Chosen Chapter 7: City of Darkness

Part 4

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As her ears were still ringing from the explosion, Billie struggled as she felt an iron grip around her throat. For some reason, the wall had exploded and there was chaos all around her. She looked up at her undead friend and saw the blood lust in Taylor's eyes. She could not believe her friend was now this monster. Maybe there was still a way to save her. She had to try somehow.

"Taylor, please." Billie whispered weakly.

"Stop begging, Billie. It is pointless." Taylor said. "I am this way because of you. And now, I am going to repay the favor."

Taylor lifted Billie off the floor with one hand and tossed her across the room. Billie crashed against the wall and before she could even gasp, Taylor charged at her in superhuman speed and hit her across the face.

"Taylor, this isn't you. Fight it." Billie called out as she raised her arms defensively.

"This is who I am now, Billie." Taylor replied as she continued to punch her former friend. "There is no coming back from being undead. And for you, there will be no coming back from death at all."

Taylor launched another punch, though Billie grabbed her arm and twisted it. She turned and shoved her friend against the wall, trapping her in a lock. She looked over her shoulder for the others and saw nothing but chaos. While Hope was engaged in a fight with three vampires, Tyler was standing further back and throwing streams of fire at every undead demon in sight. However, that was not all. Several heavily armed men entered through the shattered wall and started fighting the vampires with stakes and crossbows.

"Pay attention." Taylor suddenly called out.

Taylor broke free of her hold and kicked Billie in the chest. The blonde witch stumbled back and tripped. A second later, Taylor leaped down and pinned her to the ground. Her former friend hovered over her and Billie saw her fangs coming closer.

Just when Taylor was about to rip open her throat, water was splashed over them and Taylor fell back crying out in pain. The water was somehow burning her. Someone grabbed Billie by the arm and lifted her up. She turned and found herself looking in the deep brown eyes of Jake. Her heart skipped a beat. How was he here? She did not understand, but she was happy to see him.

"Quiet slacking off, we have a vampire nest to vanquish." Jake said as he pressed a stake in her hand. "Where is the Queen?"

Billie looked around and saw the Queen leave the room with a couple of her minions. "Over there." She said as she pointed at the door.

'Alright, come on." Jake said.

"No wait." Billie replied as she held onto him. "Taylor is my friend. If we vanquish the Queen, she dies."

"Billie, she is beyond help. You know that." Jake said. "The moment newborn vampires drink blood, they lose their souls."

"There has to be a way." Billie argued.

"There isn't." Jake replied.

"He is right, Billie." Taylor replied as she leaped up from the ground with a flip. "I drank blood and I loved it. He was a sweet kid, his blood was delicious. I live to serve my queen now. And with this little distraction, she managed to get away."

"Taylor, please." Billie begged.

"Next time I see you, Billie, one of us is going to die." Taylor replied.

Taylor smiled and turned into a bat before flying away. The handful remaining vampires did the same and soon the swarm disappeared from the greenhouse. Billie realized the Queen was long gone. She had screwed up.

"Dammit." Jake cursed as he tossed his stake to the ground. "There goes our best shot."

"Billie, are you alright?" Hope asked concerned when she and Tyler ran over.

"I'm fine. Just, I don't know." Billie replied. "What about the two of you?"

"We're fine. A little bruised." Tyler said. "What happened? Why did you hesitate?"

"I'm sorry. Taylor is one of my best friends." Billie explained. "Seeing her like that, it was a shock."

"That was exactly what the Queen wanted." Jake said.

Billie looked at Jake and only then noticed he was dressed in the same way as the armed men, like he was part of a SWAT team or something. He looked unshaven and tired, yet still handsome as ever. She realized she had missed him and had been worried about him, even though they left things on difficult terms.

"Jake, where have you been? Who are these men?" Billie asked.

"I am not just a hunter, Billie. I am a cop as well." Jake explained. "There are people who depend on me. Nobody knew what was going on or how to fight it, so I had to teach them. I took a group of loyal and capable people and I set out to fight these monsters. We were this close to ambushing the vampires, until you showed up."

"Wait, are you blaming me now?" Billie asked confused.

"You hesitated, Billie." Jake said angrily. "You knew your friend was lost the moment you saw her, but you let your emotions get in the way and you hesitated."

"Well, sorry!" Billie called out angrily. "I am sorry that I am not a cold and heartless hunter like you. I am a witch, I don't kill my friends."

"If you want to survive, you will need to change that." Jake replied. "You might think you're some kind of super witch or something, but this is real. You can die just as easily as anyone else."

"What do you care?" Billie snapped at him.

Billie could not even grasp the attitude he was giving her. Taylor was her friend and he just expected he could flip a switch and kill her? That might be the hunter way, but she was not like that. She was furious with him, though despite everything, the thing she wanted to do most of all was kiss him. She hated having these mixed feelings. They stared at each other for a moment.

"We need to get out of here." Jake said to break the silence. "You should come with us."

"I don't think so." Billie replied. "My friends are tired and hurt. We go our own way."

"Fine, then just stay out of our way." Jake said disappointed, before he turned to his men. "Alright, pull out, we still got some undead killers to track down."

Billie waited as Jake and his men started clearing out. When he was about to leave the greenhouse, Jake looked over his shoulder, though she ignored him. The last thing she needed right now was to deal with him. She had too much to figure out already. She needed to figure out if she could do what needed to be done where Taylor was concerned.

Xxx

Back at the warehouse, Violet nervously played with her hair as she waited for the others to get back. As she waited, her eyes kept being drawn to the silvery sphere containing the spirits. It was like some awful prison cell and she felt horrible for the spirits trapped inside. When Violet had asked what kind of demons they were dealing with, Mikelle had told her it were Creeper Demons, who fed on the spirits of the deceased. They could absorb spirits and manipulate ectoplasm, which was what the sphere was made off. Also, he fact that they were telepathic made them very unpredictable.

Violet nearly shrieked when someone placed a hand on her shoulder, though she let out a relieved sigh when she saw it was Duncan and Mikelle.

"What is the plan?" Violet asked.

"We found a way to sneak down and ambush them." Duncan explained. "I got plenty of potions in my bag to take care of them."

"Are you sure?" Violet asked.

"Pretty much." Duncan said. "We knew this was going to be risky. We can't back down, especially since we know what is happening to the spirits now. Are you okay with that?"

"I don't want these spirits to suffer any longer, but getting killed is not going to help them." Violet replied concerned.

"What is going on with you?" Duncan asked. "You have been nervous all day. Is something wrong? Did you have a premonition?"

"I am not sure." Violet admitted reluctantly. "I had a dream about an empty grave. But it felt like more than a dream. I am afraid someone is going to die."

"Do you have any idea who?" Mikelle asked.

"No, all I see is the grave, and in my dream I felt sadness and pain." Violet said. "This is why I did not want to split up in the first place, because someone I care about might die."

"Violet, if we do nothing, we are all going to die at some point." Duncan replied. "We don't know how much this dome is affecting your powers. Could it be it was just a dream?"

"I don't know." Violet admitted. "I just can't shake this horrible thought."

"Guys, I know this is tough, but if we want to take out the Creepers. We have to move." Mikelle said. "You need to remember you're powerful witches, the Chosen. We can do this… You can do this."

Duncan and Mikelle both looked at Violet and she felt a little cornered. She knew being a witch and fighting evil was her destiny, but that didn't make it easier. Least of all with that empty grave in the back of her mind. She looked at the silvery sphere containing the spirits. She could not let those trapped inside suffer. And she did not want anyone she cared about getting trapped in there. She could not let that happen.

"Alright." Violet eventually said.

Violet followed the others down a small set of stairs and past several empty shipping containers. They quietly snuck around the warehouse until they were only a few feet away from the sphere. Being this close to it caused Violet to feel sick and she wanted to throw up. However, that could also be due to nerves. Duncan whispered some instructions to Mikelle and she headed to the left. Violet then followed him further to the right. When they crossed a corner, Duncan stopped.

"Alright, you stay here until you hear the signal." Duncan said as he pressed some potions in her hands. "I am going to circle back and attack the Creepers from that direction."

"So what is the signal?" Violet asked.

"You'll know it when you hear it." Duncan replied with a nervous smile. "Vi, about your premonition. I mean, you could be wrong, right?"

"I wish I could tell you more, Duncan." Violet replied. "I just don't know."

"Well, then we just hope for the best." Duncan replied with a fake sense of optimism.

Duncan turned and quickly headed back around the corner. As she waited for the signal, Violet peeked across the corner. They all seemed focused on maintaining the sphere, though it was difficult to tell with their blank and emotionless faces. The one that had consumed a spirit earlier, whom Violet suspected was the leader, was slowly circling the sphere. Suddenly Duncan ran into the middle of the room and a crossbow appeared in his hand in an orange glow.

"Hey ugly." Duncan called out.

When the demons turned to face him, Duncan fired his crossbow and struck one of the demons in the chest. Without making a sound, it stumbled back as a pale white liquid oozed from the wound. The leader raised its claw and formed a ball of what looked like plasma. It threw the sphere at Duncan, though before it could hit, Duncan disappeared in an orange glow. Only then did Violet realize it was actually an astral projection.

"Now!" Duncan yelled from another side of the room.

Violet grabbed a potion and turned the corner. One of the demons turned to her and formed another plasma ball, though Violet threw her potion and the demon exploded in a blast of fire. At the same time, Duncan and Mikelle also threw potions and vanquished the other demons, leaving only the one in charge.

"Fools, you have no idea who you are dealing with." The demon telepathically spoke.

"Let me guess, the brotherhood?" Duncan remarked. "Your little operation is over."

"You will suffer for this interference." The Creeper replied.

Duncan threw a potion, though the demon destroyed it with a plasma ball. It was surprisingly fast for such a large demon. At the same time, five more demons poured out of the hole in the floor and Mikelle started throwing potions at them. Violet quickly ran over, though before she could reach her, Mikelle was struck by a plasma ball and was thrown into a shipping container.

"No!" Violet screamed as she threw up her hands.

Suddenly, time slowed down around her and everything moved in a slow motion. Violet was surprised that time did not stop completely and realized her powers were really not working properly in the dome. She quickly ran over to Mikelle and was relieved to see she was still breathing. She turned and observed the situation.

Duncan was still fighting the leader and threw his final potion as the demon threw a plasma ball. The attack collided and caused an explosion that threw both of them off their feet. Meanwhile, there were three other demons left, so Violet threw her potions and vanquished two of them. However, just as she threw the third potion, time caught up and the demon faded in the floor like a shadow.

"Violet, behind you!" Duncan suddenly screamed.

Violet turned around and saw the demon rise up behind her. She screamed as she stumbled back and fell. Duncan ran at her and held out his hand. A metallic sphere appeared in his hand and he threw it. The sphere combusted as it hit the demon and it was vanquished. Violet looked at Duncan and saw he was just as surprised as she was.

"You will not succeed." The leader of the Creepers spoke telepathically as it rose from the ground. "The brotherhood will reign eternally."

"How do we free the city?" Duncan asked.

"That information shall never be revealed." The Creeper said. "You may have beaten my brood, but you will never achieve victory."

"We'll see about that." Duncan replied as he nodded and Violet.

Violet understood what he meant and threw her final potion as he conjured another metallic sphere and threw it at the demon. When their attacks struck, it caused a violent explosion. As the final Creeper was vanquished, a shockwave was sent through the warehouse and the silvery sphere containing the spirits shattered into a million pieces. Violet smiled faintly as the freed spirits flew away in hundreds of directions.

"Are you okay?" Duncan asked as he ran over.

"I'm fine. What were those metal ball things?" Violet asked.

"I guess a new power." Duncan said with a shrug. "Now is not the time to talk about it. Come on, we need to check on Mikelle and get back to the others."

As they headed over to check on Mikelle, Violet looked at the spirits circling in freedom. Even though they could not move on yet, at least they were no longer in danger. Violet realized it was far from over, but still she was relieved. Perhaps her dream was wrong after all.

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