Setting Things Right...Part 3

I took off at a run, knowing the damage that an assault team like this one could do against people who weren’t expecting it.

I slowed down as a I reached the driveway, not wanting to run into an ambush in case they had guys out front as well. I wasn’t sure how effective those stunners would be, but I certainly didn’t want to find out the hard way and see any of my new-found friends pay any more of a price than they already had.

The front door was still closed, and all looked quiet at the moment.

Instead of barging in and perhaps setting off some trigger happy bounty hunters by surprise, I started around the side of the house, towards the window into the library on the far side. As I approached the curtained plate glass window, I could make out the sounds of shouting and some very aggressive barking. I was about to bust in through the window when someone beat me to it, by flying through it from the inside, curtains wrapping up whoever it was, he or she crashed through the glass and landed on the snowy grass with a thud, flailing and kicking like they were on fire.

I looked into the room to see a scene of pure chaos.

Ravyn Fyre was standing facing the window, hands coated in orange flame, an angry glare in her eyes.

The professor was pounding on one poor goon with his bat, the solid wood thundering and splintering on the poor bastards’ kevlar helmet, thumped into body armor and finally stopping with a loud crack as the bat broke in two on the goons shoulder, causing him to collapse in a heap.

Herne had somehow wrestled a stunner from another goon who lay apparently senseless at his feet, while he was using the gun to its best effect on another poor soul who had apparently attacked the Frau. Now besides being electrocuted, he was being savaged by Rowan and beaten about the head and shoulders by the Frau with her staff.

The fifth and (hopefully) final bounty hunter was kneeling and begging at Cerrydwen’s feet, his face, hands and neck bleeding from obvious claw marks from her giant cat, who was sitting nearby licking the blood from her paws and face. The bounty hunter though seemed oblivious to the wounds as he stared up into Cerrydwens dark visage, seeing some sort of horror that can only be imagined. She stared down into his eyes muttering something under her breath, seeming to impose her will on his broken spirit.

John lay in the center of room, apparently still unconscious.

I looked down at the struggling form on the ground, who was now rolling back and forth in the snow, smoke rising from inside that mess of curtains. I flipped the edge of the curtain enough to see the burned face of a bounty hunter, his combat gear melted onto parts of his skin. He didn’t even notice me as I reached down and knocked him out. The fire was out, he would feel less pain unconscious.

“Is everyone OK?” I asked, looking back into the room.

The Frau’s assailant now lay stunned and bleeding, the man in front of Cerrydwen seemed to be in some sort of catatonic state, sitting and rocking back and forth muttering gibberish of some sort.

“Yeah,” said Herne. “I think maybe a couple of bruises, maybe a scrape here or there. I am getting too old for this kind of stuff.” He shook his right hand. “My knuckles can’t keep up with this kind of use.”

Ravyn’s eyes seemed to cool, the flames in her hands dying down to small tendrils of smoke. “I didn’t like those curtains much anyway. What happened to you Rusty? Where did you go?”

I explained what I went to go check out and then about the other assault team laying in the van out front. I also told them what I had learned from the guy inside the van and how Drake was behind this assault. I finished with, “I don’t know how that bastard could find out so quick how we ended up here, but it’s clear he isn’t going to be giving up anytime soon. Look I am really sorry to have endangered all of you in this mess. I think it would be best if I left John in your care and took off. If I am not around, maybe Drake and his goons will leave you guys in peace.”

“Oh stop with that nonsense!” The Frau exclaimed. “We are involved as much as you are now, I don’t think this Drake fellow is going to forget about us just because you take off now, is he?”

“No, probably not.” I said, sighing. “But I really don’t want to see you good people in such danger.”

Herne grinned. “Hey, I haven’t had this much fun in quite some time. Besides, it sounds like they have a pretty serious bounty on my head now, and if I heard you right, they still want John here.”

“You’re not going anywhere Rusty,” said Ravyn. “Not, that is, unless you take us with you. I don’t think we can stay here safely, so I will have to make some calls and make new arrangements for the Convocation anyway. This might be a good chance to go someplace warm and sunny!” She smiled at that thought.

Cerrydwen looked up from her victim, “Yes, I think a road trip is defintiely in order, don’t you Professor?”

Jim was inspecting his broken bat, picking up splinters that lay all around his victim. “Yeah, I can take some time off as well. I’m gonna miss this bat though, maybe we can stop in Louisville and get another one.” He grinned.

I looked over at John, “Did you guys finish what you needed to do to help John? Or did these guys interrupt that?”

“Luckily for John,” said the Frau. “We had just finished up when these fellows showed up. Cerry gave us the warning here. John should be coming around in the morning, if all went well.”

“Actually, it was just some of my own spirit friends who warned me, I just passed it along to you guys.”

“Look,” I said. “I have the other team laying in that van. We should take these guys out to join them, and get them to a hospital. these guys aren’t truly evil like Drake and his ilk, they were just stooges looking for a quick buck. Once we get them loaded up, I’ll take the van to the nearest hospital and if someone else will follow behind me, we can let these guys explain things to the police about their injuries and such. By the time anyone makes any sense out of what they are saying, we can be long gone.”

“I can follow you in one of their SUV’s, they won’t be needing it anymore.” Herne grinned as he said that. “Besides, we’re gonna need another SUV for a crew this big!”

“What about the window here at the co-op?” Ravyn looked at the broken window. “I don’t want to leave this like this.”

“I’ll make some calls,” said Jim. “It’ll be taken care of in the morning.”

“Let’s get this wrapped up then.”

With that, I went back to the van and brought it to the house, after checking to make sure no one inside was able to make any further trouble.

Once the van was at the house, I added the unconscious forms of the knocked out and stunned bounty hunters to the back, being a little more careful not to cause further damage, or to suffocate anyone. Last, I brought the gibbering fool in a catatonic state to join the rest, he moved wherever I guided him to without much fuss. He sat quietly in one of the chairs inside the back of the van.

After locking the back of the van back up, I went to Cerrydwen and asked, “Is that guy going to be able to make any trouble?”

She looked at me evenly, eyes narrowing just a little, “No, I don’t think so.”

“What did you do to him anyway?”

“Oh, I just made him take a look at everything mean he had done to anyone else in his own past, and made him experience all of that pain and hurt those people felt, only I amplified it a little bit. He wasn’t a very nice man, so he’s got an awful lot of karmic healing to do.”

“Damn, I’m glad you are on my side.” I shook my head as I watched Herne gather up weapons. “You need me to destroy those?”

“Nah, there’s some good stuff here, if nothing else, we can give them to John’s people to help defray some of their expenses. Might keep one or two myself. I kinda like these stun guns.”

“Yeah, that reminds me, they were carrying those things to try to stop me. Save one of those for us to experiment on later. I need to know if something like that can affect me.”

“Gotcha, good idea. Well, I can finish this up later, let’s go do our good deed for those poor bastards.”