Page 3 of Targeted By Desire

They raised their head to look at me. Their face was covered with a black, shield-like mask. They tilted their head in a silent mock.

Shit, I thought. What the fuck was I up against?

I didn’t have time to dwell on it. My top priority was Lorenzo’s safety.

Our intruder raised his gun again, but this time I didn’t give him a chance to pull the trigger. Aiming my gun at a different target this time, I pulled the trigger and sent a bullet into his weapon. The impact knocked it out of their hand, temporarily disarming them.

Their head whipped to their empty hand in confusion.

I took the moment to race towards them and dive in for a tackle. As our bodies collided, I wrapped my arm around their neck and my legs around their torso, seizing their back. Firmly attached onto them, I felt the thick fabric of their attire and strong muscles. Flinging myself backward, I pulled the intruder’s body a few inches off of Lorenzo. Enough space for him to wiggle out.

“Lorenzo! Run!” I yelled while I had the intruder restrained.

Lorenzo, still in a dazed state of shock, quickly obeyed. His wide eyes stayed locked on us as he fumbled out from underneath the intruder towards the other side of the bed.

I heard a growl of annoyance as they grabbed the arm latched around their neck and ripped it off.

Their elbow jutted forward and swung back with intense force into the side of my ribcage. The impact sent me tumbling backwards. I landed on the floor with a harsh thud.

The intruder’s full attention was now on me. Turning around, they reached for another gun from their waistband and aimed it at my head.

“Hey!” Lorenzo shouted from the other side of the room. “Don’t hurt-”

Bang!

Without even glancing at him, the intruder moved his gun to the side and put a bullet in Lorenzo’s forehead.

Lorenzo’s eyes grew into saucers from the piercing through his skull, flashing with indescribable pain for a brief moment. Then, all the light faded from them.

“No!” I exclaimed.

Helplessly, I watched Lorenzo’s lifeless body fall backwards onto the floor. Shooting up, I darted towards him as if there was anything I could do to save him. Maybe the bullet didn’t penetrate his skull. Maybe it was just a fracture. Maybe there was still time to save his life.

The intruder caught me in mid-air and tossed me back onto the ground.

I hissed as my head bounced off of the hardwood floor. The stinging pain meshed with the rage simmering in my bones. Lorenzo may not have been a perfect man, but he wasn’t a terrible person. He didn’t deserve to die. Especially not at the hands of some shadow in the night.

The soft click of a gun echoed through my ears.

Turning my head, I came face to face with the mouth of the intruder’s weapon. They were out of their goddamn mind if they thought they were going to kill me too.

I grabbed their wrist and pushed the gun away from my face. The spark from the bullet flashed in my eyes as it went off beside my face, sending a bullet into the wall.

I ignored the ringing the sound it left in my ears and kicked the intruder in the shin.

Taken by surprise, their posture fell, leaving them open to another attack.

Keeping their wrist in my grasp, I lifted my legs and wrapped them around their arm. I pressed one calf against their shoulder and neck, pushing them down onto the ground with me. The other knocked the gun out of their hands again. Securing them on the ground, I swung myself over them and pinned their arms down with my knees. “You are under arrest. You have the right to-”

One of their long legs came up over my shoulder and swung around my neck. Applying all their strength to my chest, they pushed me down onto my back.

Again, my head bounced on the hardwood floor. Three visions of the masked figure hovered over me as I struggled underneath their one-legged hold. This person was strong as hell. Between the strength and the armor, I wondered again: what the hell was I up against?

A dark chuckle slithered through my ears as they took my dazed moment to sit up. Shifting their knee onto my throat, they hovered over me. Despite the silver moonlight pouring over them, I couldn’t see past the all black attire covering every inch of their body. If I hadn’t known any better, I’d think a demon had come to our doorstep. “Under arrest? Aren’t you cute?” A deep voice, laced with velvet and dripping with sin, accompanied it.

Glaring at them, I raised my fist and swung at the smug smile I knew was hiding beneath the mask.

They grabbed my hand before it could collide with their face. They squeezed my limb with all their strength and twisted it at an unnatural angle, damn near breaking it.