AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Come on.” Grabbing my arm, the girl yanked me away, helping me to my feet, her strength surprising for her size. “We have to get out of here.”
With a guttural noise, staring one last time at the lump of ash, I let her pull me away.
“Fuck,” I whispered. The front door was completely covered in flames, blocking our way out.
“Oh gods, we’re trapped,” she croaked, coughing and gagging as smoke clouded around us.
“This way.” I pulled her with me, heading for the kitchen. Every public building had to have more than one exit. Flames roared, nipping at our backs as I jumped over the unconscious assailant and her dead friend.
“No!” The girl yanked against my grip, grasping for her friend. “I can’t leave him.” She bellowed. “Where is Eve?” She hacked, trying to find her blonde friend through the smoke. “Eve!”
Sparks and chunks of wood dropped on us. Any window we had to escape was dwindling.
“You have to,” I bellowed, wrenching her with me. “Or this will be your grave as well.”
She let out an anguished cry but let me tug her with me. Ducking and weaving, we ran through the door to the tiny kitchen, sparks sprinting for us, burning into our clothes, trying to reach us before we escaped.
“Go! Go!” I shoved her out the back door into a narrow, dank alley. The freezing night air rammed down my throat, causing me to choke on the smoky air in my lungs. Eyes watering, my lungs hacking, we stumbled out into the lane, my back falling against the stone wall.
I heaved in air, and my pulse pounded in my ears. Pain throbbed from my bubbling, burned skin, but it was nothing compared to the chasm of grief building up in my hollow soul. Reality settling in. The understanding of what I lost, what was taken from me.
Gripping my head, I let out a guttural cry, my already bleeding knuckles slamming back into the wall over and over. Anguish howled through me like a war-torn landscape. Blood-soaked, charred, and empty of life.
“Stop!” Small, singed hands tried to grab for me. “Stop it!”
Bending over, I let out another bitter wail, my head in my hands. The grief I had locked away for so long wanted to bury me in it. I finally had the information in my hands. My revenge had a focus. In the blink of an eye, it was gone. And it felt as though I was losing them all over again.
“Look at me.” Her voice was quiet, but it was anything but weak, demanding my attention. My eyes landed on bright emerald-green ones, lighter than my own moss-colored irises. Covered in soot and cuts, it was the first time I really looked at her. Long, straight brown hair hitting the middle of her back, full lips, sharp cheekbones, and freckles sprinkled across her nose. She was stunning. Even my clouded mind could recognize that, but young. Too young. Even though she was certainly fae, she hadn’t been on this earth long.
And I had no interest in that or anything else.
Shoving away from her, my safeguard walled back up. Turning down the passage, I ran my hand through my singed hair, my mind started whirling with what to do next.
“Wait!” she called out after me, hobbling in her tall zip-up boots down the cobbled street. “Where are you going?”
They were in Romania. I could at least start there.
“Wait,” she yelled again.
“What?” With a heavy sigh, I paused, peering back at her as she caught up with me. Her scorched, short sweater dress was barely covering her now. I noticed what looked like a goblin-metal bracelet on her wrist. The assailants must have put it on her when they grabbed her, stopping her from using her powers.
“You just saved my life… you can’t leave me here,” she exclaimed. Sirens wailed in the distance, smoke billowing up into the moonless sky.
“Watch me.” I started to twist back.
“No.” She clutched my jacket, yanking me back.
“What the hell?” I growled, sounding more and more like Warwick.
“Where am I supposed to go?”
My lids narrowed in confusion over her comment—and the fear in her eyes.
“Go home.” I threw out my arm. “To your friends, your family. I don’t care.”
“I don’t think I can.” She peered to the side, swallowing.
A flicker of curiosity popped into my brain. Why couldn’t she go home? The men had come after herspecifically. Put that goblin bracelet around her wrist. Why? Who was she? Who cares? I wasn’t getting involved. Any interest in this girl’s life was buried under my own concerns.
