“You’re an Incantrixanda Lamia?”
Adriana spun around and Niamh’s gaze wandered to her bare arms, her eyes widening in recognition. She obviously knew what those brands meant. Anyone that had ever heard of Alexander Duran knew what those brands meant.
Adriana grabbed her shirt from the sink and tried to put it on, but it was soaked through, and her trembling hands couldn’t seem to function properly.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck!” she yelled, throwing her shirt to the floor in frustration before walking towards Niamh and taking her hands in hers. “Okay, okay, Niamh, you need to listen to me. You can’ttell anyone, okay? Please, you can’t tell anyone. No one can know what I am.”
Niamh stared at the dark swirling markings on her arms a moment longer before she lifted her head to meet Adriana’s pleading stare with confusion. Adriana felt her squeeze her hands in what was likely meant to be a comforting gesture, but it did nothing to calm her anxiety. Neither did her choice of words.
“He told me he had never turned anyone.”
Adriana slowly backed away, reaching behind her until she could feel the edges of the sink. She held onto it to support her body, suddenly feeling dizzy as her chest tightened. The lights in the bathroom seemed to brighten as her pupils dilated, making her head hurt.
“Who?” Adriana asked, her voice sharp and cold. “Who told you that?”
Niamh visibly shivered, before she took a deep breath and said, “I’m the first leader of the Lupus Court, Addie. My name is Niamh Yue. I work with Xander.”
A loud crack resonated through the washroom as Adriana felt the cold porcelain of the sink tear away from the wall under her grip. Her heart pounded in her chest, her breathing came out in ragged gasps, her skin felt like it was too tight. She was panicking, and she was losing control.
Niamh took a step forward to reach for her but stopped in her tracks at the dark glare Adriana threw at her. Her pupils had completely blown, her eyes black as an endless night, as her hands clenched into fists to try to fight the tremors wracking through her body.
The second Niamh took another step forward, Adriana reached for her Elementai magic. The taps from the other sinks along the wall all burst simultaneously, water spraying across the room and starting a mini flood. Niamh jumped and coveredher face, giving Adriana the chance to push past her and run out the door.
Adriana raced through the bar to the stairs that led to the outside alleyway. Shadows instantly swarmed around her, as if flocking to their master in protection without her even asking. The sight of them made her feel sick.
She ignored Mitch asking her what was wrong, just as she ignored the whistles from people at the bar. She just did what she had always done: she ran.
As she darted up the stairs, so close to the exit, she heard Niamh shout.
“Nic! Nicolai! Stop her!”
Adriana froze, turning back to see the tall man with long dark hair and tawny beige skin that had invited her to the room climbing the stairs. And then she saw it, a unique brand that resembled a strange circular mandala pattern on his left inner forearm poking out from under his rolled up shirt sleeve. Running straight for her was Nicolai Fernandez: the Portalis Lamia, a leader of the Lamia Court, and Xander’s brother.
Out of instinct, Adriana shot a beam of light towards him before he could even look up at her. He held an arm over his face to protect his eyes and fell backwards down the stairs, tumbling all the way to the bottom. She didn’t wait to see if he had got up.
Finally, she reached the top of the stairs and burst through the door into the alleyway. The first rays of daylight filtered through the narrow spaces between the buildings, casting long shadows on the damp pavement that crawled towards her. Adriana paused for a moment and caught her breath, before she ran again.
Chapter nineteen
Run
Adriana
It wasn’t the first time Adriana had walked through town half dressed and covered in blood—that had been a frequent occurrence over the last few months. Even her neighbours had come to terms with the fact she often stumbled home in the early hours of the morning looking like she belonged in a horror film. But she had never run through the streets as if her life depended on it.
She pushed her way through crowds of people making their commute to work, shouting at them to get out of her way and ignoring their judgemental stares of her lack of clothing. Her legs burned as the adrenaline slowly wore off and the familiar feeling of despair settled deep in her bones.
The realisation that she would never be safe again hit her. She had exposed herself, she had shown the leader of the Lupi her brandings, and she had attacked a leader of the Lamia Court with her power. Everything was ruined. Her life would never be the same—she would be hunted by them, byhim.
For the first time in years, she was terrified. She was wary of every single person she ran past, wondering if any of them would know who she was. Terror surged through her at the thought of what could happen to Cass and her family once they were found to be harbouring her, and of what would happen to herself when they finally caught her.
As she rounded the corner to the canal, completely lost in her fear, she collided hard with someone. Their hands gripped the tops of her arms to hold her steady and stop her from falling into the water.
“Hey, hey, hey! It’s me, it’s me.”
Adriana lifted her head to see Cass’ worried stare. She burst into tears as she clung onto her, her breathing becoming even more frantic.
“Cass, I… He…”
