Knights v Hunters; The Return

“Caleb, Becca! What are you doing here?” Eden asked in confusion. She was grateful to see the Hunters, but worried about the repercussions of their presence.

“Well, we enjoyed fighting the Untouchables so much at our compound, that we thought we’d have another go,” Caleb joked, sensing Eden’s concern. “Don’t worry, the Guardians let us in.”

“They let you in?” Eden exclaimed. “That’s not possible.”

“Well, seems as if they didn’t mind a few Hunters walking in,” Becca responded. “So, are you going to apprise us on the situation? Or are you going to stand there wondering how many Guardians we eliminated?”

Eden smiled, knowing that Caleb would not have lied about the Guardians letting them in whilst being certain that the town’s protectors could only have received that instruction from her father. Becca was right though, she didn’t have time to wonder about the small things. She quickly updated them on the number of Untouchables they’d captured, the weapons they’d seized, as well as their plan of action. “How many of you came through?” she asked, well aware that she actually wanted to know if Rafe was amongst them.

“Five of us,” Caleb responded, “but I think we’re enough to take the rest down. Rafe’s with Matthew,” he said, also aware that Eden was enquiring after his brother, “and Dad’s gone in search of your father.”

“Jude’s here?” Eden exclaimed once more.

“Absolutely,” Caleb said. “Told you, we come in peace! So, where to next?”

Jude quickly assessed Knight town as he went in search of Gabe. He knew where to find the Knight leader, realised that the Guardians had let in the Hunters on his instructions and therefore knew that Gabe had acknowledged that the Knights couldn’t defeat these Untouchables on their own. Jude found Gabe in one of the houses where he had taken down two Untouchables and managed to restrain them.

“Gabe,” Jude called out and watched, as the white-haired Knight turned around, almost relieved to see him. The leader of the Knights was the same age as him, but he had greyed prematurely. They hadn’t seen each other for more than two decades.

Gabe walked up to the feared leader of the Hunters and held out his hand in greeting, which Jude took. “Jude, thank you for coming,” he said simply and a whole conversation passed between the two leaders, without another word being spoken.

“You do know that we won’t be as magnanimous as you when it comes to the lives of the Untouchables?” Jude warned, turning towards the Untouchables who were squirming on the floor, but still very much alive.

“I understand,” Gabe acknowledged. “You will do what’s necessary. Thank you for keeping Grace safe,” he added.

“Our wives seem to do what is necessary to keep each other safe,” Jude said mysteriously. “The Young Hunters have met up with the Knights. How can I help?”

“We need to find Zeke,” Gabe said simply, knowing that Jude more than anyone else, would understand that directive. “The Young Hunters and the Knights can take care of the rest of the Untouchables.”

Jude nodded, knowing that his children were more than capable of fending off the Untouchables, no matter how powerful they thought they were. He understood the urgency to find his old friend Zeke, someone he himself would like to see again. “I know where he is right now,” Jude said, “but he is moving very fast through Knight town. I guess we know what he’s looking for!”

Gabe would not just let Zeke take what he wanted, of that he was certain. “Let’s go find him.”

Eden knew that Rafe was approaching her, but she wouldn’t allow herself to be distracted, not today. They had already taken down half the Untouchable contingent, with Matthew and Rafe guarding the other entrance to the town hall. Now Rafe was making his way to her, a strange look on his face.

“Eden, hey,” he said in greeting, a thousand thoughts going through his mind, but centred on the dream that he first had of a Hunter being involved in the attacks.

“Rafe,” Eden simply said, finally looking at him, knowing that something was bothering him, but unable to ask the question that mattered. “Thanks for your help. We’re making great progress. Hopefully this should be over soon.”

“I hope so too,” Rafe said, a vision forming in his head, something that he tried to shake off. “Unfortunately, Seth and the Blocker did manage to capture a few Knights, some of whom they have successfully cleaned of their abilities. I think their memories are still intact though. The Zolfars helped us to take out a few more Untouchables, so we’re pretty close to the end now.” He still couldn’t dislodge Eden’s face from that of the Hunter’s.

“Rafe,” Eden called, hesitating as she gently placed her hand on his arm, “do you know why Zeke the Hunter would be after me?”

Rafe looked down at the hand on his arm, just as Eden tried to remove it. He quickly placed his other hand on top of hers. “I honestly don’t know,” he responded, “but he won’t harm you,” he said with certainty. “Whatever happens, don’t be afraid.” Rafe looked into Eden’s eyes, saw something familiar there that resonated with him, but which he couldn’t identify.

Eden felt pain rip through her heart. She loved this Hunter, but he would never know that! She would never, ever have the chance to steal a few moments with him, share parts of themselves that they had never shared with anyone before. She knew that Rafe would love again- it just wouldn’t be her. The realisation hurt her, so she gently pulled her hand from him, thanked him and went to join Eli and Becca who were lying in wait close to the town hall.

Rafe watched Eden walk away and sensed her pain and frustration. She must be worried about Zeke, he thought. Zeke would never hurt Eden – he would bet his life on that.

Zeke was tracked to Gabe’s home, but he had moved again. Jude sensed Zeke’s essence as soon as he stepped into the house.

“He stood for a while, right here,” Jude said to Gabe, as he moved towards a table with photos. Then he understood the reason. He lifted the photo frame of Eden, sensing that Zeke had stared at the photo for a long time.

“So, he’s definitely after Eden,” Gabe said harshly, never having a doubt in the first place.

“Yes, but there are many who surround her right now,” Jude said, sensing Eden’s movements. “She just has to ensure that she doesn’t get herself separated from them.”

“What happened, Jude? I thought Zeke had died.” Gabe asked.

“We all thought so,” Jude confessed. “He hadn’t been very focussed on his last mission and was injured as a result, which is ironic, considering that he was one of the best Sensors that the Hunters ever had. Ethan was with Zeke and he saw that his injury was bad. There was a Healer on their team and Ethan called him, but he had to leave Zeke alone for a few minutes but when he returned, Zeke was gone. We tracked him for an hour after that. He wasn’t conscious, but someone was moving him. That was the last time we sensed him. We spent months trying to track him. I went back, searched for him in the place where he was last seen, but we couldn’t find him. I have always been able to track my people and I didn’t get any signal from him. If we can’t track a Hunter, it usually means that he or she is dead. I assumed then, obviously in error, that he was no longer with us. So this Blocker that they have with them is quite powerful. And in all these years I’ve never found Zeke’s signal, until yesterday, which means that he wants me to know where he is.”

Gabe rolled back the years as he thought about Delia. “Delia also thought that he was dead, said that she knew it in her heart because she couldn’t sense him anymore. She was devastated,” Gabe said. “I’d never ever seen her like that before. She was always so strong and so proud, but the knowledge that he was no longer alive, broke her. There are times when I feel that she died more of a broken heart than of complications due to childbirth,” Gabe said painfully. He had loved Delia and her passing had devastated him.

“Ava’s always believed that. She thought that Delia and Zeke had one of the strongest bonds she’d ever seen. They couldn’t be together though,” Jude said.

“Do you think that we could have avoided all of this if our ancestors hadn’t forbidden the union of Hunters and Knights, if they hadn’t created a wedge between our two societies?” Gabe asked quietly.

“I don’t know,” Jude said honestly. “We just have to ensure that history doesn’t repeat itself.” He thought about his own son and his love for someone he thought he couldn’t have. “The one rule that our ancestors imposed, which I still support, is that Knights and Hunters shouldn’t use their abilities on each other,” Jude said forcefully.

Gabe nodded in agreement, but sensed that something was on Jude’s mind. “Wait, has a Knight breached this covenant?”

Jude thought for a moment. “Let’s just say, that we have to reinforce that rule when all of this is over!”

Zeke made his way to the town hall, finally understanding the Knights’ plan. He sensed that most of the younger Knights were guarding the hall, lying in wait for the approaching Untouchables, which meant that someone in Seth’s team had relayed their plan to the Knights. It had to be the Zolfars, he realised with a smile. He hadn’t trusted them from the beginning, despite Lucia and Seth’s assurances. You could never turn a Guardian! Well, that was now Lucia and Seth’s problem – he had a different, more important mission to accomplish. He couldn’t care less about the Untouchables.

He stopped as he spotted Gabe’s sons talking to two other young men. Hunters! Those were Jude and Ava’s boys – he’d recognise them anywhere! He hadn’t factored this into his plans; he didn’t foresee that the Guardians would let the Hunters through the gates. Did that mean that Jude was also here, in the town? Their ancestors would have turned in their graves!

Zeke continued moving closer to the town hall, virtually unseen, his eyes scanning the area for his salvation. He spotted her a few metres away, his heart beating faster now as he walked towards her. Just then, an Untouchable launched himself at Eden’s petite frame. Zeke was impressed that she still managed to stay on her feet, despite the size of the former Knight. Eden managed to disarm the man, unaware though, that he still carried an ankle weapon. They engaged in hand-to-hand combat, trading blows, each one more vicious than the previous. In his day, Zeke thought, a male would hardly ever conduct a physical fight such as this, with a woman half his size and yet this Untouchable had no such compunction. He was giving as good as he got and Eden could fight, Zeke realised with some pride. She was physically strong for someone so small and she was quick.

Zeke watched the fight play out, could see that the Untouchable was tiring, but knew that he would not succumb easily. Just then, the Untouchable moved away from Eden and reached for the gun in his ankle holster. He aimed the gun at the young Knight, ready to pull the trigger. Zeke did not hesitate. In a microsecond, he raised his hand and released his arrow, felling the former Knight. It took Eden by surprise and she quickly turned around, looking for the Hunter who had helped her, but Zeke had moved out of view by this time and he saw the look of confusion on Eden’s face as she bent over the lifeless body of the Untouchable.

She was unaware of the man who watched her, who saw in her, the traits of his beloved. Eden didn’t look like any Knight he had ever met. If she saw him, she would know everything without him speaking a word.

The slight sound alerted Eden to another presence close to her and she readied herself to attack. Except that the man who approached her, did not look like a condemned or an Untouchable. He stopped close to her and Eden felt her knees weaken. It couldn’t be!

“Do you know me?” the man asked gently, his eyes filled with love and loss.

Eden’s eyes welled with tears. She nodded.

Jude and Gabe had made their way to the town hall, Jude having sensed Zeke in that vicinity. Josh and Rafe had just finished tying up the latest batch of Untouchables and freeing the captured Knights in the process, when they saw the anxious faces of their fathers.

“Where’s Eden?” Gabe asked without preamble. He eyed the area, unable to find his youngest born.

“She’s around the back,” Josh replied. “Matthew was with her a moment ago. Why?” Gabe and Jude hurried to where Josh had indicated Eden could be found. She wasn’t there.

Matthew hurried from across the street. He, Caleb and Eli had attacked the last wave of the Untouchables. Unfortunately, some of the Untouchables were eliminated in the process, but the Guardians had quietly disposed of the bodies. Peter had confirmed that there were less than a handful of Untouchables remaining in the town, all of whom were now inside town hall. Matthew knew that he should feel some measure of guilt, but it hadn’t as yet settled in him. The troubled face of his father brought home that their actions were against the conviction of the Knights.

“Did you see Eden?” Gabe asked, noting all the while that his son was in awe of Jude, the leader of the Hunters, who he had never seen face to face before.

“Uh, I left her at the back of the hall. She was close to Becca. Why?” Matthew asked, but received no answer; yet he did not fail to notice the glance that Jude and Gabe exchanged.

“What’s the status?” Jude asked instead, diverting Matthew’s thoughts.

Matthew explained that they had taken out most of the Untouchables, save for the ones inside the town hall, probably a handful in total. “Good,” Jude replied. “Gabe,” he said, pulling the leader of the Knights out of the thoughts that were obviously running through his mind, “shall we end this?”

Gabe nodded and followed both his and Jude’s sons to the entrance of the hall. Before that, he turned around and whispered to Jude, “How do I tell my wife, our sons, my people, that I couldn’t protect my own daughter?” Jude placed his hand on Gabe’s shoulder and whispered something.

Rafe and Caleb who had both turned back, witnessed the exchange.

“What’s that about?” Caleb asked his brother silently.

“Gabe’s worried. Eden’s gone,” he said calmly, all the while panic rose within him.

“What?” Caleb asked. “Did Zeke take her?”

“Yes,” Rafe responded. “But he would never harm her.”

The Hunters were the first to enter the town hall and they quickly found the room being used by Seth and the Untouchables. The Untouchables’ weapons were no match for Jude and his team though and before long, most of them were eliminated, leaving behind the Blocker, Seth and the Zolfars. Seth grabbed one of the Knights he had been working on and held a knife to her throat as Gabe and Jude approached him.

“Gabe and Jude, together again,” he said, venom filling his voice “Whatever would your grandparents think?” Jude knew that he could easily eliminate Seth, but Gabe needed answers and the old man had them. He kept close watch on him, noticing that the Zolfars had also moved closer to Seth, ostensibly to protect him and Lucia Ginello.

“I need to understand why Seth? Why would you betray your people like this? Kill the innocents we were born to protect? You killed your own wife, the woman who loved you and stood by you for a lifetime,” Gabe bellowed, watching Seth cringe at the mention of Dina.

Seth scowled. “From the day Lucas was banished, all that I’ve ever lived for, was to see you and the rest of the Knights brought to your knees for taking the one thing that meant everything to me!” Gabe finally saw the hatred in Seth’s eyes, knew the Elder had held his hatred in check for decades. “For years, I’ve worked on developing a plan to destroy everything that the Knights ever stood for. Jeb helped me to distort all the intelligence that we gathered for our missions, and we fed it to Noah, who defended the truth of that intelligence, even when you presented a very credible argument to the Council. Over the years, when Knights chose to join the world of the Normals or when the Untouchables were banished, Jeb allocated all those cases to me to conduct the cleaning, but the records reflected the names of other Cleaners. Even Noah was caught off guard because some of his cases were re-assigned, but he couldn’t ask because of the anonymity that was associated with the allocations. So, I sent the Untouchables and former Knights into Normal society with all the abilities that they were born with, expecting them to be grateful enough to help us when we were ready to invade Knight town.

Unfortunately, not all of them expressed the same level of gratitude as Gentry and McCall. Lucia and I had met on a mission soon after I returned to duty after Lucas’s banishment. I had stopped by to see him, to make sure that he was okay, glad that he still had his abilities thanks to Jeb’s intervention and he introduced me to Lucia. She and her husband owned a bakery and she kindly employed many of the Untouchables, keeping them close to her. She had very intimate knowledge of our society. I knew her powers, knew that her parents were powerful before they chose to live amongst the Normals and I also knew that she wanted nothing more than to avenge her parents being “robbed” of their abilities before they left the town. Our mission was to rule Knight society!” Lucia smiled at that. She wouldn’t have lasted in Knight town, Jude realised. She would have been banished at a young age, of that he was certain. There was something evil about her.

“So, all this was about Lucas? At the time, you also acknowledged that the Council was right to banish him. He broke the covenants as a Knight and as an Untouchable, he brutally killed his entire family, including your grandchildren! How can you stand there and justify what he did?” Gabe asked angrily.

“He wasn’t himself in the end. His banishment changed him, made him weak,” Seth responded. “He didn’t want to be a part of the mission to take over Knight town and tried to evade us for years. We knew that the only way to get him back on track, was to separate him from his family. Then his wife listened in on a telephone conversation and Lucia decided that we needed to get rid of her. Lucas knew; he knew how we worked. That’s the reason he killed his children and wife. He didn’t want the Untouchables near them, but he knew that his actions would alert the Hunters. I think he wanted to die. He wanted to be with his family. After everything I did for him, he chose them!” Seth was beyond reason now. “We had to go through with the mission to take over Knight town. Even without Lucas. However, we didn’t ask Gentry and McCall to kill the other former Knights. In fact, I was horrified at first, but Lucia explained that we couldn’t let them live after they learnt of our plans.”

“How did you meet up with Zeke?” Jude asked, more interested to know how his former friend had fallen into the clutches of these evil Untouchables.

“I found him,” Lucia said, finally able to highlight her role. “He was badly injured and was barely lucid. He kept saying that he had to go home. I didn’t know who he was, but Gentry and McCall who had just started working for me, knew of him. They knew he was a Hunter. So we took him back to Gentry’s home, found a Healer to tend to his wounds. He took months to recover and when he did, he was a broken man. He said that his beloved had died, that he had lost everything.”

“Why couldn’t I track him?” Jude asked, curious now. “I searched for him for months.”

“I was able to block him from being tracked when we found him because his life force was so weak. Once we found out who he was, we knew that he could help us with our plans to invade Knight town, so we convinced him that the Hunters were not looking for him, that he had been abandoned. You had probably stopped trying to track him by then, so you wouldn’t have been searching for his signal,” Lucia confirmed.

“You told him we didn’t care,” Jude said quietly.

“Oh yes. And he believed it so easily, so obviously, there was something there that made him think that it could be true.” Jude remembered the conversations that he and Zeke had the weeks preceding Zeke’s last mission. Delia had been at the centre of it and their conversations had not gone too well. Zeke had reason to doubt the Hunters’ acceptance of his situation, but he should have known that they would never have abandoned him.

“What was he doing all this time?” Jude asked. “Obviously, he wasn’t working at the bakery as well?”

“No,” Lucia confirmed. “He wandered in and out of our lives, like a lost soul. We always knew where he was and we knew that he’d help us gain our vengeance someday, but he liked his space, especially from the Untouchables. Every time he came back, he seemed to have a greater conviction and his hatred for the Knights seemed to match our own. Then he brought up the idea of going into the Hunter compound as a show of strength.”

Jude was loath to ask the next question, but he needed to know. “Did he assist Gentry and McCall in any way to kill the former Knights?”

Lucia laughed. “No. He’s the only Hunter I know who was reluctant to use his arrows.” Maybe he hadn’t changed that much, Jude thought.

“You know you won’t leave here alive?” Gabe asked both Lucia and Seth.

“I know the endgame, Gabe,” Seth spat out. “That’s why I ended Dina’s life. I couldn’t bear to see the look in her eyes when she put together what I’d done, what I was planning to do. I didn’t want her to carry that shame either.”

Rafe, Caleb and Gabe’s children listened to the exchanges between their fathers and Seth and Lucia. It was so bizarre, Rafe thought as he slowly started to piece together information. Zeke had obviously been a large part of his father’s life and yet they had never heard his name uttered in the compound. Now, the Hunter had taken Eden and yet there was no urgency to find her, although he sensed Gabe’s growing stress. Rafe spoke to his brother once again and Caleb slowly exited the town hall, in search of Becca. They needed to find Kyra.

“Why did you injure Noah?” Gabe asked Seth.

“He eventually got past his anger towards you and figured out there was merit in what you had said. Too many things didn’t make sense to him, so he called me to go through a few ideas. I told Jeb to stay close. When Noah started to talk, he figured out what had happened. I told him about Zeke and Lucia before we subdued him. Unfortunately, the Guardians got in the way, so we had to get rid of them. We made it seem as if Noah had escaped through the gates. We must have done a great job,” Seth laughed, “since no one figured it out for a very long time.”

“I’m assuming you found Grace,” Seth said regretfully. “Zeke said she’d be found. I thought he was going to harm her at one stage. He’d looked at her with such anger.”

Both Gabe and Jude knew the reason for Zeke’s anger. Grace would be upset if she knew what was happening right now, Gabe thought. As a father, he’d failed to protect their youngest child.

Meanwhile, Matthew had moved closer to Rafe. “Do you think your father will use his arrows on Lucia and Seth?” he asked.

“Not yet, and not without your father’s permission,” Rafe responded. “They need some information from him first.” But I don’t think he knows, Rafe realised.

The conversation flowed in the room and eventually, Seth realised that the Zolfars had played them. “You benefited from my actions,” he shouted.

“We never asked for it,” Leo replied. “You made that choice for us. We just chose to use our abilities to benefit the very Normals we used to protect as Knights.”

“We would never betray our own people,” Harper said angrily. “You made a mistake if you ever believed that we could.”

There was an angry rant from Seth and he rushed towards the Zolfars. Harper and Leo easily subdued him, while Lucia Ginello stood with her arms folded, resigned to her fate.

“I don’t care if you come after me for what you think I might have done,” Gabe said, “but I draw the line at you going after my children!”

“Your children are safe,” Seth said in confusion. “I never went after them, even though we knew that hurting them would weaken you.”

“Then, where’s my daughter?” Gabe asked, just as Kyra walked into the hall.

“Behind you,” Seth replied.

“I meant Eden,” Gabe said. “Where did Zeke take her?”

Rafe felt Matthew straighten up beside him. “Eden’s gone?” Matthew asked his father.

“I have no idea why Zeke would take Eden,” Seth said honestly. “He never mentioned anything about her in our plan.”

“He’s telling the truth,” Rafe whispered to Matthew. “He doesn’t know anything.” He knew his father was telling Gabe the same, as Jude leaned closer to the leader of the Knights.

“I don’t think we have any use for them now,” Gabe told Jude, effectively granting him permission to eliminate Seth and Lucia. Gabe turned his back on those who had betrayed him and walked out of the town hall, his children following closely behind him. He waited for them to gather outside, the questions in their eyes hard to answer. He watched as the Guardians made their way into the town hall, the Hunters exiting at the same time. The Hunters stood away from the Knights, granting Gabe the privacy with his children.

“Your sister is gone,” Gabe said. “Zeke has her.” He heard Kyra gasp, saw Josh and Matthew stiffen in anger.

Rafe stepped forward towards Gabe. “Sir, if I may?” he asked. Gabe nodded, grateful for the respite. “Eden’s okay. She’s not panicking, just a bit confused.”

“What does he want with her?” Josh asked. “What if he hurts her?”

“Oh, he’d never hurt her,” Rafe quickly answered.

“How can you be so sure?” Matthew asked. Rafe didn’t think that it was his place to answer.

“He wouldn’t hurt her because…” Gabe said, finding it difficult to continue, “Zeke is Eden’s biological father!”