His pulse pounded in his ears until all he could hear was it and his own breathing. He tugged on Shawn’s arm when he saw those long teeth again.
Shawn didn’t budge. Lucas felt the panic in Shawn and then the resignation that it wasn’t going to end well. All at once Lucas understood that Shawn prepared to die right there on the sidewalk in front of an abandoned auto-mechanics shop. Shawn’s shoulders came up to his ears and his back hunched. “Just leave my friend out of this, Gary.”
Gary? The big, badass biker guy with some very realistic fake teeth was named…Gary. Like the snail/cat thing on that sponge cartoon? Wow.
Gary took a step closer and Lucas tugged harder. Shawn wrenched his arm out of Lucas’ hold, looking back over his shoulder. “We can’t outrun them, Lucas. Not both of us. I’m sorry I got you into this.” Shawn turned back to Gary, taking a step toward him.
“Shawn!” Lucas shouted when Gary reached for Shawn. He fumbled around in his pocket for his phone with shaky hands. It took him what seemed like forever to dig it out but was probably only a few seconds. He held it like a lifeline, as if the phone could teleport him away from the guy with the funky teeth.
“Run, Lucas,” Shawn said, without turning away from the biker.
Lucas wasn’t about to leave Shawn in the hands of these creatures. He had no idea what the hell they were, but they certainly weren’t normal. Then again, he wasn’t normal either.
“I’m calling the cops, man,” Lucas said and started dialing. The operator answered immediately, but before he could get one word out the two men in suits grabbed him. His phone fell to the ground, clanking as it hit the pavement.
He struggled against the hold. He felt their emptiness, which scared him far more than Shawn’s fear had earlier. He couldn’t tell if theytruly were unfeeling assholes or if they were blocking their emotions. How would they know Lucas could tell what they were feeling, though? Hell, Lucas didn’t even understand how he could do it.
“Stop struggling, witch. Or I’ll break your fucking arm,” one of the suits said. His voice was so level, as if they were having a normal conversation. It was that lack of emotion more than anything that made Lucas go still and comply, because it told him that these men really would hurt him if he didn’t do what they said.
The energy in his brain moved to the center of his chest and something about that calmed him.
He had no time to think about being called a witch again because Gary grabbed Shawn’s arm and pulled him flush with his body.
Lucas struggled against the hold. “Let him go, you fucking asshole!”
The way Gary held onto Shawn was an intimate gesture that seemed out of place, given the current threat of violence swirling around all of them.
“Get away from him!” The energy in his chest gave him a sense of strength he hadn’t experienced before.
Gary smiled, flashing those long, unnatural fangs.
Gary turned back to Shawn, stroking the side of Shawn’s face with one big hand as he spoke. “We don’t need you now that we have the witch. I’m getting tired of the way you taste. One last time as I kill you?” He said the last part as if he was asking Shawn’s permission instead of taking what he wanted.
God, was the creature really going to do what Lucas thought he was going to do? Gary licked his lips as if Shawn was a tasty treat. Gary’s lips pulled back. His impossible fangs seemed to glow in the moonlight and got bigger. Gary looked at Lucas again. His brown eyes changed to red and Lucas stopped breathing.
His mind shut down as he watched Gary sink his teeth into Shawn’s flesh.
Oh God, this couldn’t be real. Those were fake teeth and he was getting pranked, right?Please, let that be the case.
The skin on Shawn’s neck ripped and Shawn stiffened. A couple of minutes later, the life went out of his body. Lucas could tell because he felt it trickle out with each drop of blood Gary took, like rain rolling off a roof.
Lucas stopped breathing when Shawn did. And then their bodies went slack.
Lucas knew the exact second the ball of light exited his chest. The force of it lifted him off his feet. The guys holding him let go, and flew backward, landing on their ass on the pavement a few feet away. It was disorienting, as if someone had twirled him around in a circle for too many spins. Once he came back to himself, he scrambled to his feet, trying to find where the light went.
Shawn’s back bowed before he fell to the ground like a sack of potatoes. He lay unmoving and he didn’t make a sound.
The force of the light sent Gary tumbling to the ground—a heap of biker leather and long legs.
His hands shook as he took a step in Shawn’s direction. He needed to check for a pulse because something stirred. Lucas felt Shawn in the center of his chest again. It was an odd sensation, but it was there.
The men, who had been holding him moments ago, lay on the ground. One of them had passed out, slumping against the brick building. The other stirred, shaking his head before he grew fangs right before Lucas’ eyes. His eyes glowed an eerie red.
And then the guy turned all that unnaturalness onto Lucas. He held his breath and his body stiffened. As much as he wanted to go to Shawn, to check on him, he didn’t take his eyes off the threat.
He froze in place for what seemed like hours, but it had only been a few seconds before he willed himself to run. His feet, pounding on the pavement and his own breath were the only things he heard. The car keys were an afterthought. The memory of handing them to Shawn came even later.
He hoped the police could trace his phone or something, like on television, so they would know where to find Shawn’s body.
