Part 32 (2/2)

'But you'll be dead!' Derek rushed his father, pus.h.i.+ng him back against the wall of the room with a grunt of effort. The ancient swords on the wall crashed down around them, clattering to the floor. Gina stared at them, remembering the movie scene she'd shot just before she left to come to the island. The sword scene.

She holstered her guns and slung her rifles over her shoulders, sidestepping the two men grappling against the wall. Picking up the broadsword, she held it over her shoulder and positioned herself behind Ben.

Derek made eye contact with her and nodded, grasping Ben's throat with both hands and squeezing hard. Ben reciprocated by doing the same to Derek.

Dammit, that wasn't going to do at all, considering what she had in mind, but she couldn't very well tell Derek to remove his hands from his father's throat without giving herself away. Right now Ben's attention was on Derek, since he no doubt didn't see Gina as any kind of threat. She stayed in position behind Ben, moving when he did. The noises the two of them made were so loud she doubted he even heard her.

But then Derek let go of Ben's throat, positioning his arms underneath his father's and trying to pry Ben's fingers from his neck.

But Derek was still too close, and Gina wouldn't take the chance on hurting Derek, too.

'Do it!' Derek croaked.

'You want me to kill you?' Ben asked. 'Is this how you want to die? By my hand?'

Gina knew Derek wasn't talking to his father, but to her. But Ben didn't know that. She raised the sword over her head, sweat pouring down her arms, her face, fear causing her limbs to shake.

'Just do it, G.o.ddammit!' Derek choked out, struggling against the tightening hold of Ben's grasp around his throat. 'Now!'

Ben shook his head, squeezing tighter. Derek's face lost the look of a demon and now turned a dark, mottled purple. He didn't have long. With all her strength, Gina swung the sword in a careful arc, realizing at the second it touched Ben's neck that this was no movie.

The sword sliced clean through the bone and muscle holding Ben's head to his neck. For a split second, nothing happened. Then Ben dropped his hands from Derek's neck. Derek coughed and fell to his knees. Ben turned around slowly, his eyes narrowed.

He said nothing, just tilted his head as if he were pondering who stood behind him and had the audacity to come at him with a sword. Gina watched in horror as the head slid from his shoulders onto the ground, followed by the rest of him a few seconds later.

Nothing happened. Gina waited for his head to pop back onto his shoulders and regenerate, just like the rest of his body had before.

It didn't.

A howling roar sailed throughout the room as a swirling black cloud rose from Ben's body. The floor rumbled underneath her like an earthquake, shaking the contents of the room. Fixtures rattled as the invisible moan whistled, grew in intensity, then dissipated. Ben's head and body burned in an acrid cloud of ash and disappeared.

'Holy s.h.i.+t,' she whispered. He was gone. Really gone. Dead. She glanced at Derek, who shook his head at her and shrugged, obviously just as shocked as she was.

She looked down at the sword she still held in a tight grip and lifted it up over her head, resisting the urge to roar in triumph.

A sudden peace settled over her, as if an evil had been lifted. She sucked in a breath of clean air, then exhaled. Dropping the sword, she ran over to Derek.

'Are you all right?'

He coughed and nodded. 'Fine,' he said, his voice hoa.r.s.e. 'Just f.u.c.king fine.'

The rest of the hunters dashed into the room.

'Demons are done for,' Dalton said, then looked around. 'Where is he?'

'Dead,' Gina said, keeping her gaze focused on Derek.

Derek stood, and Lou approached.

'You see that?' Derek asked.

Lou nodded. 'You did well. Both of you.'

Gina looked to the dark spot on the floor where Ben used to be. 'All the technology we use on these things. One ancient broadsword and a beheading did the trick.' She looked back to Lou for an answer.

'They're my swords,' Lou answered, picking up the sword that Gina had used to kill Ben. He grabbed a cloth from his pack and wiped Ben's blood from the blade.

'Yours?' Derek looked as surprised as Gina.

Lou nodded. 'Actually, they were pa.s.sed down from those who started the Realm of Light. Ben took them from my home the night he killed my family. I suppose he kept them as trophies.' Lou glanced to the dark spot on the floor. 'He never realized their power. To him, they were just keepsakes from his kill. To the Realm of Light, they are the embodiment of the power of the light.'

'They're blessed in some way, aren't they?' Gina asked.

Lou allowed the hint of a smile. 'You could say that.' His eyes danced with a light of their own. 'We didn't always have high-tech weapons.'

Lou moved to the other swords, gathered them up, and folded them in his arms. 'Now they're going home again.'

After he moved away, Gina turned to Derek. He stared at the spot on the floor where his father had fallen.

'Derek.'

He didn't answer her.

'Derek, are you all right?'

He finally looked her way and blinked. 'I'm fine. You okay?'

'I'm more than okay.' Breathing a sigh of relief, she started to reach out for him, but he turned away and headed toward the others. She dropped her chin to her chest and sighed, feeling strangely empty rather than victorious.

Something was still bothering Derek. Was it because she'd just killed his father?

No, that couldn't be it. He'd wanted Ben dead. So what was it? She had to find out.

She caught up with Derek and Lou as they were addressing the others.

'I think we're done here,' Derek said. 'We'll track the tunnels to their end, or see if they even have an end. We can set explosives, wire them to the remote, and blow them closed.'

'I'll do a little investigating and see what I can learn about Ben's operation down here,' Lou said. 'I find it fascinating he had such an elaborate setup. Not at all what I expected.'

Derek nodded and Lou walked away, the others following him.

'Are you sure you're okay?' she asked him.

Derek sighed. 'I said I'm fine, Gina. Just need to get things wrapped up. Why don't you go help Lou? Need to get all of you topside.'

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