Page 72 of Black Hollow: Awakening

Blake straightened up and looked icily at the murderer, then said:

“Enough.”

Shocked, Will looked at his cell phone. The battery had just died.

“You’re pretty fast,” the murderer said casually. “But probably not faster than a bullet,” he stated, then aimed and fired again.

Will let out a terrified scream, because Blake didn’t move. The man must have hit him, but Alden didn’t even flinch. He walked unhurriedly toward the murderer, who looked stunned. He fired again, and again it had no effect.

“You…” he said with a mixture of terror and admiration. “I’ve never met a Witch-man immune to my bullets!”

“You’ve probably never met a vampire.”

The man burst into loud laughter.

“Gramps was right about that, too? Who would’ve thought…”

At that moment, a low growl echoed. Will looked up and saw Liam standing beside him. His irises had taken on a golden sheen.

“And a werewolf?” the attacker cried out. “Ha! So many freaks! A shame Gramps didn’t tell me to carry a wooden stake…”

“It wouldn’t have done much good,” Blake announced dispassionately. He was only a few feet away from the attacker.

“Apparently,” the man replied, almost cheerfully. “Gramps always said one thing: never let the freaks take you alive. Oh, well.”

With those words, he aimed the shotgun at his own head and pulled the trigger. Will squeezed his eyelids shut, struggling to stifle a scream. The horrifying bang rang in his ears for a long moment.

He had no idea how long he remained curled up and trembling, but eventually, he felt someone embrace him.

“It’s okay now,” Liam whispered softly.

*

Shock. There was no better word to describe how Will felt. Liam was there, patting him comfortingly on the shoulder while Blake asked questions, to which Will gave clipped, half-conscious answers. Other than that, Will said nothing. The events he had been a part of, and almost a victim of, left him in a state of bewilderment and terror. Only once did Will dare to look at the body of the man who had nearly murdered him. The sight of the head, blown to shreds, was bloodcurdling.

Blake called someone, and a few minutes later, several cars pulled up to the warehouse. Will watched them from inside Alden’s car, frozen and frightened. A man strikingly similar to Blake got out of one vehicle. Blake exchanged a few words with him. Will wondered if it was Blake’s father, but when Alden took the driver’s seat, he didn’t dare ask.

Will was afraid he would be interrogated or something similar, but Blake drove him straight home. About halfway there, the stress of the night started to break him. He talked—nonstop, getting stuck in loops, constantly returning to the same moments and describing them over and over again. He was overwhelmed and scared, but also full of relief.

He had never been so happy to be alive.

“…thank you,” he continued, moved, as they entered his house together. “Really. I have no idea what… I mean, I do have an idea, but… God…”

It was so warm inside. Not like outside or in Blake’s freezing car. Blake had turned on the heat at Will’s request, but before they could feel it, they were already home. It was a good thing Will was sitting next to Liam, though he probably looked like a complete idiot, pressing against him desperately, craving a bit of his warmth.

“You should change,” Liam assessed.

He should too—he was no less soaked than Will. He wasn’t wearing any outerwear either.

“H-How did you manage to find me?” Will finally dared to ask the question that had been tormenting him from the very beginning.

“Through deduction,” Alden answered curtly.

“He spent the whole afternoon looking for the right place,” Liam explained.

Blake grimaced slightly, then corrected him, “With Abby. We were looking for a warehouse near the railway tracks where delivery trucks were parked. We located two. One had round-the-clock, extensive security, so we figured that was unlikely.”

“Thank you,” Will whispered again. He felt like a moron for having dismissed Alden’s suspicions. “When you told me about that phone call from the future… I really had no idea. I was convinced it was impossible. How on earth did you figure out what was going on so quickly?”