Kill Me Softly

Chapter Six

Ryder releases the trigger and whips his head around to skewer me with eyes full of angry surprise. His mouth, once pressed together to form a hard line, now opens -presumably to tell me off for following him- but he doesn't get a word out before the scrawny hybrid lets out a horrible scream of rage. Windows shatter. Shingles fly off the roof of the old house behind him. Rocks tremble at his feet. I let out a shriek when the car window cracks in front of my nose.

Through the cracked glass, I see Ryder's icy blue eyes squeeze shut as he mouths a curse. He turns away and I fumble clumsily for the door handle.

I manage to open the door and nearly spill out of the car onto the ground just as the hybrid lets out another yell of effort. I know that yell from experience. He's trying to use too much power at once. If I don't get Ryder the hell away from him, the hybrid just may kill himself trying to save his own skin. There's a wild look in his dark eyes. They're filled to the brim with desperate fear and violent anger, like an animal's when backed into a corner. Chest heaving with the effort it takes to breathe, the hybrid extends his arms out, palms up, commanding his power not to fail him. The shingles, the trebling rocks and the glass shards rise up from the dirt like they've been possessed and begin to swirl protectively around the hybrid, like a tornado aching to destroy something, anything.

My stomach drops. Telekinesis. This kid has the power of telekinesis. How could Ryder think he could restrain a kid who can move things with his freaking mind? He must be insane.

What have I gotten myself into?

"Viridian, get the hell out of here!" Ryder yells with wide, storming eyes. He winces as a flying rock leaves a gash right below the tiny cut I'd left on his face. Blood runs from it, but the incubus wipes it away impatiently, waiting for me to follow his command.

"No," I yell back over the ever-speeding wind. My hair whips violently against my face, stinging my skin, but I refuse to run. "I can't let you do this. I can't let you hurt anyone else under your father's orders."

Ryder's expression darkens. I've just said out loud what we both secretly knew -that I'm against our parents, that I have been for a long time- and given him everything he needs to destroy me, but if it saves this boy, it will have been worth whatever consequences I suffer for it. The oceans rage in Ryder's eyes, furious that it's true. Softly, vehemently, he spits, "you can't stop me."

"But I can," the hybrid growls with power glowing in his angry eyes. The tornado of glass and other debris tightens around his scrawny frame, writhing with the fear and rage its master feels. I have to dig my heels into the gravel to avoid being sucked into the spiraling force. Through the mess of hair that clouds my vision, I see the crazed look in the hybrid's eyes and know in my gut that I'm in deep trouble.

Those eyes shift to Ryder, blood trickling from his nose, as he says, "you won't take me. Octavian can't have me," but Ryder isn't listening. He's looking at me with real fear peaking through the cracks in his icy eyes. He yells something at me, get down, I think, but it's too late because the hybrid has released his storm. Debris shoots out in all directions as the boy collapses in a heap from the overuse of power.

My eyes are on the unconscious hybrid when I feel a sharp stinging in my abdomen. I place my fingers on the area as Ryder, covered in tiny cuts and bruises, stares at the hybrid, angrily saying, "what the hell were you thinking, Viridian? Coming here was stupid. He could've killed-" "Ryder," I interrupt him, staring down at the large shard of glass protruding from my stomach with a sort of detached fascination.

He spins around with an annoyed expression on his face. "Wha-" His eyes land on the bloody shard embedded in my abdomen and widen. He curses and rushed towards me in time to catch me when I begin to collapse. Laying me down on the gravel, Ryder growls, "I told you to run."