A few people muttered around her. The man asking questions just stared.
“Even with all of that going on, you still managed to take note of your attacker’s face.” He lifted up the drawing again. “From what I can see, in great detail.”
“Yes, I can do two things at the same time.” She shot back, now crossing her arms over her chest. Who the hell did this guy think he was? Also, why was she suddenly under interrogation?
Her answer had caused a commotion amongst the people watching.
“Order, order,” someone sounded until they were quiet again.
“Your honour, is there a point to these questions?” Benedict stood, stepping out of the bench where he was seated, and walked until he was standing next to Jaycen.
She could have sagged in relief, thank god, someone was on her side. The people watching her liked Benedict; she could tell as the chatter quickened, a few even gasped. Oh yeah, she had a good one on her side.
“Mr Ravensmith.” The judge nodded his head, his mouth turning into a tight, not so happy smile. “I am just trying to understand this young lady. Looking at her records, I see excellent grades; she’s only just found magic and yet, she is catching up rather quickly.” Again, he said it accusingly, “So who is she? Where does she come from? Why has there been so much drama since she arrived with us?”
Her mouth opened to shout, or protest, or something when Benedict spoke first.
“Yes, Jaycen is doing exceedingly well in her classes. You can find out all you need to know in the file I provided. As for the murders, they were happening long before I found Jaycen.”
“Yeah, maybe you should be more worried about people dying than if my mom is magic or not,” she said, ignoring the sharp look Benedict gave her and the gasps from everyone else. Everyone, that was, except for the hot guy that Benedict had been sitting next to: He was laughing. She liked him.
“Mr Ravensmith, please remind Miss Reece where she is and whom she is talking to.” A piece of silver hair fell forward and the judge pushed it back with a flick of his hand, still openly scowling at Jaycen.
“I think the issue here, Henry, is her last name. Or, lack thereof. Thornton Krull has just been here, and I didn’t see him have such an interrogation.” Benedict stood strong, folding his arms over his chest, his eyes challenging the man in the seat, Henry, who was now just gaping at them. His mouth opening and closing like a fish.
“How… how dare you… how dare you speak to me like that.” His old face became whiter. “Name and bloodlines have nothing to do with this. Miss Reece,” this time he spat her name, “has been involved in three different incidents in the past few weeks. It is my job to find out why and how.”
“Jaycen’s first incident was by pure coincidence. The other one was because she’s nosy and put herself in danger,” Benedict said, his voice much calmer than Henry’s.
She opened her mouth to protest, but he had a point. So, she let that drop and instead just listened to him kick ass.
“You know this as well as I do; bloodlines and names have everything to do with this. And like it or not, Henry, magic mixing is legal.”
The room erupted into chaos, some agreeing with him, others not. Everyone making their feelings known.
“Order, order.” Again, that loud voice rang out, followed by three ear-popping bangs.
It took a minute, but everyone settled down. Henry was fuming now, and if it had been a cartoon she was sure steam would be coming from his ears.
“This has turned into something that is neither helpful or appropriate. Therefore, I must end today’s session.”
Jaycen raised her hand. Henry’s eyes shot to her; she watched as he tried to control his features, but she saw the glimpse of a snarl. Oh yeah, Benedict was right about him.
“Yes, Miss Reece?”
“Can I go home now? Or will I need to come back?”
Henry looked at some papers. “I believe we know enough. You are free to go.” His eyes then landed on Benedict. “And Mr Ravensmith, I will ask you to in the future keep personal opinions out of this courtroom.”
“And I will ask you to do the same, Henry.”
Burn. Jaycen laughed, letting Benedict take her by the arm and lead her out of the room. He didn’t let go until they were in the corridor.
“That shouldn’t have happened, I’m sorry you were put through that. Are you okay?” He bent so they were eye to eye.
The beautiful, dark-haired guy who had been sitting next to him had walked out too, and was silently watching them, a small smile on his face.
“Yeah, I’m fine.” She shrugged it off, eyeing the newcomer. “It was actually kind of cool.” She placed her hands on Benedict’s wide shoulders. “And you, my friend, are a badass.”
He straightened, smiling down at her. Before Jaycen’s brain could filter the words she said, “You have an amazing smile. You should totally smile more. It changes your face.”
“I smile when I have something to smile about.” He shot her a wink, just as Thornton and another man she didn’t know came rushing towards them.
“What the hell happened in there?” Thornton’s face was a mask of anger; he did a sweep of Jaycen as if checking to make sure she was okay before turning to Benedict. “You should have stepped in sooner. You should have said something.”
The man who came out with him, a tall guy with jet black hair that had started to grey at the temples, patted Thornton on the shoulder. “I had to stop Thorn from shooting down there and giving Henry a piece of his mind. I told him you had it under control.”
Thorn, she had head others call him that. Jaycen liked that; it suited him better than Thornton. She also liked how he had been about to come to her defence. Part of her wished he had, she wondered what he would have said.
“You should have let him, Darius, I would have liked to see them react to that.” Benedict smiled fondly.
“Can you imagine? Their golden boy standing in court like that?” Both men laughed like old friends. Golden boy? Thornton was their golden boy? Really, she shouldn’t have been so surprised, but she was. He was so young.
Thornton was ignoring their conversation completely. “You should have stepped in sooner,” he warned, as he stepped closer to Jaycen. “I can’t believe everyone stood by and let you take that, it was disgusting.”
“It’s actually kind of flattering that they thought I was capable of killing someone, or at least having some part in it.”
He made a face at her, a face that said he wasn’t sure whether to laugh or look at her in disgust. “Well, we’re here for another day, how abou—”
Thornton didn’t get to finish his sentence, as a loud bang shot through the building. Everyone dropped to their knees, everyone that is apart from Benedict’s beautiful friend. He stood still as he scanned the open corridor. Then, the screams began, screams of complete fear.
“Go, run and hide,” the beautiful man ordered, before completely disappearing. Jaycen had to blink a few times, just to make sure she was seeing things right. Because he had just vanished.
Benedict jumped to his feet, and ran down the hall, only looking back at them to shout, “Go now.”
Thornton looked conflicted, a muscle working in his jaw as he watched Benedict run into danger while he was left with her. He motioned in the opposite direction, as people were now exiting the hearing room, and running for their lives. She followed Thornton, Benedict’s friend Darius following them.
“How are we under attack?” Darius shouted in complete fear.
“I don’t know but you should hide in the crypt; they have bulletproof doors. It’s probably the safest place in here.”
The cemetery? Why on earth did they have a cemetery here? She didn’t have time to ask that though as they ran with what felt like hundreds of people down the hall, all of them seeming to have the same idea about the cemetery. They rounded the corner, Jaycen slamming into a wall of muscle as Thornton stopped dead.
“Thornton Krull
. Your kind shouldn’t be mixing with these mixed blood traitors.” The voice was new, soft, and young. Jaycen looked around Thornton to a woman standing in front of them; she was wearing the same black, white, and red mask as Jaycen’s attacker’s just days before. She also had a bottle of what looked like flames in her hands. “But we need to make them see. We need to make them listen.”
Thornton held out his hand, slowly and steadily. “What’s your name?” He sounded a lot calmer than Jaycen thought he would; there was almost a softness to his voice that wasn’t normally there.
“Sasha, my name is Sasha. I’m sorry, but this needs to be done. We need to save our race.” She dropped the glass, letting the red and yellow flames consume her and everything around her. Thornton took off his jacket, and jumped in, trying to control the flames. “Get out of here, Jaycen! Run! Go now!”
The fire was spreading fast. Witches and warlocks all sprang into action trying to put out the flames.
Jaycen backed up, her body shaking with fear. She had no idea where to go.
“I know another way.” Darius grabbed Jaycen’s arm and pulled her back down the hall that was quickly filling with smoke.
“I don’t, I don’t know what’s happening,” she shouted, people slamming into her as they tried to run away in the opposite direction
“Quick, faster. This way.” They both ran as fast as they could; Jaycen didn’t even know where they were until she saw Benedict and his friend fighting. Benedict, using magic in ways Jaycen didn’t even know was possible, and his friend, his friend was just everywhere all at once. Taking on five people at a time and beating them all with ease. What was happening was brutal, yet he made it look so beautiful.
“This isn’t the way,” she shouted over the chaos. The space was full of people now, all fighting. Bodies were getting thrown into walls, the air filling with smoke and making it difficult to breathe.
“Erm, erm.” Darius looked around, confused and panicked, his hands shaking. “I must have taken a wrong turn. I swear it was this way.” He counted the corridors as they backed away, standing as close to a wall as possible.
A man, tall and well built, spotted them. She watched as he picked up and threw a warlock as if he weighed nothing, then started making his way towards them.
Oh, dear god. “Run!” she screamed, pushing Darius. “Move.” Not caring where they were running to but needing to get away. They made it a few meters before she was pulled back by her hair. She screamed out in pain as a thick, muscled arm snaked around her waist in an iron tight grip.
“Lives have to be lost so the message can be heard.”
She twisted and kicked, his hold only tightening. Jaycen squeezed her eyes shut, knowing this was the end.
Chapter 14
Jaycen braced herself, waiting for the pain to come. Though her mind had given up and accepted defeat, her body it seemed had not. She could feel her hand heating, not paying it much attention until the man’s arms released her and she fell to the ground.
Jaycen twisted on the floor, watching the guy clutch his arm and fall back. He looked as though he was about to say something, his eyes wide as he finally let go of his arm, and Jaycen could see she’d burnt him.
She did that, somehow. While he was stunned and frozen, Jaycen jumped and carried on running. She had no idea where Darius was now, and she didn’t dare look behind her to see if the guy had followed her. That was until someone slammed into her, knocking her to the floor with a thud.
“Tell me your name.”
She twisted until she was facing her attacker, his large rough hands clamping down on her throat and squeezing.
“Tell me your last name now.”
She could smell his burnt flesh as he squeezed her throat. She clawed at his arms and kicked her legs, his weight just too much. Whatever had happened to her hands before wasn’t working now, no matter how much she tried.
“Reece,” she breathed, and his grip loosened just for a second as he processed what she’d said. But it was enough movement for her reach up, poking him in the eye hard and swift.
“Ow! You bitch.” One of his hands covered the eye she had just poked. As she sat up she hit him hard in the nose. They both screamed out in pain, his face as hard as a brick wall. How was that possible? She hit again and again, her knuckles bleeding but so was his nose. She carried on until he screamed, “Enough!” It felt like a weight had been pressed into her, crushing her ribs and stomach.
He leant over her, blood from his bleeding nose dripping on her. The guy wasn’t actually touching her—no, he was using magic. But he liked watching her, watching her struggle as she gasped for breath and twisted in pain.
Then, it stopped. Just like that, he was gone. The guy was no longer sitting astride her. Jaycen sat up, her lungs burning with the intake of oxygen she could now breathe in. Her attacker was floating in the air, his face turning blue and an odd shade of purple.
“Jaycen, are you okay?” Thornton appeared next to her, his hand pushing away her hair so he could see her face. “You’re bleeding.”
Numbly her hand went to her face, wiping it until she could feel the liquid. “It’s not mine.”
Thornton didn’t hear that though and dove at the man. He flew into him and they both crashed onto the floor. It was then that Jaycen realised it was Thornton’s magic that had strung the guy up in the first place and saved her.
She couldn’t say thank you now though, because right then Thornton was over the guy, his fist smashing into the guy’s already mashed up face.
“Stop.”
He either didn’t hear her or was just ignoring her. “Thornton.” She crawled over to them and started pulling on his shirt as soon as she was close enough. “Stop, he’s had enough. Please. I’m okay; I swear it.”
Finally, his fist stopped mid-air. The guy’s face was now completely unrecognisable.
Somehow, she managed to pull him off the guy who wasn’t even moving. Luckily, he was still breathing.
“Your neck. Did he strangle you?”
Jaycen’s hand went to her neck; she could only guess what it looked like. “Yeah.”
A look of fury crossed his face as he turned back to the unconscious guy, and Jaycen didn’t know what he was going to do this time.
“No, no!” She grabbed his head, forcing him to look at her. “Just leave him. He’s hurt. You hurt him just as much as he hurt me.”
The look of fury didn’t go away, not as his hand came up and brushed her hair away from her neck. “No one should be allowed to hurt you. I want to kill him.”
“No, you want revenge. Killing him isn’t going to get that.” Finally, the look left his eyes, and his face softened. He moved away from the guy, and then reached for Jaycen. When she was close enough he held her tight, letting her rest her head on his shoulder. They just stayed like that, holding one another.
“Benedict and Azrael have the attack under control now,” Thornton finally spoke.
“Who’s Azrael?” she asked, still not lifting her head from his shoulder. In fact, she was so comfortable she could have fallen asleep right there, with his arm securely around her.
His shoulders shook with silent laughter. “Everyone in this world knows about Azrael and his wife Lilliah, everyone apart from you. He’s an old friend of Benedict’s. He’s also an Angel.”
An angel? Well now she had a million and three questions. She was just too tired to ask any of them.
“We should go and find Benedict. He’s probably worried.”
“Yeah.” Again, neither of them moved. People were rushing past them, all of them ignoring the huge unconscious guy on the floor. Was stuff like this normal here? Groups of protesters breaking in and attacking people?
Finally, Thornton stood, turning to Jaycen and holding out his hand. She took it, letting him pull her up. But then, he didn’t let go as they walked down the hall; in fact, he acted like it was a completely normal thing to do. She liked that, but she was also completely bewildered
by it. His hands were so big and slightly rough, like he worked with them a lot.
They rounded the last corner which opened out into the main open area of the Cure. A few bodies lay on the ground, covered with sheets. There were more people lined up against the far end of the wall, their hands tied behind their backs, their faces and bodies all bloodied up.
Benedict was somewhere in the middle of the commotion, people gathering around him as he barked orders, everyone was listening. Even Henry was doing what Benedict instructed. What was strange to see was that the older man’s face was slightly bruised. She really couldn’t imagine him fighting. She was actually kind of bummed she’d missed that.
“Oh thank god; there you are. I... I… I lost you in the crowd, I was so worried.” A flushed Darius came rushing towards them, his eyes wide and his hands outstretched. “Are you okay?”
Thornton pulled her back a little just as Darius approached.
“You should have been looking out for her. She was attacked. She was hurt!”
Darius looked crushed. “I am so sorry. I tried to find you. I was running as fast as I could, and I assumed you were behind me.”
Jaycen pulled her hand free from Thornton’s, wondering if she was ever going to be able to hold it again. Maybe letting go was a mistake; she could have this conversation while still holding his hand.
So, before she could chicken out, she reached back and grabbed his hand; thank god he didn’t hesitate in clasping his fingers around hers.
“I’m fine, Darius. Honestly I am.” She pointed back to where, hopefully, the guy was still unconscious. “That guy came out of nowhere, and I mean, I kinda kicked ass. Until I didn’t.” She forced a smile, her words not having come out as kickass as she wanted them to. “I burnt his arm. Then, I hit him in his face.” She held out her blooded hands. “I mean, look at my knuckles. That’s because of his face.”
“Still, I am sorry, and I hope, no—” He shook his head. “—I pray, that you can forgive me.”
“There’s nothing to forgive.” She shrugged, because honestly there really wasn’t. “I’m fine, really.”
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