FORTRESS – PART TWO

The house went eerily quiet. Sarah stepped carefully, hearing only the slightest creaks coming from the floorboards as she followed Alcide through the house. He'd slowed down after his initial sprint in after he'd seen there were no immediate dangers. Now he was following the scents, likely the newest one which would hopefully lead them to the room that the Newlins were hiding in, their 'discussion' quiet since they'd heard the front door burst open.

She reached for Alcide when he slowed to walk beside her, her fingers running through the thick hair on the back of his head to let him know that they needed to be cautious. They didn't know what the Newlins were packing, what kinds of weapons they had stashed in a house made of silver.

Sarah stopped for a moment, reaching for the wooden frame of a door. She coated her finger in flame, the intensity of the heat causing the paint to bubble and crack until she could pull the white flecks away, a low curse breaking through her lips.

She nudged Alcide's back leg with her foot, drawing his attention as she removed more of the thin pain, revealing delicate silver wire laced into the wood, hidden beneath the paint, the coating not enough to shield a vampire from it.

Alcide growled – likely cursing as she had – before he nodded his head down the corridor, urging her Sarah to follow. They crept down the hall, stopping by a door that was different from the others, the paint darker. They knew that underneath there would be silver; when Sarah ran her fingers over the paint, she felt the slightest bumps beneath her fingertips, not like the uneven grain of wood, but of the careful weave of silver. When she bent down, she could even feel it on the floorboards, under a layer of thick, dark lacquer that disguised most of the shine.

Even if Sarah were to simply invite Eric and Pam in, she still needed to find a way to make the house safe for them. It would be useless having them inside when they could be incapacitated simply by touching a wall.

For now, she and Alcide would just have to see if they could draw the Newlins from the house.

Hopefully kicking and screaming.

Sarah ran her hand over the door again, knowing there was something different about it, though she wasn't quite sure what it was. She heated the paint again, peeling the strips away, seeing silver. She clenched her fist as she looked past the shining metal; the entire door was, at the very least, layered with metal, completely sealing off the room. She guessed that there would be at least one bar across it on the other side to reinforce it. Against a vampire, it probably wouldn't hold that well if there was a way around the silver.

For a human and a werewolf, it was going to be difficult.

'How are we going to do this?' Alcide asked as he transformed, towering over her.

'I don't know,' she admitted, drawing a whirlwind of air into her hand, hoping that she could help use the pressure to force the door open, but the heavy barrier only creaked slightly. She reached up, running a hand through her hair before she froze, clawing at the thought that tried to whiz through her mind. 'We could hear them talking before they knew we were breaking into the house. That means that not all of the room is reinforced.'

'I still don't see how we're going to get in.'

'I do, and it will give us the element of surprise.' She went back down the corridor to the room next to the one that the Newlins were hiding in. It was not locked, so she went straight through, going to the wall. She focused her power, sending a thin but powerful burst of water at the wall, paint flaking as the plaster fell from behind the layer of silver to reveal bricks.

'We're going through the wall?'

'Yes.'

'How?'

'I'm going to use a very high pressured, concentrated burst of water, acting like a saw. Ever heard of a watersaw?'

'Where the hell did you learn that?'

'Burn Notice.'

She held up her hand, sending the stream of water at the plaster, watching as it cut through the wire and brick as she guided it in an arc. It took a little longer than she'd hoped, but soon there was a section large enough for Alcide's large frame to fit through. With a gust of air, the wall fell in a chunk with a crash, a scream sounding as she and Alcide burst into the room.

Sarah followed him as he transformed, her hands alight with flame as her gaze locked onto the Newlins, her eyes narrowing when she saw the weapons that they had strapped over their body, silver knives and even guns that she would bet were filled with silver bullets or even wooden ones.

'You know, for a Reverend, you are rather bloodthirsty,' she said. 'Ever heard of thou shall not kill? You know, the ten commandments?'

'God commands that we do not kill humans. Vampires and other horrendous creatures should be eliminated.'

'Funny, I don't remember that being specified,' she said, cocking her head to the side as Alcide growled in agreement. 'Besides, vampires are still humans. They've just evolved a little faster. They still function, are still living beings, heartbeat or not.'

'They don't have hearts,' Sarah Newlin spat, suddenly so tough now that she had a gun to hide behind.

'Then how did you plan on killing them? You were just going to aim for the chest and hope that you punctured a lung? Effective, considering how much vampires rely on breathing.'

'Do not mock us.'

'I'll mock you all I like,' she said, throwing a few ball of flame at the supplies around the room to melt the silver blades and to turn any wood to ash, though she was careful to avoid any ammunition. Heat filled to room, but she stifled it, containing each fire within a whirlwind of air. She stepped forward but remained careful, wary of their weapons as she said, 'you came after me and my best friend and you kidnapped my boyfriend. You should be happy that I'm mocking you and not burning your flesh from your bones an inch at a time. Not that I can't promise Eric won't just flay you alive.'

'Eric can't get inside.'

She smiled. 'That doesn't mean that you can't go out.'

Sarah and Alcide shot forward, ducking low to avoid the first bullets. Alcide went straight for Steve's ankles, biting deep until the Reverend howled in pain and fell on his back with another cry. Sarah went for Mrs Newlin, clocking her in the chin with a fist of ice, but the woman was apparently tougher than she looked and acted because even though the hit knocked her head back, she didn't drop. Instead, she used her shotgun to crack Sarah on the shoulder with the butt of the handle so hard Sarah felt something pop.

Mrs Newlin grabbed Sarah's arm, twisting it behind her back to slam her against the wall. She heard Alcide whimper and knew that her arm was already injured. There was nothing she could do to make it any better, so she might as well make it worse.

Sarah sent Mrs Newlin flying back with a burst of air, a cry wrenching from her lips as her arm dislocated.

Eric slammed his fist deep into the dirt before he continued to pace before the cottage, every muscle taught as he fought his anger.

'Did that help?' Pam asked as she examined her fingernails, picking at any dirt beneath them absently as she waited, though she couldn't quite hide the concern she felt. Sarah was her friend, after all.

'Yes,' he growled, his ears trained to the conversation happening within. He could hear Sarah, hear the anger in her voice, could feel it coming through his connection with her. He couldn't stop the smile that twitched over his lips, knew that he would definitely consider flaying the bastards alive.

He stopped right in front of the porch, nearly stepping up when he herd the fight begin, but it was the Reverend that seemed to be experiencing pain. When Alcide cried out, he tensed, nearly stepping up but resisting. The werewolf could take care of himself, but when Sarah screamed, when her pain radiated through him, he shot forward, flying over the porch toward the door, remembering too late that he couldn't enter. He seemed to slam into the invisible shield, all momentum stopped as if there were thick glass panes in the doorway.

He hissed when his foot met the porch and silver but it did not stay there long. Arms wrapped around him, lifting him before Pam sprinted off the porch before his skin could come further in contact with the metal.

She set him on his feet, releasing him so that he could stand before the porch again. 'Rushing won't help. We still can't enter,' Pam said.

'I have to get in,' Eric roared, slamming his fist into the ground again.

'There's nothing you can do.'

'I have to save her, I have to–'

'You have to wait.'

'I can't.'

'You don't have a choice.'

Eric glared at her before he continued to pace, vision turning red as tears began to fall.

Sarah kicked Mrs Newlin while she was down before she sent a gust of air at Steve, knocking the Reverend into a burning pile of wooden stakes, though unfortunately he didn't meet any of the pointed ends. She rushed to Alcide's side, rolling him onto his back.

'Alcide,' she said, tapping him on the cheek, his skin warm beneath her hand. He'd turned back into his human form. Not good. 'Alcide, come on, I need your help.'

She looked to the wound on his side. It was deep, blood oozing in steady streams to coat the floor. He would bleed out; his tawny skin was already paling. 'I'm sorry, but it's the only way I can help.'

Flame swirled above the palm of her hand, forming a ball. She held it above his wound, watching it float before she lowered it to his skin. She held him down using the pressure in the air, the cry that wrenched from his throat brining tears to her eyes, but she kept the flame burning until the entire ball was diminished, leaving only blood on his skin around the cauterized wound. Eric would have to heal him later. She reached for his cheek, running her fingers along his scruffy jaw before she faced to regrouping Newlins.

Her fist clenched until her knuckles turned white, her throbbing shoulder seeming to numb as she doused the flames in the room and concentrated on the cause of her anger. They stared at her, their weapons raised as she met their gazes.

'It's over,' the Reverend said, shotgun level with her heart. 'You're going to die here, and when the sun comes up in a couple hours, we're going to leave and hunt down your vamp and stake him.'

'No. I see a very different ending to this night,' she said. Her lips twisted into a smile as the Newlins jumped, frightened by the quake that reverberated through the cottage. 'It involves you burning alive.'

The Newlins glanced to each other as another quake rippled through the foundations. Sarah brought her hand up. The throb retuned to her dislocated shoulder and she felt her uninjured arm shake as she drew on more power than she'd ever called. Her power coiled around her arm before it reached to the world around it. The cottage began to shake more frequently and more violently until the quaking was constant, the light fixtures rattling above their heads.

'What are you doing?' the Reverend asked, reaching for his wife as a shelf fell over, scattering silver and wooden bullets.

She ignored them, focusing, feeling the culmination of her power, a smile twitching over her lips as glass shattered all around and floorboards broke, tearing at the silver wire as dirt flooded through the cottage, covering the floor and climbing the walls.

'What are you doing?' the Reverend shouted, eyes darting. 'Why are you destroying this place?'

'I'm not destroying it,' she said, raising her voice above the noise of the earth as it shifted beneath them. 'I'm merely redecorating so that it has a more friendly vibe.'

'What?' Mrs Newlin asked before her eyes widened. It seemed she was quicker than her husband.

'Eric, Pam,' Sarah called over the roar of the moving dirt and still more breaking glass and floorboards as she tore the house apart, 'Please come inside.'

She saw a blur of movement and watched as Eric sank his fangs deep into Sarah Newlin's neck, draining a few gulps of her blood before he dropped her, knocking her out with a quick fist to the chin. He reached for the screaming Steve, wrapping his fingers tight around the Reverend's neck to lift him off of his feet. 'Sorry, but it seems the Fellowship of the Sun will have to find new psychopaths to lead their bloodthirsty gang.'

'This is not the end, you freak,' Steve choked, clawing at Eric's wrist. 'One day, your kind will be wiped from the earth and this planet will be restored to its rightful owner, the humans, the children of God.'

Eric brought him closer. 'I'll show you just how wrong you were when I see you burning in the fiery pits of hell,' he said, nearly laughing when the Reverend's eyes bludged. 'Ah, you know that's where you're going, don't you? You deny it, but a part of you deep down recognises that you're rampage against vampires is wrong.'

'I have no regrets.'

Eric tightened his grip, his fangs flashing. 'Oh trust me, Reverend. You will.'

Next update: Tuesday the 5th of October.