Page 37 of Light Magic

He and Elias ran to the stairs on opposite sides.

What, they thought they could get to me from the second floor?

The lions showed up on the last landing, a few feet from my wings on each side. I tucked my wings in a little, which made it harder to flap and keep myself afloat, but it was doable.

For now.

They let out a loud roar. Together, they both shifted back to their human forms. Eugene let out a laugh as he reached for a thick book from the shelf behind him. Elias broke the iron sconce from the shelf’s end.

I snickered. Were they going to throw those at me? I was fast with my wings. I could dodge their attack easily. In fact, I could do something else.

Not waiting for them to act first, I flew down, grabbed the steak knife I had thrown earlier, and flew directly toward Eugene.

I was fast and my momentum was enough to bury the knife in his chest, but when I was right in front of him, he threw the book up like a brick.

I frowned, confused, and lost a little bit of my momentum.

On the other side, Elias threw the sconce up too.

Realization hit me a second too late. I flew toward the door as the dome shattered and large pieces of glass fell on me.

I felt something tugging me back and fell to the floor like a sack of potatoes. When I lifted my head, I saw the big piece of glass stuck in the stone floor that would have cleaved me in two, and the retreating vines that had saved my life.

“Thanks,” I muttered.

Hurting from the lacerations across my skin, I pushed to my feet, spread my wings, and flapped. But I cried out in pain as one of my wings bent in an odd direction, cut from the glass shards.

Shit.

Without a choice, I tucked my wings, groaned in pain, and ran to the door.

I didn’t make it ten steps before a lion lunged at my back and I fell again.

I grabbed broken glass, turned around, and stabbed the lion in the shoulder.

It let out a painful roar, then bit down on my arm. I cried out.

“Don’t kill her!” one of them shouted. I was too far gone with pain to pay attention. “We need her alive.”

The lion retreated half a step and shifted. With the shard still stuck in his shoulder and bleeding, Eugene leaned over me and smirked. “You’re done for, angel.”

He reached for my middle. I grabbed another shard, but this time he was prepared. He slapped my hand away, making me drop the shard, and then punched my temple.

I saw stars.

* * *

I didn’t fully faint, but I couldn’t hang on to consciousness for long.

Eugene had carried me over his shoulders through a portal, into some dark place, where another supernatural waited for us, and then into the backseat of a car. My wrists and ankles were tied with non-magical rope, but even though I willed my body to move, to break the ropes, to open the car’s door, and jump out, it didn’t obey.

I didn’t know how much time had passed, but at some point, we were on the road, and I was feeling slightly more awake.

Pretending to be still passed out, I took inventory of my surroundings. We were in a small car. I sat beside Eugene, Elias was in the passenger seat, and another man was driving.

I tried picking up what he was, but I was too weak to even try.

I had to get out of here.

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