King Cave (Forever Evermore, #2)(13)
Ezra grunted as he gradually sat back on his seat, still staring at the view.
Pearl cracked up from her perch, relaxing. “I guess King Cave isn’t a myth.”
Ezra glanced at me. “Do you know the story?” He was assuming I didn’t because I wasn’t completely up-to-date with Mys knowledge, all due to my mother and Antonio hiding me with Commoners as I grew up, to the point where I had even attended Com schools under the guise of being one.
I knew this story though. “When Antonio told me bedtime stories as a child, this was one of his favorites.” I smiled softly, remembering him lying on the bed with me, both of us staring at the ceiling as he used gigantic hand gestures to speak of King Cave. “It’s a sanctuary in times of Mystical need, it having been a protected area ever since Mysticals came to North America.” It had sounded like a wonderland the way Antonio had explained it. “It’s enormous inside, its depths incredible. It is hidden to all Commoners, but was founded by exploring Elders.” I shrugged a shoulder. “It’s protection against all evils.”
Ezra nodded, watching me. “My dad did the same, except he spoke of it at the dinner table.” His arched black brows suddenly furrowed and his eyes danced forward while he rubbed the back of his neck. “We’re about to enter a small town from the sound of it. Their heartbeats are accelerated.”
Nodding quickly, I stated, “Jack, I’ve got a hat in the back. Will you grab it for me?”
Jack leaned over the back seat, rummaging until he found it.
I took my gun out of my waistband and set it on the console. I used my left knee to drive as I lifted my hair up under the hat and tugged the hat neatly so my hair didn’t show. “Roll your windows up and get down.” I was small enough that most Coms wouldn’t give me a second glance, but Ezra, with his black and red spiked hair, shouted Vampire, while Pearl’s luxurious gold hair and bronze skin publicized a Mage, and Jack’s neon blue hair declared him a water Elemental.
Jack and Pearl hid easily enough, lying haphazardly on the back seat.
But Ezra was a huge, muscle-bound man sitting shotgun.
Slipping his seatbelt off, he started to recline his seat, but appeared to think better of it — it would be too obvious with a seat laid back — and ended placing his head on my lap.
After readjusting my seat so he wasn’t squashed against the wheel, I rested my right hand on the side of his face, nervously running my thumb back and forth across his cheek as I saw the town ahead. Squinting to evaluate the wafting smoke I detected in the dying light, I warned, “There’s another fire. This could get a little bumpy. Hang on.”
Jack and Pearl assented, hunkering further on each other.
Ezra grunted. “Don’t get shot.”
Speaking of which, his huge frame was covering my weapon. “My gun.”
He lifted a smidge and grabbed my firearm, then re-positioned himself easily, holding my gun against my knee. “Let me know if you need it.”
I hummed in agreement, placing both my hands on the wheel as the main road into the tiny town, full of white and blue shops, came into open view. Panting became my way of breathing as I saw what the townsfolk were doing. Even though I had seen plenty of death that day, the sun now set and only a slight scarlet coloring the darkening horizon, my body still broke out in a heated perspiration. Tears swelled in my eyes, and I had to quickly blink their burning dampness away to see the road properly.
Smack in the center of town were two buildings on fire. I wished that had been all.
Directly opposite those once homey establishments, now blackened and burning, were eight Mysticals of various factions, their swaying bodies illuminated by the flickering flames. Each deceased Mystical hung high in the air from silvered nooses tied to picturesque shops signs, their necks broken from where the Commoners had tied the debilitating ropes around their throats.
In the street, Coms were celebrating. Drunk on their sadistic accomplishment.
“Give me my gun,” I growled softly, my voice dry and cracking. I began rolling my window down. “I’m not stopping, but those f*ckers are dying.”
Ezra’s head rapidly lifted, and he stilled as he assessed the main street.
“Roll your window up,” he whispered, and rolled his down. “Drive. I’ll shoot.”
I nodded, quickly agreeing this was best. Turning off my lights, I stepped on the gas.
Pearl and Jack shot up, no longer able to be submissive at hearing the fury in our predators’ intermittent growls. They were motionless for all of a heartbeat before their windows began lowering noiselessly. Silent, no words were needed.
As I knew they were going to have a little fun, just like the front end of my Hummer was going to, I ordered quietly, “Seatbelts back on.”
Mute, they obeyed.
I stomped on the gas even harder, roaring into the town.
The Coms were so intoxicated from the alcohol held in their murdering hands, and so high on endorphins from their massacre that they didn’t notice the procession of cars headed their way.
Ah…but they did notice when my Hummer rammed their wretched bodies.
The minute Ezra started shooting the butchers.
The exact second Pearl blasted the slaughterers straight into the air.
Directly as Jack blew water into their mouths and drowned the heartless bastards.
I sped through the packed street. Coms tumbled over the hood of my Hummer to hit the windshield, cracking it, and then flew over the roof into the air. It was a simplistic eruption of Com bodies. My tires bumped along at our accelerated pace as I ran them over.