The Third Race: Heroes of the Line, #3

By JA Carlton

Trapped in a world they could not have forseen, Nick and Frank Emerson begin to understqnd more about the role destiny has in store for them 

 

Agents of the Living Dark move unseen among us, they sow sinistter seeds and hunt all those who would help he two young brothers survive their destiny 

• Language: English
• Publisher: JA Carlton
• Release date: Mar 6, 2024
• ISBN: 9798224510900

Book preview

Gratitude

First and foremost I thank my publisher Elaine Zuliani of Uneak Press, Inc. Without your faith, we may not have made it this far!

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Also I need to thank my editor Katherine Schon, who keeps my endeavors from being a several hundred page run-on sentence! (Okay there’d be SOME punctuation... but lemme ask you this? How many commas do you have in your pocket anyway and do you buy them in bulk?)

To Jodi, my lifelong stalwart... you started this. Just so we’re clear on that fact, (and I couldn’t be more grateful!) Love always.

There’re a ton more to thank like Carol Lloyd who makes sure I keep the story focused on the boys, and all of my SPN FaNily members who are kinda to blame for all this anyway.

But, without Supernatural there wouldn’t have been a SPN FaNily to spur me on, and without Supernatural; Kripke, Jensen, Jared and Jim I might not even be here. Thanks y’all.

Now... on to book 3.

Prologue

Positive and negative, light and dark, good and evil, each opposite must exist.

Those who are charged with maintaining the balance are usually the least prepared to do so.

The world is shaped by will and heart as much as by deed.

We were once neighbors, man and us, allies breaking bread and sowing the seeds of worlds until men forgot where they learned what they did.

We heard ourselves become myth, stories told to frighten children. But myth and legend germinate from the seeds of fact.

Darkness is once again stretching forth its hand to consume our worlds in fire and chaos.

The time for the return of Heroes is upon us.

1

Hooooleeee hell, Nick breathed craning his neck upward, his crystalline blue eyes falling on a fearsomely beautiful face. He thought he’d been glad his sight adapted so quickly to the darkness of the schade realm, but now, gazing into that chilling impassive visage, he wasn’t sure.

Get ready, he thought, shoving his younger brother Frankie behind himself. No way in hell was anything in this strange and unknown world gonna get its hands on the most important person in his life.

Frank’s hand curled into the waistband of Nick’s jeans as he pressed his cheek to the older boy’s back. A second later he caught his breath, relinquished his hold and whispered, ’Kay, ready, into his brother’s mind.

He was curious about the individual swirls of feelings buffeting the air around him. Each one was like a tiny breeze contained and muted in itself, tightly held by the one to whom it belonged. They’re the ones I felt when we first got here. They’re so quiet! Even in their own heads. They were looking for us. Why? But his curiosity could wait. Nick took care of him and always had. That was how it always was, and how it was always supposed to be. Frank had never known a moment without the older boy looking after him, and if Nick thought they needed to run, then that’s what they were going to do.

He watched his big brother’s few undamaged fingers wiggle into a pocket where his lock-back knife was wedged upright against a seam. He knew that if the older boy was going for the blade he was getting ready to kill. For anything else, Nick preferred to use his collapsible baton.

Sons of Oemir, we will see you... the nearly seven foot tall being before Nick spoke, its words were little more than whispers on the wind, and certainly nothing the boys would be able to understand, as others came out of the shadows.

RUN! Nick ordered, shoving Frank through a break in the group. He followed with his lock-back in hand, unfolded and ready for whatever might come.

The brothers drew on the heavy concentration of life energy in this realm, using it to gain ground speed they never could have achieved in their own world. That was how they’d so narrowly escaped the vestige or vestiges that had been closing on them before a streak of white light shot overhead, destroying the willful fragments of Living Dark before disappearing into the distance.

Behind them, the enormous and fearsome warriors disappeared back into the foliage, once more hidden from sight as they continued to pursue the children.

Barely a half step in front of him, Nick heard his brother grunt and felt his step stutter. His hand reached out, grabbing the boy by the scruff of the neck, righting him easily.

Seconds later a yip sprang out as Frank’s feet tangled and he skidded face down along the foliage crying out, Ooowwwhoowch! Nick!

Frank?! Nick’s breath caught in his throat as he fell to his knees beside the nine year old, quickly turning him over, grimacing at the pain that tortured the little one’s face. What’s the matter? What’s wrong?

All around them the man-sized flora stopped rustling. Nick clutched his brother to his chest with one arm, the other held his blade in front of them.

What is it? What’s wrong, Frank? he asked again, his whispered words trembling into the youngest Emerson’s ear. The boy gasped, struggling for breath. His face turned waxy pale, his heart beat stuttered erratically enough to shake his entire little body and his gaze started to slide away.

Frank! Nick’s voice cracked with fear rather than the natural changes that come in the teenage years.

Terror widened the little one’s sapphire blue eyes as moonlight glinted against the weeping jewels.

Sweat poured off him and his breath snagged, each gasp colored with pain.

No, no no no, c’mon, Frankie, talk t’me, baby boy, please. Mist grew thick over Nick’s summer sky blues as the tallest of the beings stepped forward, though this time the others remained hidden.

Nick’s blade slashed the air as his mouth quivered and his teeth clenched, Stay where you are, so help me... his quaking voice trailed off.

He pulled Frank up to his chest, his lips just behind the boy’s ear, Stay with me, shrimp. Don’t you leave me.

Go back, Frank gasped, his face twisting with pain.

Even after four years of learning how to manipulate the currents and eddy’s of time, the fact of his ability still frequently came as a surprise to the elder brother.

Clutching his little brother tight, Nick sniffled tears and saline into the back of his throat. Deep in his mind the timescape rippled and flowed, both his and Frank’s ‘bubbles’ pressed closely. In a breath, he merged them and changed his focus, grateful he could see, feel and manipulate them on the ‘scape in this alien place just like he could on their home plane.

Slowly, and with the seven foot tall being before him watching curiously, Nick willed his consciousness to ‘swim’ backward, doing his best to keep them on the same literal physical path, as well as time- line they’d traveled in order to get to this moment. If he let the course stray far from either the line or the path it was possible that events could skew and Frank would still be hurt.

Grateful it was a mere matter of seconds since his little brother’s collapse, Nick hoped there wouldn’t be much difference once he set them free to resume moving forward. He just wanted to avoid whatever it was that struck his boy down.

On the other occasions he’d retraced moments exactly as they’d happened, Nick found his body completely beyond his control. At the whim of the spent physics of instants before, he became little more than a marionette and so, in order to maintain control, he usually allowed the time line to skew into a new branch.

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That was what he’d done the day before when he drew Frank and their best friend Harry back far enough to ensure that their newest ally, Lou, a descendant of the great Celtic King, Conchobar, and one of the Heroes of the Line, didn’t get himself and their uncles pureed by a lurking bit of Living Dark, like Nick saw in a vision.

As the teen drew them backward, until they were just beyond the sight of the beings they’d run from, the timescape stretched and strained to move forward. It didn’t like being manipulated.

Fighting the current Nick held time as an entity and moved it around himself and Frank. Though he’d only attempted it a couple times before, and with horribly limited success, he was sure it was the best way to ensure that the two of them wound up where he needed them to be rather than where the flaws in his perception might lead them. The idea in his head was like the ‘table cloth’ magic trick where the ‘scape moved while his perception held them separate from the world even if temporarily. If they’d been at home, Nick was pretty sure he couldn’t have done it.

Once the ‘scape shifted enough for him to consider them having arrived at a safe temporal location, he grabbed Frank. His movements stuttered and skipped as he worked to pull them onto a different physical path, hoping that if they were no longer in the same physical place where Frank was taken down, that whatever hurt him could be avoided entirely.

Even though he’d never done it, Nick figured swimming through pudding loaded with glass slivers was the closest thing to how moving through stalled time and space felt. He had no idea how long it took to pull them from both the literal and figurative line, but every movement and every paralyzed tick of the clock was stinging torture. He could only hope that by altering their physical position he’d create an entirely new timeline in which Frank would be okay.

Nick knew that with time, as with everything else, when there is adequate will, there will be a way. What happens to the lines that get ended? Does it fall off like dust or does it go on? The thought flitted through his mind then was gone once Frank drew a deep breath and started coming back.

What happened? he gasped, resting his forehead on the little boy’s chest while breathing down the nausea in his guts.

Frank’s hands clasped around his big brother’s head grateful for the absence of that crushing pain in his back and chest.

Man that hurt. It’s Howie, Nick, he’s hurt real bad. Like dying, I think. Ryan’s friend Tommy, one of the guys from Harry’s original line, too. Something bad happened, I think the house blew up. You gotta open the door back to home and you gotta make ‘em go back Nick; you gotta take ‘em both back so they can get out of the way, Frank gasped as the first pain came again, twisting his face with a little grimace.

Not again! Nick ground through clenched teeth splitting his focus between his little brother and the timescape, forcing it to still.

Frank’s breathing eased a bit and he nodded, It hurts, he groaned. You gotta stop it. You gotta get Howie and Tommy safe.

Fear clutched the big brother’s heart as his hands clutched Frank’s shoulders.

Shut him out, he urged Frank to sever the psychic connection between him and their youngest uncle.

Nooooo, he mewled, his gentle face screwed up with pain and hurt that writhed in his big brother’s guts. He’ll be all alone.

You do as I say and shut him out now! I can’t help them and worry about you, too, Nick ordered, ignoring the little one’s angry frown as his eyes fixed on the area in the crotch of a couple small hills in the distance. That was where they’d seen the beacon of sunlight stabbing from their realm into this one. By Nick’s reckoning it was still miles away. They’re so far...

Frank’s small warm hand grasped Nick’s arm as the pain drove him to his knees, "You can do it. Here you can do it. Please, Nicky, don’t let him die like that. Give him a chance."

Die? he hissed, feeling his stomach flip over before his mouth went Sahara and a sandpaper tongue came out to rasp dry lips.

Okay, he raised a finger to the side of Frank’s head. Stop, he commanded, gently touching the boy as his will was done, and the littlest Emerson froze.

Son of a bitch, the teen cursed snapping open his hand, re- opening a cut in his palm that allowed him to paint a seal in his own blood; it was how he was able to open the way between worlds. Should put some in a bottle, friggin’ thing’s never gonna get to heal. He reached to the nearest tree, heedless of the half dozen warriors that caught up with and encircled them. I don’t have time for you, Nick sighed quickly envisioning all their bubbles frozen on the timescape. Just stop. He thought already exhausted. There’d be time for rest later, once he saved Howie and Tommy, and through them his compassionate, gentle and sometimes infuriatingly stubborn little brother.

The most stony faced of the beings slowly turned his head looking at his fellow warriors frozen in place, helpless against the will of a single little boy and wondered that he was not. Still he chose to remain motionless, taking the opportunity to observe the child and learn more about him.

His gold colored eyes watched Nick hastily trace a bow and quiver crossed with a sword on the skin of a nearby woody giant. He was further impressed and even dared a faint tilt of the lips as the boy added a sacred seal at each of the cardinal points.

Nick bolted upright, his nearly perfect night vision caressing everything around him from the frozen warriors to the likewise immobile flora. Only the wind itself, which should have been still, seemed to whisper and he could have sworn he heard something behind it say, There is an easier way.

The fabric between realms, that membrane that keeps universes from colliding, stretched and gave, then granted access to the teen who moved to stand on the threshold of worlds.

Nick shoved aside his anger and fear. He cocked his head to the side, Frank’s faith that here he could save their uncle warmed him and gave him the will to try. It’s so far away.

He shook his head, How... then looked at Frank, frozen in time, held fast in the midst of some horrible pain he wouldn’t protect himself from just so Howie might feel his presence.

You think I can do is huh? I can do this. You better be right.

He closed his eyes, focusing on the way back to the house along I83. His vision raced along the ribbon of asphalt. Harry’s crushed station wagon was moving onto the bed of Lou’s tow truck. Cars were running back and forth, red flares marked the start of state trooper control of the area.

Still so far to go. He turned his attention to the south, his perception leaping forward, struggling to stay the course until a large black familiar shape crossed his line of vision greeting him with a familiar throaty ‘caw’.

Poe! he grinned, latching onto the familiar raven letting its flight path lead his ‘sight’ to the place they were calling home.

Somewhere behind him, in the realm he’d mistakenly thought belonged solely to their enemies the schades, the wind seemed to whisper once more. One day the words that formed in his subconscious mind would make far more sense than they did now: Distance makes no difference.

2

Get up! Get up! Get off me! Ryan howled shoving at the raven haired girl draped protectively over him and Shep. Something was wrong.

He blinked the negative image from his eyes, pushing to his feet with his belly twisting frantically. What the hell was that?! he demanded as the image of that cascading wall of white racing over them filled his mind. He’d never seen anything like it and wasn’t sure he ever wanted to again. But even that wasn’t the problem.

Whatever it’d been, that explosion of brilliance had sliced through something in his world. Frank, he breathed peering deeply toward a tilting tower of jagged rock in the distance. That was where they’d been following Mickey to meet up with Nick, Frank and Harry.

He reached down, grasping the girl by the scruff of the neck, pulling her to her feet. What the hell was that? You said ‘they hunted it;’ who hunted what?! he demanded against a cramping pull in his belly. What happened? Where the hell are my boys?! he ground through clenched teeth.

Easy there, boy, Shep muttered, pushing himself to his feet.

To hell with ‘easy’! Something’s wrong with Frank, I can feel it, he grunted.

"You can feel it? Since when are you psychic?" the older hunter asked then shook his head. After everything he’d seen the last few years, from interdimensional evils to re-born gods, it seemed his natural skepticism had gone on sabbatical.

Ryan’s head cocked to the side, his mouth turned down in a tight frown. It’s physics. Frank’s been attached to me since we met, I feel it when he’s not right, and right now something’s wrong. His green gold eyes probed into Mickey’s pale blues, I gotta find him.

You’re not what you pretend to be, she breathed watching him watch her a split second before something akin to fear flickered across her expression.

Pot, kettle, Ryan practically hissed.

An instant later, that same shot of light seemed to rip backward through the night sky. There was satisfaction in her eyes and on her face as she nodded, almost as if she’d expected it.

What? he demanded.

Her head twitched to the side, a subconscious attempt at denial before she thought better of it and glanced between the two men.

So help me, God, girl... Ryan’s voice turned deep and menacing. That? she motioned to the sky and the trail where the shaft of light had doubled back. That was Nick, he did something, he did something BIG. The others, she shook her head again, they’ll take them soon if they haven’t already. her voice was soft, the underlying tone unmistakable. She was afraid.

‘They’? he asked, feeling his lips curl back from his teeth in a snarl, The same ones who hunted the vestige?

Mickey nodded.

Who exactly are they? Are we talkin’ schades here or what? Kin, she whispered trying not to wince as the furious bear of a man grabbed her by the shirtfront, pulling her onto her toes so they were millimeters apart.

Start talkin’, or take me to ‘em, I don’t care which, he commanded.

They won’t hurt them. I don’t think. She shook her head back and forth. Least I can’t see where they would.

Do you know where they are?

She nodded, swallowing hard, and Ryan knew she was holding something back.

You had better get t’talkin’ real fast, kid, or you’ll wish I’d never pulled you out of their hands, he warned, letting her rest on her own feet again but keeping his grip on her clothes so she couldn’t run. He knew if she chose to, they’d never catch her.

—

Burnt air scorched Howie Emerson’s lungs. He coughed out of reflex and felt nothing from his mid-chest down. But from that point up, he knew what a pan seared steak felt like.

Howie!? Tom’s voice called through a tunnel of roaring flame and exploding oxygen molecules.

Mm? he thought he might have grunted, but wasn’t really sure.

A shift in the world struck his consciousness as his heart tripped backwards and the cough he just let out, hiccoughed back into his chest. Heat stung, prickling in reverse, drawing out of him and un- washing along the back of his body.

Clusters of melted dark brown curls at the back of his head straightened, filling with strength and firmness as the weight of debris lifted from his back and a blanket of crushing heat left with it. Billowy clouds of superheated smoke tumbled back into its pre-explosive state. Fire reached out, pulling itself back through the rear wall of the house as his body rose and his feet planted themselves firmly to the ground again.

Fearful curiosity crossed his expression then met Tommy’s as the young man suddenly returned to stand where he’d been only seconds before the explosion knocked him off his feet and across the yard. He’d been manning the hose, trying to douse the fire, just as he was suddenly doing once more, only then, the water had been pouring out of the hose whereas now, it was running back into it. Glistening wetness against the wall of the house un-splattered as the horrific explosive destruction was, somehow, un-done.

A bolt of white was sucked backward, from the destroyed second story of the house and into a three foot seal drawn in blood on the patio.

Sparks popped in reverse, crackling in the doorway to the schade realm and the herbal mixture returned to its fine protective circle around the seal. With both Howie and Tommy forcibly retracing their steps, the effects of the event, at least on this plane were undone in their entirety.

When time stopped stretching and was allowed to finally snap back, it left the men standing breathless around the seal on the patio.

With a simple sweep of his foot, the doorway between worlds closed and the horror that had already once been, was averted.

What the hell just happened? Tom gasped, staring in disbelief at Howie, watching every ounce of color drop out of the man’s face.

Gotta be Nicky, he shook his head, the enormity of his fourteen year old nephew’s power a terrifying realization. Holy shit.

Nick? Nick did that? Tom’s voice rose in pitch as his hand pointed toward the closed seal.

Howie could do little more than nod. Every synapse of his mind was busy wondering where the terrible fate his nephew just saved him from had gone. The un-doing of it all leaving him shocky and more than a little nauseous.

"Howie, talk to me. You’re telling me that a fourteen year old kid literally reached through the veil between worlds and gave us a do- over?"

The youngest of the elder Emersons bent over his knees, his breath coming short as his glance flicked up toward the other man’s cornflower blues. I had no idea he was that powerful.

What little color existed in Tom’s preternaturally pale face fled as he rested his hand on Howie’s shoulder, his eyes wide with disbelief.

If he can do that, he motioned to the no longer decimated yard, you better figure out just how powerful that kid is gonna get and hope to God he can control it.

A wave of tingly fogginess rolled over Nick once he was certain the horrible damage on the other side of the veil was undone. When the ‘doorway’ was closed, presumably from his home side, the darkness inside tried to take over, batting and buffeting his consciousness, trying to steal it as small rivers of blood flowed from his nose to the earth.

In the distance, the first rays of the sun peeked over the horizon, painting that tall, leaning rocky outcropping that he just knew was the Schade fortress a strange bloody-orange color.

Nicky? Frank turned, returned to the normal flow of time by his big brother’s exhaustion, You did it Nick, you saved Wee and Tom. The pain’s gone. The little one’s smile was worth all the effort. The deep dimples and sparkling sapphire eyes gave the elder brother strength enough to maintain his grip on the beings around them and rise to his feet with Frank’s help.

Who are they? Frank asked, moving