The Risen | ✅

Chapter Nineteen

Alex shot up and yanked me out of my seat, and it didn't take long for me to follow. We leapt over people's legs and they let out cries of shock as we shoved past them.

I heard the guard's exclamations as they noticed us and Alex shoved me behind him.

People around us began to scream, and stand up in an attempt to leave the room. Those who were farther watched us with a sick sort of fascination.

Alex's fist burst into flames and he held out his hand in front of me protectively. Knowing that I didn't need his protection, I summoned my own long talons and held them up defensively.

The men surrounded us and began to close in slowly. Dorian watched us from the stage with a smirk, his eyes alight with satisfaction. He knew just as well as we did that we were outnumbered. And things weren't looking good for us.

Alex leaned down, "Listen, Circe, when I say jump, I want you to leap down to the next row and make a run for it."

"But what about you?" I asked, knowing the answer already. This was my fault. I shouldn't have let him come here with me. I shouldn't have come here in the first place. But it was too late. Alex was going to pay for my foolishness. It would be my fault if anything happened to him. I wouldn't be able to forgive myself.

"You know me. I'll be fine. You just need to get out of here."

"But-"

"Jump!"

As soon as the word left his mouth, he shoved me aside and I screamed as I landed on the ground of the next row of seats. Ignoring the sharp pain that shot throughout my ribs, I stood up quicker than what should have been humanly possible and scrambled down the stairs towards the nearest emergency exit. I told myself not to look back. I told myself Alex was fine. But the unknown grunts and screams of pain that sounded behind me had me doubting.

I threw open the door to the exit and cried out in pain as I flew backwards, breath leaving my body as I hit the ground a few feet away. A man stepped out of the emergency exit, a baton pulsing with an orange electrical current in his firm grasp.

I held my chest and tried to scoot away from him, but the burning sensation that was spreading through my body made me weak and tired. I yelled in pain as he placed his foot on my chest and smiled sadistically, holding the baton above me.

I took a deep breath and mustered all my energy into a single kick to the man's crotch. He yelped and collapsed, dropping his baton in the process. I scrambled towards it and snatched it up. Before the man could recover, I brought the baton down upon him, wincing as his body convulsed with the currents that shot through his body.

Once he was unconscious, I swung around, prepared to run towards a different exit, but stopped in my tracks as soon as I saw the swarm of men blocking my path.

"Oh my, it looks like you're surrounded Ms. Lewis." Dorian said with fake sympathy. "Looks like the jig is up."

I scowled at him, but a exclamation of pain had me drawing my attention to where Alex had forced me to leave him. He writhed in a guard's unyielding grasp and cried out in pain as his hair was yanked upward so that his eyes met mine. His nose was bloody and it seemed as though his stitches had been reopened as blood dribbled down his nostrils and temple. His green eyes were wide and filled with an emotion that I hadn't seen from him in a while.

Genuine fear.

"What a difficult choice to make!" Dorian cooed. "Make a run for it and warn your friends, while leaving Mr. Hollestelle at my mercy, or," He paused for dramatic effect, "Stay here and give yourself over to me."

"Don't do it, Circe!" I heard Alex yell. "I'll be fine! Just go!"

But that was the thing, he said he'd be fine but we both knew that deep down he wouldn't be. He was scared. He was just as scared as me, if not even more so. I was basically playing a game of roulette with his life and the odds weren't in my favor. I couldn't take any risks.

"If I go with you," I began, glaring at him, "Will you promise not to hurt Alex?"

Dorian grinned as he realized he had me right where he wanted me: Vulnerable and without any options. "Of course." He practically purred.

I looked up at Alex who was staring at me with wide eyes. He desperately shook his head no, silently pleading with me to get as far away from here as possible. But I couldn't. Not knowing that I was the reason he was in danger.

Taking a deep breath, I tossed aside the baton that I was wielding and got down on my knees with a pained hiss.

"Circe, n-" One man cut Alex off midsentence by violently hitting him in the head with his elbow and Alex fell limp in his grasp. My eyes widened as they carried him away.

"Alex!" I shot upward and tried to run towards him, but I exclaimed in pain as the feeling of fire consumed my nerves. I collapsed to the floor, my vision going muddled and black. The last thing I heard was the cheering of the crowd before I was hoisted up by someone and fell unconscious.