Unmasked | Book 1 in "Dark Descendants" (Editing)

Chapter 26

~Rose

I swore and watched them for a few moments, waiting for the tranquilizer to wear off. They almost seemed an equal match so far. It was hard to tell anyway—like I said, there was something wrong with the "day/night" ritual. It seemed eternally night, so all I could see was two identical silhouettes fighting each other and a flash of red where their eyes were supposed to be.

Time really did seem to stand still.

I hobbled over to them, slowly getting off from the wall to balance on my feet, never taking my eyes off the boys. I didn't dare risk calling one their names for fear of the corresponding one getting distracted and the other successfully beating the other to a pulp. Because if either was disturbed right now and their defenses weakened, that was exactly what would happen.

Until...

I winced, slowly raising a shaking hand to my head. A sudden pain struck my eyes, causing me to whimper. Not again.

She was punishing me for not killing Stoyan. But why wasn't it more severe than the last one?

My answer came walking out the front door.

Abby had her head raised to the dark sky and she was chanting something, only her eye whites showing.

I grit my teeth, now clutching my temples in a crushing grip. "Gah, what are you doing?" I blinked rapidly, attempting to ease the pain. 

Joe was the one who answered me, walking out from behind her with his arms crossed. "Keeping you from interfering." From the little light present from the moon and my enhanced vision through squinted and incredibly pained eyes, I could see his face was hard, firm; almost compelling people to do what he says or else.

I shook my head quickly—small, abrupt movements barely visible. "Stop, please," I breathed. I wasn't saying to stop the eye thing, I was referring to the distraction they made. Everything in my vision went red. I could barely see the two boys, or even my own hand. I stumbled blindly into a wall and turned to lean my back against it.

Joe ignored me but bent down to pick up the knife, Abby never once stopped her chanting and the two doppelgangers continued killing each other. I couldn't see much except dark figures darting around, but the strong scent of blood hung in the air. I slid down the wall, struggling to somehow overcome the red that had crept unwelcomingly into my vision.

I growled. "Joe. He's your brother."

"He's not the one losing," he replied. If the pain hadn't disturbed my other senses as well as my vision, I would have thought there was a trace of amusement in his tone.

I forced my muscles to cooperate as I attempted rising from the ground. But with a new, sudden burst of pain I fell back down. I turned my head to the side.

It was hopeless. Only one was going to emerge from this battle alive. And I could nothing but sit there.

There was a blur, passing right in front of my face. That I saw clearly.

I let out an involuntary gasp. One of the boys gave a snarl of fury. Someone was intervening.

Turns out, I wasn't the only one taken by surprise. Abby had stopped her chanting, squinting in the darkness. My vision cleared. I blinked away the red and locked my missiles on target. A cross between a hiss and a growl rose from within my throat and I stood up from the ground, my expression now a mask of immense irritation and fury.

I used that opportunity to vanish from my initial position and appear behind her. She lurched back as my forearm lowered to her throat.

"What the devil?"