Darkness becomes her //JackxElsa

Five

Shadow

LEANING OVER, I WENT TO GRAB MY BACKPACK, BUT MOVEMENT IN THE REARVEIW MIRROR MADE ME FREEZE.

A dark figure stood behind the car, now totally still. Fear shot lightning fast through my system, and I had the distinct feeling that I'd just dropped straight into a horror film.

Shit. He just stood there, a shadow in the rear window.

Slowly my head skipped over the backpack and went for the glove compartment. I opened it, feeling for the 9mm Eugene kept there. I was in a company car. There was always a backup in each vehicle. Illegal for me to use, but something told me being illegal was the least of my worries, and if I could scare him off, then no harm done.

Relief rushed through me as my hand curled around the gun. I straightened, took a deep breath, and forced my mind into training mode. I'd practiced encounters like this a million times-evasion tactics, self-defense, apprehending....

I opened the door and got out of the car.

Tall Dark blond hair cut short. Black T-shirt. A leather strap diagonally across his chest attached to a round shield behind his back. But what caught my attention and made my heart leap to my throat was the very shiny, very wicked-looking blade in his hand, something in between a dagger and a short sword.

He was solidly built, and when he eyed me up and down and then stared into my eyes, my mother's words echoed in my mind. RUN!

My hand flexed on the weapon I held against my thigh as he moved from the trunk of my car to the open space, leaving me trapped between two vehicles and the wall of the hotel. I eased back and slipped between the front of the car and the bushes, and made for the other side. He shadowed my move.

''Look, man, I don't know your deal is, but maybe you should put the knife down, okay?''

We were on the back side of the hotel, virtually isolated. And unless a car came down the side road next to the lot, I was on my own.

He moved forward, leading with his wide shoulders. I didn't want to shoot the guy, but something told me he could care less about the gun. He started speaking. In a different language. A low, commanding tone spoken with such conviction that I knew whatever he was saying was bad, like last rites kind of bad.

''C'mon, don't be stupid.'' I backed up, stumbling over the curb. ''I don't want to shoot you.''

He closed the distance between us and was about three feet from me when he spoke in heavily accented English and raised the blade. ''By the will of pitch black, I release you from this life.''

Damn it, he's gonna make me do it.

The blade swung down. I fired

The sound cracked through the night air like a bomb, and the slight kickback vibrated through my body as the bullet thunked into his thigh.

He flinched, paused for a second, and then continued stalking towards me.

My eyes went wide and my mouth went dry. Oh yeah, he was jacked up, high on something. Had to be.

He raised the long dagger again. My pulse pounded loud and slow in my ears. It seemed like that second lasted forever before his arm came down with so much force that it made him grunt. I could barely feel my hand as I leveled the gun and pulled the trigger again. The bullet hit him in the right shoulder. It wouldn't kill him, but it should make him drop the damn mini sword.

He stopped, arm halfway into his blow, and glanced at the blood blooming outward from his wound. Then his crazy eyes met mine. He grinned.

Oh, ham sandwich