At his threat of murdering me, Jina moved forward, obviously going for him. Using his grip on my hair, he pulled me to the side, so he didn’t have to move the gun around my body to aim at Jina.
Ignoring the pain in my scalp, I twisted in his grip and grabbed his arm, pulling the limb down so the weapon was aimed at the ground. The gun went off, deafeningly loud and making me want to clutch my ears.
Adrenaline made it easier to ignore the discomfort as I wrestled him for the gun. He let go of my hair to try and shoveme away with a fist to my abdomen. I gasped, but the blow was only glancing so I was still able to function.
And it gave me an idea.
I let go of his arm with one hand and jabbed him in the eye. It’s hard to aim if you can’t see!
He screamed and doubled over, letting go of the gun as he stumbled back with both hands over his one eye.
Jina was quick to scoop up the gun, then used her momentum to kick him in the face. With another cry, he fell on his ass.
I grabbed Jina, and we both moved back. She said something to me, but my ears were ringing so badly I couldn’t totally understand her. I think it was something about Alex being stupid. It really didn’t matter. We were safe. He was sitting on the ground holding his eye.
Something behind Alex caught my eye. Distracted, I turned away from Jina to see Vie materialize. Even though the situation was handled, I was glad to see him.
“No, I’m in charge!” Alex roared. I looked down to see him holding another gun. The eye I’d jabbed was red and rapidly swelling, but it was clear he could still see out of it.
He aimed at me. I froze, the barrel of the gun filling my vision.
Why didn’t I think of checking him for another gun? Behind Alex, Vie misted and was probably rushing to stop Alex, but he wasn’t fast enough.
Another roar filled my ears at the same time something impacted my chest, taking my breath away.
I fell back, hitting the ground hard. I couldn’t breathe. Everything hurt.
Vie was suddenly kneeling over me. I tried to tell him I loved him, but only blood came out of my mouth.
I realized I was going to die. At least I got to see Vie one more time.
I shut my eyes and gave up trying to pull air into my lungs.
Chapter 16
Vie
It took me longer to get to Inola’s home than I liked. I didn’t want to be parted from Willow, but Inola’s message was panicked, and I owed her a debt.
When I got there, I found out why she’d sounded so scared.
A hulking man was banging on her front door, swaying, and screaming slurs. Every potted plant on the porch was overturned or broken. Several figurines lay scattered in pieces, and the decorative porch railing had been broken in several places.
I had to circle around to the long driveway that ran the length of the house to the garage in the back before materializing. In the short time it took me to get back to the front of the house, the man had begun kicking the door. Its bottom panel was splintering, and I could hear frightened voices from inside.
It was broad daylight, and Inola’s house was off a busy street. I needed to lure him to the side of the house before doing anything.
“Hey!” I yelled. “What are you doing?”
The man turned around, and I recognized him. It was Officer Murphy, the man who treated Willow so badly when she was at her most vulnerable.
Not only was I excited at the prospect of protecting Inola, but I was also going to get to avenge Willow in a small way.
“Who the fuck are you?” Murphy said, stumbling down the three steps of the porch. “I know you. Who are you?”
He stank of alcohol and brutality.
I stepped back, drawing him away from the house. “Don’t you remember?”
