Embers (The Wings of War Book 1) (27 page)

Walking along the pathway, I noticed that most of the houses’ lights were off. There usually was a bustle of activity on the nights when the searchers brought humans in, but at the moment at least, all was quiet.

I waved to Patrick, Pricilla, Charlotte and Colton, who were gathered on Patrick’s porch as usual, but I didn’t stop to chat.  My destination was the library and I hurried to get there.  The walkway was dark, except for the shards of light that shined in through the tree tops from the full moon.  My kind could see in the darkness as well as any nocturnal animal.  We only lit our homes out of habit more than need.

Before I reached the main lodge, I passed Charles and Mary.  I wanted to avoid conversation, but Charles motioned me to come over.  It would have been a red flag if I had ignored them.  Charles studied me with his pale, sharp features, while Mary stared off into the distance seemingly without interest.

“Good evening, Sawyer.  I noticed of late you have been absent frequently.”

The man’s British accent was thick and snotty.  Even though he’d been away

from his homeland for two centuries, he still spoke with a tone of superiority.

I ignored it, answering, “I’ve been helping Ivan settle in.  You know it’s been difficult for him, under the circumstances in which he came to be here.”

“I would think a forest would be the same anywhere for a wolf,” Charles replied coldly.  “I do hope he’ll be able to do his job properly and that the high price of purchasing him was well worth it.”

“I’m sure it will be.  Now if you will excuse me, I have some things I have to do before the hunt.”

Charles still looked at me suspiciously, but my answer seemed to satisfy him enough to let me pass.  He nodded his head, moving away with Mary at his side. 

The lights were on in the lodge, but the place was as silent as a tomb when I entered.  I quickly covered the floor to the library feeling uneasy, restless in my blood. The air was static with
something. 

Pushing the library door open slightly, I was surprised to see Horas standing beside one of the shelves with a large open book in his hands.  Relief swept over me that it was the Roman in the room, rather than our lunatic leader, Garrett. 

“It is a little late for you to be reading, is it not?” Horas spoke with the long drawn out syllables of his Latin accent.

“Actually, I’m doing some research,” I said on my way to the section where I thought I’d find what I needed. 

“Could I be of any assistance to you?” he asked with a raised brow.

I glanced at Horas, wondering if I could trust him.  He’d always appeared to me to be an honest fellow, just a little difficult to get close too.  The man hid many secrets from his long life.  I walked back to the door and looked out in both directions.  All was clear.  I decided to take the chance.  What was life without a few risks?

“Have you had any dealings with Watchers?” I asked carefully.

That surprised him.  His eyes widened.  “I have come across a few in my wanderings over the centuries.  There aren’t many true ones left.”

“What do you mean
true
ones?”

Horas closed his book and carefully placed it back on the shelf.  He sat down in one of the overstuffed chairs, making himself thoroughly comfortable before responding. 

“The true Watchers are the ones who are descended from the arch angels.  They are the highest beings, other than the angels themselves of course.  Their powers come directly from their own bodies.  My understanding is that they use the elements.”

“You mean earth, air, so on?”

“That is correct.” 

I hesitated, not sure how far I should go with the conversation.

“How can you tell if someone is a Watcher?” I said as casually as possible.

“I do not really know.”  He scratched his head thinking before he replied. “The ones I crossed paths with were upfront about what they were…but come to think of it, they were different from the humans.   They were brighter to look upon and very attractive.  I do believe the most beautiful woman I have encountered was a Watcher.”  A thoughtful smile crept onto his lips.  It was obvious his mind was in another place—a very enjoyable place. 

“Why the questions about Watchers—do you think you have found one?” he asked with unrestrained interest.

“I don’t know really, but none of the others need to know about this.  Do you hear me?”  I threatened.             

“Why would I say anything so ridiculous to
them
?  Watchers are mere legends now.” He winked and rose from the chair, stretching his arms.  “If you need anything, just ask. Good night.”

He sauntered out of the room leisurely.  

After Horas had left, I worried that I might have said too much.  But my instincts were usually right.  I’d have to have some faith in him.  He had never given me reason to not trust him.

I turned to the books on the shelves and found what I was looking for.  There were several about Watchers, but one of the titles jumped out at me,
Watcher Lore in the Sixteenth Century
.  I pulled the book off the shelf and sat down at the table. 

About an hour later I pushed the book away and stared at the opposite wall, processing what I’d read.  Garrett was right about the Watchers being dangerous.  The feuds between them sometimes destroyed entire villages or leveled mountaintops.  Perhaps some of the natural disasters of ancient history were not so natural after all.

One of the more interesting things that I’d read was that Watchers had the ability to self-heal, especially the earth ones.  They could also use their minds to talk to animals and make them do their bidding.  But the last paragraph is what had sent a shiver through me as I’d read, ‘
Watchers of the fire element are the most dangerous of all.  They have irrational tempers and are easily angered.   They are simple to detect, because of the hot feel of their skin.  When threatened, they will let fire explode from their bodies to destroy anything in their path.’             

Ember had unusually hot skin, but the thought that she could shoot fire from her body was laughable.

Before I could get another book off the shelf, I heard the rumble of an engine and a chill crawled over my skin.  The searchers had returned.  I took a deep breath and headed for the door.

When I reached the parking area, a crowd was already gathering around the back doors of the van. The new arrivals would be housed in the donor building until they were hunted down as if they were animals and butchered. There was no chance of escaping, either.  The cells were fortified, strong enough to detain a Growler.    

Garrett was the last to arrive, meeting the searchers at the front of the van.  They spoke in hushed voices, but I could still hear them quite well.  The whispering was just one of the human habits that we still carried with us.   

The banging and shouts erupting from the interior of the van made it obvious that the searchers had brought the humans back fully awake, rather than in the usual comma-like trance.  Those sounds were exciting the members of the crowd.  I could smell the musky oils rising on the hunters’ skin, lubricating their muscles and readying them for action. 

Listening carefully, I caught that there were fifteen humans crammed into the back of the van, instead of the expected number of ten.  I cringed, thinking of the show that was about to begin.  The same shock of pity jolted my senses each time humans were brought in.  Only now, it was much worse knowing that they would suffer before their eyes closed forever. 

As a boy growing up in northern Kentucky, I’d always been uncomfortable when Pa would butcher a cow or pig that we’d raised.  Ma said I had a gentle spirit, but Pa and my older brothers thought I was just squirmy about the blood. 

They were all wrong.  I felt pity for the creatures because I saw the fear in their eyes in those final moments.  They were more intelligent and understanding than my family gave them credit for.  They didn’t deserve to feel any pain for our benefit.  When Pa would raise the rifle to his shoulder, I would shut my eyes until the echoing of the blast was gone from the air.  Then I’d look upon the carnage and feel ill inside.  I was forced to eat the bounty along with the others, but the meat had no taste to me. 

It had been the same with the humans since the first time I’d fed on their souls.  The feeling of injustice that I was taking a life in order to keep my own going left me empty inside.  The only thing that made any of it bearable for all these years was the fact that the humans were unconscious when they died—that they didn’t suffer through the experience.

Those days were apparently gone. 

When Jason, the hard eyed, brown haired searcher opened the van’s door, it took a full minute before the first human gathered the courage to step out.   My heart stilled.  It was a large, muscled young male. He narrowed his gaze to see into the darkness.  The others who followed him off the van had the same type of physique.  That the men were burly and strong looking was unusual, and the fact that there were only two females among the group was surprising.  The searchers would normally bring back more females than males.   Their souls seemed sweeter.   

It dawned on me looking at this group of humans that the searchers had specifically targeted powerful, athletic males.  We were going to have a hunt with a little challenge.

All at once, the first human who came off the van began cussing.  He specifically aimed the vile words at Donnelly, who reacted by back handing the large human twelve feet into the air.  The human hit the side of a building, dropping to the ground in a crumpled heap.

The scent of his leaking blood reached my nostrils and I breathed it in deeply.  Renna and Peter began to prowl towards the downed human, but Charles fluidly moved in between them holding his hand out.  He pointed his finger, flicking it back and forth, at the same time he clucked his tongue. 

“No, no, weaklings.  No food tonight,” he chastised in a mocking tone.

Not surprisingly, after witnessing the scene, the other humans moved closer together.  A few were crying. The sound pinched my stomach and I looked away.  I was ashamed at my inability to do anything to stop what was to come.   The humans’ cries that were tearing at my insides, affected the others very differently.  Glancing at Gabrielle and Mary who were to my right, their mouths were gaped open and their eyes had sheened over with desire.  The hunger lust was upon them.

I wasn’t completely immune to the scents in the air.  My stomach tensed and my mouth watered.  It was the same sensation that I assumed a human felt when smelling a steak grilling on the barbeque, only multiplied a thousand times.  Even with the temptation, I had complete control over myself.  While my peers were drunk from the sounds and smells emitting from the humans, I was still very much sober. 

In the past, when the humans were brought into the compound in an unconscious state, the madness didn’t take hold of anyone.  The feeding had always been a quiet and subdued affair. 

Other than Garrett, I’d been the least affected of everyone when dealing with the humans, at least on the outside.  My insides were always in a state of war.  My mind would attempt to justify what I was doing, but my heart told me in no uncertain terms that it was very, very wrong.  Many times I had thought of going into the forest to starve myself.  I’d imagined how it would feel to allow the sickness take me, to finally be free of the curse that Garrett had brought out of me.  But in the end, I was no better than the others who now surrounded me with their glazed eyes.  I wasn’t strong enough to walk away.  A part of me wanted to live too much to do the right thing.                                                              

Thoughts of Ember were affecting me also, making me look at these humans with even more guilt than usual.  How could I feed on one of them when a member of their own race had pulled at my heartstrings with such a powerful tug?  If she knew what I did to survive, she’d be completely horrified, and justifiably so.  I really was a monster and she’d hate me for it. 

The snapping of Renna’s teeth turned my attention to her.  She licked her lips with relish to further frighten the humans, as if it was needed.  Even my friends’ faces showed desire for the living souls.  Patrick was definitely the most reserved, clear of any emotion, but the hunger was glowing in Charlotte and Colten’s staring eyes.  Pricilla had slid into the crowd of humans and was caressing the arm of one of the two females in the group.  The female was taller than the average human woman.  She had tattoos running the length of each of her arms of a unique vine design.  She was rather homely to look at, but radiated vitality and good health.  They would be fighting over her soul for sure.   

My kind had quickly reverted back to their original ways, when the seed of evil thoughts had been planted in their minds.  They certainly didn’t appear to be a more civilized species at the moment. 

Pricilla pressed her fingertips into the human’s skin.  She grazed her canines across its shoulder.  The sight of her doing this caused a tingling sensation to surge through my veins.     

My mouth watered and my vision suddenly sharpened. The feelings that I’d mocked the others for having were beginning to take hold of me.

I had to get away.

Quietly, I slipped from the crowd into the shadows of the trees.  Swallowing a gulp of saliva, I let out a shaky breath.  I wanted to be far from the scene that was creating havoc with my own black soul.  Walking up the pathway to my house, I could still hear the commotion in the distance as the humans were herded roughly into the building.  The squeals, obscenities and wailing all rolled into a cackle of noise that lashed out, sparking the air.  I was sure the searchers and Garrett were assisting Charles with the hands on contact of the humans.  The rest of them certainly wouldn’t be up to it without creating a blood bath, and ruining the much anticipated hunt.