Page 67 of Visions of Darkness

My spirit thrashed.

For the first time, someonebelieved.

“Be careful, brave girl,” she murmured, her warm gaze intense.

Gratitude filled me to overflowing, and I had the urge to stop and hug her, but all I could give her was a rushed “Thank you.”

Because a commotion suddenly burst behind us. My attention whipped over my shoulder to see the guard coming through the door with the orderly at his side.

“Hurry, Aria.” Pax yanked at my hand, and I sent Jill a look I prayed conveyed everything I felt before we raced out into the lot.

Rain slanted from the darkened heavens. A dreary, icy gloom. Lights glinted through the mist, spilling a yellowed haze over the pavement and cutting into the murky shadows.

We raced across it, adrenaline coursing as we were chased.

Shouts clamored through the frozen air, and the older woman was screaming, “Stop them! Someone, stop them! Call the police!”

The guard fired his Taser.

I could feel the force of it cut through the air.

But he remained too far in the distance, and the barb just missed its mark of Pax’s back.

We ran faster, pushing ourselves with all the strength we possessed, the same way we tracked through Faydor.

Without faltering or yielding.

Only this time, my human weaknesses followed me as we sprinted across the parking lot.

Sharp rocks cut into the soles of my bare feet, and pain lancinated up my legs with each desperate step I took.

I whimpered every time I splashed through icy puddles, the only relief that I found.

A sweet numbing effect.

Or maybe I was just completely in shock as Pax ripped open the door to an older car that was hidden at the edge of the woods that rose behind the lot.

In shock as Pax grated, “Get in and buckle your seat belt.”

In shock as he ushered me into the passenger’s seat and rammed his fist down on the lock on the door before he slammed it shut.

He blazed back around the front of the car, faster than when he’d been leading me, white hair striking in the glittering rays of dingy light that streamed from the lampposts.

Palms suddenly smacked on the passenger window, and I screamed as I turned to find the guard yanking at the handle and trying to rip open the door.

Pax jumped into the driver’s seat. In a flash, he had the car started, and he shoved it into reverse and rammed on the accelerator.

The car shot backward, tires tearing and spinning on the wet, soft dirt. It knocked the guard to the ground, and I saw the expression on his face as he rolled, ending up on his stomach as he pushed onto his hands to stare at us through the spray of our headlights.

Disbelief and horror.

Pax shoved on the brakes at the same time as he shoved the car into Drive. It skidded and whipped around to face forward.

For a moment, it felt as if gravity had been lifted and I was floating through a weightless canopy. Not sure if I existed on this plane or another.

Then I gripped both the door handle and the dashboard when he gunned it, my body jolting forward, then crashing back to the seat. Tires squealed as we fishtailed the rest of the way across the lot.

He took a sharp right as we careened onto the wet, deserted road, then accelerated as we hit the pavement, and the tail end skidded far to the left before the car righted to the center.

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