I had gone to Kaylee’s house expecting to convince her not to say anything, not for her to apologize for being hateful all these years, seemingly with the intention of making it up to me.
Did she really want to be friends again? Could I even be her friend after the way she had treated me all this time?
How could I trust someone who had made such an effort to make me miserable? Calling me names, teasing me, spreading rumors, throwing rocks at me, shoving me around…
Really, I knew I should be careful with her. It was going to take a long time to regain my trust, and I needed to remember that she had liked Ryker – or at least, I was pretty sure she did. I knew it was possible him stabbing me snapped her out of her fantasy that he was actually an okay guy. But then again, for all I knew, she might want revenge – maybe she wanted to pretend to get on my good side so she could retaliate eventually.
The truth depended on what kind of a person she really was deep down, and on how humbled she was by her near-death experience.
I couldn’t handle being betrayed by her a second time.
I sucked in a deep breath, trying to shake off my numbness. I didn’t like feeling like this.
I needed to focus on Jasmyn instead, because I felt like she was someone who would never betray me. In many ways, she was just like me – lonely. So she knew. She knew how it felt – how I felt. And I knew how she felt too. No one who went without friends for so long would give it up for anything, just like no one who had starved would take food for granted ever again.
Unfortunately, I was so focused on my internal turmoil, that I didn’t notice where I was walking, just automatically taking the shortest path home.
Thus, I was surprised when three people stepped out of an alleyway, before promptly walking in front of me.
I came to a halt and looked up in shock, before groaning in annoyance. It was three of the older boys who liked to mess with anyone who came into their territory. I didn’t even bother looking around, knowing that we were probably out of sight from most people.
Dammit, I really didn’t want to deal with this right now.
“Hey,” the one in the middle spoke up as they all three gathered around me. I was short in comparison, the top of my head only going up to the shortest one’s chin. They towered over me like I was five years old, especially the taller two.
I warily met his gaze. His brown eyes were hard, a shade twice as dark as his brown hair. He was the tallest – I didn’t even go up to his shoulder.
“You’re Alyssa Dracul, right?” he continued.
My eyes narrowed at that. “What’s it to you?” I snapped in a low voice.
Unexpectedly the one on my left – the shortest of the three – reached out and placed his hand on my thin shoulder.
I immediately glared at him, not having to look up as high, prompting him to quickly withdraw it. He held his hands up defensively. “Hey,” he exclaimed. “I didn’t mean anything by that. We were just wondering if we could walk you home.”
I stared up at him in surprise. It was difficult not to be suspicious, but his green eyes seemed…sincere. “I can walk home on my own,” I muttered.
“No, seriously,” the guy in front of me retorted. “Let us walk you home.”
“No,” I repeated. “Just leave me alone.”
The boy on my right finally spoke up. “We were going there anyway,” he blurted out. “So, we should all walk together.”
My eyes narrowed again as I examined his expression. He had brown eyes like the first guy, but his hair was almost blonde. And just like the second guy, he seemed…sincere.
I finally crossed my arms. “Okay, what’s this about?” I finally asked.
I didn’t want to try forcing myself around them. They basically had me caged in, and I wasn't any stronger than a normal person in this form.
The guy on my left with green eyes and black hair spoke up again. “I’m Kain, by the way.” He pointed to the guy in front of me. “And that’s Roelyn, but he prefers Roe, and the guy on your right is Lee.”
“Okay?” I said, my arms still crossed. Why were they telling me their names? I didn’t care what they were called.
The blonde guy on my right, Lee, spoke up again. “We just want to make sure you get home safely,” he offered.
Now I was annoyed. “Dammit!” I exclaimed. “Just tell me what this is about already!”
Roe spoke up in front of me. “We had someone approach us,” he began tentatively. “Wanted to pay us…to take care of you…”
The hairs on my neck stood on end, a shiver running up my spine as I took a step back automatically. Kain shot his hand out again, placing his warm palm in the middle of my back. “We didn’t agree to it,” he added quickly.
“Yeah,” Lee continued. “We don’t do that shit.”
Roe immediately agreed. “Scaring kids is one thing, but killing them? Like he said, we don’t do that shit.”
“But,” Kain continued, his hand still on my back, “he did pay us to keep quiet about it. Which means he’s probably going to ask someone else to do it. We were heading to your place to tell your dad.”
My mind was frazzled. I felt like I couldn’t think clearly. Someone had tried hiring them to kill me? Who was the guy? And why? Instead of asking those questions, I found myself grasping at a stupid one. “How do you even know where I live?” I finally asked Kain, looking up at him on my left.
His green eyes looked embarrassed as he removed his hand from my back and shifted uneasily. “Well, my dad works with your dad,” he replied tentatively.
“That still doesn’t explain how you know where I live,” I retorted, unsure of why I was even pressing the issue. But I certainly didn’t know where he lived. Nor did I know who his dad was.
Kain shifted uneasily again, rubbing the back of his neck. “Well…”
Roe spoke up. “Look, it doesn’t matter,” he retorted, sounding annoyed himself now. “You’re going to your place. We’re going to your place. So let’s go together. Okay?”
“Fine,” I sighed, dropping my arms. “Whatever.”
Roe nodded and stepped out of my way.
As I began walking again, Roe kept ahead and to my left, while Kain and Lee fell in step at my sides. It was weird having them surround me like this. I wanted to keep being suspicious about their true intentions, but all three of them were looking around like hawks, especially Roe. It made it seem like…well, like they were really trying to protect me. Like they sincerely thought my life might be in danger.
I looked up at Kain again, noticing for the first time how his dark hair really made his green eyes pop. “So, who was the guy?” I asked seriously.
Lee chimed in, prompting me to look up at him on my other side. “We aren’t sure. Never seen him before.”
“He was dressed nice though,” Kain added, seeming unoffended that Lee had answered for him.
“And he was offering a lot of money,” Roe continued, glancing back at me.
“But why?” I asked seriously, trying to understand.
“We don’t know,” Kain replied, meeting my gaze. “I mean, you’re only fourteen, right?”
“I’m fifteen!” I snapped, suddenly annoyed at my flat chest. Why did I have to look so much younger than my peers? I crossed my arms automatically.
His eyes widened in surprise. “Sorry,” he replied uncomfortably. “But I was just trying to say, it seems weird someone would want you dead. Even if you’re fifteen – shit, even if you were seventeen like the rest of us – it doesn’t make sense. I mean, what did you ever do to anyone?”
I knew he was trying to suggest that I was just a kid without offending me again. But he had a point. What bastard hires someone to kill a fifteen-year-old?
“Maybe this is about the rumors,” Roe suggested from in front of us. “About her mom.”
“Her mom’s not a devil,” Kain snapped defensively. “And even if she was, should it really matter?”
I gawked at him in su
rprise, though he wasn’t looking at me. They were talking now as if I wasn’t even there.
“Don’t devils kill people though?” Lee asked from my right. “I heard they drink their blood.”
“I don’t know,” Roe said tauntingly. “Ever met one?”
Kain chimed in again. “But that’s not the point,” he sneered, seeming annoyed now. “Alyssa didn’t do anything. And even if the rumor was true, neither did her mom.”
“As far as we know,” Lee retorted quietly.
Roe continued after a moment, staring straight ahead. “We could always just ask, you know.”
All three of them were silent then, none of them looking at me. I felt a little uneasy myself, having them talk about me like I wasn’t there, not to mention the subject. Roe finally glanced back at me again.
“Well?” he wondered, as if they had already asked me. “Do you know why someone would want you dead?”
I shrugged, staring down at the ground. I honestly didn’t know. The whole situation was like a blow to the chest. The only thing that had happened recently where I was technically involved was…
Unexpectedly, Kain grabbed me roughly by the shoulder, pulling me to a stop. “Shit,” he exclaimed in a low voice.
I looked up at the same time that Roe snapped his head back forward, seeing that two men had just stepped out of an alleyway to our left down the narrow street – two adults, carrying long metal rods, staring straight at us.
One of the men threw his rod onto his shoulder, and gave us a glare. “Now, this is interesting,” he sneered in a gruff voice. “The man mentioned he had asked some kids to do this job, but I never imagined this. Trying to play hero?” he asked with a grin.
Kain abruptly dashed in front of me, grabbing my hand in the process as he tugged me past Lee. It took me a second to realize he was trying to drag me toward an alleyway to our right.
“This way,” he hissed at me.
I tried to keep up, but he really was almost dragging me. I just couldn’t move as fast in this form. So much for being half-demon. I was very human right now. I glanced back to see that Roe and Lee had only followed to the entrance, at which point they spun around to attack our pursuers with small knives.
I watched in horror as one of the men smacked Lee right in the head, dropping him instantly. Roe was out only a moment later, getting hit in the forearm first, before the other guy brought his rod down on top of his skull.
Kain yanked me around a corner as the two men began pursuing us.
“Focus on running,” he abruptly urged me, giving a rough tug. “Don’t look back.”
I tried to listen, completely baffled that these three boys were trying so hard to keep me alive. It felt surreal. Why did they care? And why was I less concerned? I supposed it was because they didn’t know what I knew – that my life really wasn’t in danger – at least, not from them. Granted, that didn’t change the fact that I still had something at risk.
Exposure.
We rounded another corner, only for Kain to stop abruptly, causing me to slam into his back. “Shit,” he hissed again.
I quickly peeked over his shoulder to see another man, this one with a short gun. So, there were three of them as well.
“You can’t fire that,” Kain abruptly snapped at him. While he spoke, he let go of my hand and wrapped his arm around my back to keep me behind him. “People will hear and come running to find out what’s going on.”
The man grinned at us. “Oh, I think not,” he retorted. “The Guard maybe, but none of them are anywhere close to here. They’re busy with another situation.”
My eyes widened in surprise to discover these guys really knew what they were doing. I quickly tried to wiggle out from Kain’s grasp. “Just let me go with them,” I urged. “You three are going to get yourselves killed.”
Kain looked back at me in shock, about to speak, but the man’s laughing cut him off. “Oh honey,” he taunted, holding up his gun. “We aren’t taking you anywhere. You’ll die right here and now.”
I gasped, my eyes widening in surprise.
The gun fired.
Instantaneously, my gray hand wrapped around Kain and caught a piece of metal before I even heard the gunshot. It stung like hell. My palm felt bruised. A moment later and the sound ricocheted off the alley walls, the noise much louder than I was expecting. My ears twitched when I heard the other two men finally catch up to us.
Kain glanced down and gasped when he saw my dark gray fist in front of his chest, before slowly looking over his shoulder in shock to see my slitted red eyes staring down the man who had fired.
My prey seemed frozen as his mind tried to register what he was seeing. His finger ready to shoot again.
His mistake.
I ducked out from Kain’s arm and stood in front of my enemy.
Instantly.
I traversed the space before anyone could even blink.
A trail of noise that sounded like thunder followed behind me. I watched with amusement, feeling drunk with power, as the man’s eyes slowly widen before his head jerked down to meet my unblinking crimson gaze.
I held my hand up to his chest, the bullet still in my grasp. “I believe this is yours,” I said harshly, opening my hand while shoving it at him.
A peal of black lightning shot out of my palm, tearing straight through the man’s torso, then nicking the top of a house down the alleyway, and finally streaking through the sky as far as I could see. The thick clouds in the distance abruptly separated, appearing as if they had exploded in order to create an unexpected sea of blue.
I cringed from the monstrous sound that reverberated through the air, before jumping back when I realized the man had a hole in his chest big enough for me to fit through.
His body stood there for a moment, his eyes unseeing, before he fell straight backwards with a muted thud. There was no blood.
The clouds continued to part in the sky, reaching the edge of the town as the sound of a torrential downpour began all along the outskirts. However, directly above me it was now perfectly blue.
I looked over my shoulder to see that the three humans all had their hands over their ears from the unexpected thunder, their eyes wide in shock.
Instantly, I flew past Kain and stood in front of the next closest man. Before he could react, I yanked the rod out of his hand, the abrupt movement shredding his skin as the metal left his fingers, and I shoved it into his chest. I then spun around his frozen form and did the same to the next one, shoving his weapon through his gut.
In a flash, I was in front of Kain again, looking up at him. He was still facing my first victim, having never had the opportunity to turn around.
He flinched when he registered me, taking a step backwards automatically. He then abruptly jumped again when he heard the two men behind him grunt and fall to the ground. His head snapped to the side as he looked over his shoulder, before he slowly turned his gaze to me, his pulse throbbing in his neck.
“Oh,” he finally said after a moment, sounding like he was choking on his words. “I guess…” His voice trailed off.
“Guess what?” I wondered quietly.
“You didn’t…really need…our…” His eyes were beginning to look glazed over. “I need to sit down,” he said breathlessly, half falling as he did.
I stared down at him unblinking as he tucked his head in between his knees.
He was silent for a few seconds, before he spoke up again. “Are you going to kill me?” he asked, his voice almost inaudible.
I already knew my answer, but decided to delay. “Are you going to tell anyone about this?” I asked just as softly.
“No, of course not,” he replied urgently, looking up at my red eyes. “I promise I won’t.”
“Then no,” I said simply. I then scoffed. “You tried to protect me, even almost taking a bullet to the chest.” I held up my hands and shrugged. “Why would I kill you?”
He sighed heavily in relief and rested his chin on his knees.
After a moment, he laughed humorlessly. “Well, I’m not about to list off reasons why you should,” he replied with a grimace. He then hesitantly looked up at me again, as if trying to evaluate my impassive expression.
My ears twitched when I heard commotion down at the other end of the alleyway. It didn’t sound like anyone was brave enough to find out what was going on, but I didn’t want to stick around to find out. “We need to go,” I said urgently, reaching my hand down to help him up.
He stared at my black claws for a moment, before tentatively accepting the gesture.
After I hoisted him to his feet, he seemed to collect himself some. “Umm, can you change back?” he wondered hesitantly. “You know…so someone doesn’t accidentally see you…”
My eyes widened in surprise. “Oh, yeah I guess you’re right.” I quickly took a deep breath and focused on bottling up my magic again.
He seemed to relax a little when I returned to looking human. “Let’s go,” he said, reaching out like he was going to grab my hand, before flinching and pulling away. However, rather than being repulsed by me, it appeared like he was just afraid to get on my bad side by grabbing my hand without my permission.
I felt a smile threatening to sneak onto my lips by that realization, watching him turn around to go back the way we had come.
I quickly followed after him, only for him to stop in front of one of our attackers – the man with the rod sticking out of his gut. He was on his side, gasping for breath, his hands on the metal as if he were trying to pull it out. At first, I wasn’t sure why he hadn’t tried to run away, but then I realized his legs looked limp. The rod was coming out his back, straight through his spine.
Kain glanced over his shoulder at me. “Umm, I guess we probably can’t leave him alive…” he commented, speaking slowly as he evaluated my expression. “Even though they were hired to kill you, I wouldn’t be surprised if he comes up with some story about how they’re actually the victims.”
I shrugged. “Go ahead then,” I suggested, not wanting to do it myself. I was annoyed before, but that feeling was starting to wear off. Now I just wanted to get out of here as soon as possible. I really didn’t feel like killing anyone else, especially now that I was in my human form and no longer drunk on my own power.
Magicbound to a Snake Girl Page 10