Page 93 of Touched

They’re already on top of us!

They ignore us, looking straight past us and toward the room where theathraigh flowers and the potions were just a few short moments ago.

“They can’tseeus!” Callum exclaims, his words a mixture of shock and relief.

The cloaking enchantment worked.

It’s still working!

More loud explosions beside have me shrieking in fear. The cases of wine are completely consumed by the flames now. The glass bottles combust, the hot shards of molten glass becoming liquid projectiles as the fire continues to spread. It spreads quickly, jumping, almost dancing, as crate after crate is completely engulfed. Smoke thickens the air, making it hard to see and even harder to breathe.

“Hurry! We need to put this shit out! We’re going to lose it all!” one of the brothers snarls, his elongated fangs dripping with saliva. As we watch, he pulls out his phone and calls what I’m assuming the human world calls firefighters.

I’ve never seen one in real life…

I’ve only read about them in my romance novels.

“What do we do?” I ask, not directing the question at anyone specific. My heart races so rapidly it feels as if it’ll burst straight out of my chest. Panic courses through my veins as I fly toward Callum, and gripping his arm tightly.

Reaching for the gun holstered on his side, Callum pulls it from its resting place. He grips it with his right hand while still holding the flamethrower in his left. He shoves it at me. “Take this, so you have something to protect yourself with. If any of them get even remotely close to you… light their fucking asses up!”

Before I can protest, I hold the flamethrower and watch as Callum whips away from me and takes to the smoke-filled air above the trio of brothers. He begins unloading the silver wolfsbane infused bullets he took from the trunk at them. Cyrus also leaps straight at the brothers, mightily swinging his axe. In front of my eyes, one of the brothers’ head severs from his shoulders. A horrified scream escapes my throat as it rolls down his torso, almost in slow motion, before continuing its trek on the floor. Leaving a trail of dark red, almost black blood in its wake, it stops next to a crate engulfed in flames. The black eyes are open, staring lifelessly at me.

Another scream escapes me, this one unlike anything I’ve ever heard before. It’s inhuman, the sound of a banshee. The sound chills my blood, though it comes from inside me. I’m frozen to the spot in pure shock and terror. I’ve never witnessed anyone being killed before.

I know the Trahans are Rougarou—horrible creatures, who would not hesitate to kill us, but…

Hell, they tried to do that very thing back at Callum’s apartment!

But I can’t… I’ve never…

It’s so gruesome.

The sounds of the other two brothers’ angry howls pierce my ears. Their beast-like faces twist in anger as they frantically search the area for the threat. They morph, half human, half wolf. Their faces lengthen and coarse animal hair sprouts along their skin. Their black eyes turn blood-red as their long, gnarled fingers rip their guns out of their waistbands and fire blindly into the air where Callum’s gunshots come from. Thankfully, without being able to see him, the bullets whiz past him, missing him completely.

One of Callum’s special silver bullets pierces the chest of another brother as he shoots blindly and slashes at the air with his claws. His tortured wail fills the air as he falls forward, landing face-first on the burning ground. He twitches for a moment before he stills, and the flames catch his fur before engulfing his body.

The next moments go by in a blur. As I watch, the final brother, frantic with his need to survive, attacks nothing, desperately searching for the hidden threat. He jumps onto the burning crates and the walls, slashing at the air, destroying anything yet untouched by the raging inferno, and firing off shots with no target in sight.

Suddenly, Devyn is there, right beside him. Swinging the sword high above her head in a majestic circle, her wings spread wide, and the flames all around her causing her hair to fan out, she strikes. She’s mesmerizing. The sword arcs through the air, connecting with the final Trahan’s neck. Her feet plant on the ground as she uses both hands to decapitate the wailing, angry werewolf. I can’t move. The horror of what just happened directly in front of me… of the warriors my Kindred, my brother, and our new friend have become has left me paralyzed with awe and fear.

“We need to get the hell out of here!” Callum shouts, bringing me out of the recesses of my panic. The sound of approaching sirens fill the air. Not wasting a moment of time, we take to the sky, flying up and out of the now-gaping holes in the roof the fire has created. Looking down, I take in the burning warehouse surrounded by a litany of police cruisers, ambulances, firetrucks, and what looks like several dark vehicles.

I sigh.

Yes, we’ve, or rather Callum, Cyrus, and Devyn, eliminated the brothers, but we now know they were working for the FaeDorcha.

This is far from over.

We have much bigger problems coming our way.

* * *

“Head back to the cabin!” I shout as we fly in the direction from which we came earlier tonight. As we’re soaring through the ink-black sky with the city of New Orleans shining below, my phone vibrates in my pocket and a familiar tone echoes in the night air. Immediately my stomach jumps into my throat.

Shit!

Reaching into my pocket, I pull out my phone.“Lieutenant Antoine”flashes across the screen.

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