Frankie was powerful, but fire could still hurt him.
Obe... don’t! Don’t come for me! Run! Run away! It’s a trap!
“No!” Snod roared furiously. The moment his feet touched the sidewalk out front, a burly fist popped
him in the face. He saw stars, trying to raise his hands to fight back, but another powerful punch
dropped him to his knees.
The world was spinning and his mouth was full of blood. He was dizzy, staring upward and trying to
see who had hit him.
“Hi, Snod,” Ephraim’s gravelly voice greeted him, pushing him down on his stomach. Ephraim
crawled on top of him, his knee digging into his back as he sighed, “Been a while.”
“Ephraim!” Snod growled, struggling to break free, but Ephraim was too fast. His wrists were zip
tied together in a second, and despite his ferocious kicking, Ephraim easily tossed him into the back
of a van he had waiting a few yards away.
“Obe!” Frankie cried out, whimpering in pain as Snod collided with him.
“Frankie? Frankie! Are you all right?” Snod demanded, rolling onto his side to look at him.
Silver chains were wrapped around Frankie’s neck and wrists, his flesh sizzling softly where the
metal was digging in. The wounds were bleeding, each one raw and angry. His glasses were missing,
and his shirt was torn.
Frankie was gaunt, weak, smiling sadly as he sighed haggardly, “Of all the damn things to get right...
the Order was always right about silver.”
“You can’t move? At all?” Snod whispered, glancing up to the front seat where Ephraim had climbed
in behind the wheel. He would make Ephraim pay for letting Frankie suffer like this.
“No...” Frankie’s eyes closed, desperately trying to keep his pain from tainting the bond. “Can’t.”
He was waiting for me inside... it was a trap.
“Can you... you know?” Snod nodded his head suggestively toward Ephraim.
Whammy him?
“No,” Frankie answered miserably.
Tried... he’s wearing some... some kind of charm... like your scapular...
Snod looked around quickly. There was no way to open the back doors from the inside and steel mesh
separated them from the front. There was no way out. He tried to sit up, grunting at Ephraim took off
suddenly, and the momentum sent him flying flat on his back.
