Olden leaned close to hiss at me. “I wouldn’t move so much. You wouldn’t want that blade to twitch any closer to your heart.”
The pain was nauseating, the world flashing at me in black, then color. My vision wavered. Squeezing my eyes closed, I grasped the knife, attempting to yank it free.
An ear-piercing scream echoed. I realized it was from me. Hoarse little gasps bubbled from my lips. I waited to die. I wanted to die – or black out at least.
From the shadows, Brace appeared behind Olden. Even through the flashing world and blinding pain, relief flooded over me. He was alive.
He lifted her off me, his expression dark and deadly. With a cold and clinical ability, he broke her neck. Without effort. So quick she hadn’t even had a chance to turn her head.
Throwing her aside, he moved my way, but was intercepted by two black-clad men. Brace’s half-smile glower was terrifying. If I had been facing him I would have run for my life. Adrenalin flooded through me, which forced my heart to pump faster, and the blood to gush out around the knife wound. I was afraid for Brace – and it only took frantic seconds for me to realize I didn’t have to be.
Lucy might have joked that we were ninjas, but Brace actually was. He’d picked up a long, broad, sword from somewhere and was moving between the two men with the grace and skill of a trained assassin. They didn’t stand a chance. I must have blacked out for a second. The world fluttered as reality came back. I could see that Brace had dispatched one – he was down in a pool of blood – and the other followed swiftly. Dropping the blood-drenched sword, Brace dived toward me.
He pitched the semi-conscious man that was still resting on my legs into a pile of boxes and dropped down beside me. I continued to gasp, my hand on the knife. Sounds seemed both loud and soft, and I couldn’t concentrate on his words.
“Red ... Red. You are going to be okay. Do you hear me? Just ... don’t you leave me.”
“I don’t want to leave ... Brace, it hurts.”
He leaned closer, his lips grazing my cheek. My tears fell unchecked.
“I know it hurts.” His voice caressed me, soothing as it always did. “I’ll fix this, I promise, Red.”
Faces appeared behind him. Lucy dropped to my other side.
“Abbs, no ... no. This can’t be happening.” Tears poured from her wide blue eyes. She clutched my hand tightly. Her distraught expression pleaded with me. “Don’t you dare die, Abigail,” she spluttered through her tears.
“Help her,” Brace, on my other side, roared at Josian. “Do something.”
Lallielle’s face was white as death beside him.
Power crackled around Brace. I thought I could see lightning arcing. His velvety eyes, normally a deep rich brown, were black. I thought it must be hallucinations before death. Brace leaned in, pulling my hand from the knife handle. I gasped, then my screams echoed through the warehouse.
Chapter 13
The days that followed were both restful and frustrating.
Lallielle and Josian were yet to let me far from their sight. Apparently that little incident was too close for comfort, even for a Walker. I have little recollection of my trip back, and thankfully I was completely out for the knife removal.
With some help from Josian’s energy, my recovery was progressing. The puckered pink scar on my chest ached on and off, but I was alive.
I awoke from my afternoon nap to find Lucy perched on the side of my bed.
“You know, Abbs, I could live in your wardrobe.” She lay back, sighing wistfully. “And the blue stone is back again.”
Rubbing my eyes, I sat up, working through the stiff pain that shot through my chest. Lucy was dressed in an ankle-length, floaty white dress. It was perfect for the balmy weather of First World. She’d already been making up for all our years without a massive walk-in wardrobe and had taken to wearing at least two different sets of clothes a day. The dress, generally thigh-high, looked gorgeous on her blond beauty.
Glancing to my left I could see the laluna nestled in the pillow next to mine. The blue pulsed, and I could feel the warmth it created. No matter how many times Josian took it away, it just kept reappearing. The little Walker world had claimed me.
Shifting it to my side table, I looked around the room. “Where has everyone disappeared to?” I hadn’t seen anyone all day. Odd for my overprotective parents.
Lucy laughed. “I have no idea. Sam took off with your parents earlier, something about having to meet an old acquaintance.” She shrugged.
“How are things going with Samuel?” I asked her.