Page 3 of Devious Knight

I’ve always been taught to get away from an ambush. Run and get backup because you don’t know what your enemy is planning. There could be one of you and a hundred of them.

In this instance there is nowhere to run besides back to the fucking sea. And I can’t move forward without anyone seeing me.

I also can’t stand here, hiding behind a tree. Watching and doing nothing.

My father could be in trouble. If the tables were turned he would run through the fires of hell to save me.

Another group of men rushes out through the sliding doors, their boots crunching against the gravel path. They jump in the car parked near my father’s and speed away.

I think of making my move. But just me. I would never put my friends in danger.

I’m about to move when a woman screams, “Nooooo!”

Everything stills in my soul when I recognize her voice. That’s my mother.

Mom, what are you doing in there?

Terror seizes my lungs, but her heartrending scream of anguish that follows next rips my soul from my body. The deathly sound joins the damning gunfire, making me move.

I run, not caring about anything besides getting to my parents.

My parents are my everything. I can’t lose them.

When I reach the gate I find the security panel and punch in the passcode like my life depends on it. The gates slide open and I rush through, finding two guards I’ve known all my life lying on the ground. Dead. Shot in the head.

The gruesome sight pushes me forward.

Behind me I hear Dmitri and Logan following. Then they’re calling to me, but I don’t stop.

I run faster but each passing second shreds my hopes and the desolate feeling of loss worms its way into my core.

More bullets blast inside the house, sounding louder than before, like I’m standing right next to a space shuttle during take-off. Then, right before me, the house explodes.

The impact sends me flying backwards through the air with vicious flames flicking out all around me. They come at me so fast I barely have time to process what happened.

I land on the ground, my back slamming against the hard gravel path. Fire and debris rain down around me. And I can’t move. My body feels broken.

Pain shoots through every part of me, but the horror of knowing that my parents were in the house shoves anything else I feel from my mind

I will myself to get up but I still can’t move. My head feels like it’s been consumed by lead and my body is sinking into the earth.

The flames dance higher and higher, casting eerie shadows on the devastation before me and I pray to whoever will listen that my parents survived.

But in the void where my soul used to live I know… they’re gone.

The infernal fire blazing before me whispers the horrific truth to me. It suffocates the remnants of my soul, leaving nothing but an empty abyss.

“Kade, are you okay?”

“Kade.”

Dmitri and Logan are calling me. They call my name several times.

I can’t answer them.

The raw red flames morph into blackness, my head spins and the world disappears, swallowed by the darkness. The life I once had goes with it, drifting away from me like the ashes in the wind.

Chapter Two

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