I nodded, helping her to her feet.
“Lead the way.”
She nodded in return and started to run in that direction; I followed closely behind her, trying to shield all attacks that came at her.
I got a quick glimpse of Enzo and my father fighting alongside one another with the other warriors. Enzo met my eyes, and I gave him an encouraging nod as I continued to follow Diana until we reached a small brick building.
“This is the safe house?”
I asked, raising my brows.
“This building leads to underground tunnels,”
she explained. “It’s something I’ve been creating in case we need to evacuate quickly. But they aren’t finished yet. They don’t lead anywhere. But the access points to the tunnels are hidden so the tunnels are a safe place for right now.”
I was relieved to hear that they had something like that here. Diana was incredibly smart; it was no wonder she felt she needed to stay here with the other Volanas.
As we slid into the building, Diana went toward a hidden passageway and she was right, I wouldn’t have seen it at first glance. It almost looked like a wall but dipped down into a small hole.
We slid under the wall and were met with a steep hill that had tree trunks and branches as stairs. I wondered how she was able to create something like this but decided now was not the time to ask.
By the time we reached the bottom, and my eyes adjusted to the darkness of the tunnels, I heard frantic voices around the corner, and I knew that’s where the women and children were hiding.
Diana made her way around that corner, and we were met by a bunch of different people of different ages, huddled together and trying to calm one another down. The children were sobbing, and it was clear that everyone was terrified.
“Diana!”
One of the cried. “What’s happening up there? We’ve been down here for so long.”
“It’s not looking good,”
Diana said honestly as she went toward a couple of people who were curled up on the ground.
I realized there was blood on their arms and legs.
They were hurt…
“There’s too many of them,”
Diana said, her voice breaking. “Where’s the first aid kit?”
“We don’t have one down here…”
one of the injured ones said through gasps of breath.
It was a young boy, maybe 16 or 17 years old. He must have been trying to fight alongside the men up there. My heart tugged painfully for them.
Even from the tunnels, I could hear the commotion of the fighting. There were some explosions too that made me wince and I wondered if Enzo or my father was hurt in any of those explosions.
“I’d feel it if he was hurt,”
Val reassured me. “Regardless of how weak I am… I will always feel if our mate is in trouble.”
That was a relief to know.
“Shit,”
Diana murmured. “It might be in the infirmary and the last I saw it, it was on fire.”
I heard the distress cries of everyone around me. I couldn’t just stand here and do nothing; I wasn’t going to hide.
“I’ll go,”
I said quickly, staring at Diana who met my eyes. “I can get into the infirmary. I’ll get whatever supplies you need; just give me a list and I’ll get it.”
Lila’s POV
Diana quickly told me the stuff she was going to need from the infirmary and gave me a backpack that she took from one of the kids, now I just had to hope the supplies weren’t destroyed. I made my way back up to the surface where the fighting grew louder.
I ignored the rapid beating of my heart and made it back into the brick building. Without a second thought, I ran through the doors and back out into the battle. I kept the dagger in my grip as I made my way through the battle.
As I ran, I dodged many attacks and did a few attacks of my own. I jumped over rogues and stabbed them in the chest with my dagger. I screamed out battle cries as I did so knowing that it would be the last thing they hear when they meet their fatal end.
I caught a glimpse of Enzo again, but he was too preoccupied with fighting the ambush of rogues that happened to surround him to notice me. For a moment, my entire body froze. I wanted to shield him and use my abilities to help him fight that ambush, but I needed to save my strength to shield the entire village when the time was right.
Thankfully, my father wasn’t too far away, and he jumped in to help Enzo along with a few other warriors. I allowed myself to breathe as I ran toward the long building that Diana had described to be the infirmary.
As she said though it was completely on fire and the wooden blanks that made up the building were falling to the ground and burning immediately.
It would be a miracle if anything in that building managed to survive, but I needed to check.
I raised my hands around my body and imagined a calming and cooling shield of light to circle my body and protect me from any of the flames that were to scorch my skin. Soon, I felt the glow of my personal shield surrounding my body and I no longer felt the intense heat of the fire that lit up the building.
I ran through the broken doors of the infirmary, thankful that my shield was working, and the fire wasn’t negatively affecting me. However, it made it difficult to see anything through the dark smoke that covered my vision.
A wooden plank fell from the ceiling, making me jump out of the way before it hit me completely.
Diana said there should be a first aid kit somewhere in here; she also needed a couple of blood bags, antibiotics, extra bandages, and possibly water if there was any in here.
My heart sank when I saw that every bed that was once in this infirmary was completely on fire and turning into ash before my eyes. I hoped to the goddess that nobody was in those beds when they caught on fire.
I ran through the open flames, my shield only faltering slightly. I winced as the flames touched my flesh, but the shield returned and protected me from further damage.
There was a desk on the far side of the room that the flames hadn’t reached yet. They were close though, which meant I had to hurry to them. I quickly ran the rest of the way to the desk and frowned when I saw there was nothing.
But there were drawers.
I opened the drawers and a flood of relief washed over me when I saw some bandages. But that was about it. I frowned and stared around the desk; my eyes caught something underneath and when I bent down to check it out, I smiled when I saw the first aid kit.
Now I needed blood bags and antibiotics. There was a door nearby that I assumed led into the bathroom. I pulled the door open, relieved to see that there was no fire in the bathroom. Everything looked intact for right now.
I opened the cabinets that sat above the sink and grabbed as many of the medicine bottles as I could, shoving everything in the bag that Diana had given me. I wasn’t sure what any of these meds were, but anything was better than nothing.
I didn’t see any blood bags though and I’m not even sure what this first aid contained, but another explosion sounded, shaking the entire building and soon wooden planks were caving in quickly.
I had to get out of there before the entire building collapsed.
My shield was starting to falter again as well, I wasn’t strong enough to keep it going.
How was I going to be strong enough to shield this entire village?
Worry consumed me but I brushed it out of my mind; one task at a time, Lila. I told myself as I ran through the front doors of the infirmary, stepping into the lightly breezed air. But my relief for fresh air didn’t last long; I was soon being attacked by more rogues. They were aiming to take the supplies I had gathered.
The worst part was…I left my dagger somewhere. I had to fight them by hand.
I punched one in the face and kicked another, grabbing one of the wolf’s arms and shoving him to the ground like a wrestler. I used some of my strength to use my abilities and conquer the electricity that surged through my body, zapping him until he was paralyzed.
The rogue that was with him didn’t stick around to find out what I’d do to him.
“Lila!”
I heard my name being shouted by Enzo who was racing toward me.
I was relieved to see him unharmed and I attempted to run toward him, but my body gave out and I fell to the ground. I used so much of my strength, I felt too weak now.
He reached me quickly.
“Where are you hurt?”
He asked, panic overwhelming him.
“I’m just a little weak,”
I breathed. “I’m fine… your mother needs this stuff. She’s in the underground tunnels,”
I said, holding up the bag of supplies.
“I’ll take you to her,”
he said as he helped me onto his back.
I smiled my gratefulness at him just before he leaped in the direction of his mother’s safe house. War still went on around us and it didn’t look like it was going to end anytime soon.
I buried my face in the back of Enzo’s wolf’s neck, trying to shield myself from the battle going on around us. Innocent people were dying, and I was too weak to truly protect them.
I sniffled as tears managed to escape my eyes and soak over my cheeks. Then a heavy breeze sent a chill across my body and brushed through my hair, making me lift my gaze just as I saw the blinding rays of the moonlight eliminating the night’s sky.
My eyes widened when I heard the zapping of electricity in the nearby forest and the screams of rogues who were caught in the crossfire. Other rogues had taken notice and were also staring in the direction of the commotion; Enzo didn’t seem phased though. He continued running through the stunned crowd.