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Authors: John Corwin
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bordering a street congested with cars, foot traffic,
and noise. A thick aroma of burnt diesel and other pollutants
crowded my nose. The brick-paved street wound down a long hill
between white adobe houses with barred windows and worn terracotta
shingles. I looked behind me. The plaza looked like a tall, brick
warehouse from the outside. No doubt the razor wire and chain-link
fence kept most casual passers-by from trying to get in.
A shadowy flicker in the corner of my eye
sent a panicky jolt straight to my heart. I ducked and rolled, eyes
scanning for the shadow creature. Instead, I found a gray, cloudy
shape drifting around the perimeter. A group of kids were trying to
squeeze under the fence. The cloud morphed into a humanoid shape,
its ghostly hands brushing the children on the head. The intruders
abruptly stood up and wandered down the sidewalk, eyes blank, faces
expressionless.
"What is that thing?" I asked with a
shudder.
"A minder," Bella said.
"Those things give me the creeps," Elyssa
said with a shudder.
I noticed several more of the ghoulish wisps
patrolling the fence. "What did that thing do to those kids?"
"Minders twist the thoughts of people." Bella
gave a shiver of her own. "Arcanes discovered these things lurking
in the Gloom decades ago and, after several disastrous attempts,
learned they are sentient to a certain degree."
"They trained them like animals," Elyssa
said, eyes angry. "And allow them to feed on noms."
"They feed on normal humans?" I couldn't
really muster any outrage, given my need to feed on human
emotion.
"When the minder touched those boys, it fed
on their thoughts and memories. We still don't know exactly how
they do it, but prolonged contact with those things could
permanently damage your mind."
I sidestepped farther away from one of the
minders as it drifted along the fence in our direction. "They're
really that harmful?"
"I would tell you to ask the first Arcanes
who discovered them, but they're stark-raving mad now." Bella's
violet eyes grew unfocused as if she were looking at a memory of
her own.
A line of black SUVs waited outside the
fence. Christian and Thomas piled into the lead vehicle, still
talking heatedly. Bella and Elyssa climbed into the vehicle behind
it. I walked around the back of the same vehicle to toss in my
luggage when I felt a cold ping on my supernatural radar. It was
close. Maybe fifty feet away. I'd felt that sensation enough to
know exactly what it was. I spun to face it.
The Templars felt it, too. Within a split
second of the sensation, dozens of swords slid from sheaths.
Another cold blip popped up behind me. Another to my side. Followed
by another. And another.
"Starfire! Get down!" someone shouted as a
ball of white energy the size of my head shot from a rooftop down
the road and streaked toward the lead SUV.
"Dad!" Elyssa shouted. She dove from the
backseat. Rolled on the pavement and pivoted for her father's SUV.
But it was too late.
The fireball slammed into the grill of the
vehicle, suffusing the frame with brilliant white light, and
exploded. My body left the ground and flew through the air,
slamming against the hard brick road. A twisted and charred bumper
slammed onto my chest. I sucked in a wheezing breath and heard the
whine of tinnitus buzzing in my ears. Screams and shouts echoed as
though through a long tunnel.
I shoved the blackened bumper off me and
rolled onto my side. Noms scattered in all directions as dozens of
dark forms leapt from rooftops and hit the ground running. I pushed
myself to my knees. The effort sent waves of agony through my back
and ribs. Something hard and sharp brushed against the inside of my
arm. I looked and found a blade of shrapnel jutting from my
side.
"Justin!" someone screamed.
I saw Elyssa surrounded by a circle of
Templars fighting off a mob of vampires. Some of the attackers
looked barely out of middle school while others looked college
aged. Maximus obviously didn't discriminate by age or
and noise. A thick aroma of burnt diesel and other pollutants
crowded my nose. The brick-paved street wound down a long hill
between white adobe houses with barred windows and worn terracotta
shingles. I looked behind me. The plaza looked like a tall, brick
warehouse from the outside. No doubt the razor wire and chain-link
fence kept most casual passers-by from trying to get in.
A shadowy flicker in the corner of my eye
sent a panicky jolt straight to my heart. I ducked and rolled, eyes
scanning for the shadow creature. Instead, I found a gray, cloudy
shape drifting around the perimeter. A group of kids were trying to
squeeze under the fence. The cloud morphed into a humanoid shape,
its ghostly hands brushing the children on the head. The intruders
abruptly stood up and wandered down the sidewalk, eyes blank, faces
expressionless.
"What is that thing?" I asked with a
shudder.
"A minder," Bella said.
"Those things give me the creeps," Elyssa
said with a shudder.
I noticed several more of the ghoulish wisps
patrolling the fence. "What did that thing do to those kids?"
"Minders twist the thoughts of people." Bella
gave a shiver of her own. "Arcanes discovered these things lurking
in the Gloom decades ago and, after several disastrous attempts,
learned they are sentient to a certain degree."
"They trained them like animals," Elyssa
said, eyes angry. "And allow them to feed on noms."
"They feed on normal humans?" I couldn't
really muster any outrage, given my need to feed on human
emotion.
"When the minder touched those boys, it fed
on their thoughts and memories. We still don't know exactly how
they do it, but prolonged contact with those things could
permanently damage your mind."
I sidestepped farther away from one of the
minders as it drifted along the fence in our direction. "They're
really that harmful?"
"I would tell you to ask the first Arcanes
who discovered them, but they're stark-raving mad now." Bella's
violet eyes grew unfocused as if she were looking at a memory of
her own.
A line of black SUVs waited outside the
fence. Christian and Thomas piled into the lead vehicle, still
talking heatedly. Bella and Elyssa climbed into the vehicle behind
it. I walked around the back of the same vehicle to toss in my
luggage when I felt a cold ping on my supernatural radar. It was
close. Maybe fifty feet away. I'd felt that sensation enough to
know exactly what it was. I spun to face it.
The Templars felt it, too. Within a split
second of the sensation, dozens of swords slid from sheaths.
Another cold blip popped up behind me. Another to my side. Followed
by another. And another.
"Starfire! Get down!" someone shouted as a
ball of white energy the size of my head shot from a rooftop down
the road and streaked toward the lead SUV.
"Dad!" Elyssa shouted. She dove from the
backseat. Rolled on the pavement and pivoted for her father's SUV.
But it was too late.
The fireball slammed into the grill of the
vehicle, suffusing the frame with brilliant white light, and
exploded. My body left the ground and flew through the air,
slamming against the hard brick road. A twisted and charred bumper
slammed onto my chest. I sucked in a wheezing breath and heard the
whine of tinnitus buzzing in my ears. Screams and shouts echoed as
though through a long tunnel.
I shoved the blackened bumper off me and
rolled onto my side. Noms scattered in all directions as dozens of
dark forms leapt from rooftops and hit the ground running. I pushed
myself to my knees. The effort sent waves of agony through my back
and ribs. Something hard and sharp brushed against the inside of my
arm. I looked and found a blade of shrapnel jutting from my
side.
"Justin!" someone screamed.
I saw Elyssa surrounded by a circle of
Templars fighting off a mob of vampires. Some of the attackers
looked barely out of middle school while others looked college
aged. Maximus obviously didn't discriminate by age or
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