Chapter Nine
Strapping on her holsters and grabbing the two chained scythes, Rebekah inspected the blades before slipping them into their rightful places. She then flicked two small straps on the side of her holsters and began wrapping the chains around it when there was a knock at the door. Edynn poked her head in right as Rebekah secured the first chain and was working on the other one.
"Going out again?"
"Yep." Clicking the strap in place so the chains would stay, the female grabbed her jacket to cover her weapons. Tossing her head to the right, black waves of bangs fluttered around just above her right eye. As Rebekah adjusted her jacket, she raised her eyebrow since Edynn was still wearing her pajama bottoms and an oversized shirt. "What's up, cuz? Aren't you going to rendezvous with 'friend' tonight?"
Edynn blushed and startled fiddling with the ends of her ponytail. "Adam called to let me know he'll be on patrol tonight," she said. "We're going to meet up later. Will you be back by then?"
"Maybe. All depends on the fish out there."
Rebekah walked up to her cuz and clasped her shoulder. She then snatched the hair tie from her cousin's ponytail and messed with her hair. Edynn jerked back and protected her head now that her hair was all over the place. Smiling at the female, Rebekah saluted her and told her to take care of herself before dematerializing.
Adam raised his bow across his body in preparations to whack when Ahnger scooted back to his spot a few feet away from him. The male was being his annoying self since Adam didn't give him anything about his meetings. He knew his friend thought he was seeing one and would continue to pester him until he got what he wanted. Adam could also feel the darkness taking interest in its host's persistence. Since it was just Ahnger along with the darkness, Adam could defend himself against his friend's endless attacks.
Tonight it was them along with Mehrcy and Tohr patrolling the streets. Rhage, V, Sohrrow and Nightmahre were on the other side of town while the others had the night off. It was strange not having all the Brothers doing patrols but there hadn't been much sightings of lessers so the numbers weren't needed.
Since it seemed Ahnger didn't feel like getting whacked in the head, his eyes turned black as he surveyed the land. Mehrcy's eyes were white as well for both the light and darkness from the hosts were participating on the patrol. As for Adam, he opened his senses in hopes of catching something. All he could feel were the emotions of humans and civilians minding their own business on the streets. In his pocket he palmed his phone. The urge to see what time it was played heavily on his mind since he was looking forward to seeing Edynn. He just had to get through the patrol and he could make his way over to the coffee shop.
"You three sense anything?" asked Tohrment.
"The city stinks," Ahnger complained.
"No," his father clarified.
While father and son continued to scan the city for anything, Adam decided to further his search although he was careful. His running years taught him not to expand his senses more than need be. This was one of those habits he was glad he never outgrew.
The male surged to his feet.
It seemed the expansion helped.
His movements signaled the others he had something. Pointing his bow straight in front of him, he told Ahnger he sensed something off just ten blocks from their location. The male took in a deep breath and held it in before smiling. Ahnger's smile was his way of telling Adam he caught the scent of lessers. If it had been just the two, they would've taken off in the direction of the enemy. But Mehrcy told them to wait to notify the others of the location.
"I shall go ahead."
"Wait, Adam," ordered Tohr.
"Do not worry. If there is trouble, you will know it will be a fruitful night."
Ahnger drew back his head and laughed as the male dematerialized and appeared five blocks away from the location. He had intended in appearing three blocks away but didn't complain about the distance. It gave him a better chance in seeing what the odds looked like.
Adam managed to dematerialize again and ended inside the building just across the street from the location. Going back down on his knee, he closed his eyes and sensed the building on the other side. There weren't any humans on any of the floors since the building was closed for renovations. As for the enemy, the male sensed eleven lessers in the lobby and eleven more on the second floor while the other floors were empty.
This was the first time in a long time Adam sensed so many lessers in one location. Surely this would be an exercising night for the Brothers when he called in. However, as Adam was just about to call Ahnger to let him know of the numbers, something popped up that the male reopened his senses.
Someone else just entered the building.
That's when the guns went off.
Hearing the sound of guns firing, Adam once again attempted to dematerialize and thanked his gods when he appeared right in front of the entrance doors. Reaching for an arrow from his quiver, the male loaded the bow and opened the door to slide in. The lobby was dark except for the light coming in from the windows. Faint light did little to cover the flashing guns shooting at a dark assailant.
As Adam raised his bow to take aim at a lesser a few feet from him, a chain shot out of nowhere and wrapped itself around the enemy's neck before jerking them off their feet. Just then a female cover in black appeared out of the shadows and sliced a scythe across the lesser's throat. Unwrapping her chains from the body, she darted around in zigzags to avoid the bullets and jumped in the air to unleash her chain. The weight at the end of the chai hit a lesser in the face and spun around in a wide circle for she swung it around in her grip. As the weight found its way around a gun, the female darted up a wall and came down from above with her scythe.
Guns fired as she took cover behind a wall and ran around lobby as she unsheathed her second scythe. Halting in front of a gap, the female held tight to her scythes as she began a strange series of steps with her chains swinging in perfect arcs around her body making contact against the lessers. Both weights and chains either bashed the enemy in the faces or disarmed them of their weapons which allowed the female to get in close for the killing blow.
"Bloody hell."
That had to be Edynn's cousin.
Shaking off his shock, Adam jumped from his hiding spot and released the arrow to take out the lessers approaching from the top. The female he knew as Rebekah glanced over her shoulders but continued her swinging performance. That was fine with Adam as long as she got out before the Brothers appeared.
Using his senses to cover his blind spots, the male reloaded his bow as he sidestepped the bullets and fired his arrows at the lessers. Adam ducked without any warning when a chains shot right behind him and struck one lesser in the throat in front of him. Rebekah followed her chain by jumping over the male in one clean leap as Adam recovered by shooting an arrow at the enemy behind him from above. He then spun around on his heel when the female rotated to bring one of her chains around to attack the group.
This time Adam loaded three arrows at once and took out three lessers above following with two more arrows to take out the last two. Those that remained from the upper floors and lobby were being taken care of Rebekah who continued to swing and slice away at the enemy. All Adam could do was cover her by shooting arrows right past her shoulders when she went low enough. The last lesser attempted to flee and Adam had him in his view when Rebekah threw out her chain and caught the enemy at the leg. Jerking the chain back tight, the lesser tripped and fell on the ground. The female took two steps before doing a front flip and landing on top of the lesser. With one powerful thrust, she sent half of her scythe through the enemy's back and ripped it out.
Adam flipped his bow around in his hand as Rebekah wiped off her scythe. Tossing her head aside for her bangs to flips back above her right eye, she turned around to face the male as she slipped her scythes in their holsters. Her eyes darted at the male and at his bow as she wrapped one chain around her arm before strapping it to her holster and started working on the second one.
"I'm guessing you're Adam," Rebekah huffed.
"Aye. And you Rebekah. Edynn has mentioned you on more than one occasion."
"And what has my adorable cuz told you?"
The male leaned down to remove an arrow from a lesser and placed it back in the quiver. "That you should not be here," he answered. "My friends will be here any second. I do not believe your cousin will enjoy it when we both call her of your detainment."
"Wow. Edynn was right. You really are a gentleman."
Taking one look around the building, Rebekah gave Adam one more look and chuckled as she dematerialized. Two seconds later Ahnger and the others appeared behind Adam. The male took a deep breath and faced the group with a coy smile. Vishous's group had joined the others so they all looked at the mess behind Adam.
"What the hell?" laughed Ahnger.
"Tis seems someone beat us to the hunt," Adam explained. "I only got the stragglers. I apologize for the inconvenience."
Edynn rotated her coffee cup in her hand as she looked out the window. Her face lit up when she saw Adam appear with the crowd crossing with his case over his shoulder. This time the female had ordered his coffee in advance when he called to let her know he was on his way.
Walking out of the cluster, Adam maneuvered his way around to the front door and waited for a couple to exit before entering. Edynn was about to wave at him when she noticed the male looked different. It was difficult considering how he always wore his shades but she could tell by how his shoulders were hunched over and how stiff his body looked. Even when he took a seat she could tell something was off.
Right as Edynn was about to ask if he was okay, the male removed his shades and pinched his eyes. He held the position for a while that he looked like a statue. Sighing and rubbing his eyes, Adam placed his shades back in place and looked up at Edynn. He then chuckled to himself and leaned back in a relaxing posture.
"I just met your cousin."
It was Edynn's turn to go stiff. If her hair wasn't in its French braid, she was sure it would be sticking up all over the place.
"Do not worry. She left before the Brothers appeared. I must say she is very talented with her weapons. Please pass along the message if it is not much trouble."
"So you, um, saw her fight?"
"Aye. Most careless of her to not check the area for us. Please pass that along as well."
Edynn dropped her head. She knew her cousin could look out for herself but still couldn't help worry about her. Tonight would've been a close one if Adam didn't know about her. If it had been another Brother, Edynn feared they would question her about her nightly activities. Then there would be more conflict between her and her family.
Then Adam would realize Rebekah was part of the glymera. It would only take a second to make the connection that Edynn was part of the aristocratic class and the relation between the two would end. The realization hit Edynn in a way she didn't like.
"Are you sure no one saw her?"
"Aye. Your cousin is save."
All Edynn could do to steady her nerves was sigh and take a drink from her coffee. She chocked on it when Adam chuckled to himself again has he drunk his coffee. The male must've found it entertaining in meeting her cousin when she was fully armed and in the heat of battle.
Since the two didn't want to talk about their surprising night, they settle with their usual small talk which led to them either laughing or blushing from embarrassment on the topic. There were times when they would talk about their past. Edynn always found it interesting when Adam spoke of his family. The male had a way of getting excited whenever he spoke of her grandfather and had a fondness when he spoke of his mother. Edynn laughed when he told of times when his grandfather taught him to hunt and Adam would swallow back a laugh when she told him of times when a little Edynn had been the adventurous type before growing up.
It was a nice night and the two were happily talking with one another that they didn't notice parked across from the coffee shop was a truck. Sitting in the passenger side was Rebekah who watched her little cuz laugh like she did when they were children. Witnessing firsthand how good this Adam was for Edynn, Rebekah lowered the seat back and kicked up her feet.
"I think I'm good."
"Got anything else planned for tonight or you going to head out?"
Rebekah tossed her head aside to look at Sam in the driver's seat. A smile curled on her lips as she stared at the human.
"I can think of something."
Sam looked over at her and replicated the smile.
"I think I like where this is going."