War of the Druids - Dennis Riggs (e ink epub reader TXT) 📗

Chapter 1

“Dustin.”

“What’s up?”

“Where the hell are you taking us?”

“You’ll see.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

Dustin Brooks stopped and turned to face his friend. “It means if you shut your mouth for ten minutes you’ll find out, genius.”

“Fine, fine. After you, Your Highness,” replied Dustin’s annoyed friend.

With an amused smirk on his face, Dustin continued down the sidewalk with his friends, Jason Kilroy and Jamal Branston. But, no sooner did they walk twenty feet when someone burst out of the alley and ran straight into Dustin, knocking them both to the ground. As soon as they hit the ground the runner was scrambling back to her feet while trying to run at the same time. After stumbling a couple of times, she takes off at a dead sprint.

“What the hell was that,” Dustin said, jumping to his feet. He looked around but whoever hit him was already well down the street. The most he could make out in the glow of the street lamp was pale skin and a lot of gleaming red hair. Checking himself over to make sure nothing was missing, Dustin is jerked out of the alley entrance by Jamal as five more people explode out of the alley, seemingly chasing after the red-headed girl.

“Wonder what that’s all about,” Jamal says.

“Only one way to find out,” Dustin says as he and his friends take off in pursuit of the six.

“I hope you weren’t too distracted to see what I saw,” Jamal says, running next to Dustin.

“Why do you think we’re chasing them,” Dustin retorts.

“Will you two stop talking and get moving,” Jason says with an impatient gesture. “They’re getting away.”

Dustin and his friends make a left just in time to see the last person in the group disappear around the corner of a house. Following suit, Dustin, Jason, and Jamal crossed the street and cut through the yard, also. After running through more yards, up streets and down alleys, they came to the edge of a park. As they started in, they heard a female voice yelling at someone else to stay away. It came from the other side of a shed used to hold maintenance and lawn care equipment.

A second later they hear, “Come on, baby, I just want a kiss,” coming from a guy.

Peeking around the corner, they saw the five guys from the alley standing in a horseshoe with the redhead in the middle backed against a wall of tall bushes. Dustin motioned for Jamal and Jason to hold back, and then started off toward the group. Barely offering the guys a glance, he walked right in the middle of the circle; the redhead tensing up, ready to strike out.

“There you are, Stacy,” Dustin said, giving her a wink that her pursuers, surprised at his nonchalant intrusion, didn’t notice. “I was wondering where you were. Everyone is waiting for us back at the house.”

“I… uh… I guess we should get going then,” she says a little slowly, catching on to Dustin’s game.

One of the creeps stepped forward. “Hey, who the fuck are you?” he asked.

Dustin looked at him in mock surprise, like he just noticed the others surrounding them. “I’m sorry, I didn’t realize I was interrupting something.”

“I asked you a question, asshole,” the guy growled, obviously the leader.

“My apologies for being so rude,” Dustin replied, with a slight grin. “My name is Dustin. Now, if you don’t mind, we really must be leaving.”

The leader took another step closer to Dustin and ‘Stacy.’ Dustin noticed what Jamal was talking about. The auras of this guy and his buddies were a solid color from the top of their heads to mid-way down their biceps. The rest of the aura was the usual multicolored. This told Dustin that this group was gifted, if only with very little power.

“You’re not going anywhere,” the leader said, motioning for his buddies to ‘power up.’

Too late, did they realize their mistake. Dustin’s aura started changing from the multicolored jumble of the ungifted to a blaze of solid blue encasing his entire body, proclaiming him one of the most powerful among the gifted. At this, Jason and Jamal stepped forward, their auras solid down to their waists. They stopped on either side of the redhead behind Dustin.

The five troublemakers grouped together and started backing away slowly, their jaws dragging on the ground. They didn’t get more than a few yards when they stopped abruptly as if backing into a wall. All ten eyes were on Dustin, fear in each.

“So,” Dustin said in a low voice, “you think that just because you can use a pathetically small amount of magic, you can do what you want and not face any consequences. Is that an accurate assumption?”

When no one answered, Dustin raised his hand using his power to pull the leader through the air, grasping his throat.

“Hey, I asked you a question, asshole!” Dustin yelled, glaring at the leader with such contempt that the leader just whimpered, a tear forming in his left eye.

Jason stepped up next to Dustin. Placing his hand on Dustin’s shoulder, he said with much apprehension, “Dustin, let’s go, man. He ain’t worth it.”

Dustin ignored his friend, his anger intensifying. Usually an azure shade of blue, Dustin’s aura darkened until it was almost black. Shrugging off Jason’s hand, Dustin releases the leader’s neck only to clench his fist and use his gift to cause the leaders throat to constrict, cutting off his air supply.

The redhead started backing away but Jamal put a hand gently on her shoulder, saying, “Don’t worry, he won’t do anything too drastic. I think. I’ve never seen him this mad before.”

When the leaders face started turning purple, Dustin unclenched his fist so the guy could breathe. When he got his breath back, the leader started babbling, begging Dustin to let them go; promising to change his ways.

“Oh, I see what kind of person you are. You think you’re hot shit when you have the upper hand, but you’re just a scared little bitch who needs a lesson in manners.” He looked to the girl and said in a softer tone, “Come here.” Hesitantly, she stepped forward, eyes on her would-be assailant.

"Now," Dustin said, turning back to the leader. "I want you to apologize for the trouble you caused this woman."

The leader, eyes red and puffy, looked at 'Stacy' and started stammering uncontrollably.

"Stop, stop, stop," Dustin said. "Take a deep breath. There. Now try again."

Still stammering a little, he tried again. "I'm... I'm s-sorry for ch-chasing you."

"That'll do, I suppose. If I ever hear of you misusing your gift again, I'll personally see to it that you live the rest of your life as a eunuch." He looked at the other punks. "That goes for all of you. Now get out of here before I decide to do it right now." Releasing his hold on the group, Dustin watched as they took off at a dead sprint, sure to never forget this night.

"What are you?" the girl asked Dustin as he turned to face her.

"Same thing you are. I'm just better able to conceal it." His aura slowly turned blue again.

Her eyes widened slightly then snapped to narrow slits. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

Rolling his eyes, Dustin said, "Hiding your aura is a dead give-away that you are gifted. Don't you know that?"

"Of course I do," she says, glaring at him. "And I don't like being mocked."

Dustin watched as her aura began to appear, starting at her head, just above a crown of fiery red hair which hung loosely to the small of her back. It moved past green eyes, high cheekbones, and a full set of lips; widening to encase her ample breasts, flat abs; stopping at the point where her hips begin to flare out, giving her a lithe hourglass figure. Her skin was pale and covered in freckles. She was wearing a red low-cut t-shirt which, like her blue jeans, fit her like a glove, and white tennis shoes. Dustin judged her height to be about five foot seven.

Standing at six-one, Dustin is shorter than Jason and Jamal, but only by a few inches. Dustin has an athletic build due to a daily regimen of calisthenics and a five-mile run. He has brown eyes and brown hair cut into a military crew. He's wearing a plain black, loose fitting t-shirt, military camouflage pants, black combat boots, and a black full-length trench coat which is lined with chain-mail for extra weight.

He stepped up to the girl and said, "Well, maybe you should have concealed your aura better. It really isn't that hard. By the way, what is your name?"

"My name is Ashleigh Dekker. Not many people have a full aura. Were you born with it?"

"I am Dustin Brooks. My friends here are Jason Kilroy and Jamal Branston," Dustin says, gesturing to his friends who gave Ashleigh a nod as they were introduced. "I was in a car accident as a kid. Up until then I was the same as everyone else. Jason and Jamal were born with their gifts."

Jason Kilroy, standing at six-five, is lanky, with a neon green, foot long mohawk; hazel eyes; a thin, angular face with an eight-gauge taper in each ear, a ring in his left eyebrow, and a barbell in his tongue. He's wearing an over-sized black hoody with flaming skulls on the front, black baggy jeans and black, steel-toed work boots.

"You're obviously more powerful than those thugs chasing you," Jason said. "Why didn't you just take them out?"

"I don't use my abilities unless they're absolutely needed."

"Are we gonna stand here all night or what?" Jamal, the pessimist of the trio was shifting his bulk from foot to foot impatiently. "Weren't we going somewhere before Big Red here ran into you?"

Six-foot three-inch Jamal has the build of someone who hits the gym five days a week. What helps is he owns his own gym. He's wearing a dago tee, fitted jeans and black and red Jordans.

"It's too late for that now," Dustin said. "It'll just have to wait for next time."

"It's not like I saw him. I was busy looking behind me to see if those assholes were close or not. And what about you?" She turned to Dustin. "Why did you let that punk off so easy.?"

"I didn't. His little buddies will take care of him. He won't be leading anyone for quite some time. I'm sure they don't want to follow someone who pisses his pants." He turned to Jamal and Jason. "Alright, guys, let's go."

As they turned and started walking away Ashleigh said, "Until next time, Dustin Brooks." When they were out of sight her aura wavered, then slowly encapsulated her entire body. After a couple seconds of silent contemplation she started to rise up off the ground and then took off, soaring into the night sky, leaving a whisper in the wind: "My love."

Chapter 2

A week after the incident in the park, Dustin woke up to the sound of someone banging on his front door. Groggy and half asleep, he dragged himself out of bed and stumbled across his studio apartment to the door. Before he grabbed the doorknob, there was a heavy thud on the door like someone was trying to kick it in. Instantly, he was wide awake, aura full and blazing a deep blue. He leaned forward to look through the peep-hole.

"Hey, wake up, asshole!" This, Dustin realized, was the deep baritone of Jamal.

Shaking his head, Dustin opened the door only to be hit with a blast of energy that sent him flying backwards across the apartment, crashing into the wall. As soon as he hit the floor, two fireballs came flying through the doorway, heading straight for Dustin. He managed to dodge them and throw an