Chapter 22

"Thanks for letting me do this my way. I promise your deaths will be slow and painful." Astrid said as she revved her chainsaw blades to life.

Qian fired a ball of light and it seemed to fall short into the ground in front of Astrid.

Astrid replies " Nice aim."

Then the ground underneath Astrid cracked and fell away, taking her with it. 

"Run!" Qian called out.

As they both cleared the second set of stairs to the second floor above the underground chamber they almost ran into four troopers guarding the area. Qian slid into a spin and slammed her elbow into the closest trooper's back. A bright light burst through him and blinded the others. Followed by several shotgun shots clearing the last three the enemy was put down quickly. The duo rushed up to the ground floor and ran into another set of troopers. These seemed different due to the weapons they wielded. One had a broad sword, another wielded two pistols, another had a large club, and the last was wearing brass knuckles.

Qian quickly went to deal with them but Kyung-Ah beat him to it knocking one aside with a heavy punch but she was quickly over whelmed by the other three. Qian rushed to her aid dealing with the broadsword wielding trooper with several blows to his shoulder which caused him to collapse in pain. Kyung-ah opened fire on the last two pelting them with rounds that exploded on contact. They slowly turned to run but were taken down by several rounds from Qian's own handgun. 

As they reached the upper level and ground level the heard a large noise from below. Recognizing the danger the two girls ran at full tilt towards their car. As they reached the car they saw Astrid leave the stairwell onto ground level of the building. They quickly jumped into the car and drove off leaving astrid in the dust.

**

Lilith saw what had happened and was thoroughly disappointed with Astrid and whoever else the trespassers took out. She turned to Amy. 

"Amy, now is the time to prove yourself useful. Track down that car and kill the people inside. It doesn't matter how you do it since Gifted populate this area. So you don't need to hold back." Amy nodded as she got back inside one of the two vehicles that brought them to the ruins. She yelled at the driver to step on it and the vehicle sped off. Astrid already saw Lilith approaching and sighed. 

"So much for the guards you lent us. They proved to be about as useless as a rock with only eyes." Astrid said as Rebecca stepped out of the building.

"It seems we've found our an easier potential answer than those ruins could provide. And more than one it seems. Finding the humans that just left should be immediate priority." Rebecca said.

"I've already sent Amy after them. She should be able to handle a few humans." Astrid's eyes widened and she grabbed Lilith by her shoulders.

"You did what? At least one of them is a Guardian! Not to mention one of them either has another elemental weapon or--worst case scenario--has elemental abilities. You're supposed to be a Seer but you couldn't even tell who they were?" Lilith glared at Astrid.

"I already told you that Guardians obscure my vision. If you're so worried about her then you should chase after her yourself. But I must remind you that you are being watched." Astrid unhanded Lilith and made for another vehicle they arrived in. Rebecca was going to follow but was stopped by Lilith. "I hope you don't intend to follow. We have more important matters at hand." Rebecca didn't even turn to face Lilith.

"I don't know why you put on a facade. It may work with Astrid but unlike her i can read others. You are in the same position as us. You are scared of what Evelyn's heir will do when she arrives. We know that once she arrives then everything will change. So you may keep living in fear of trying to impress others. If you knew anything about Evelyn then you would understand that she doesn't like any detail unchecked. And this is a major unchecked detail. It wouldn't look good to the people watching if we just sat on our hands and did nothing." Rebecca followed her sister leaving Lilith with a reddened face. She wasn't used to being talked back to.

She wanted to strike down Rebecca but somewhere she could feel that raven's beady eyes staring at her. If it was true that the elemental power they sought were in Guardian hands then things might get difficult. An elemental weapon was the only thing that could shatter force fields and barriers where regular weapons either proved useless are somewhere near that category. 

A beeping noise sounded from inside the second vehicle her company arrived in. Lilith walked over to the SUV and picked up her cellphone. 

"You're contacting me by phone?" A smooth yet demanding man's voice answered.

"Lain has us in a secured connection. And it became increasingly difficult to contact you since you left Japan."

"I have business to attend to here and personally oversee."

"Far be it from me to distract you from your duties but as you know the assassination that took place in Japan matched the ones that happened in Europe. So of course my people, the Resistance, are quite shaken. It would be in your best interest to keep anymore of your people to be taken out." Lilith rubbed at her temple with the fingers of her free hand. She didn't even want to think about the assassin issue. That was a problem that would take much effort and time to even get a lead, much less resolve.

"All i know is that whoever is doing it most likely knows what is going on. Believe me when i say i'd love to get rid of whoever is doing it but they leave no trace of themselves." 

"Which is why I have a plan. I have the location of what could be a very valuable ally. What she could do for us would easily trump this assassin that everyone is spooked about. If we're lucky we may even kill the assassin in the process." Lilith's interest was peaked and the man on the other line continued. "We have a witch in our sights and she shows no loyalty to the humans. And what makes this easier is that she's a friend of our lovely Amy. Have Amy bring the witch to me and I can make a lot of your problems disappear. Maybe even take care of loose ends on your end with the name Yamase?"

"NO!" Lilith quickly regained her composure. "Yamase is in Guardian hands and you know that. I have my own plans for him so you don't have to worry. Good luck with your group and keep from doing anything rash until i get back." Lilith hung up and tossed the phone back into the vehicle. There was much to get done in such a short amount of time. Lilith knew that everything had to be perfect by the time Evelyn's heir arrived. All that needed to be done was focus on one thing at a time. Lilith wanted to hope that Amy and the two sisters could take care of the three people that ran from the site but if you wanted to make sure something was done right then there was no other choice but to overlook the process yourself. That was why she was here after all.

Lilith jumped in the vehicle and started to follow after the others. One way or the other this problem was going to be taken care of and out of the way.