Page 4 of Light Magic

I fell hard on the grass, rolling several times, and even though I tucked my wings around myself, I felt my elbows and knees scrapping and burning against the lawn.

Dazed, I tried getting up, to continue moving, but everything hurt.

A growl came from above me and I found the man straddling me. Now that his hood had fallen from over his head, I could see his features and he was definitely a half goblin.

He bared his sharp teeth at me. “Behave, angel, or I’ll have to turn in your dead body to them. The reward is smaller if you’re dead.”

What?

I groaned and pushed my hips up, as hard as I could. The half goblin rose a little, and I used that to pull one of my legs from underneath him. When he fell again, ready to strike, I kicked him in the stomach and he fell back.

“You—”

I kicked again, but this time he dodged my assault, and I crawled to the side and away. But I didn’t go three feet until he was on top of me again. I dug my hands into the grass and fisted some dirt before he grabbed me by my hair and pulled me up to my knees.

“I’ll skin you alive, angel.”

I raised my hands and threw the dirt in his face, and I looked down, so the dirt wouldn’t fall on me.

The half goblin sputtered and dropped me.

I wobbled to my feet.

The other man stood right in front of me. “Stop running, princess. You won’t win.” He grabbed my upper arm and pulled me along with him. Light, I wanted to cry. “Quick, the others are coming.”

Wait. They weren’t all together?

As if the universe wanted to answer my question, the two vampires zoomed to us—one taking the man holding me, the other grappling with the half goblin.

For a moment, I was free.

I ran, fleeing into a thicket. My ankle twisted on a raised tree root and I toppled to the ground.

Tonight was not my night.

If only I could survive …

But as the time ticked by, the pain increased, my mind became blurrier, and the odds seemed to be against me.

I could hear the hyena coming at me. I found a thick branch on the ground, and when it lunged, I swung, hitting it with the branch square in its head. It went down with a yelp and was clearly disoriented.

I pushed through the pain, the dizziness, and kept going, one twisted step in front of the other. Finally, the trees opened up a little. My wings sprang wide and I took flight.

The hyena bit down on my wing and weighed me down. I yelped as I lost my balance and hit my wounded shoulder against a tree, and I almost went down again.

The hyena let go of me and I flew higher, until I was free of the trees. I could hear the shouts and the fight below, but I didn’t care.

I didn’t care if a human saw me now.

All I had to do was fly.

Fly away, fly to the motel, and sleep this exhaustion off.

At some point, I could have sworn I had fainted while flying, but I was probably on automatic pilot, and somehow ended up at the door of my motel room.

I fumbled with the keys, my hands shaking hard, and I dragged myself inside. I kicked the door closed and fell to the floor, not even making it to the bed.

The adrenaline was leaving my body, and the pain was almost unbearable. I lifted my hand to the stake still in my shoulder, and my fingertips became red with my blood.

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