Not so Imaginary // On Hold // GxB Paranormal Romance

Part Eighteen | The Eyes of the Storm

E I G H T E E N

I reached for Charlie's hand to drag him back to the truck, but he pulled out of my reach. The buzzing was getting so strong I could feel it in my bones.

"Charlie!" I had to shout just to be heard over the sound of the beating wings, even with headsets connecting us. "Get back! We have to get back!"

But the moths weren't coming for Charlie. I don't know why it had taken me this long to realize. They were circling, yes, but he took another step away and they didn't follow. Talons extended, the moths were here for me.

"It's you," said his voice over the drone of static, "The crystal flows through you. It's in your veins."

Was this not the oldest trick in the book? I looked down at my gloved hand. No, it wasn't possible. Was it?

Still, the moths drew closer. The only thing saving me was that as soon as one would get close, another would beat it out of the way.

"You want them to kill me!" I tried to get in front of him, but Charlie wouldn't look at me.

A sharp rip stung down my back and I lurched forward. One of the moths had gotten in front of the others.

As it struck out at me again, I pulled off my helmet, the only thing maybe they couldn't get through. I held it in front of myself as a shield.

That worked. Sort of.

The swarm tightened around me until I could no longer see Charlie. Standing there with the helmet as my only defense, I was as good as dead.

Another slash of talons and this time my arm was bleeding. If the Crystal was indeed inside me, I couldn't feel any power because of it.

And even if it was--I didn't see any way to get it out. Except, maybe, dying. Guess it turns out you shouldn't trust people who kidnap you, after all.

One of the monsters reared up from the ground and charged towards me, talons outstretched. Another descended from above. I ducked out from between them as they crashed together.

"Not bad," said a voice, and I spun to see Ren standing behind the glow of his outstretched scythe. He slashed it across an advancing moth.

"Ren! I thought you were gone."

"Thought you could get rid of me that easily?"

I figured this wasn't a good time to remind him that he was the one who left all in a huff after calling me a traitor.

"Brought you something." He tossed a short sword to me--don't worry, in it's scabbard, of course. "Try not to lose this one."

With the new weapon held in front of me, I stood back-to-back with Ren as the monsters closed in around us. There was blood streaming down my arm and stinging, sticky at my back, but standing beside Ren still made me feel safe. Safer, anyway.

"Swing for the legs," he shouted, but I would have had to get closer for that. I was happy just to connect with any talons that got near enough to reach us.

Talking was made difficult by the wind of thousands of pairs flapping against the sky. Pair after pair of beady eyes stared down at us, circling, striking, trying to draw blood. And they succeeded more than I would have liked, despite having a weapon. Hey, to be fair, the odds were in their favor. We had to be like six-thousand to two. Or something like that.

"Charlie drag you out here?" Ren was breathing heavily, voice strained. It wasn't until I managed to sneak a glance behind me that I saw why--he was holding his scythe above him to block the downward strike of a large moth, but it was beating its wings to add extra weight.