Chapter 6: Philip Harrington vs. Troy ‘Travis’ Stanton~ The beat to his heart … Betrayal!

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“You must be kidding me.” Troy couldn’t keep the shock out of his voice as he stared at the guns pointing at his and Paul’s heads. “I thought we had an agreement.”

“Well, consider it canceled.” Blaze grinned as he relaxed in his seat and lit a joint. He already looked high. And from the traces of white power on the table and the rolled-up dollar bill beside the substance, Troy could hazard a good guess what the gang leader was high on. He’d watched enough TV. “This is a lot of cash.” Blaze pointed his joint at the sacks of cash as he watched the two boys from beneath his lashes. “I don’t want any of this getting out so we have to shut you up…permanently.”

“But we helped you get…”

“What did you do?” The leader of the gang scoffed as he took a long drag. “Your work was to stop the police if they showed up. They didn’t.”

“That was because I changed their course.” Troy was literally shaking with disbelief and anger. He was, however, more concerned about Paul who was trembling and pleading pitifully beside him.

They’d arrived at Blaze’s hideout…a warehouse of sorts, as had been agreed, only for two of his goons to point their guns at them. Blaze had shouted at the goons to take them outside to avoid blood getting on the floor of the warehouse. Not only did the crook want to cheat them out of their share of the money, he clearly wanted to take their lives as well? Well, not if he took theirs first, Troy thought as he started to chant silently. Some dark magic would do. They just needed to stall the murders until he was able to complete his chanting. What he wouldn’t give to be a real warlock like the others, Troy thought exasperatedly.

“You are being very unreasonable and wicked.” Troy’s voice raised.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah give me a break.” Blaze snorted. “It’s called tying loose ends, buddy. No offense.” He said with a wave of his hand. “Bye.”

“Move.” One of the goons growled.

“Please…” Paul sobbed in fear. “You don’t have to give us any of the money. Just keep it.” Neither Paul nor Troy moved. Paul because he was busy pleading, and Troy because he wanted to stall their executioners. “We won’t tell anyone.”

As Paul pleaded for their lives, Troy concentrated on the fireball he was conjuring with his mind. Unlike the other warlocks he’d grown up around…who could conjure a fireball just by wishing for one, he had to concentrate and chant for some minutes just to make one since he wasn’t a warlock. He’d never been told what he was by his family. But they’d made him know that he was special and had magic within himself. He’d been taught how to make his own dark spells by harnessing that magic. It took some time but he was eventually able to get things done if he put his mind to it. Troy lacked the needed concentration but he hoped that the magic within wouldn’t fail him. His and Paul’s lives depended on what he was trying to conjure.

Angry at the fact their prisoners were not moving as they’d been instructed to, one of the goons raised his gun with a clear intention of hitting Paul. But before his hand could come down, four people…two men and two women, appeared out of nowhere.

“The fuck!” Blaze gasped as he shot to his feet and quickly pulled out a gun. “What is this? Who are you people? And how did you get here? Start talking.” He shouted frantically as he took in the four people standing inside his crib.

Troy’s eyes widened in confused surprise as he stared at the four people. Who were they, he wondered. Warlocks? At least one of the women was dressed like one. Troy couldn’t see much of her face because of what she was wearing. She had on a sexy long dark gown with a hoodie. But from the wisps of blonde hair escaping her hoodie, Troy could tell she was Caucasian. The other female was a beautiful dark-skinned woman with really long black hair which had lovely flecks of silver. She was in khaki pants, a white short-sleeve stretchy polo top, and trainers. She looked to be in her fifties.

Next, Troy sized up the men, not pausing even once in his silent chanting. He couldn’t have asked for a better distraction. One of the men was dark in complexion, tall, muscular, and looked like he could break him in two without much effort, Troy couldn’t help but think. He looked very imposing in dark jeans and a black t-shirt with boots. The only thing off about Hercules was the fact that he couldn’t seem to wipe the smile off his face as he gazed at him. Troy wondered why. But the other man, who was Caucasian, dressed in all black just like the first man, and equally tall and muscular like the other, was the one who arrested Troy’s attention.

“You!” Everyone turned in the direction of the voice which was filled with so much anger and pain. It had come from Troy whose eyes were locked on the man he’d seen during the attack on his clan.

“Friends of yours?” Blaze drawled cockily. “I don’t have time for this shit.” His release of the safety catch on his gun was loud in the quiet warehouse. But before he could pull the trigger…

“Guns!” The Caucasian lady in the hoodie said out loud.

Blaze and his gang gasped in shock and fear when every gun in the warehouse moved to the feet of the woman in the hoodie. The goons who had their guns pointed at Troy and Paul stared at their empty hands in shock whilst their leader, the great Blaze, whimpered in fear.

“Hey, hey, hey…” Blaze said shakily with a sheepish smile, staring at the woman in the hood. “We wouldn’t have killed them.” He didn’t need to be a genius to know that they were fellow magicians of the Troy boy. “We were only trying to…”

“You destroyed my family.” Troy’s angry growl filled the warehouse as his hands began to slowly lift up. “You took everything from me.” He trembled visibly as he spoke. “My entire family is gone…”

“Travis, listen…” Philip began to speak but Troy didn’t look like he could even hear him.

“You and your animals caused all this.” Troy went on, overwhelmed with blinding fury. “I’m in this predicament because of you. You’re all going to pay…” A huge fireball suddenly materialized in his hands. But before he could do anything with it, everyone in the warehouse froze…except for Jeremy.