I was tucked neatly behind Carson's back before I fully registered what had happened. He had thrust my mother back down the hall and shielded me with his own body. Glass crashed in a wave across us, cutting and breaking where it found a chance to. The room was an order of chaos around us.
"Stay down," Carson commanded.
I crouched, staying low.
He lowered, crossing to the other side of the lobby slowly. He flicked his hand and my mother and I scurried along behind him.
The bay of windows was a fog, dust and chunks of glass taking some time to settle.
I could feel tiny cuts erupting with blood across my body. Carson stopped behind a counter, leaning low and gesturing for us to do the same.
We obliged.
He turned to me quickly looking me over. His eyes were hungry. He lifted his thumb and wiped at a cut on my forehead. It stung.
His eyes turned dark.
Silhouettes started appearing all along the window bay until I could barely see the starlight seeping through. I didn't see Kellic or Gabrielle anywhere.
Carson lifted a finger to his lips in a gesture of silence. It wasn't hard to obey.
We leaned against the counter in silence for what seemed like eternity. There were crunching footsteps advancing across the store. I clutched Carson's hand in mine.
So he immediately knew when a hand crept across the counter, snatched me by my hair, and yanked me over. He squeezed my fingers as I was pulled but after a painful tug, my hand slipped through his.
He was over the counter in an instant, light on his feet and furious. He walked calmly around the corner and faced down my assaillants. Both of the figures around me were hooded and looked to be masculine. One had my head yanked back by my hair and the other held my arms behind my back.
Carson didn't stop. His speed increased. By the time the goons could react, he had smashed their heads together and caught me before I could fall. He was fast. Two figures approached from the debri, hoods drawn.
He rolled me off of his arm, into a sitting position, gently, then dashed forward. He crashed into the chest of one, knocking him into the other. Both of them lost their footing and tumbled into a heap.
He leapt back to me, helping me to my feet. "Stay close," he breathed, taking slow steps into the fog. I mirrored his every step, cautiously easing into our blind spot.
Up ahead I felt something.
A tingle on my skin.
Something familiar.
I grabbed Carson's arm. He turned to me. "Magick," I hissed in a frantic whisper.
He looked forward again, then nodded, taking it slowly. I'd given us enough time to stay clear of the purple white bolt of energy that zipped past.
Carson frantically snatched my wrist, increasing our speed toward the exit. The next bolt didn't miss.
Searing pain shot across my arm. I screamed. I hadn't meant to, but it was that gut wrenching, burning kind've pain that just, sort of, drags it out of you. I clasped over the wound with my other hand, trying to hold onto the sting of pain.
Carson watched me, his eyes wide, still ushering me forward. He suddenly veered off course, pulling me behind him and another bolt shot wide of its target.
I was seeing streaks of moonlight through the cloud now, indicating the edge. Carson noticed too and pulled me forward. We stumbled into light just as another bolt of energy stabbed through my chest. I cried out, falling to my knees.
YOU ARE READING
Thorns of Fate: Serendipity Saga Book One
Vampir"To explain to you what is happening, I have to open your mind to a world you'd never imagine could possibly have existed," he began. Kyra Santina thought that her world was like any other. She had done the public school thing, moved on to college...
