Shurod and the blood rock prophecy book 2
Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Back at the prison gates, Jada and his two angels were standing out in front of the massive gates looking up at them. Millions of demons behind them were watching and waiting for them to make their next move. A portal opened up in the air and Nostros and Roebarg flew in and landed beside them. Jada turned his head and looked at both of them.

“Report!” Roebarg demanded firmly.

Jada turned his head, looked at the gate again, and clutched the blood rock in his hand. The other two angels looked at each other with a puzzled expression.

“I said REPORT Jada.”

Jada took a deep breath and said calmly, “This is it.” He turned to Roebarg and smiled.

Roebarg smiled back at Jada and fumbled with the medallion around his neck.

Jada made a weird face pushing his eyebrows downward when Roebarg smiled back at him, “You shouldn’t really do that.”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

Jada pointed at his face, “The whole smiling thing, its not very becoming of you.”

“SILENCE!” That was the second time that someone said something about his smiling and it was annoying him.

Nostros smiled at Jada’s comment but out of view of Roebarg. Jada leaned over, looked past Roebarg, and smiled at Nostros. Nostros quickly changed his facial expression and Roebarg glared at him with two of his eyes then focused his attention back to Jada, “What do we do now?”

“We place the blood rock into the keyhole of the gates.”

“Well get on with it, what are you waiting on?”

“Lucifer, he is the only one that can place the blood rock into the keyhole. He was the one that built the gates before the great fall.”

“What do you mean?”

“At the beginning of time God had Lucifer build this prison, but Lucifer didn’t know what it was for. God in his infinite knowledge and wisdom knew that Lucifer and many like him were going to turn against him in the future.” Jada bowed his head. “This is why he had Lucifer build the prison because he knew that it would be done correctly and hold whatever was within the walls. Lucifer wanted to please the creator of the universe so much that he made it impenetrable. Only with the blood of the Son of God combined with Lucifer angelic makeup could the prison gates be opened. He is the actual key to opening the gate.”

“Satan built this prison? I don’t believe it.”

“This doesn’t make sense why would Satan want us to work so hard to breach the gates when he was the only one that could actually open them.” Nostros said.

“The gates could not be opened without it being weakened first by all your efforts here and in the minds of the humans. The gate should be ready to breach when Lucifer arrives.”

“When who arrives?” Satan appeared from behind them.

The entire area fell quiet and all the demons fell to their knees. Only Jada and his two angels didn’t fall to their knees.

Lucifer looked around at all his demons on their knees and turned back to the angels, “Well?”

“Well what?” Jada answered.

“Look around you, you should follow suit.”

Jada not wanting to bow to Lucifer snapped an angelic salute as did the other two angels. Lucifer laughed the gesture, “I guess I can live with that.”

He walked by them while they were still saluting and the angels were pushed to the ground face first by Lucifer with an unseen force. Jada’s face was pressed against the ground and he couldn’t move at all. Jada grimaced, “We have the blood rock.”

“Excellent!”

Lucifer waved his hand over the three angels and they were released. Jada looked at the two other angels with hate in his eyes for Lucifer.

“As a told you before Jada, you and these two are no different from all of these loyal demons that are here.” He turned around in a circle with his right arm pointed out, “You will bow when I come into your presence like all of them.” He bent down, grabbed Jada by his chin, lifted him up, and got into his face, “Are we clear on this now?”

Jada’s anger welled up inside of him, “Yes”

“Yes what?”

“Yes Satan”

“IT”S MASTER TO YOU.” His yell rocked the entire area. So much that the angels inside the prison felt the power.

Lucifer’s arrogance was made known every time he was present. He knew that he had rule over the earth and wasn’t afraid to let demons or angels know it.

“Now let’s try this again shall we. I will disappear and when I return you will bow. Certainly you can handle such a small task, can’t you.” Lucifer said in a demeaning tone, “Ok, are you ready?”

He disappeared and everyone stood back up. Jada was disgusted at Lucifer’s abuse of power. He turned to the two angels, “Do as he says, he has the power to send us back into the prison.” They both agreed when Lucifer reappeared. All the demons and angels bowed. Lucifer clapped his hands, “Excellent!, now rise and tell me what the status is.”

“I have the blood rock.”

“So the legend is true after all. I have searched for many centuries for this relic. It seems my little flesh puppet Joe has come through after all. I can’t stand that Miller family, in fact I despise them. Who in their right mind would give into me for such material possessions, don’t they know what I have in store for them.

Lucifer raised his arms and manifested a glimpse of Joe’s ancestors in hell. All of the Miller family was being tortured by various methods. They were in utter pain with their blood curling screams. Their flesh was burned and dripping off their bodies. Worms were devouring them from the inside causing eternal pain. When there was no more flesh on their bones, it reappeared and the process started all over again.

The angels looked on with shear panic in their eyes. Lucifer put his arms down and the images vanished.

“This is what GOD has in store for us unless we get these prison gates open and release our brethren and fight. I can guarantee that our punishment will be worse than what you have just witnessed. Since we have known him and spent time in his presence.”

Lucifer walked around behind the angels and the demon generals, “Now does that motivate you some?”

Jada and the angels began to glow, “Indeed it does Satan, lets finish it.”

Lucifer laughed, “I remember when Jesus said that when he died on the cross. I thought it was over then.”

All the demons in earshot of Lucifer cringed at the name of Jesus and began to shake uncontrollably.

“Opps! I forgot I can’t say that name around my demons.” He placed his hand up to his mouth.

Satan hated the name of Jesus, and he could only utter the name very seldom due to the power in which it carried. The name of Jesus was used against him many times and he knew that was one of his many weaknesses. He was the only evil being that could even say his name and survive.

Roebarg and Nostros were panting heavily and visibly disturbed. They could with stand the name of Jesus more, sense they had more power that a regular soldier. Nostros looked off to his left and saw a group of soldiers thrashing around violently because they heard the name mentioned. Some of them were even vanquished and burst into flames right before their eyes. Lucifer shrugged his shoulders, “Eh! Now let’s have a look at this rock. Jada reached into a pouch he had on his side, pulled out the rock, and handed it to Lucifer. His eyes turned a flame as he saw the rock and it touched his tainted angelic flesh.

Dan and the rest of the group were back at the lair. The whereabouts of the Shurod lair was again safe for now at least. Joe in all the excitement didn’t even question Omar about where he had found it. Even the evil generals and Lucifer himself didn’t question its location. Omar was still the only one that knew where he had found it, which would prove later to very valuable information.

Dan moved Jerom’s bed and it revealed the entrance into the prison. Dan, Jerom and the three angels stared down in the black abyss. Dan took a deep breath, “He we go.”

Sephri opened his left wing, “Can I get a wing five?”

Dan puzzled at his comment, “Wing five?”

“Come on, you know what that is.”

“Must have missed that in the training.”

Dan still didn’t know what he was talking about. Sephri turned to Gapa and Mogort. Gapa smile, “Oh ok then.” Gapa opened both his wings and he Sephri and Mogort slapped their wings together.

Finally, Dan understood what he meant, “Wing five”

Sephri turned back to Dan and they slapped wings. Dan said, “We call that a high five in the human world.”

“I don’t see any humans around here.” He chuckled.

“Part human then.”

“Fair enough”

Mogort was an angel of few words. He raised his sword up and pointed his finger at it. Light began to shoot out from his finger. Mogort guided the light carefully along the cutting edges of his sword. The sword glowed bright red and cooled after his finger had passed over it. “There, that should do it, shaper than anything known to mankind.” He swung it a few times and it made a ringing noise as it cut through the air.

Gapa turned his attention to Jerom. Jerom was quiet and looking down into the prison, then back at Dan and thought to himself. I don’t know is he is ready for this. Then he heard a reply. Yes, Jerom he is ready. Jerom looked up and saw that Gapa was looking straight at him. Gapa and Jerom were communicating telepathically. “I know what I have to.” Jerom said.

“I’m sorry my old friend, prepare yourself, I have one of the finest angels waiting to escort you to your true home.”

“This is what I was created for, and I accept it with open arms.”

“What’s going on?” Another voice interrupted, Sephri had heard voices and turned away from Dan for a second. Dan looked over Sephri’s shoulder and saw Gapa and Jerom staring at each other.

“It will be quick, I promise.” Gapa reassured Jerom, “Your son is watching.”

Jerom turned and looked at Dan then back at Gapa, “You will take care of him won’t you.”

“Just like I did with you Shurod.”

Jerom smiled at Gapa and nodded his head once.

“This can’t be good.” Sephri said. Gapa frowned at him

“What is this? A Mexican standoff.” Dan said aloud, “Let’s move.” He hopped down through the opening, “Hurry up!” One by one, that fell into the blackness. Jerom took one last look around his room. He walked over to a small table, picked up a piece of paper and a pen, wrote something down, and left it on the table and placed his gold necklace on top of it. He then backed away toward the entrance of the prison. He opened his wings and caused wind to swirl around the room. He didn’t notice that the note he wrote flew up in the air and landed behind a old chest that was sitting on the floor against the cave wall. He then feel backwards into the hole doing a back flip and flew down to meet up with the others.

As each of them descended, their bodies glowed brightly to light their way. Sephri was close behind Gapa when he heard a familiar voice that he hadn’t heard in centuries. He stopped quickly and hovered. He saw one of his old friends chained to the wall. He eased up close to him and light showed around both of them, “Sephri, help me old friend.”

“You know that I can’t.”

The angel pleaded, “I can help with whatever you are doing, just get me out of these chains.” He jerked on them and they rattled loudly.

Sephri was saddened by the state that his friend was in and bowed his head. Gapa had turned around and flew back up to Sephri. He touched him on his shoulder, “There is nothing here for you anymore, the choice has been made.”

“I know Gapa.”

“Come we don’t have much time.”

Sephri looked back at his old friend, “I’m sorry.” Then turned away swiftly and continued toward the gates. The angel yelled out, “SEPHRI!!SEPHRI.”

Sephri cringed at his name being called out. Jerom heard the yelling and stopped in front of the angel. Again he pleaded to Jerom, “Help me Shurod.” Jerom huffed at him and yelled, “YOU ARE THE REASON MY FAMILY WILL BE FATHERLESS.” His words forced the angel up against the wall. Then left the angel. Jerom emotions were beginning to overcome him. The human part of his being was fighting against his supernatural being. He understood what he must do to keep the gates from being breached. Only he and Gapa knew what was going to happen once they reached the prison gates.

Many of the Kinsmen fully armed and ready to fight soon joined Jamie and John. Off in the distance many SUV’s were coming in their direction. Joe and Omar, plus a small army were also ready to a fight.

Dawn was about to break and the angelic army had left the area since the battle was over to join up with the Shurod at the gates. SUV’s fully loaded with military like personal began to split up and go in different directions. Omar was leading the caravan of death and radioed for everyone to take up positions that had been pre-determined. Joe’s army formed a semi –circled around the front of Golgotha, with just a few men watching the backside of the mountain.

Tires locked up in the dirt sand mixture and came to a sliding stop. Dust blew in front of the SUV and Omar and Joe along with a handful of men piled out of the vehicle.

“Lock and load fellas, I think it’s about to get interesting real quick.” Automatic actions began to sound with the men checking their guns. Omar puffed out his chest and took a deep breath, “AH! I feel like killing today.”

“Good you are going to get your chance.” Joe said as he pointed off in the distance and saw a lone Kinsmen running along the top of a small hill a few hundred yards out. Omar quickly pulled up his assault rifle, aimed through his scope, and squeezed off two rounds BANG! BANG! at the man running. The man fell to the ground, twitched once, and died. “Very impressive Omar.” Joe said as looked through his binoculars at the man.

Omar place the gun on his hip and smiled at Joe and blew at the barrel of the gun, “All in a day’s work.” With a smug look on his face.

“Looks like your starting early today we haven’t even eaten breakfast yet.” He laughed.

“Let’s replace these fools.” Omar said as he checked for ammo and walked towards the mountain.

“So much for a sneak attack.” Joe said.

“I want them to know we are here.”

John and Jamie both turned their heads in the direction of the gunshots.

“They are here.” John made a fist.

“I’m gonna go have a look and see what we are up against.”

“You do that.”

Jamie opened her wings, flapped once, and went into shadow mode to avoid detection. She flew high into the air and scouted the area. She was shocked to see all the men that were down on the ground. She rolled over and dove towards the ground at a group of men. She passed over them about five feet and the air from her moving caused the dirt to fly up. The men looked at each other, and one of them said, what was that? All the men in the group pointed their guns in the air and searched for anything moving.

“I don’t like this.” A man said.

“Shut up and stay focused.” The leader of the men barked, “Move out.” The man pointed his hand in the direction of the mountain.

Jamie once again climbed into the air for another look and she spotted a multitude of Kinsmen coming in their direction. She dipped down and landed in front of Habib and Chaza’el which were both on horseback. The horses reared up when she landed. Both men fought to keep control of their horses. They turned around a few times trying to gain some control when Jamie appeared to them.

“Sorry guys.”

“Shurod?” Habib said.

“Yes”

“Where are the rest of you?”

“Never mind that we have more important matters at hand. Joe Miller and his men are close and they have already killed one of your men.”

“I haven’t heard anything like that yet.” Habib said.

Just then, his radio began to make a scratching noise and a voice said, “Habib, one of our men has just been shot.”

Jamie looked at him and cocked her head sideways, Habib looked at her and raised his eyebrows and spoke into his radio, “Do you know where the attack came from?”

“No but we have a general area, near the skull face of Golgotha.”

“Very well keep me posted on any changes.”

“Yes, I will.” The radio squawked.

“What do you want us to do?” Habib spoke to Jamie.

“Follow me.”

Jamie leaped into the air when she heard many other horses coming up from behind her. She turned her head around and looked back, then smiled and thought. That’s what we need, backup. Habib and Chaza’el along with a complement of Kinsmen rode behind her. After a short ride, Habib raised his arm in the air, made a circle in the air, and blew on a small pipe. The Kinsmen split off and went into four different directions. Jamie looked down and said, “This way!”

She led them through a narrow aurora that led to the front of Golgotha. Jamie landed and the Kinsmen stopped and dismounted their horses. They began to pull weapons from their saddles and check them to make sure they were ready to be used.

“What now Shurod?” Chaza’el asked.

“This way, follow me.”

Jamie and all the men trotted down a narrow path where John was waiting. As they rounded the corner, Chaza’el saw John, pulled out his pistol, and fired at him twice. John immediately blocked the two bullets with one of his swords and cut the bullets in half horizontally and the other vertically. The pieces hit the mountain behind him. Jamie spun around and shot one of her feathers at Chaza’el’s gun striking it and pinning it to a boulder behind him. Chaza’el looked at Jamie puzzled

“FRIENDLY!” Jamie shouted.

“Hold your fire! Stand down.” Habib shouted.

Chaza’el looked at his gun stuck to the boulder then at John, “Sorry, I thought you were a bad guy.”

“I used to be” John grumbled as he walked passed Chaza’el placing his sword back in its sheath on his back.

“What is our plan of attack Shurod?” Habib asked.

“Well I kind of wanted to get your input.”

“What do we know about their numbers?”

“There are a lot of them.” Jamie said.

“How many is a lot?”

“I’m not sure maybe a hundred to two hundred and all of them are fully armed.”

Habib rubbed his chin and thought.

Jamie looked over his shoulder and saw Chaza’el prying at his gun, trying to release it from the boulder. She looked back at Habib, “They have the whole mountain surrounded, but the back side is not guarded as heavily.”

“Excellent I will have my men start eliminating the threat from behind us first then move around the mountain until we have crushed all of them.” He slammed his fist into his other hand.

Jamie eyes blinked when Habib slammed his fist. “Ok, that sounds good.”

She once again looked over Habib’s shoulder and Chaza’el had his foot up against the boulder and his hands around the gun pulling at it. “Give it a second Chaza’el it will loosen up in a few more seconds.” Habib turned around to see what his uncle was doing. Chaza’el groaned and pulled with all his might, when the feather disappeared into a small cloud of dust. Chaza’el fell backwards onto the ground with a thump. John turned around, saw Chaza’el, and smiled. Chaza’el got up and dusted himself off, holding the gun in his hand. He looked up and saw everyone looking at him. “This was my father’s gun.” and walked towards John. Habib and Jamie both snickered under their breath, not to offend Chaza’el’s pride.

John pushed a button on the side of his head and a pair of high-powered binoculars came out from the special suit from above his forehead and covered his eyes. He adjusted a small knob on the side of them so that he could focus on what he was looking at. Chaza’el walked up from behind him, placed his arms on a huge rock, and looked out with his binoculars “See anything?”

John zoomed in on a few men off in the distance, “Yes there are quite a few of them.”

“You’re pretty good with those swords.”

“Thanks they have saved my life more than once; you’re not a bad shot either.”

“Thanks, this little gun has saved my life a few times as well.”

John looked at Chaza’el’s gun, “That’s not little; you have a small cannon at your fingertips.”

Chaza’el laughed, “I suppose you’re right.” He twirled the gun around his finger a few times and put it back in his holster.

John zoomed in closer and saw Omar, “I got some unfinished business with one of those men out there.”

“Oh?”

Chaza’el looked and saw Omar as well, “It looks like we have something in common, see the big black man out there?”

John pushed a button again on the side of his head and the binoculars went back up. “You know him?”

“Yes he is some kind of shape shifter that almost killed me.”

“He is a dangerous man, his brother and I used to work together, but I killed him a little over a year ago.”

“You used to work with the Miller family?”

“Yes”

“Well, well someone has changed their ways.”

“Seeing demons will do that to a man.”

Chaza’el huffed, “I bet.”

Omar had a group of men in front of him about two hundred yards when he called them on a radio, “Talon come in.”

“Talon here.”

“What’s your status?”

“Nothing yet, we are moving forward.”

“Roger that, keep me posted.”

“Will do, wait a minute something is coming.”

“What is it?”

Omar pulled out his binoculars and saw John running and bouncing from rock to rock getting closer to his men, “Talon you have in coming.” John was leaping with incredible strides almost flying through the air. The leader of the team yelled out, “INCOMING!” there were about thirty men that went on high alert looking in all directions. Up above them they saw what looked like a grenade falling. Many of the men screamed out GRENADE and scattered like roaches in dark room when a light was turned on. It was a grenade my not a frag grenade. It was a smoke/flash bang grenade.

Omar saw the flash through his binoculars and it blinded him for a second. He lowered them and rubbed his eyes.

The flash of the grenade temporarily blinded the men and rendered helpless for a few moments. John slipped into the midst of them and started taking them out with his swords. Screams and men hollering in pain was all the team leader could here. John was moving with impressive speed slicing at the men. Omar called on his radio, “What’s going on Talon?”

“Not sure but my men are dying here.”

BANG! BANG! The men started shooting wildly into the smoke killing each other in fear of what they couldn’t see.

Omar looked again through his binoculars and saw muzzle flashes, heard assault rifles, and small arms fire popping off in the distance.

“TALON COME IN.” Omar yelled into his radio.

Then on the other end he heard a familiar voice, “Hello Omar, Talon as you call them is no longer available to take your call.”

In all the excitement, Joe got out of the SUV and said, “Omar is everything under control?”

“John just attacked Talon; I fear that they are all dead.”

Joe’s anger was kindled, he gritted his teeth together, “I want him dead, DO YOU HERE ME? DEAD!” then got back in the SUV. Joe flipped a switch on the dashboard of the SUV and protective metal plating covered the vehicle, tires and all. Omar looked back at Joe with a disgusted look. What a coward! Joe was peeking through small slits in the armor at Omar, “KILL HIM NOW!”

After a few moments, the guns stopped firing and the smoke was clearing out a bit. Omar could see some of his men dead on the ground. John busted through the smoke, leaving swirls of smoke behind him coming toward Omar and Joe. Omar dropped his binoculars and swung his rifle around shouldered his gun and followed John through his scope, leading him slightly until the precise moment.

Joe looked in the direction that Omar was facing and saw a black dot coming at them, “What in the world is that?”

Omar slowed his breathing and exhaled slowly. His finger twitched slightly as he followed the black figure. It jumped side to side like before, but as it was in midair Omar squeezed off three rounds hitting its mark. The figure slammed into the ground motionless.

“Woo Hoo! You got him Omar.” Joe yelled out.

Omar lowered his gun and looked back to the SUV, because he heard noises from Joe yelling. He ran towards his kill and saw that it was John with blood coming out of his mouth and chest area, “Who’s the better man now!” he spit on John’s face but it went through his body and hit the ground. Omar didn’t understand what was going on and kneeled down to touch John’s body when it began to disappear. “What in the” Omar raised his gun back up and looked through his scope to see John running through a small opening then disappearing before his eyes.

“NO!NO!NO!” he raised his gun up into the air and emptied the rest of the clip into the air. John turned around as he was running and looked back.

Omar walked back to the SUV and Joe was getting out, “Fine job Omar fine job.”

“Don’t get all happy on me yet.”

“Why what’s going on?”

“John got away.”

“How is that I saw him fall when you shot him.”

“It was some kind of decoy, or something.”

“What about all the men in Talon?”

“They are all gone, dead.”

“Dead? There were thirty plus men in that group.”

“I know John took them all out.”

“By himself?”

“It appears that way sir.”

Joe rubbed the back of his neck and let out a small sigh, “John is a man of many skills that is for sure”

“I will have the other teams muster on our position then we will figure out our next move.”

“Ok, get it done.”

Omar radioed for the other teams to come in, but one of them didn’t check in.

“Is there a problem?” Joe asked.

“Wolfpack team isn’t responding.”

“Where are they?”

“I sent them to cover the back side of the mountain.”

“Send a runner and see what is going on.”

Omar pointed at one of the men, “You go and check of Wolfpack team.”

The man ran off without saying a word.

Up on top of Golgotha the Kinsmen had established look out points with snipers ready to fire. They were all outfitted we the most up to date camouflage. They totally blended in with their surroundings and were almost impossible to see. The Kinsmen that was in charge of the men on top of the mountain called Habib on his radio, “Habib we are in position now, what are your orders?”

“Do you have visual contact yet?”

“Yes we do.”

“Then take out as many of them as you can.”

Jamie looked at Habib, “Here we go.”

Then John came running up from in front of them, Chaza’el quick on the draw pulled out his gun and pointed it at John and John threw his hands up and came to a sliding stop in the dirt . “Whoa, whoa, whoa Chaza’el it’s me?” Chaza’el lowered his gun, “You got to quit doing that to me.”

“What?”

“Sneaking up on me like you do.”

“Well I heard shooting out there, any luck?”

“Yeah, I took a few of them out.”

“Well done, how many is a few?”

John tapped his chin with his index finger, “I’d say thirty or more.”

“What, be serious”

“I am”

“No one can take out thirty people in that amount of time.”

“You can if you had this.” John pushed a button on his wrist and an exact image of himself stood out beside him.

“Now that, I have never seen.”

“It comes in handy that’s for sure. It was the first time I used it”

Chaza’el stuck his hand through the image, “It’s like a hologram or something.”

“Yes but it can do some much more.”

“Show me”

“Well you see here.” When they were interrupted by the sound of bullets whizzing over their heads. Everyone ducted down. The Kinsmen snipers were shooting Joe’s men once again, picking them off with ease. Joe men were dying by the handfuls. The Kinsmen snipers were well trained and made hard shots look easy.

Many of the men got up and tried to run away but met their end, at the barrel of a Kinsmen sniper rifle. Joe’s men were being massacred.

“RUNNER!” Omar yelled into his radio.

“Yes” The man stopped to listen.

“Change of plans, I want to get on top of the mountain and help take out these snipers they got us pinned down.”

“I’ll see what I can down.”

“Make it fast.”

Joe climbed over into the driver seat and started the SUV. “GET IN!”

“JUST GO THEY NEED SOME COVER!”

Omar jumped onto the side of the SUV and Joe raced toward his men. Dirt and sand blew into the air as Joe slammed on the gas making his way closer to the action to provide some assistance. Omar was shooting his gun at the same time up at the mountain blindly trying to give some suppressing fire cover to his men. Joe stomped on the brakes and opened both doors. The door started to extend outward about thirty feet on each side. Joe and Omar both yelled at the men that were left to come to them. About forty men ran towards the SUV for cover.

One of Kinsmen snipers saw the SUV and couldn’t believe what he was seeing. The SUV was transformed into an armored vehicle with a ballistic like material that they couldn’t shoot through. Omar was yelling hurry up and waving his hands like a crazed lunatic. One Kinsmen sniper was following a man through his scope. Omar kept yelling come on. There was one man left and Omar and the man eyes met. Omar yelled you can do it. Right as the man was about to be safe the Kinsmen sniper shot the man and he landed in the arms of Omar. Omar was covered with the man’s blood. He held the man for a few seconds and the laid him down on the ground. He was furious with how things were going.

“Runner are you with me?”

“Roger.”

“I need those snipers taken out NOW! Do you understand me?”

“Yes but this is a hard climb, I’m not even half way up yet.” The man said trying to catch his breath.”

“He needs to be up there now.” Joe said.

“He’s doing the best he can Mr. Miller”

Joe got out of the SUV and pushed Omar out of the way, “I’ll take care of this myself.” Joe began to mutter some weird words and Omar’s body started to tingle. Omar looked at his hands strangely, “What are you doing Joe?”

Joe continued to speak and a pair of demon hands appeared coming out of Omar’s chest. Omar’s eyes rolled back into his head and his chest puffed out. None of the other men even paid attention to what was going on because they were being bombarded with a host of bullets. One of Omar’s demon crawled out of his body and stood in front of Joe. Joe told the demon to possess the man and get him on top of the mountain. The demon blew smoke out of his nostrils and flew off to replace the man.

The man was still struggling to climb the mountain when he was hit with an unseen force. His eyes turned black and he felt stronger than ever before. The demon had given him supernatural strength. The man looked up and jumped twenty feet at a time until he reached the top. The man stood there for a minute and looked down at where he just came from and was amazed. The demon left the man and retuned back to Omar.

The man could hear the Kinsmen snipers shots faintly due to the silencers they were using. He crept slowly being very cautious because he knew that these Kinsmen were crafty individuals. He saw the barrel of one of the snipers and snuck up on the sniper. He was about to take another step when he noticed a trip wire. He followed the wire and saw that, it was attached to a claymore that was pointed upward slightly. He pulled the detonator out of the claymore and proceeded with his mission. He was just about on top of him and he still could not make out where the sniper was because of his camouflage. He leaned down and pulled a knife from his boot. He grabbed the sniper from behind and placed his hand over his mouth while shoving his six-inch blade into the man’s back. He did this to four men, when the leader noticed that there were not as many shots being fired. Lying in front of him was a small device that had the names of all the snipers on them. Each man was linked into this device and it monitored there heart rates and locations. The Kinsmen looked at the device and saw that four of his men were not showing up. He turned to look and the man was right on top of him about to stab him. Just then, Jamie landed and the man looked up not believing his eyes, she shot out many feathers impaling the man like a voodoo doll and he fell to the ground dead.

“Thank you Shurod that was close.”

“Looks like I should have come a little sooner.” Jamie pointed at the dead Kinsmen.

The leader hung his head down and sighed, “Thank you again.”

“I am going to check to make sure there are no other surprises in store for you.”

Jamie went into shadow mode and vanished as she flew up to scan for more threats.

A few moments later the Kinsmen heard, “Psst.” He turned around and Jamie gave him the ok sign with her fingers and flew off. The Kinsmen heart skipped a beat, because Jamie had scared him. Then he laid his head on the ground thanking God he was still alive.

“Runner check in, runner check in.” Omar said into his radio.

“What’s the status?” Joe asked eagerly.

“Don’t know he’s not checking in, but the amount of bullets has diminished.”

“He must have done something right up there.”

After he finished his sentence, they were bombarded once again with sniper shots. The bullets bounced off the SUV armor, Omar and Joe both hunkered down at the same time.

“Maybe not.” Joe said as he put his hands around his head, “This needs to end now.”

“Okay, I got a plan.” Omar walked to the back of the SUV, pulled a white t-shirt, and wrapped it around the end of his rifle.

“We are not giving up.” Joe snapped at Omar.

“No, we are not.”

Joe looked confused, “I’m not sure I like this, but I’ll entertain the idea.”

Omar smiled at Joe and started to walk out to the side away from the protection of armor plated SUV. He swung the rifle high in the air so that he could be seen. The sniper leader onto of the mountain saw Omar through his scope. He pulled away from his scope one time and shook his head, then looked through it again. He moved his head to one side and radioed Habib to tell him what he saw. Habib told him to hold his fire, but to keep a look out for anything that posed a threat. He agreed and zeroed in on Omar.

Habib announced to the rest of the group that Joe was giving up. John looked at Habib, “It’s a trick they would never give up so easily.”

“This may be true but I will not shoot again until I replace out what is going on.” Habib said forcefully.

“YOU DON”T KNOW THESE MEN!” John yelled.

Jamie flew down and landed, “What’s all the yelling about?”

“Habib here thinks that Joe is giving up.”

“Why do you say that?” she turned to Habib.

“They are waving a white flag.”

Jamie looked in the direction of Joe’s men, “Habib, these men are dangerous and can’t be trusted.”

“I now Shurod but we will see what they have to say. I don’t want any more of my men to die if they don’t have too.”

Jamie thought for a second, “Ok let see how they want to play this out.”

“JAMIE, you can’t be serious.” John pleaded, “I know how these men operate.”

“I know John but I agree with Habib, if we can save just one more life, then we win.”

John threw his hands up in the air, “Just remember one thing.”

“What is that?” Habib said.

“I told ya so.” And walked away shaking his head and mumbling. John knew something was not right so he decided to take matters into his own hands. John ran off and disappeared behind some brush and small boulders.

“Where is he going?” Habib asked Jamie.

“He’s just blowing off some steam, he’ll be alright. I will go and replace out what their terms are.”

“I’ll go with you.” Chaza’el offered, “But you need to put those away.” He pointed at Jamie’s wings. “We don’t need all those men seeing you in your true form, now do we?”

Jamie looked to her left and her left wing vanished, then to her right and the right wing vanished, “There that should be good.” Jamie left her wings out but used the shadow technique to hide her wings, but the rest of her body was visible. They started walking toward Omar and Omar turned to and looked back at Joe. Joe saw Jamie and Chaza’el coming toward them and he jumped back into the SUV. He typed on a digital display that was mounted in the dashboard. There that should do it. He said to himself.

“Omar I got a plan, make sure that you keep your distance from the two that are coming at you.”

Omar placed his finger on the earpiece when he heard Joe’s voice, “Ok Joe.”

After a short walk, Jamie and Chaza’el were in plain sight of Omar. Chaza’el pushed his coat off to his side so that he could get to his gun quickly if he needed too. As they got closer, Omar yelled out for them to stop. They both did and waited for Omar to make the next move.

“There has been too much killing here today.” Omar said.

“Yes, and it appears that you have lost the most here today.” Chaza’el said as he rubbed the hammer of his revolver with his thumb.”

“Chaza’el is it?” Omar smiled and pointed at him, “You’re one lucky man.”

“Yes and why do you say that?”

Omar licked at his lips, “No one gets away from me.”

“Wait a minute; I thought we were going to settle this like civilized people.”

Omar heard Joe again in his earpiece, “Thirty seconds.”

Omar looked around curiously, and Jamie noticed it. She leaned over to Chaza’el, “Something is right.”

Chaza’el pulled out his pistol and aimed it at Omar, “What are you up too?”

Again, Joe said, “Ten seconds.”

Omar was counting down ten seconds in his head. Jamie looked around a saw most of Joe’s men crouching closer to the ground. She heard something coming from above them, “LOOK OUT!”

Jamie quickly wrapped her invisible wings around Chaza’el when a rocket hit two feet in front of them. The explosion sent them hurling backwards many feet. They tumbled on the ground a few times and Jamie’s wings opened up and Chaza’el rolled out of them and onto the ground unconscious. Jamie spit dirt out of her mouth and was experiencing a severe case of shell shock from the impact. Her ears were ringing. Then through the dirt and smoke, a remote reconnaissance air vehicle flew over them was indeed fully loaded with anti-personnel weaponry.

Joe sent for it when he was typing on the digital display in the SUV. All of Joe’s men ran out from behind their protective shield and attacked, spewing massive firepower in Habib’s direction.

Habib started yelling out orders to his men to attack, and once again, the battle was on. Both sides were taking heavy causalities.

Joe was still in the SUV when he felt a presence next to him. He saw the seat cushion move like someone was sitting in it. He reached for a pistol that was on the driver’s side, swung around, pointed it at the passenger side seat, and looked around frantically.

“Who’s there?” Joe demanded.

“It’s me Joe.”

Joe heard the voice from behind him and without even looking; he pointed the gun behind him around his neck and fired a few shots, shooting of the rear window. He got out of the vehicle, looked back, and didn’t see anyone.

“Joe!” John whispered throwing his voice in many directions.

Joe turned around firing the pistol randomly until he was out of bullets. He had finally used up all the ammo and the gun clicked. John was standing right behind him, removed his camouflage, and said, “JOE!” Joe turned around, saw John, was surprised, and stepped backwards a few steps. He held out his arms in front of himself, “Now John, listen.” Then swallowed hard one time, “We can work this out.” He held his arms out in front of him.

“NO!” you have been trying to kill me for a while and, frankly I’m not ok with that.” Joe put his hands down, then behind his back where he touched a small button on the side of his watch. The un-manned drone banked up into the air and circled around for another strafing pattern on the Kinsmen. Just as it was about to shoot it received another command and dove down flying about five feet off the ground.

Jamie picked up Chaza’el and started to carry him off. Omar had her in his sights, flipped a switch on his gun and aimed carefully. Jamie leaped into the air and was just ten feet off the ground when she was hit in the back with two darts. She let out a small yelp, flapped her wings, and flew up into the air. Chaza’el was not moving at all and Jamie was feeling the effects of the drug that was flowing through her body. She started seeing double and getting weak. She was losing control, and altitude. She fell towards the earth and hit hard and Chaza’el flew out of her arms, and rolled into a washed out creek bed.

Omar looked up from his scope, “GOTCHA YA!” He ran up to Jamie and looked at her, “Looks like we got you half breed.” He laughed as he kicked her in the head with his size thirteen boot knocking her out cold. He opened a Velcro pouch on his side, pulled out a small net, and wrapped her in it. Omar tapped a button on a device that he was wearing around his wrist. The drone came to his exact location and hovered above him. On the bottom of the drone were tow hooks. Omar attached a line to himself and to the net that Jamie was in and hooked it to the drone. He tapped on the device around his wrist again and it took off toward Joe.

Joe heard the drone coming in his direction, “John as much as I would like to stay and chat, I’m afraid that I have to go.”

“You’re not leaving here unless I say you are.” He growled.

“I hate to disappoint you, old friend; I know you want to kill me.”

John huffed, “You could say that.” John looked at the ground for a split second, when Omar held out his arm, and Joe latched onto it. Lifting him off the ground and flying away.

“Perfect timing Omar.”

“As always sir.”

John yelled out, “NOOOO!” as they flew off over his head. It happened so fast that he did not see that they had Jamie with them. All he could see was a net with something in it.

John shot at the drone as it flew out of sight hitting it multiple times.

“Whoa!” Omar ducted his head as they flew out of sight.

Shortly after Joe was gone, his men started to cease their assault and scatter and the Kinsmen yelled out in victory shooting their guns in the air and shaking them above their heads. Habib came galloping down the side of the mountain on horseback up to John, “We did it.”

“No we didn’t Joe got away along with his hired gun.”

“The big black man?”

John shook his head yes.

“Where is Shurod?”

“I thought she was with you.”

Habib looked around and saw a two Kinsmen helping Chaza’el out of the creek bed with his arms draped around their necks.

John cried out many times trying to replace Jamie, but she never answered.

“We have to replace her.” John insisted.

Habib shouted out to his men, “Find the female Shurod.”