Ten

The shotgun went off with a deafening bang!

Time slowed down as I turned. Beth stood behind me with wide, terrified eyes. Something struck the top of my shoulder, but I was already grabbing Beth and swinging her around the corner. Feet stumbled and the two of us crashed onto the floor.

There was no pain, but I could feel heat blooming along my shoulder, followed by wetness. I ignored it as I grabbed Beth again and helped her to her feet. The pair of us darted down the corridor as a voice rose up from behind us.

“We know all about you, Gerald Umbra! This sick pit will be your tomb, and the tomb of every abomination here!”

I stumbled along, trying to keep my feet under me. I had no idea where my mother, Aunt Lily and Dana were, but the shotgun blast should have alerted them. I prayed to the dark gods that they were sensible enough to find the hidden passageways, and find cover until we could regroup.

Beth was breathing fast. Her eyes were wild with fear and her hand clutched to mine. I tried to ignore the dripping heat from my shoulder. I didn’t dare look at it, fearing it would weaken my resolve. We had to be safe first. Beth had to be safe.

I slammed my wounded shoulder into a nearby door. Pain exploded and I grunted. I wasn’t thinking, I knew I could only act. The two of us spilled into the room and I rushed to a bookshelf. I lifted my right hand and began pushing a several books, completing a sequence.

The shelf silently unlocked and parted from the wall. I took hold and opened it further.

“Get in,” I hissed to Beth.

My cousin didn’t hesitate. She rushed into the dark corridor behind the bookshelf. I followed, pulling the case closed behind me and hearing the familiar click of it locking into place.

I let out a small, relieved exhale as I turned and followed Beth. She had slowed down the further we went in. I reached out and took her hand into mine. The two of us rushed into the darkness.

My thoughts swirled amid the chaos of the moment. My family was no stranger to hunters. The mansion was filled with secret entrances, rooms, and passageways. It was never a question if hunters would find us, only when. I was brought up to be ready for anything, and I was prepared for such difficult times.

I glanced over to Beth as the darkness parted from a small light on the other side of the hidden corridor. Her shock had bled away and a deeper knowing took over.

I led the way to a small door, a small light surrounding the edges. I tapped at a keypad next to the doorknob. A thick lock slid back and the door opened. I pushed my way in and Beth followed.

I glanced around the hidden armory. A large glass cabinet stood against one wall. Inside were a variety of rifles, machineguns, and shotguns. Next to it was a small cabinet with a row of handguns and pistols. To my left was a small desk with several screens on it. They blinked to life, the internal camera system activating when the armory door code was entered.

I sat down in the seat and looked at the screens when I heard Beth gasp behind me.

“Gerald, you’re bleeding.”

I glanced at my shoulder and sighed. The fabric over my left shoulder had several small holes in it. Blood soaked into the shirt and I could see my bloody pulse with every pump of my heart.

“Med kit is by the cabinet,” I said to Beth as I turned my attention back to the camera feeds.

I heard Beth move behind me as I drank in what was happening. The two hunters moved cautiously through the second-floor corridor. They aimed their shotguns with cool confidence. The male took the lead, the female behind and watching his back. They nudged the door to the room we entered and peered in.

“They’re fucking amateurs,” I growled.

Beth was beside me. She pulled out a medical sand pack from the kit. She tore my shirt open first and then tore open the sand pack. She poured the contents onto my wound and it stung like a hot poker. The wound puckered and sealed. I let out a small grunt before Beth took out a bandage and began to wrap the wound.

“But, for amateurs, how did they slip past all our eyes and ears in town?” I asked out loud, trying to understand how they made it this far.

The town of Whitmore was very much in my family’s pocket. The mayor, sheriff and many others, were paid well to guard our family from outside forces. To reach my estate, they had to go through town to reach the road here. Either they paid someone off, which seemed unlikely since they arrived with shotguns and simple protection symbols on their trench coats, or they slowly and painfully made their way around the town and climbed the fence along the unused sections of the estate. I was willing to bet they went the long way around.

Something caught my eye in one of the feeds, the hem of my mother’s silky dress as it moved out of frame.

“Shit!” I said and stood up.

Beth backed off as I turned and moved to the glass cabinet. I punched in the code to unlock it and the glass door popped open. I grabbed an AR-15 and pulled it out. I hoisted it up to look it over when pain and weakness surged along my left arm. I looked down at the bandage and slivers or red leaking into it. I wasn’t able to hold it up and use it effectively at this rate.

Beth grabbed the rifle from my hand. She lifted it up with one hand and grabbed a magazine from the cabinet with the other. She slapped it in, cleared the barrel, and switched off the safety.

“Can you hold a pistol?” Beth asked as she seemed ready for war.

I nodded and moved to the next cabinet. I opened it and took hold of a Glock 19. My left arm was weak, but I had enough strength to load a magazine, clear it, and switch off the safety.

“There is a passage way that can take us around. We will be behind them, but we have to be careful. We can’t go in guns blazing because the rest of the family will be hiding or possibly nearby. I rather wound them so we can interrogate them.”

“Shoot to wound,” Beth nodded and grabbed some plastic handcuffs off a nearby table.

I nodded as pain pulsed. I beckoned with my head and we made our way out of the secret armory and back into the passageway. I took the lead, Beth close behind. We made our way along the corridor and turned at a thin intersection. We made our way down the dimly lit corridor, my heart hammering in my chest.

I knew this was dangerous, but I wasn’t going to let those hunters hurt my family.

We reached a dead end. I pressed my ear to the thin wall and listened. I could hear small whispers, most likely the hunters talking to each other. They sounded far away, but I knew sound could play tricks. I could feel Beth near me, ready for my command.

A familiar voice touched the air and my heart stopped.

“What do we have here?” my mother’s voice was loud and haughty.

My body moved without my permission. I slammed my right shoulder against the wall and the hidden door opened wide. I stepped out into the corridor, pistol up. Time slowed down as I took in the scene before me.

The two hunters had their backs to me. Past them, my mother’s seven-foot-tall frame stood. She had a wicked smile and a dark gleam in her eyes. Her stance was relaxed and calm.

Shotguns rose up and triggers were pulled. Two loud blasts filled the corridor. I watched with haunted eyes as both blasts struck my mother in the stomach and she stumbled back.

My finger squeezed the trigger. The world fell into instances as my pistol went off in rapid succession. Light flashed as I marched toward the hunters. My gaze blurred as the symbols on their coats played with my mind. They were using protection runes. The magic caused my aim to be off. Bullets struck the wall and floor as they pumped their shotguns, turned, and aimed at me.

I saw my life flash before my eyes before I heard a roar to my right. I glanced to the side, Beth stepping past me and her AR-15 roaring like a primal beast. I glanced back to the hunters as their protection runes would have a harder time protecting them from a much larger spray of bullets. The two hunters couldn’t get a shot off as they both dove to the side and into an open room.

The smell of cordite filled the corridor as Beth and I rushed ahead. We reached the doorway the hunters dove for cover, ready to spray the room with bullets, when a tall figure touched our senses.

I watched in stunned silence as my aunt reached down and grabbed the male hunter. The moment she touched him; smoke rose up from her hands. Fingers curled into the coat as she lifted him up and snatched the shotgun from his grip. The man cried out before my aunt slammed him into a wall and cracked it.

Dana snatched the shotgun out of the dazed female hunter before pulling back her foot and slamming it into the female hunter’s face. Her head snapped back and she moaned as she was on her back. Dana aimed the shotgun down at her, her eyes filled with deadly menace.

“Gerald, check on your mother. We have these vermin,” Aunt Lily smiled evilly.

Beth stepped in as I turned and bolted out of the room. I charged down the corridor, seeing my mother on her back and black blood oozing from her stomach. I fell to my knees with wide eyes. My mother stared up, her eyes and body unmoving.

Panic stormed through me until she turned her eyes to me and smiled.

“My son, you worry too much,” my mother purred.

I looked down at her stomach and watched in relief as the black blood crawled back into her stomach and the wounds closed on their own. In a blink, she was completely healed.

I took hold of my mother’s hand and pulled her so she could sit up. She looked into my eyes with concern and loving warmth.

“It was only a matter of time before some of the hunters would be bold enough to attack our family.”

I nodded. “We have to interrogate them before we dispose of the bodies,” I said coldly.

“We will find out more, but they can be useful in other ways,” my mother said with a sinister smile.