Judgement (The Twelve) (34 page)

“Finish off is right!” Bulls Eye yelped.

Ten minutes later,
Priest was over by the fridge stuffing his face with cake whilst drinking at least a gallon of milk.
The food intake helped him heal quicker
. He’d been attacked
by
four short creatures with massive curved horns.  He’d moved to p
r
otect
Slash who was the only one not really injured apart from a two inch gash to his right cheek. Priest
had taken the full impact. The horns had pierced him in several places
, great big sucking holes in his huge fat body.
Any normal man would have been killed instantly. Instead Priest had
absorbed the Impact like a sponge
. He’d managed to squash one creature with his foot but the others escaped, yelping like sea lions.

Priest remembered seeing Anvil’s amazing weapon flash through the blood
filled
mist striking a monstrous beast dead in mid leap, the hammer returning to its owner. The weapons runes had lit up the air like a flare gun as it hit the beast. Priest shuddered as he remembered what it looked like.
Giant insect eyes, a snout like a pig with tusks like a wild boar, all contained on a body twice the size of a woolly mammoth with a tale of a scorpion. It had taken three massive strikes from Anvils amazing weapon before the creature collapsed dead at his feet.

He looked over
to
Rag
e
,
the giant warrior
hadn’t admitted it but he’d
killed half a dozen flying wolf type creatures with just
one massive fist, whilst protecting Speed. Priest
opened the fridge and
t
ook out half
a
cooked chicken
. He silently blessed the food,
“Here feed a wound I always say.”

Rage snatched it from Priest with a grateful smile, “Thought it was feed a cold?”
he replied a
s he stuffed his face
.

Heartless was mouthing off as usual, “And what’s with our hair. We look like the God damned children from The Village of the Damned!”

Priest yelled across the room, “Be glad it’s only your bloody hair that got changed. You have no idea how close we
came
to
H
ell you stupid man AND STOP BLASPHEMING !” He roared.

Night came and
vanished with the
sunrise
. It was
a quiet start to the day inside the warehouse.
Anvil
, Priest and Chris where the only ones up. The rest
were
asleep in bed, recovering from there wounds.
Anvil
was making toast and Priest was eating it. Chris sat at the kitchen table eating cereal
, a
part from the leather
and white hair, he looked like any other sixteen old boy having breakfast.
Anvil
butte
re
d four slices of toast, gave Priest two of them (he’d already eaten an entire loaf!) and sat down facing Chris.

It was an awkward moment but he broke the silence with, “What you did yesterday was amazing. I had no idea that place existed.”

Chris nodded between mouthfuls, “Neither did I. It was Judgement who did it all.”

Anvil
crunched down on a mouthful and thought that through for a second, “But you are Judgement son. Once reborn you’re renamed and that’s who you become.”

Chris shook his head, “Not happening like that with me. I’m still Chris. Judgement comes out when he wants to.”

Chris continuing to eat his breakfast,
whilst deep
in thought, “Judgement appears when I most need him most, whether it’s his power or his knowledge.”

Anvil
finished his toast and pushed the plate away, “It was harder for me as I was the first. When I died and was re-born I had no idea what
I was. As a matter of fact I was pretty primitive to say the least. I mean
the beginning of the Bronze Age!
It took over a hundred
years with the Elders
before it all started to sink in and to tell you the truth son there isn’t a day that goes past without me
discovering
something new. Like you.”

Chris looked up,
“Or the fact that Edge and I are your sons?”

Anvil sat back in his chair, “Aye there is that.”

Priest belched to interrupt, “The final prophesy does say you shall have to kill Edge. Can you do it?”

Chris corrected him
, “
Judgement
says I shall destroy Edge not kill him. There is a difference.”

The others drifted in over the next two hours and what a sorrowful looking bunch they looked. Several hadn’t bothered to wash and where covered in dried blood. Others wore bandages that still leaked fresh blood. But the great thing was all would heal.

Hot Cross was looking as angry as ever, “We hunting today
. I feel like
it’s pay back time
?”

Anvil thought it over, “I see no reason why you, Priest and Judgement shouldn’t have a look around. I’ve got to go see Mister Jennings of Starlight Security and arrange for him to go see the zoo in the park.”

Bulls Eye settled himself slowly onto one of the settees, “You meant it then
, a
bout the money?”

Anvil nodded, “Always keep my word even when I lie.”

Chris stood up, “Can I go with you?”

“I’d prefer it if you…”

But Judgement cut in, “I need to go with you.”

Anvil smir
ked, “Oh well that’s different
if YOU need to go
. Best we go change into our s
mart
clothes
.
”

Chapter Twelve

‘
W
e have smart clothes?’
Chris thought as he stared at his grey suited reflection in his bedroom mirror. He left his tie off, wearing his dark blue shirt open at the neck. He’d never had a tie in his life and had no idea how to put one on.
Chris reached for his hat then stopped. Although he wanted desperately to wear it, he knew it just wouldn’t fit in.

Mister Jennings turned out to be a
retired
SAS Captain, who was employ
ed
of Anvil. Although he’d only met him twice before, in the entire fifteen years he’d managed Starlight Security. If he was surprised to see him again, he didn’t show it. His secretary buzzed them into Jennings plush office. The business was housed in three entire levels of a posh
office block in the cities business centre. As it happened, it was just around the corner from the famous
‘Gherkin’ office block
.

Jennings rose from behind his large walnut desk that was bare except for a laptop and telephone.

“Mister Smith
,
very nice to see you again.”

‘Mister Smith, oh come on now!
’ Chris thought

Anvil shook his hand and introduced Chris as Mister Jones. Chris gave him a quick unbelievable sideways glance.

If Jennings felt the same he didn’t show it on his poker faced expression. Chris noticed his smile didn’t reach those steel grey eyes. This guy looked every inch one hell of a tough nut. Jennings offered them a chair each and ordered tea for himself, coffee for Anvil and as per Chris’s request
,
a glass of coke.

“It’s always a pleasure to see you Mister Smith.” He left the question unfinished. ‘
What are you doing here?’

Anvil smiled and crossed his legs, “How’s business?”

“Doing very well
actually
, w
e
have retained the twelve Government contracts
you set up for the business
. As well as the Twe
nty eight
VIP body protection
squads
.
We have thirty other assorted international contracts on the go with another four in the pipeline. I’ve just sealed a deal to protect one of the Libyan oil refineries. Do you want to see the company books?”

Anvil smiled again, “No not interested, I trust you to make a profit and not rip me off
. O
therwise you’d not be sitting in that chair. I hope you’ve given yourself a pay rise?”

It was Jennings turn to smile, “Three actually.”

Again Anvil smiled
and
outlined what he wanted him to do.
Jennings listened carefully
before
excus
ing
himself as he typed up a few short notes on his laptop.

“Top expenditure figures?”