And She Kissed a God

8. Rule

Death inched toward me like a masked assassin. I screamed, squealed, and tried every other sound a human could make. My adrenaline was all over the place. I was panting. Blood was beating in my ears. I kept kicking the man, juggling from his grip and crawling backwards. Priya and Sam were running toward me. The lights blinked. I saw a knife in the assassin's hands and a deadly calmness aroused in me. What if I was meant to die today? What if I was meant to be murdered? What if? WHAT IF?

I shook my head and kicked the man again. He landed on the floor with his elbow, picked himself up and hopped onto me again. He pressed me down with his left hand. I juggled again. He was strong, and I was stuck. Then he lifted his knife, aimed at my chest, and took it down on me. I closed my eyes. I was hoping it wouldn't hurt. Whom was I kidding?

I didn't feel any stab on me, so opened an eye, and peeked. Priya seized the man's hand and tried to drag him away from me. His legs slipped on the floor as tried to stand. Taking it as a chance, Priya squashed his shoulder with her elbow and nailed him to the ground.

He drew his hand from me and forced it onto Priya's neck. The light was steady above us. Now both of them were in a truss, gripping each other's arms and escaping the knife's sharp end. I didn't guess Priya was a skilled fighter.

I attempted to stand. But my body was shivering too much.. Sam crossed them and skidded to me, lifting me off the ground. I staggered in her hands and poised myself.

"Are you hurt?" she asked.

Psychologically or physically? How could I explain that it wasn't a proper question?

We looked at Priya again and she was cuckolding him. Two seconds later, he freed himself and jumped again with his knife.

"Priya, lookout." Sam dropped her hands off me and ran to her.

This time Priya was at a disadvantage. He kicked her leg first and as she was falling to her left, he swiftly changed the knife to the other hand, letting it brush against her neck.

Sam widened her hand, yelling, "NO."

I turned numb. No inhaling or exhaling; just a plain body staring. The knife crossed her neck, and he kicked her in the stomach with his knee, landing his final blow.

Priya was on the floor, coughing.

Before I could cry or Sam could jump on him, Priya rose to her knees, her neck spotless. There wasn't a drop of blood on her.

Sam stopped dead on her feet.

The masked man was out of breath, shocked to the core. He checked the knife in his hands and it was clean. Perhaps her skin was too thick for the knife.

"You wretched human," Priya growled. No one moved and yet, the lights began blinking.

She walked forward, her hips moving in perfect harmony and her face held high. "How dare you?" Her voice was echoing.

Another immortal? Well, she was not similar to Sam. If she were lucky, the knife wouldn't even reach her body­. She was a different type of immortal.

There was a cry for help inside me: why is this happening to me?

Time hustled and before the masked man realised his wrong, Priya seized him by the neck and lifted him into the air like a simple feather. "You dare put a knife on a goddess."

Echo. Silence. Gasp. Silence.

Sam was speechless. She stared at this new Priya, while the man trembled, rapping her elbow with his hands. It was becoming hard for him to breathe. Saliva oozed out of his mouth.