Page 14 of Ruthless Fae
As I pushed up, trying to untangle myself from the groaning human, I expected claws down my back, but no attack came. Turning, I found Bael standing in the hallway. His expression was blank and his body lifeless. He looked as if someone had turned him off like a child’s toy. But how?
When I glanced back at Karen, I had my answer.
The crash had knocked off her helmet. The device now lay on the floor beside her, a metal circle of wires and dials that seemed harmless now that it had been dislodged from her vile head.
She couldn’t get it back. I had to have it.
But she was stirring. Even now, she sat up and felt around her skull.
I darted forward on unsteady legs, tripping and stumbling, but my hand reached out, and I felt it close over the cool metal ring.
It was mine.
“Stop her!” Karen yelled as I took to the air again.
But her creature did nothing. Without the helmet, he was as harmless as a Tupi rabbit.
My hope soaring, I spurred my wings on as I jammed the helmet down my collar and into my suit to keep it safe. The cool metal against my hot skin reminded me what we’d come here for, and I thought that, with this new item, I’d found at least one of the two things we needed. I only had to hope Charlie had found the other.
Relief surged through me as I spotted an exit sign.
Then I heard the gun go off.
Something slammed into my back, throwing me sideways. I bumped into the wall and corrected course, realizing, slowly, that I’d been hit. Warm wetness slid down my spine. Still, flying toward the exit, I reached around to my back. When I brought my hand forward, blood covered it.
Myblood.
I’d been shot.
Shock washed over me like a wave, but I kept flying, pushing through the exit doors and across a large gymnasium with a high ceiling and polished floors. I sped across it, hoping this might lead me out of this massive building. How far could I fly? How much blood would I lose before my wings wouldn’t work? I didn’t know, but I knew if I stopped, I would certainly die here. I was leaving a trail of blood in my wake, that was clear from the splatter behind me.
I had to get out. I had to get to Vinya.
I waited for pain, but none came, just a burning sensation in my back and a terrible wooziness in my mind that made it difficult to fly straight. Worse, my wings didn’t seem to be working right. They sputtered to a stop, making me stumble and hit the far wall even as shouts and footsteps headed in my direction.
I had to keep going. I had to…
With the world dimming, I looked up and saw the large, red emergency exit sign above two doors to my right. Without another thought, I rushed forward and pushed through.
Cool night air greeted me as I stumbled out of the building and onto a small exterior patio, some sort of staff recreation area with a picnic table and one of those tall nets on a pole. The moonlight revealed a fence around the perimeter, but I could fly over that.
Or could I? I was spilling blood everywhere. Each step I took left a bloody footprint in my wake. The wooziness had not subsided but instead grew steadily worse. I was close to passing out, the world going dim and taking me with it.
No. I couldn’t let that happen. I had to fight!
I staggered to the fence. Gripping it with bloody fingers, I half climbed, half flew myself over.
Then I fell to the ground on the other side, unable to get up.
My senses blunted, I could barely form thoughts, but a wave of despair washed over me. I’d be found by guards, by Karen, and dragged back inside where I’d die from this wound or something much worse. I hadn’t saved Bael or Sinasre. It was all for nothing.
I fought to stay conscious. I fought to keep going. I inched forward, my hands clawing through the grass, but it wasn’t enough. Something large lumbered in my direction, a beast with huge green eyes and large fangs. They’d found me.
I closed my eyes as it ran up and dropped its head toward me, scenting the air.
“No,” I moaned as my eyes fluttered closed.
“Tally? Oh, Tally no!”
