Chapter 3

• Time for a new plan I shook my head. I had no other plan. I pulled out a chain from my pack, slowly to let it pool soundlessly beside me. My wannabe surujin wasn’t going to be enough to get through all six men. I could probably trip up two, maybe three, but then what? Aside from cussing and sticking out my tongue. I had no other skills. I was purely a defensive ‘run away’ type of person, entirely self-taught.
• I clenched my teeth together, growling inside my head. All I wanted was a jam sandwich and a glass of juice. Now, I going to be eating squished, misshapen bread and had to skulk around in this corner until they left as I watched them abduct the family/nonfamily they held captive.
• The little girl was crying. Dammit.
• Noise from loud footfalls coming up the ramp jerked my head around to watch. Their friends had arrived. A blonde woman charged at one of them, growling out a battle cry. Okay. Not friends. I watched for a moment as several more people appeared. They were also carrying barbaric weapons, but they were using them against the original creeps, so I decided that was a better option.
• “Nathas Roan, you’re a traitorous bastard.” A large redheaded man bellowed.
• Two of the women skidded to a stop and turned to see who the redhead was looking at. The one with the black hair rushed toward him. “I’ve got his feet.” She told the other woman. She stopped a few feet from him and held out her hand toward him.
• The blonde woman beside her snarled. “I’ve got his face.” She did this little jump in the air and spun around and kicked him in the face. He went down, just catching himself before his face hit the floor.
• “What the Hell?” I whispered, in awe of what she’d done. I needed to learn that.
• A tiny redheaded woman came out of the shadows, with bright orange sparks coming off her hands. I looked at my gloved hand, deciding I was in no place to judge. I watched her toss a flaming ball at the one they called Nathas, and he hit the floor.
• “Leone.” The tiny redhead said.
• “Trying.” One of the new arrivals grunted as he blocked the swing of a sword with his own much larger sword.
• “I got him.” The blonde woman that had rushed into the group ran toward Nathas, still being beat on. She slid toward him holding a box in her hand. I thought she was going to shock him, but instead he vanished.
• Vanished.
• Gone without a trace.
• I swallowed. Okay that was a bit freakier than I was comfortable with, and freaky was my very existence.
• The women spun toward those fighting.
• I noticed two other women standing in front of the abducted family. One was flicking nun-chucks back and forth, the other squatted down with a large blade in her hand. A man rushed for them, sword in hand when an arrow came out of nowhere and hit him. He crumpled to the floor.
• I leaned around the corner and looked up. Standing up and leaning over the railing was a woman with a bow. Swords, bows, knives, nun-chucks and flying balls of fire. What the actual F was going on? Usually I was the only oddity in the room.
• “Quinton!”
• I turned back to see one of the good barbarians crumple to the floor. He was holding his side.
• “I’m fine.” He growled. “Get that bastard.”
• The man with black hair, nodded and turned to the man holding a blood-soaked sword.
• I bit my lip and told myself absolutely not. They had this. It was probably just a small flesh wound. I moved out of the dark to one of the pillars, I saw a man running across the cement toward the one laying on the ground. The injured man shifted, trying to pick up his sword as he held his side.
• Without debate, I ran out from my cover, swinging the surujin as I went. When I was close enough, I flung it toward the attacker that was about to impale the injured man. It wrapped around his ankle, I jerked and he fell face-first onto the hard surface. Letting go of the chain’s handle, I ran past him to the injured man.
• Jerking my gloves off, I grabbed the leather and tried to pull it away from his bloodied body. “You’ll be fine.” I told him, pulling the knife from its sheath at his side I used it to rip the leather of his vest apart.
• He had a large slice in his side. I put both hands on it and pushed. “You’ll be fine.” I told him again, then glanced to his face. Brown eyes stared at me, with fear. “It’s okay.” I nodded. The brown hair hanging in my face started to turn to grey, I jerked my head, flipping it out of the way. I felt the draw, it was strong. Maybe I’d underestimated how bad his injury was. It must have been life-threatening to take this much energy for me to heal it.
• “Stop.” He told me, terror in his eyes.
• I offered him a brief look, I didn’t want him to see my eyes turning black. The blood stopped flowing out between my fingers. “It’s slowing, you’ll be fine.”
• “Stop.” He growled and grabbed my wrists, trying to pull my hands free of him.
• “Rafael, blueish-grey hair.” Someone screeched.
• “Victor, no.” A blond man slid beside me and put his arm in front of me. “I had a vision of her.”
• A pain went through my chest. I couldn’t heal him further. Pulling my hands away, I grabbed my gloves and stood up. I stumbled a few steps. I’d used far too much energy on him. Brushing past the woman kneeling down beside the injured man, I ran for the corner, hoping I had enough energy to get there.
• “Stop her!” Someone yelled.
• I grabbed the bungee and swung my leg over the railing. Holding on with all I had, I jumped over the edge. I misjudged and released too soon, then fell to my back on the roof below. So much for my bread and juice surviving.
• “Where did she go?” I could hear them above me.
• Opening my eyes, I saw a few of them looking down over the railing.
• I rolled to my knees and stood; my head was spinning. I looked at the small shack at the back of the roof and stumbled toward it. Once I got inside, they wouldn’t be able to follow me.
• I was almost there when a man with messy black hair appeared in front of me. His eyes were as dark as coal…
• He smiled. “I have so many questions for you.”
• I tried to stand without swaying. “Please, just…”
• He held up a hand and looked behind me. “Leave her unharmed. I need to know how she came to be.”
• “We’re not going to harm her, Bastian, we’re getting her to medical.”
• I turned to see the man I’d healed standing there. He was on his feet, leaning against another man, but I’d helped him. He would be fine. They blurred, I took a deep breath trying to stay conscious, but my hair was now white and covered my eyes.
• Damn, was my last thought, I wasn’t getting that sandwich.
• Everything went black.