And as it was, she’d finally realized she didn’t need him. She was okay on her own. She was actually more than okay. But she wasn’t really alone, was she? She could have Ronan at her side if she wanted.
Truth be told, she did want that, despite his decision to take the key. He needed it. To get a cure to his cambionism. She understood that desire to fix who he was. How many times had she wished she could fix the defects in herself? But what she wanted to say to Ronan was that he was fine the way he was. The demon blood inside him didn’t alter who he truly was. She wished she could show him how incredible he was, as is.
She made her way around the barn and was about to head up to the farmhouse when something flashed at her out of the corner of her eye. Without looking directly, she turned her head a little, as if studying the tree next to her.
There it was again. A flash of metal. A gun, she suspected. Someone was hunkered down in the tall grass in the field beyond the compound. They were under attack.
Ivy ran the rest of the way to the house, bursting through the door and locking it behind her. She found Quinn in the kitchen at the table going over a map of the town.
“They’re here. We’re under attack.”
“Are you sure?” he asked, already folding up the map.
“Deadly sure.”
He nodded to the others in the kitchen. “All right, arm yourselves. Everyone to their points. Just like we planned.” He looked at Gloria. “Get the children in the cellar.”
Gloria ran out of the room already calling for the kids that were in and around the camp.
Quinn tossed Ivy a shotgun. “You’re with me.”
“We should split up. I’m a good shot. You can use me to our advantage.”
He looked at her for a moment and she thought maybe he was going to argue with her, but he finally nodded. “You’re right. You aren’t a little girl anymore.”
“I haven’t been for a long while.”
“Okay, take the west point. Bill, go with Ivy. Take three others with you.”
Before they separated, Ivy grabbed Quinn’s arm. “Even though I’m still angry at you, I love you, you damn idiot.”
He smiled and kissed her quick on top of the head, like he used to when she was little. “Love you, too, pain in my ass.”
Pumping a round into the chamber, Ivy looked at Bill and the others. “Let’s go kill some demons.”
It didn’t take the demons long before they stormed the farmhouse. But like the cowards they were, they sent in their possessed counterparts. Regular people who had no clue what they were doing. Puppets for the demons to play with.
For the townspeople with Ivy, it was difficult for them to watch as their loved ones and neighbors sprang at them from the tall grass firing rifles or wielding pipes and bats that they would no doubt use to bash their heads in. So for that reason, Quinn had given every group tranquilizer guns as well as regular weapons.
At a distance it proved difficult to tell who was a demon and who was just possessed, so Ivy just started shooting everyone she could see with tranquilizer darts. One by one the attackers fell. They would be out for at least twelve hours, which would give Quinn time to go out and do a mass exorcism.
The first wave came and went, with about ten people charging toward the west corner where Ivy, Bill and a couple of others were stationed behind two beat-up pickup trucks. But she knew that was just the beginning. She knew an all-out offensive when she saw one, and this was it. The demons were sending out everything they had.
Ivy reloaded her shotgun and the tranquilizer, her heart sinking. She glanced at Bill. “We only have five darts left.”
He sighed. “What do you think we should do?”
“I don’t know. We can’t really start shooting townspeople. We could kill someone.”
“We need someone up front to take them out with a bat or something as they advance.”
She nodded. Made sense. Unless of course the possessed had a gun; a bat wasn’t going to stop the bullet.
“I’ll go,” Bill said.
“Are you sure?”
He nodded. “I know these people. If I don’t recognize someone I’ll be more discerning.” He lifted his gun.
“Okay, good luck.”
With a nod to her and the other two, Bill slid around the side of one of the trucks, and then ran across the yard to a spot near the house behind some hay bales.
He got in position just in time for another wave of people to jump out of the tall grass and run screaming and grunting across the gravel driveway, brandishing all manner of weapons. Ivy picked up the tranquilizer and waited to see how Bill fared. If she needed to, she would put down anyone that got past him and hope for the best.
She held her breath as two men holding tire irons rushed toward Bill like madmen. She wouldn’t have been surprised to see foam spilling out between their lips. The looks in their eyes were ones of pure madness. As they approached, getting closer and closer, she picked up the dart gun and set her sights.
Then it all went wrong.
She lowered the dart gun and cursed up a storm. “Son of a bitch!”
“What?” The guy called Stewart or Chuck, she couldn’t really remember which, grabbed her arm. His eyes were as wide as dollar coins.
But she didn’t have time to answer him. She swatted his hand away, and then pushed him to the back of the truck. “Move.” He did, so did the other guy. They had no choice really, because she was forcing them forward.
“What’s going on?” the guy asked. “Did something happen to Bill?”
“Yeah, he switched sides.”
Both their mouths gaped.
Ivy ignored them and surveyed the situation. They had to move from their position or risk getting pinned down. She saw an outbuilding about ten yards to their right, but they had to cross the open yard to get there. It was a risk they had to take because staying where they were was going to get them killed.
She grabbed Stewart/Chuck by the shirt lapels. “Look, we need to cross the yard to that building. Can you do that?”
He nodded, but she still wasn’t sure he was listening. He had that glazed-over shiny look in his eyes. But she couldn’t wait to see if he truly got it or not. They had to move now.
“On my count.”
They both looked at her expectantly.
“One, two...”
Stewart/Chuck didn’t wait until three. He dashed across the yard. Sounds of gunfire exploded around them. And Stewart/Chuck went down. The other guy had been right behind him. Now he turned to dive back, but it was too late. He got nicked by a bullet in the leg and collapsed, grabbing at his knee and screaming wildly.
Ivy swore again, and was about to rush out and see if she could pull the injured man behind the truck, but the press of metal into the back of her head made her stop.
“Drop your weapons.” It was Bill behind her, stabbing the gun into her skull.
She tossed the shotgun down.
“And the tranq gun.”
She pulled that out of her waistband and tossed it to the ground. “You’re a traitor to your species, Bill. How does that feel?”
