Page 38 of Marked By Night

“Thankfully, the windows are bulletproof,” Dante adds.

Bulletproof? Gods, I’ve done it this time. Why couldn’t I have run into a couple of sexy lawyers? Oh no, in true Sadie fashion I had to run intoWeaversand uncover a secret part of the world. That I’m a part of. Perfect.

Kaos pulls a gun from his waistband—a Glock if I’m not mistaken—and Dante’s hands light up in a blueish orange glow which I now recognize as his magic. I wonder when mine will appear. Or if it’ll even manifest like Dante’s.

Dante lifts his head, scoping out the enemies. Bullets pelt the window in rapid succession in the spot where his head appears.

“Fuck. Stay down!” he curses, jerking his head down.

“Yeah, like I’m going to stand up while someone is fucking shooting at us!”

“How did they find us so damn fast again?” Kaos growls, quickly typing out a message on his phone before tucking it away.

Pop. Bang. Crack.

“We have to go! The windows won’t last forever,” Kaos says, reaching for the button to roll down the partition between us and the driver. “Step on it, Vinson!”

“Wait! We can’t leave Ash!” I say, fear starting to crawl up my spine. I can’t leave her. She’s the only family I have left. Kaos hollers to the driver not to stop until we lose them. “No! We have to get her!”

My heart seizes painfully in my chest when they ignore my protests. The limo lurches forward and I panic, scrambling for the door handle opposite where the bullets are coming from. Kaos and Dante finally seem to hear me because both heads whip in my direction and their eyes widen. Dante reaches out to stop me, but it’s too late.

The door opens and I tumble out, tucking my body to roll so I’m a harder target. My ribs and neck ache, but I don’t let it slow me down. Pain is temporary.

As soon as I slow down enough, I launch off the ground, heading in the direction of the festival. I make sure to step left and right, dodging the trajectory of the bullets. There can’t be more than a few shooters, but they’re on me in a flash.

I glance over my shoulder to see Dante and Kaos clamber out after me with muttered curses. Only they don’t roll. They land easily on their feet. Assholes.

“Your first instinct is to runintothe danger when people start shooting at you?” Kaos asks incredulously, catching up to me in a few long strides.

“I told you. I fucking like this one,” Dante quips, joining Kaos and I.

For some reason, I expect them to scold me for being an idiot, but they don’t. It makes me a tiny bit less mad at them. A ghost of a smile crosses my lips as determination settles in my bones. I dip and weave, avoiding the mayhem as best as I can until we reach the cover of the trees. I’m so thankful that I put on my trusty Converse instead of letting Ash talk me into heels like she wanted.

“Shadows take us!” Kaos calls out and suddenly, the night itself seems to overtake us, casting us in a haze of darkness to give us more cover. Now we’re not running targets because of my stupid ass.

Hmph. Neat trick, I’ll admit, but not to him. I’m still a little peeved they didn’t listen to me back there. Eventually, they’ll learn. I never leave someone behind.

Balls of light start to join the bullets in all shapes and sizes. Which I’m coming to realize is their magic, and now it’s ten times harder to dodge. My intuition gives me a leg up, alerting me to their presence before they hit me.

The closer we get, the louder the music gets. It’s practically deafening at this point. Almost as if something orsomeoneis projecting it louder to cover the gunshots. I spot one or two shadows trailing beside in my peripheral with their hands out, ready to attack.Faster, Sadie.

“Grab her!” one of the men shouts. “We need her alive.”

The spike of adrenaline his words cause help to propel my body onward. I force my feet to go faster and harder than ever, despite the twinges of pain plaguing my body. I refuse to be anybody’s prisoner. Hell no.

The finale of the show must be happening soon because little fireworks and balls of fire shoot into the sky, radiating the park in a fiery sheen. The pyrotechnics are astounding, but they’re for show. The ones the Weavers are tossing our way are life-threatening. The guests probably think it’s a part of the show. Either that or Dante and Kaos are casting another Illusion.

The entrance to the park looms before us, but unfortunately, we lose the cover of the trees as we break into the clearing. Kaos gives me a small, determined smile before pivoting to return fire, covering our tails as we make a mad dash for the gateway where all of the security guards are. Dante’s face is scrunched in concentration as he throws ball after ball of orange-blue flames at our assailants, protecting Kaos as he reloads his handgun that looks so out of place next to all the magic flying around us.

A giant black sphere appears in my peripheral and I have mere seconds to react, ducking out of the way. It grazes my cheek as I barely avoid the blow.

Shit. That was close.

Then Dante howls in pain as an orb of blue magic nicks him on the calf. The sound of his cry tugs on my heartstrings, but I can’t afford to stop and check on him, so I grit my teeth and push forward.

My sole focus is getting to Ash as quickly as possible and then getting the hell out of dodge. She’s the only family I have left, and I refuse to leave without her. If something happened to her, I don’t think I’d survive.You can’t think like that. Ash is going to be fine. We’ll get to her in time.

“Keep going! I’ll be all right.” Dante pushes on, albeit with a bit of a limp.

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