I hoped it hurt.
“Take care of him when he comes,” Karen with a C and an O said to the men. Both women pulled the hoods over their heads and walked through the door. I didn’t think they’d make it to the car. I didn’t care.
The three men turned, pulling knives out of their belts. Ready to face something I knew they had no chance against.
My head beat with a raw, awful pain. I sucked in a breath through my teeth.
“You need to surrender while you can.”
The meat axe men smirked, as if I had no idea of what they were capable of, and I knew, it didn’t matter if they’d pulled out swords, or guns, the next few heartbeats, would be their last.
All I saw was a blur. Middle meat axe man was the first to go, his body jerked backwards. He flew like a hapless dummy through the air and he hit the wall with an almighty cracking thud. He crumpled to the floor. The knife that he’d held in hishand protruded from the side of his neck. Blood ran down his throat onto the dirty, wooden floor, dust floated to the surface until it became a sickly, murky pond. His eyes were wide with surprise, and pain. He gasped and his fingers clutched at the knife.
Like an angel heralded from above, drawn forth as protector and guardian, Karson stood before me. On his face was fear, then relief, then rage. It all flashed past so fast I almost missed it.
One of the other men let out a roar of anger and charged like a dump truck. Slow, thundering steps.
Karson moved like lighting. Stepped to the side, snatched his hands out, twisting the guy’s neck with a loud snap. The terrible, repulsive sound slapped my ears. His body struck the wooden floor and he lay still, as lifeless as a store dummy.
Nausea swirled in my stomach.
Ethan moved in a streaked blur, so fast I only knew it was him because my eyes caught his just before he moved. Fury coated his irises. In no more than three quick heartbeats the other man was dead. His head sat at a horrid, deformed angle. I never even heard his neck snap.
Simultaneously, my eyes were drawn to the shadowy outline of the first meat axe, incredulously he was up and standing directly behind Karson. He looked like he’d stepped straight out of a horror movie, bathed in sweat and white faced, the sunlight filtering through the window caught the vibrant shimmering spurt of crimson, flowing like silent death down his neck. He held the knife that’d pierced him in his right hand, ready to slam it into Karson’s back.
Fear drove me forward. I snapped my arms up to push him away. My fingers barely touched him, inexplicably his body flew sideways, and he hit the wall. The sound was, ironically, like an axe slamming into wood. He let out a shallow grunt and dropped like a shot bird as I landed on my stomach and slid along thefloor. Dust lifted and filled my lungs, my hip caught on a splinter of wood and burned. I gritted my teeth to stop from crying out and scrambled to my feet.
He was on the floor, sprawled out, the blood spurting from his neck slowed down. He coughed weakly, and blood splattered from his lips, like shimmering crystals. He clawed at his throat, trying to draw breath, a look of pure horror on his face. The spurts weakened until they were nothing but a thin trickle.
I watched, trapped by horror, as he took his last breath, in a pool of his own blood on the darkened, dusty floor.
A haze enveloped my brain. My ears rung like an alarm. Bewildered, I looked at Ethan and then at Karson, then back to Ethan. I couldn’t slow my breathing. I couldn’t slow my heart. My head spun, my hip stung, my hands thrummed. I opened my mouth to speak but I couldn’t drag the words out. The sound of my swallow filled the room. I tried again.
“Did you throw him?” I stammered.
Ethan shook his head. “No. You did, Amy.”
I did what? How? No way, impossible, I barely touched him.
That means . . . that means . . .
It crashed over me like a black ocean.
I was a witch.
There it was exposed to the world, the reason why my parents didn’t want me. The dark parts of my soul, the broken pieces, genetic mutations.
I was born broken—worse than that, evil—I’d just killed a man.
My parents knew it. My foster families knew it. Even Tom cheated, he must have sensed it. My subconscious knew it. It sent nightmares as punishment every damn night.
Vampires hate witches. Ethan would kick me out. I’d be alone, again.
I cursed under my breath. My legs wanted to drop out from under me. I staggered backwards. I stared at the man’s lifeless body. My head throbbed with such intensity I thought it might pop. I turned my hands over, staring at the palms as if seeing them for the first time. I was caught in an uncomprehending daze. How was it possible that normal looking hands could hold such devastation? A normal looking person could be so lethal. He was dead. I’d killed him.
Oh God.
The pressure in my head traversed to my whole face, my nose ached and thumped with every beat of my heart. My nose began to bleed. I wiped it with the back of my hand. The room lost its form and rotated. I reached out to empty air, Karson clutched my arm, steadying me.
