Page 41 of Marked By Night

Sadie

Dante and Kaos decide the best course of action is to drive separately and try to throw the Elite and the Light Weavers off. Dante leads us to a well-hidden hole in the fence, but if he knew about it, then I’m sure many people have slipped in and out of here tonight. This little entrance sure would’ve been nice to know about beforehand. Could’ve saved myself a lot of money and time.

Is this my life now?I ask myself as we walk through the parking lot. My life has always been a little messed up, but I never expected this level of insanity. This was supposed to be my and Ash’s weekend. Our stress-free weekend. We see how well that turned out—oh shit. Tingles explode up my spine as my senses come alive letting me know danger is nearby, but where?

There!

The man is nothing but a black blur of motion as he steps out from behind a car, leaping toward Dante. I barely catch the flash of his knife glinting off the moonlight as he reaches for Dante’s exposed neck.

“Watch out!” I scream but my shout only makes the whole situation worse. Dante’s head whips in my direction instead of toward the threat aiming at his neck. Luckily, Kaos is on it and deflects the blow before the asshole can reach Dante.

In a blink, Dante regains his focus and is blocking a blow from a second attacker I didn’t even sense coming because I’m too focused on protectingthem.Get your head in the game, Sadie. Let’s try not to die tonight.

While my Sworn are busy fighting their cloaked assailants, a third slips from the cars with his gaze trained on me. His emotionless pits-for-eyes make me shiver and I reach into my pocket to pull out my switchblade, flicking out the razor. I’m glad Kaos thought to retrieve it for me because it’s deadly sharp, easy to handle and I would’ve been mad at myself for losing my favorite blade.

“Shit, you weren’t kidding about the emergency,” Ash stammers, as she watches Dante wield his knife and fire equally. I blink, looking at my terrified bestie. She’s taking this better than I thought she would.

From my peripheral I see another step from the shadows, stepping toward Ash. Hell no. Nobody threatens my family.

“Stay behind me!” I call out, as the third man rushes toward us. I swiftly dispatch him with a quick jab to his jugular from my switchblade.

What the hell? That was way too easy.

His lifeless body slumps to the ground, but I don’t have time to make sure he stays there because the second guy is barreling toward Ash.

“Where do they keep coming from?” I dodge the incoming blade of yet another man that slips in from the side, aiming to slit my throat. His moves are sloppy and jerky as if he’s a puppet with strings someone is pulling. Whoever these men are, they most certainly aren’t trained.

I get a better look at him when he raises his arm and his hood falls. My attacker has no defining features whatsoever. Same build, height, and clothes as the other three. Actually, now that I’m paying attention, all the men are exact copies from their weapons down to their blank, almost void, facial expressions. Strange.

“Dispatch them quickly. We’ve got to get a move on!” Kaos says while blocking his own blows from his assailant.

Out of the corner of my eye, I watch as Dante strikes, using that lean dancer’s body of his to stab the man directly in the throat. I almost gag, expecting blood to start rushing out but nothing happens. He doesn’t even cry out in pain as he poofs out of existence like he was never here at all.

“What in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer kind of shit is this?” I exclaim, watching Kaos stab his attacker in the chest and he also poofs into thin air.

No blood. No pain-filled cry. Nothing. If I were a betting woman, which I am, I’d say the one I stabbed earlier is gone as well. Taking a glance behind me, I find that I’m right. Well, that’s fucking handy.

Dante and Kaos race over to where I’m holding my own with my attacker, but three against one aren’t good odds and he soon disappears like the others.

“They aren’t real people,” Kaos explains, noting my confusion. “They’re projections, but that also means someone powerful is trying to kill us. The level of magic needed for a spell like that alone is astronomical.”

“We need to hurry,” Dante agrees, ushering me onwards.

I don’t have to be told twice. Neither does Ash, and we double our pace to the parking lot. There’s no way I’m dying tonight. Nope. Eventually, these bastards will pay for messing with me.

When I point to the location of where my car is, Kaos scrubs a hand down his face. “That’s literally right out in the open.”

“Excuse me for not realizing I would need to park in a better area.”

“It’s okay,” he says, gentler this time. “We’re going to get you to your car. Dante is going to take the limo and Elian and I are going to take our backup vehicle to try and throw them off.”

The air around us crackles and someone unexpectedly pops out of a cloud of black smoke in front of me. I jump and let out a little screech until Dante wraps his hand around my mouth and shushes me. His warm breath fans down my neck.

“Shh, it’s Elian,” he says with a chuckle.

“Ugh, give a girl a warning next time! I thought you were another bad guy.” Then a thought occurs to me and I point my switchblade at him, flicking the blade down with my finger. “Actually, how do I know you’re not?”

Dante snorts at my question, giving me a placating look. “Don’t worry about him right now, Angel. We’ll protect you from him.”

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