Finally....

My plan was simple. I was going to go out with a huge, ass, fucking, bang! I was going to find as many lessers as I could and take them all down with me. LW could remember me as a hero and no one would ever tell him differently. First, I had to get out of the manse.

I found my way down to the training center, lurking, looking for the perfect patsy. Someone that would do anything they could to get further along in the program, yet hot-headed enough to take the risk I needed. As I sat by the sidelines, I quietly marked out my prey. My pick was perfect. Anara. If there was an opposite of the Glymera, that was where she came from, one of the poorest of families in our area. Due to that fact, she had an intense drive to be the best in the program, not to mention being one of only a few females, all of which caused her to push herself harder than anyone. She was also quick to jump at anyone that made the tiniest of hints that she didn’t belong. On top of all that, she has proven herself exceptional in the field. She would definitely do what I asked, no questions. For The King, she would do anything.

It wasn’t long after training was complete when most disappeared for a shower, some food, or some other way to wind down. But, not Anara. Anara was always in the gym hours after everyone.

Waiting until the place was cleared out, I made my way over to where Anara was working with the free weights. “Anara, grab your gear. I need you to take me somewhere.”

“Sire. Tonight? I didn’t see anything on the schedule for this evening, or I would have been ready for it.” She replied.

“This is an off-the-books type of a gig.” Less information was better.

“Who will be accompanying us?” She wasn’t stupid, which was one of the reasons I had been following her progress. As for Brother candidates, she had it all.

“It will only be us. Now, go get ready.”

I smell the unsureness on the air. She knew something was off. The question was, would she question The King further, or would she follow her orders. I waited for another beat, then turned on my heel and started for the door. “I’ll be in the hall.” I told her before walking out of the gym.

Five minutes later, Anara was by my side, walking me to the garage. “Where are we going, Sire?”

“I want to visit Beth.” After Beth had move unto The Fade, I had made arrangements for a headstone to be placed in a cemetery, next to her human mother’s. It was not my practice to visit the site, however, Anara didn’t know that and it was common knowledge that the headstone was there.

Once in the car and safely passed the mhis, I began to talk about how much I missed the fight, how much I missed the rush of strength that one got from taking down a pile of lessers, the feeling of knowing that your own particular set of skills was winning the fight of the race, knowing that you were needed. Before long, Anara was sharing her own battle stories, indulging in hearing mine own.

Somewhere along the road, I began to press for Anara to take me out into the field. I assured her over and over that I could absolutely fend for myself. She knew it was wrong to do so, yet, she wanted to see me in action, stand by my side and fight. She also wanted to prove that if it came down to it, she, alone, could keep me safe. Exactly what I wanted.

“I know exactly where we can go.” I told her.

Winding our way through the city, I could tell she was leading me right where I wanted to go. I had chosen the seediest part of town, the part of town where lessers ran rampant, and also the one place where Anara would feel safe, her part of town. She would feel invincible here, and I would have the best chance of finding the most lessers.

Anara parked the car and we followed my nose. After losing my eyesight, all my other senses had increased tenfold. Therefore, my sense of smell would lead us right to the where the biggest group of lessers were, and in this neighborhood, it shouldn’t take long.

However, it did take longer than expected. We walked for quite a distance before ever catching whiff of those baby powder scented bastards. But, when I did, it was as if they were all just leaving a Lions Club meeting. There were at least ten of them. This was perfect! It was exactly what I was looking for.

“Up ahead.” I said, waiting for Anara to let me know what we were looking at.

“Yeah. I see them. But Sire, there are too many for the two of us. Shit! This must be one of the places they convene. We need to call for backup.” She argued.

“Not a chance. You want to see what your King is capable of, or not?” I pressed, playing her ego like a golden fiddle.

“What if…”

I didn’t let her finish the sentence, “Are there civilians around?”

“Well, no but…”

Again, I didn’t wait. I just charged, allowing my sense of hearing, scent and touch to take over. As big as I was, I was still agile as a cougar in my attack. It was one thing I had made sure of over the year, I kept up with my sparring. I took every chance I could to work with my throwing stars and grab a trainee or two to scrap with. I knew there would be a day where I might need to use it and I didn’t want to be rusty. Plus, it gave me something to do with my time. Something other than sitting around in my room, waiting for the day it would be my turn to return unto The Fade.

“Fuck!” I heard from behind me. “I knew this was going to be a bad idea.”

I was across the street in a flash and down the alley where the lessers were gathering. Two of my throwing stars were stuck in foreheads before they even knew I was there. I could hear Anara striding up behind me and the fight began. Gunshots went whipping past as I tossed out my Hira Shuriken. Anara was still at the opening of the alley, calling out to me, begging me to retreat. I felt a little sorry for her. She was one of the best trainees we had and I had played her for a fool. She had trusted me and I had stomped my shit kickers all over that trust. But, I needed to do what I was doing. This was for my son, my heir, my last remaining family. He needed me to do this. He was going to be so much better off.

Moving further into the alley, I felt a slug enter my gut. Gritting my teeth, I plugged on. One damn bullet was not going to be the end-all, be-all for me. As I had previously decided, I was going down with a bang. Wrapping my hand around the grenade in my pocket, I assured myself it was still there. “Anara, go call for backup!” I called, hoping she would heed my warning. I was taking all these motherfuckers down with me. The last thing I needed was to take her, too.

Throwing out a few more Shuriken, I felt another bullet rip through my chest. Fuck! I fell backward, into a wall, as the lessers began to advance. I could feel blood pooling in my throat and knew I didn’t have much time. All I could hope was that Anara had done as I asked and gotten clear. It was too late at night for anyone else to be in these buildings, in this part of town.

I popped the pin in my pocket and pulled out the grenade. Laughing, I tossed it at the group of them and closed my eyes, waiting for my moment. Unfortunately, it wasn’t quite as easy as that. I felt the shrapnel of the grenade going off, hitting every exposed part of my body and the blast projected my body into the wall on the far side of the alley, knocking me unconscious for a short time.

When I came to, I could smell debris everywhere, concrete from the adjacent building, as well as the horrid stink of lessers. I could feel ashes brush against the skin on my face as they fell like snowflakes on a crisp, winter day, and for some reason I was fixated on that. My ears were ringing and everything seemed so insignificant in the aftermath.

Shaking my head, I tried to sit up before realizing that I had been lying in a pool of blood that just caused me slip around. That and I was unable to move both my legs. I rolled over onto my stomach and began to crawl using my arms. I didn’t make it far, though, before everything began to get dark again. Finally…