Read Drawing Bloodlines Online
Authors: Steve Bevil
Drawing Bloodlines
DRAWING BLOODLINES
(The Legend of the Firewalker, Book #2)
Copyright: Steve Bevil
First edition. Published: June 2014
All rights reserved. No part of this e-book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without permission from the author.
E-book Cover Design: Baub Alred and Steve Bevil
E-book Interior Design: Steve Bevil
Find out more about the author and upcoming books:
Blog: http://stevebevil.blogspot.com/
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Nathan’s ears continued to ring and, for the first time in his life, he had wished he had learned to wield a sword. Warm blood oozed from his shoulder and the searing pain was a constant reminder that everything happening to him and his friends was real.
They had already gone through so much at camp this summer,
he thought.
And coming here was supposed to make everyone safe; safe from Lucas and Lauren, safe from the rest of the Fallen Ones....
From his knees, he watched as the battle unfolded around him.
Maybe this is all happening because of me
…
if I had just chosen not to be a camp counselor … if I had just ignored my abilities, we would still be in Cahokia Falls.
A familiar scream urged him, but his mind was in such a haze that it was impossible to get to his feet.
I have failed them
, he thought. He looked up just in time to see his childhood best friend fall off a cliff.
1
The memorial plaza to Grimm Cemetery was eerily quiet as several figures, dressed in black cloaks, bustled across its brick and mortar floor. In the graveyard down below, large chunks of stone from several of the weathered mausoleum walls continued to hit the ground without a sound. Along with several piles of smoldering ash, they were the only remnants of the battle that had just transpired moments earlier.
Abruptly, whooshing sounds echoed across the plaza as the last of the Scarlet Priests vanished through the surroun
ding plaza archways, followed by the remaining Shadow Guard. Silence fell upon the plaza again and all that remained was a lone figure dressed in a red cloak. Quietly, he sat at the top of the dilapidated stone steps with his head hung down low, as his luminous blonde hair dangled freely from beneath his elaborately decorated red hood.
The tall white obelisk at the plaza’s center cast a dark shadow over him, revealing his fiery red eyes as he slowly raised his head at the approaching figure. “I caution you not to approach me so openly, Lauren,” he snarled.
Caught off guard, Lauren quickly froze in her tracks, causing the train of her flowing white dress to bundle at her feet. “B–but Lucas, my love,” she stumbled, as she slowly proceeded up the stone steps. “How were we supposed to be prepared — how were we supposed to know about the Firewalker?”
His red eyes seemed to burn through the darkness as he spoke through clinched teeth. “How could you not?” he asked. His voice grew angry. “You’ve spent all this time with them, Lauren!”
“But, my love,” she pleaded. “Even Pius did not detect them.”
“Lucius won’t care for your excuses, Lauren!” he snapped, angrily.
Lauren’s emerald green eyes suddenly filled with fear. “P–perhaps they never use their powers,” she stammered, her voice trembling. She paused to catch her breath. “Otherwise our priest would have detected them.”
“Don’t be naïve!” shouted Lucas. “They are human, La
uren!” Tightly, he clinched his hands into fists before slamming them against the stone steps. “It is highly unlikely that they could refrain from using their powers; somehow they must have been cloaked!”
Silence fell on the plaza again as Lauren watched Lucas cautiously. He seethed. “My love,” she said, while fumbling nervously with her hands upon her dress. “H–
how are we to explain this to him? And about Pius?”
Lucas remained silent; it was as if he had forgotten she was there.
Lauren turned to look at Pius’s remains, now nothing but a pile of smoking ashes. “Without Pius,” she continued carefully. “How are we to detect the one we seek?”
“I’ll handle my brother,” he exclaimed, angrily. “You worry about finding that meda
llion!”
Lauren’s face suddenly contorted. “The medallion!” she yelled. “You’re worried about a stupid medallion?” She glared at him with such intensity that her entire body started to shake. “You know what this means if we don’t find him, Lucas! You promised me you wouldn’t let this happen — we have to find the one we seek! We must!”
He stared at her and a brief silence fell across the plaza again, but this time his eyes were an ocean blue. “Pius was inconsequential to the plan, my love,” he said, taking to his feet. “We never needed him — it was the medallion.” Lauren’s face softened slightly as he took her into his arms. “The medallion augments the wearer’s natural ability,” he continued. “It was created for that purpose.”
“So,” she said, slowly. “
After we find the medallion….”
“Any one of our high priests should be able to use it to channel the moon’s energy to augment their own,” he fi
nished. “Then we’ll be able to find the one we seek.”
“Ha!” she cackled, her emerald green eyes sparkling again. “Then all is not lost — but wait!” She suddenly looked gloomy again. “What are we to do about the Fir
ewalker?” she cried. “You know what this means, and what’s prophesied to come. And my love, there were two of them!” She stared at Pius’s remains again. “I’ve never seen such power from a human. Our priests and the Shadow Guards were all decimated; turned to dust!”
“Now is not the time to worry about that Lauren!” he shouted, pushing her away. “He’ll want to know who is b
ehind all of this; who is protecting them.”
She frowned. “Protecting them?” she asked with a laugh. “They’re just a bunch of tee
nagers, Lucas — kids.”
“That doesn’t settle well with me either, Lauren!” he growled. “What am I to tell my brother? That we failed at the hands of chi
ldren?”
Lauren grew silent. “B–
but who could be behind this?” she pleaded. She paused while Lucas stared at her with wide blue eyes. “What? The Order?”
“Who else is capable of keeping them hidden from us?” he asked, yelling at her. Slowly, his ocean blue eyes burned with a fire. “If the Order is behind
this … he will not be pleased.”
“And what about our failure?” she cringed. She pulled Lucas by the arm and tried to force him to embrace her. “My love — he will not be pleased with us.”
Suddenly, in the middle of the graveyard in front of them, a sliver of light appeared. The tiny blue light hovered in the air for a moment before abruptly elongating toward the ground and, in a split second, expanded into a bright blue, rectangular doorway. Instantly, Lauren’s grip tightened around Lucas’s arm when three tall figures dressed in red cloaks stepped forth from the blue light. The door vanished immediately behind them and so did the bright blue light, leaving behind only their fiery red eyes beneath their ruby red hoods.
Swiftly, the three figures headed toward the couple and Lucas immediately sprung down the stone steps. Lauren fo
llowed close behind him and fidgeted endlessly with the long sleeves of her white dress. Once they were closer, the two figures on the outside took position in front of the figure in the middle. After Lucas had reached them, the two in front pulled back their red hoods, revealing their chiseled facial features and luminous, white-blonde hair. Both of the newcomers’ cloaks were as intricately ornamented as Lucas’s, and they both smiled at him contemptuously.
“Hello, brother,” bowed Lucas, his blue eyes gazing up from beneath the hood of his cloak
. “Why haven’t you come alone?”
“You dare address me without stripping your hood!” be
llowed the man in the middle.
Quickly, Lucas bowed again, pulling his hood back as Lauren cowered nervously behind him.
“You and your half-breed have failed us once again!” the man sneered. “And your failure is nothing but a pathetic comedy that should be mocked by others.”
“But Lucius!” exclaimed Lucas, quickly lowering his eyes.
“Silence!” he yelled and his voice reverberated off the surrounding mausoleums, echoing across the graveyard. “I’ve heard enough excuses from the Shadow Guard!” Lucius’s red eyes continued to burn bright from underneath his intricately decorated red hood. The two striking men standing on guard in front of him snickered and laughed. Soon, his gaze burned past his brother and to the woman behind him. He winced, and it seemed painful for him to look at her. “Lauren!”
“Y–
yes, my lord,” she stuttered, through clattering teeth.
Slowly, she inched from behind Lucas and then bowed graciously. Lucius swallowed hard and his mouth curled as if the mere sight of her left a bad taste in his mouth. “What is this I hear about a Firewalker?” he groaned. “And that somehow you were unaware of this human?”
“B–but, my lord,” she stammered. “There was no way I could have known, if there was some way I could have detected….”
“Did I not just say that I am not in the mood for ra
mblings!” he yelled. He turned to look inquisitively at the two men standing in front of him. “Luke, Laban — did I not?”
Luke and Laban nodded eagerly. “Yes!” they responded cheerfully, smiling mockingly at L
ucas and then at Lauren.
“Hmm,” he uttered in an offhanded way. He paused to caress one of the long and silver me
tal-braided ropes that hung from his waist and Lauren cringed. “That’s what I thought!”
Quickly, and in a red blur, he removed one of the braided ropes and whipped it into the air; wrapping it tightly around Lauren’s neck. La
uren cried out in agony as an electrical current pulsated through the rope from Lucius’s hand.
“No!” yelled Lucas, moving carefully forward. His ocean blue eyes met with Lucius’s flaming red irises, pleading with him. “Brother!”
Lucius held on tightly to the other end of the rope and met his brother’s plea with a venomous red glare. The silver rope, glowing red-hot now, continued to pulsate around Lauren’s neck. “So,” he scowled, through gritted teeth. “No way to detect, you say? Did I not lend you Pius?” Lauren yelped as he pulled her closer to him. “Where is Pius, anyway?”
Lauren let out a faint moan before collapsing to her knees. Slowly, her eyes began to water as she tried to speak. “H–
he’s gone, my lord,” she whispered, almost in a choke. “Destroyed. By the Firewalker.”
“Destroyed!” yelled Lucius, tightening his grip around the silver rope.
Lauren started to choke as Lucius’s eyes wandered about the plaza, stopping only after he noticed the array of swords and piles of ashes that lay strewn about the brick and mortar floor. “Then it is true, he has surfaced,” said Lucius in a low whisper. “But I thought the threat had been eliminated. How could this have happened?”
Violently, Lauren’s body convulsed as Lucius increased the electrical current. The metal rope wrapped around her neck vibrated vigorously as the current pulsated throughout her entire body.
“Brother!” pleaded Lucas as Lauren screeched in agony. “It’s only a minor setback!” He paused to look at Lauren and then spoke frantically. “And, and — there were two of them!”
There was a brief silence as Lucius’s forehead slowly formed frown lines. “What?” he said, as if finally unde
rstanding the words spoken to him. “Two of them?”
Lucas’s chest heaved as he stared helplessly at Lauren. “Y–
yes, my lord!” he said, while trying to regain composure. “There were two Firewalkers.”
Lucius’s eyes grew wide as he wet his lips. “Two Fir
ewalkers,” he repeated, quietly. He loosened the metal rope around Lauren’s neck. “Very interesting, indeed.”
“Yes, yes, brother,” nodded Lucas, eagerly. “An
d they’ve taken the medallion.”
Lucius’s glowing red eyes appeared as if they were going to explode. “What!” he bellowed.
“Yes,” he responded eagerly. “But Lauren knows where to find them. She lived among the humans while tracking the one we seek.” Lucas’s ocean blue eyes pleaded again. “We were just going to bring them to you, brother, before you arrived; it was Lauren’s idea.” He looked desperately at Lauren again as she clawed at the metal-braided rope around her neck. “Lauren knows — she knows how to find them!”
“Ugh!” said Lucius, as Lauren’s chest expanded dramat
ically, taking a deep breath as he released her. Slowly, Lucius shook his head and rolled his eyes while standing over her. “Is it true? You know of these humans?” he asked.
“Y–
yes,” choked Lauren, still gasping for air. Tenderly, she caressed her neck as the deep purple bruises quickly faded. “I–I can bring them to you.”
“Ha!” he shouted, with a look of doubt on his face. “And what makes you think you will su
cceed this time!” The fire in Lucius’s eyes flickered hatefully as he eyed his brother. “I don’t know why you keep covering for this creature!”
“B–
but, my lord!” pleaded Lauren.
“Just go!” he shouted, brushing her off with a flick of his hand. “Just leave the Firewalker to me — and bring me back that medallion!”
“Yes, my lord,” she responded with a bow.
“And Lauren,” he said with a cyn
ical smile, “should you fail….”
“I won’t, my lord,” she responded quickly.
Lucius shook his head with disdain and then rolled his eyes. “Should you fail,” he continued. “I promise you, your failure will not go without consequence.”
Luke and Laban chuckled heartily as Lauren staggered to her feet. Abruptly she paused, after her eyes connected lon
gingly to a watchful Lucas. “Go, Lauren!” Lucas prodded, sounding slightly embarrassed. “Go!”
Lucius rolled his eyes again and sighed heavily as he shifted his weight to one side. “You are on borrowed time, Lauren,” he sneered, as Luke and Laban laughed heartily again. “You two think this is funny?” Angrily, Lucius pushed them both toward her. “Go make yourselves useful and go with her!”
In unison, both Luke and Laban looked at each other and sighed. Without warning, Luke plunged forward and seized Lauren boisterously by the arm. She looked back at him with contempt, but acquiesced to his lead after noticing the fire burning in his eyes. With a frown, Luke raised up the sleeve of his red cloak, revealing his muscular arm as he reached into his pocket. In the palm of his over-sized hand lay a sparkling blue vial that he quickly put to his lips and drained. For a brief second, his raging-red eyes flashed a bright blue, and the left side of his mouth curled into a sly grin as a streak of blue light leapt from his hand. Wraithlike, the blue light hovered, and a bright blue door formed in front of them. Luke towered over Lauren like a giant and grunted contemptuously, before dragging her through the blue door.