Their slow movements and reactions are no match for me.
Four. Five. Six.
Their bodies fall in heavy thuds, one after another, blood seeping into the crappy carpet.
No lemon cleaner will cover this up.
I spin and shove Kael into the side of another hunter’s throat before quickly pulling him out and breathing heavily as I stare at the empty doorway.
The hunter joins his other dead partners on the floor.
Seven.
I stand amidst them, chest heaving as adrenaline floods my senses, my daggers thrumming with bloodlust.
I’m not just surviving. I’m winning.
That can’t be all of them, though.
“She’s dangerous!” a voice cracks from the hall, urgent and desperate. “Test the new weapon now!”
The words flow through me like ice water dumped over my head.What new weapon?
Kael snarls, “Whatever it is, we can take them.”
Lyra’s usual singsong cuts sharp and cold, her voice hissing, “Let them meet their judgment.”
Then something is tossed into the room and the door slams closed.
Whatever it is detonates, and a mist explodes from it in one swift explosion, swallowing me whole. The first touch of it sears across my bare skin like acid, eating into me with a pain so sudden and raw my breath rips out in a scream.
My daggers shriek in my hands, my bond to them relaying just how much pain I’m in.
“It’s burning her,”Lyra sobs.
“Move, Briar!”Kael roars, “Out the balcony!”
I hurl myself forward toward the doors, my movements stunted and my eyesight beginning to blur. My fingers fumble for the lock, but I can’t get them to cooperate with gripping it.
“Shit!” I scream through the agony as desperation claws at my throat.
“Break through it!” Lyra shouts.
I take a step back and summon all my strength as my shoulder crashes through first, the glass exploding outward in a spray of glittering shards that cut across my arms and cheeks. The night air rushes in cold and sharp, flooding my lungs with the taste of city smog and freedom.
I hit the narrow balcony hard enough to rattle the iron railing, breath tearing out of me in a gasp. My muscles coil as I push shakily to my feet, ready to jump down to the courtyard. I block out the pain as I bend my knees and leap up into the air, clearing the railing.
But mid-air, every muscle locks tight. The mist seems to burn deeper, clawing through nerves, wrapping my body in agony so sharp I can’t tell if I’m breathing or screaming as my mouth opens.
My limbs convulse, then refuse me entirely, dead weight in the air as the wind whips at my body as I plummet to the ground. I slam into the pavement below, skull cracking against concrete, the world detonating white behind my eyes. My daggers vanish from my palms as I lose the ability to hold onto our connection, their voices cut off mid-cry.
Kael’s voice is softer than I’ve ever heard it.“You can’t give up now, Bri–”
“Briar, hold on!”Lyra shouts.“Just–”
I claw weakly, trying to push myself up, but my arms won’t answer. My legs twitch uselessly against the fire lancing through them. The chemical sting is everywhere, sinking into every inch of my body.
Voices shout from nearby, boots pounding against the pavement at my ear. “There! Get her restrained immediately!”
