The Powerholders

Chapter 8:

Malcum runs down the road while he keeps his eyes on the scene in front as it slowly progresses.

Claudia seems to be fine, oh, never mind!

As he runs Claudia takes a hit to the side of her head and spins through the air, landing a few feet from him, unconscious. She has a claw mark on the left side of her face as long as a pencil.

I'll have to heal that later.

The gargoyles laugh a scrapy sound and start to peer in his direction. Malcum prepares energy to his legs and feet. His speed picks up to the point where he becomes a blur and appears before the gargoyles. He tackles the nearest one causing his body to c***k and break at places; he loses an arm and a leg. The other gargoyles turn to face him and takes a swipe at his side. Malcum braces for impact by lifting his arms to cover his face, then two long slashes cleave down his arms. He grits his teeth and sends energy to his arms to help heal them. The healing starts to take affect slowly as his wounds start to slowly mend and the bleeding ceases. The gargoyles, taken aback by the healing, moves a few meters back and starts to circle him. Malcum's body flares as the energy rolls off him in waves barely visible in the sunlight.

Damn, these guys are hard to deal with, one is unable to properly fight, but is still a risk. I'll need to finish this quickly.

"Hey, you big ugly sorry excuses for art! Come and try me!"

The provocation seems to be affective as one of the gargoyles, the one that is an arm and a leg short, cries a grated screech and rushes toward him using his wings to propel him.

Malcum gathers all his energy to his fist and with all the strength he could muster, hits the gargoyle right in the middle of his face. The gargoyle shatters and turns to small peddles and rocks. The other two gargoyles, realising that Malcum used a lot of his strength, also charges him. Malcum evades the first and then uses a short burst of energy to evade the second as well. Malcum starts to charge energy in his fist again, but is happening very slowly and as such, he doesn't divert any energy into dodging any more. This results in him being hit or scratched more often. The fight continues for a while as he takes a hit or two and the gargoyles try hitting him endlessly. When he finally has enough energy, he unleashes it into another gargoyle. Being aware of this strategy the gargoyle dodges slightly to the right but does not completely escape the blow. He loses an arm and a wing as he is sent flying to the side. The other gargoyle seeing an opportunity starts to close in on Malcum and stabs a hand right through one of his arms. Malcum roars as pain floods his mind, but he quickly suppresses it and pulls away from the gargoyle. He and the gargoyle begore him is locked in a stalemate that keeps going for a while until Malcum remembers the other gargoyle. Looking around he realises that the other gargoyle is crawling towards Claudia and is readying his hand to finish her off.

This is an obvious trap, but if I don't take the hit, she'll die, I can't save her without losing this fight. Damn it!

As the gargoyle drops his hand in a wide arc like an executioner dropping his axe, Claudia opens her eyes to see the impending death nearing her.

She hears Malcum scream "Claudia!" and closes her eyes as she waits for the impact.

*Boom. Slosh. Crunch. *

She hears the impact, feels the pain as his hand cuts through her flesh and breaks her shoulder bones. The pain is excruciating and then it is gone, like mist in front of the sun. Instead, it feels normal, a warm liquid is rushing over her hand, but it is not coming from her shoulder, she knows. Because the warmth is not on her arm or chest, only her hand. Meaning it is flowing over it from somewhere else. She opens her eyes to see Malcum kneeling over her, a cemented hand with jagged nails covered in blood through his chest, right above his heart, right where it would have been had she stood there, right where she felt it before. Shock and horror fill her face, her voice is caught in her throat and her body is as stiff as can be. Malcum, facing away from her with his shoulder almost cut clean off, turns his head towards her with a smile on his face.

"Good weather, nice location, bad company and fatal injuries, not an ideal first date huh?"

She is too shocked to react and then sees the gargoyle start to saw his way towards Malcum's heart with his hand. Claudia realises that she needs to react now if she wants to save him.

She quickly gathers energy like Malcum does in her body and chops the gargoyle's hand off. Malcum passes out and she catches him before he hits the ground. She then turns her body away from them and starts to run towards her safe house. Three blocks down and one turn right, a small building with a green roof and blue walls appears. She darts straight through the open door and into the house, once inside she shuts the door and locks it using a rune, they discovered a while ago. He then places Malcum on her bed and starts to apply first aid as best she can. The telephone suddenly starts ringing. She quickly rushes over and answer.

"What happened? The alarm suddenly went off that the safe house has been breached. What is happening?"

"Sir, gargoyles are after our target. He is unconscious and bleeding profusely on the bed. I can't stop the bleeding and he'll die soon if he is left like this! Help! Please Sir!"

"Don't panic, we know it is him we're after, so we'll help him if he needs it. But answer me a question first. Are you willing to have him, or not?"

Claudia doesn't even hesitate before answering.

"I am willing!"

"Good, then I'll personally interfere in this matter, one who my daughter approved is a one to keep!"