All ten of the closest spear bearers pointed their weapons at him. “Sirhan Etlu speaks, and you will listen,” the spokesperson said, with a fierceness in his rumbling voice.
A hand extended from the back window of the limousine. I wouldn’t have noticed it if it weren’t for the light of the almost full moon glinting off the large ring on one of the fingers. Something about the shape of the hand didn’t look quite … human.
“Gabriel failed me,” came a voice from the car. It was raspy yet loud at the same time. Commanding. A power radiated through it that made my knees feel like they weren’t completely solid. Almost like I needed to bow down to the owner of the voice.
The sensation must have been shared by the robed crowd, because they turned on their heels and fell to one knee, heads bowed in the direction of the limo with one fist shoved against the ground.
“If he had been truly loyal,” the commanding voice continued, “he would have returned the moment my guards informed him of my ultimatum.”
Gabriel moaned. His head bowed low.
“Only he tarried, showing where his true loyalties lie. I had to see for myself who could steal the devotion of my very own beta. Bring this ‘Divine One’ to me.”
Daniel let go of my hand and stepped forward.
“Don’t,” I whispered to him.
“Perhaps your own beta would be more loyal to you if you didn’t treat him in such a barbaric way.” Daniel stood tall. Taller than I’d ever seen him. How much had he grown in the last week?
Again, I felt that sensation in my knees, trying to fold me into a bow. But this time it was directed toward Daniel. The lost boys on the porch fell into one-kneed bows, in supplication to Daniel. I glanced back quickly and saw that even Jude had fallen in a bow to Daniel. But I was even more shocked and amazed as two robed men from the crowd turned toward Daniel also.
“Your time as alpha is growing to a close, Sirhan,” Talbot, stuck in a half-bowing position toward Daniel, said with a laugh. “Can’t you see that?”
Which was apparently the worst thing anyone could have possibly said at the moment.
“Take him!” the voice—I assumed belonged to Sirhan—roared. “Take the Kalbi boy before he corrupts any more!”
A group of spear bearers rushed at Daniel, who stood at the edge of the porch steps. The lost boys growled and crouched back, ready to lunge at Daniel’s would-be captors. My insides shrieked, knowing a bloody battle was about to erupt in front of us. What would happen to my family? My neighborhood?
“Don’t!” Daniel shouted.
Both the lost boys and the spearmen stopped mid-motion.
Daniel held out his arms out to Sirhan’s men. “I’ll go with them willingly.”
Daniel, no! I thought as two spearmen grabbed Daniel’s arms.
A sharp scream came from my right, and I watched in horror as Ryan jutted over the porch railing and flew at the guards. He swung his stake at the closest spear bearer—the young woman I’d noticed before—hitting her ear with his weapon. She screamed. Blood spurted from her head as she clutched at the side of her face—her ear barely hanging from a flap of skin.
Another guard swung his spear at Ryan’s face, smacking him with the flat side of the silver blade. Ryan’s whimper made me shudder as he fell to the ground. A blistering red burn in the shape of the spearhead welted up on his cheek.
“Stop!” Daniel shouted as the guard went in for a second blow against Ryan. “He’s just a boy.”
The spearmen glared at Ryan, but he dropped his spear at his side—obeying Daniel’s command.
“Don’t anyone else make a move,” Daniel said. “I am Sirhan’s prisoner, and I won’t allow anyone else to get hurt on my part. Not tonight.”