James' Last Stand
“Meg! Get down!” I obeyed the familiar voice and ducked just as a breeze swept over my head. Looking up I saw a mass of darkness land a few feet from me and out of it stepped James. He smirked at me then looked over my shoulder and frowned. I too looked over my shoulder constantly aware of how close the Valior was to me.
Behind me stood Truff, breathing heavily, his clothes torn and splotched with either died blood or mud with cuts and bruises all over his body. However what worried me more than his appearance was the fact that I had a Valior behind me and Truff’s ears stayed down by his face. He grinned sheepishly at me, scrunching up a band-aid under his left eye, then faced James. I quickly moved out of the way yet stayed close enough to drag Truff out if things got out of hand. As I watched the two stare each other down I felt a chill crawl down my spine. Looking back and forth between them I realized this feeling came from James looking at me out of the corner of his eyes. I blinked and Truff was alone but staring behind me with a mix of horror and helplessness. Something grabbed me by the neck and pressed me against something hard. Without looking I knew it was the Valior who had grabbed me and now held me against his body with overwhelming strength. I tried to keep from panicking by realizing that I could still breath and that James didn’t plan to kill me yet.
“You let her go!” Truff yelled at James, who coldly replied “not a chance! You wouldn’t dare lay a hand on me for fear of her getting hurt!” Truff glared at James, who said nothing.
A black mass circled overhead and covered Truff. When the darkness had lifted he was surrounded by Valiors. Behind me James stated “last time you fought us you managed to escape. This time won’t be so lucky.” He lowered his head to mine and whispered in my ear “I’ll let you watch him die before I kill you.” I was too scared to reply and could only watch as the other Valiors started to attack Truff. Viciously tearing at him with fangs, punching and kicking; I soon closed my eyes to the violence before me. After what felt like forever everything fell silent. I opened my eyes to see Truff lying face-down on the pavement. He didn’t appear to be breathing. The Valiors had walked a short distance away and were looking at James who told them “your work here is done. I’ll finish them off.” They all vanished into the darkness and I was suddenly released. I turned to James to yell at him but suddenly I found myself flying threw the air. I landed next to Truff’s body. I sadly stared down at him then back up at James, who was fast approaching, feeling both furious and terrified. He reached towards me with one outstretched hand when I heard a voice “don’t touch her.” I looked over to see Truff struggle into a sitting position. He rubbed his jaw and spat out some blood, grinned at me and stood to face James, who was very angry.
“It takes a lot to kill me, it would seem.” Truff said, pulling out a pistol from his inside coat pocket. He aimed at James and said “unfortunately for you I saved one.” He pulled the trigger and fired. The bullet reached its mark. James started to stumble and stagger in different directions, clutching where the pullet had protruded his chest. He tuned back into the black mass which dissipated into the night air with a noise like a vacuum. The same noise occurred in several different places nearby. I stared at Truff who blew on the smoking end of the pistol, like a cowboy. “A gold bullet. The only thing guaranteed to take out a Valior. Hard to make, harder to find. And I was able to shoot the leader. That means that him and his followers are gone now, for good. It’s finally over Meg, for now that is. Valiors are a very proud species and when they find out that one of their own is killed they seek to avenge their fellow creature’s death. Well, hopefully it’ll be a while before anyone notices that James is gone. I need to find a way to get my ears healed up. They were broken the last time I fought with James’ group, and now I’m defenseless.” He coughed out more blood, then knelt down on the ground. “Do me a favor Meg, and call an ambulance.” As he finished speaking I turned off my cell. “Already done.” Truff smiled, laid down on the pavement and closed his eyes…
I finished my final and left the class, grateful that another semester was finally over. As I approached the door leading to the parking lot, I heard someone call my name. Turning, I saw Truff run towards me. We embraced and he gave me a kiss on the cheek. “You’re done too?” I asked. He nodded “all over. Christmas break time!” He wore a halo of tinsel on his head that I forced him to wear and little pieces of mistletoe were clipped onto both ears, which the doctors hadn’t been able to fix. “We still on for Friday?” He asked. “Dinner and a movie? You bet!” I replied. We said our goodbyes as we walked down the stairs and went out separate ways.
