Chapter 107: Battle

The ground vibrated. I lifted my head from my napping place on the books. The ground vibrated again. Shouts issued through the opening of the study door at the top of the stairs. Cherry rose, looking very concerned.
"What is it?" I asked.
"We're under attack."
I jumped to my feet and rushed upstairs. The metal stairs clinked under my short heeled boots. When I reached the top, brothers and sisters rushed down the halls. Most of them had guns out.
I snagged one man's arm. "Where's Liam?" I asked.
"Leading the charge." He pulled away and hurried off.
I exited the hallway. The bar was in complete chaos. Guns covered the tables. Brothers were checking in and leaving with some of the biggest guns I had ever seen. I slipped between them and upstairs. I laid my hand on the top of the pile of energy crystals I had filled the night before and sucked in their power. I felt tingly and excited. I took a deep breath. I needed to keep a level head. This was a real battle.
I came back down the stairs. A female giant held a handgun out to me.
"Beloved," she said. "For you."
"Thanks." I accepted the handgun. I check the safety and then put it in the back of my jeans under my shirt. The weight of it pressed against my back. Lanie had been trained to use all sorts of guns, but it still felt a bit unfamiliar.
Cole appeared. He held an automatic rifle as he came straight towards me. His normally easy smile on his clean-shaven face seemed forced.
"Beloved," he said as he stopped in front of me.
"Cole." I nodded in greeting.
"I have something for you. We were going to give it to you tonight with a big party, but I think it might come in useful now." He held out a leather jacket in my size with the Ardor Brother's crest on the back of it.
I accepted it running my fingers over the embroidery. "Wow, thank you."
"It's from all of us. It has a Kevlar built into it. Normally it's supposed to protect from falls from a bike, but it also comes in handy with light shrapnel. Not a direct hit, though."
"Okay, I'll be careful." I shrugged the coat on. It fit like it was made for me. Just like all the clothes Cherry had gotten me. "Can you take me to Liam?"
Cole held out his hand. I accepted. He led me through the mass of busy people. This must be the support. Probably things like suppliers and medics, maybe even spotters. I wasn't sure how war worked, but it seemed like they were.
We climbed the stairs to the garage. Corrugated metal covered the normally open garage doors. I saw they were reinforced with steel. Men stood at the windows and the doors with their guns poking through. Gunfire filled the air. I fought the urge to cover my ears. Liam was in the center of the garage, standing at a table. Four orcs stood around him. I recognized Granite and Jamie immediately. They must be his captains. They were looking down at a map that had pieces of popcorn all over it. He was pointing and speaking, but I couldn't hear what he was saying over the gunfire. They looked up when I approached.
"Beloved, you shouldn't be up here," Jamie said.
"Cole, take her back down. Protect her," Liam ordered.
I shook my head. "Please. I'm responsible for this mess. Let me help."
"No, beloved. I am. I didn't take Kline back."
"You didn't? Where is he?"
"In another safe house."
"Why?"
Liam balled his fists. "He knows things. The Grange was going to attack whether we gave him back or not. Once you rejected their deal, this was inevitable."
I frowned. "Okay, I see your point. But let me help."
"Fine. Go upstairs. Maybe you can do something from the balcony."
I nodded and rushed away. I kind of felt like he was just getting me out of the way, but that was fine. I had no experience in actual battles. Maybe from the balcony I could pick people off or something. Cole caught up with me. I am sure Liam sent him to protect me.
I reached the loft. Kezia and Amy cowered behind the kitchen counter in the corner. The lights were off, but the sunlight poured through the windows. I crept closer to the large floor-length windows. Several brothers and sisters were out on the balcony with rifles. Clear shots rang out. More came from overhead in the bedroom windows. I crouched low and joined them on the patio.
They nodded as I joined them. I nodded back. I took a quick look over the balcony before I ducked back down. It was an army made up of all sorts of creatures. They were blasting bullets and bits of magic at the building. Fires raged on the lawn. Screams and shouts issued in between gunfire. Bodies littered the ground.
My stomach flipped, followed by a round of nausea. This was war. This was what it looked like, and I was sitting here in the middle of it. Hell, I was the leader of it. They were after me, and everyone else here was trying to keep that from happening.
"Are you okay, Beloved?" Cole asked.
I nodded my head, trying to will myself to be. People were dying. My people were going to die if I didn't do something quick. I couldn't just give myself or Kezia up. That would just bring worse things. Isabell would be back, and if she took over all the factions in the northwest, we wouldn't be any better off. I'd seen her in power before.
"Reveal," I commanded.
The night sword appeared in my hand. I sliced open my right hand and began drawing on the cement of the balcony. The brothers and sisters around me gave me suspicious, almost scared looks, but they kept popping over and shooting when the opportunity arose. Cole squatted down at the edge of the doorway and watched me.
I drew a big circle in blood then added the runes. This circle was made up of many circles and lines. When I finished, I sent energy into it. The gunfire stopped. No one's gun's worked.
"What's going on?" Asked one woman as she checked her rife.
"There's nothing wrong with the gun. I just stopped the ability for things to go through the air."
Her frightened eyes turned to me. "Why would you do that?"
"So we don't get hurt. We're safe behind these walls."
"But now we have no way to kill them."
I kept my eyes down on the circle. "Yes, we do."
I drew on that inner energy inside of me. I wasn't going to let The Grange or the darkness take out my people. I pushed the inner energy out to my fingertips. My pink magic wings flared to life. They fluttered, and I rose above them. Cole reached for me, but I flew out of his hold.
Down below, eyes turned to me. Eyes of the enemy. In the very back, I spotted Mila. Her ice-blue eyes followed my ascent above her people. The crowd below tried to fire or hurl magic at me, but nothing left their hands.
Mila stepped through. The crowd parted for her.
"I see you've learned a few new tricks."
I stayed above the crowd.
"Why don't you join us? As you can see, we are the bigger faction. We have more power than your little brotherhood. You protect empaths and mathematicians, powerless orcs, and null part-humans. Do you really expect to win this battle?"
I didn't bother answering her. I knew she was just baiting me. I whispered my command. Both swords slid down my arms and into my hands. They flared to their full size. The Aurora Sword glinted in the sunlight gleaming with white fire while the Night Sword absorbed all the light around it with is its inky clouds.
"Oh, you want to fight? No, problem. My followers will die for me. In the end, you will be mine."
I flew in a spiral down at her. She vanished in a cloud of dark smoke. Her soldiers sprang towards me but were cut by my spiral of blades. My feet hit the ground. I hacked and slashed, letting the swords take control. They were living extensions of me, but even more than that, they had their own souls. They took the lead. They killed. I was their weapon.
Screams rose as my swords cut through them. I realized that others had joined the battle. The garage doors were open. Brothers and sisters in leather jackets fought along with me as we cut through the army of claws and fangs. Together we were united against an enemy line. I was finally a part of them.