ve stopped these particular blood elves from ever being a problem again.” She placed a hand on Layla’s shoulder. “Don’t be hard on yourself.”

“I thought accepting the spirits and drenik would make me powerful enough to stop him.”

“It takes time. You don’t become all-powerful in a few hours. I’m amazed you managed to throw a stove through a wall. That takes some power.”

“How many from the depot survived?”

“Twelve. You managed to stop them before they’d killed too many. Most of them are physically okay. Emotionally . . . well, that’s another matter, isn’t it? We’ll make sure they get everything they need, though.”

Layla nodded. That would have to be enough. Even if nothing would ever be enough to wipe this experience from their memories.