Page 50 of Torn Between Two Worlds

“My turn to not be rude. Why are you in need of a Guardian if only one thing can even attack you? I mean, you have some power there, why need someone else?”

“Beats me. Honestly, I guess because most of us only have a tiny bit of power, and these doorways can open at any time when you're reading. Not sure if not doing those things helps. Maybe you're just clamping down so hard on thinking about anything involving that world that, when you did do something creative, you undid it?”

His theory made a ton of sense. Maybe the moments she'd thought about Stryder, she had been somehow holding the enemy back, knowing she could because she’d done it to him, twice.

“Dale, can you toss them back in when you don't want them? Your Guardians?”

He shook his head. “Nope. I mean I can lock them out if they've stepped back through, but I can't toss them back. I guess you can. Damn. Okay, new idea. Why don't you read a little? If I know a reader, the book is somewhere in that suitcase you tugged through. If anything comes through, we can deal with it together. I'm not much, but I'd bet Nessa would come if we needed her. They can always sense it, but I bet you know that.”

The idea didn't sit well with her. “Dale, I don't think so.”

“Come on. I'm supposed to teach you. Maybe it's how to do this. I'm so bored because I just haven't started a new book. Come on, Ci, humor me?”

A sigh escaped her, and she knew then that she was going to do it. “Fine, but only because I really do want more information on my Guardian.” Tugging the book from her suitcase, she plopped down on the bed, stretched out without asking and immersed herself in Stryder's world.

26

Forty-five pages later, she heard Dale clear his throat. She looked up and saw him pointing toward the living room. “Might want to go see what you've done.”

Raising a brow, she sat up and put the book down to look. She stared at the shimmering doorway. She could see the other side just fine, and it made her a little sick. She was looking at the demon bar from the book. Well, what was left? It was still in shambles, and the bodies were everywhere.

“I thought they cleaned it up?”

“I don't know what you're talking about, but be careful, there are men in uniforms walking around, and since I won't pretend to know the books, I don't want to be seen.”

She nodded and took a step to the side of the portal. Sure enough, a few moments later, an Initiative soldier walked past the doorway.

“No!” Her shriek was loud, too loud.

The man that had walked by bounded backward.

“Why did they hear me? Ugh, another rule change?”

“I've fucking got her. Come here.”

The soldier's shout made her blood run cold, and before she could focus on closing the doorway, he had barreled through, and three others were coming.

“No. No. No.” Tears slid down her cheek. How many more were there? Could they even handle the three that were there? With a quick thought, she forced the one closest to the door through it and slammed it shut in her mind. She spoke with far more bravado than she felt. “Now, I only have to kill two of you.”

The men had the good sense to look afraid. Good. Her exploits were known, and maybe she could just scare them and open the door.

Gunfire exploded in the room, and she cursed.Maybe not.She turned to see Dale struggling. Did he actually need water to play with it? She screamed for him to dodge as the other male sliced through the air with a knife. But she cried out far louder as a bullet slammed into her leg.

Her vision whited-out from the pain and she felt the energy she'd practiced channeling come. Fire and electricity. Who would've known? Alcott, but he wasn't there. She heard a female voice and heard Dale shout his Guardian’s name. Good thing she had come because Ciara had no idea what her power was going to cause.

Looking down at her hands, she saw claws extending from her nails and paused to flick her tongue in her mouth, feeling fangs. “Bless you, Stryder.” She didn't think about the pain as another bullet lanced its way in one side of her shoulder and out the other. Hands raised high, she felt a tear slip down her cheek before throwing her power forward at the man.

His screams of agony would always haunt her. The fire danced over his skin, singeing and burning every inch of him. The electricity appeared to dance around him, passing over him and causing him to shake. The howls of pain from behind her told her she'd somehow hit the one going for Dale too. Focusing on only hitting the two soldiers, she prayed it was working. When the screams and howling stopped, she let her hands fall, and the power ceased.

“Ho-ly. Fuck.” Dale punctuated his curse with a low whistle, and she heard his Guardian tell him to be quiet.

Tears streaked down her face, and her sobs were audible. Amazing how natural tears had become for her. It had been so much different. She had been protecting herself the first two times, this time, she'd wanted to kill them. Her legs gave out from underneath her, and she crumpled, sitting on the floor sobbing.

She felt hands on her shoulder and leg, the wounds were nothing to her. She cried out at the gentle touch and gasped, blinking through her tears as she watched as the injuries just vanished. Hiccupping, she shifted to look at Dale's Guardian.

She smiled. “It is a gift of my people. Dale may do it too, but he doesn't always realize that.” With that, she backed away.

Ciara noticed a shift in the air and heard Dale curse. He bent down and squatted next to her.

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