“Any weird moves and I’ll shoot this one,” Darius said, gesturing with a gun at Luna. I shivered.
“This is the police! Put your hands in the air!”
I was so shocked by the voice that thundered over the megaphone that I dropped my mental shield.
Which proved to be a critical mistake when Darius grabbed me and dragged me in front of his body, pulling me further out onto the beach so I blocked him entirely from the boat that rocked gently in the water in front of us. Darius hadn’t seen them yet.
I closed my eyes as cool steel brushed my forehead.
This wasn’t exactly how I had planned for things to go tonight. In fact, I was supposed to be curled up on my couch with Cash and Hank right at this very moment. I gulped as I felt tears slip into my eyes.
The cold steel of the gun slipped past my face and fell to the ground. It was all I could do not to jerk forward and try to pick it up.
“What’s happening?” Darius screeched into my ear, and I winced at the sound. He began to keen and wail into my ear, rendering me all but deaf. I gasped as his arm tightened for a moment around my throat, cutting off my supply of air. The wails increased in fervency, until his arms loosened around me and I gasped as, suddenly, I was free. Without thinking, I ran to where Luna lay huddled on the ground, praying I wasn’t about to take a bullet in the back.
Risking a glance, I looked back.
Darius danced around the beach, still holding one gun in a hand, both hands to his head while he screamed. I cast a glance at Miss Elva to see her holding the doll in one hand.
Having learned from my previous mistakes, I kept my mouth shut, huddling over Luna as I ripped through the duct tape that was wrapped around her arms and legs.
Miss Elva twisted the doll’s neck and Darius doubled over, coughing and choking, scrambling at his throat with his hands, his nails leaving red marks as he tore at his skin. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Chief Thomas hop from the boat and race across the beach, tackling Darius easily and pressing his face into the sand.
In moments, Darius was cuffed and I stared in awe as Miss Elva slipped the little doll back into her satchel.
“Miss Elva, that was something…” I trailed off. I didn’t really even have the words for witnessing something like that. I get a little speechless when I’m in the presence of major power.
Luna moaned softly and I turned back to her as people jumped from the boat and flooded the beach.
“Luna,” I gasped, wincing at the duct tape that covered her mouth, knowing I would hurt her if I ripped it from her delicate skin. Her eyelashes fluttered against her smooth skin, before opening to look at me. Confusion crossed her features for a moment before she focused on my face and understood I was here to help her.
“Luna, I have to pull this duct tape off. It’s going to hurt like a bitch. I’m so sorry,” I said, reaching out to touch the corner of the tape on her face. Luna nodded, understanding what needed to be done.
“Here, child, let me handle this,” Miss Elva said, maneuvering me aside and dipping into what I was now forever going to refer to as her magickal satchel. She pulled out a tube of some kind of ointment and ran it across the edges of the tape, taking care not to get any in Luna’s nostrils. Once she was done, she capped the bottle, laid her hand over the duct tape, and pulled gently.
The tape came off easily in one piece. There wasn’t even a mark on Luna’s face.
“Damn, yo. You should sell that,” I said to Miss Elva before leaning over to hug Luna.
“I was so scared,” I whispered into her hair, holding her tightly. Luna was more than just a best friend, she was like a sister to me. Imagining my life without her –well, I just couldn’t go there right now. Luna’s body began to shake in the aftermath and I ran my hands down her arms, sending a little soothing energy into her. She smiled her thanks at me.
“I was scared too. I honestly never would have thought the killer was the hippie environmentalist dude,” Luna said, casting a look over at the beach.
“You’re telling me.”
We all watched as Chief Thomas read Darius his rights. Beau and Cash turned away once they saw that everything was kosher with Chief Thomas, and raced across the sand to us.
“Luna!” Beau said, dropping to his knees in the sand and hugging her.
“Sure, don’t mind me, I’m fine too,” I grumbled at Beau, then gasped as I was scooped off the ground and pressed to Cash’s muscular chest.
Can we pause to appreciate the strength of a man who can lift a grown woman from the ground?
His lips found mine, and everything just fell away for a while. I sighed into his mouth, snuggling into his warmth and solidness, wanting to stay there just a moment longer.
A throat cleared behind us and Cash broke his kiss, though he didn’t turn.
“Please don’t do that to me again. I don’t know if my heart can take it,” Cash said seriously, his grey eyes clouded with concern.
