Gun in hand, I rush towards him and Tobias lunges, slashing his knife down towards me.
I use the barrel of the gun to catch it, putting all my weight into blocking him.
He’s screaming at me.
Still, I can’t make out the words.
I shift my weight back and he’s easily unbalanced.
Two well-placed punches into his ribs, and he falls to his knees—I’m stepping past him as though he was never there.
Xavier breaks off into a run.
I throw my empty gun at his feet and he falls, turning on his back as he scurries backwards.
This is exactly how Evie would’ve felt when you let them take her away.
Gabriel jumps onto my back, locking his arm around my neck in an attemptto hold me there.
‘Don’t do this.’
I throw my elbow into his guts sharply, creating enough space to loosen his grip and push his arm up over my head in one quick movement. I turn to face him, holding his trapped arm tightly and grabbing him by the shoulder of his shirt to pull him down and knee him in the face. I shove him away to kick him across the cheek and he stumbles, bearings lost.
I’m grateful for the extra dagger in one of his pockets—I'm throwing it before Xavier can get off the ground, and it pins his hand into the earth with a sharp cry.
I’ve seen what the Harvester does to people.
One knife wound doesn’t hold a fucking candle to what Evie will be going through.
Before I can step forward, I feel Tobias coming for me again. My back is turned to him but I can sense him. I step back, turning my body and snatching his hand out of the air before it reaches me.
Their weaknesses are all the same.
My other hand grabs him by the waistline of his pants to pull his body forward, unbalancing him once more and throwing him to one side, into the dirt.
Xavier raises his gun but it’s too late, I’ve closed the distance between us.
And his aim is, by now, predictable.
The second feels slow as I tilt my head to one side—
As the shot echoes into the air—
As the bullet grazes my cheek.
He clicks his teeth with frustration and that question is there in his eyes again—that question that hits too dangerously close to home.
‘What are you?’
In the next second, I’ve taken his gun. I’m pointing it at his head, staringhim down beneath me.
And there are two clicks in the air as Tobias and Gabriel press their guns to the back of my head.
Each of them finally finding the courage to put me down properly.
Here lies my third stalemate.
“Reuben got shot.” Gabriel’s voice finally filters through, and my bloodlust stutters.
