Page 4 of Silent Knight

“Can you come up with me?”

There was no way I was leaving her alone so I smiled and said, “As long as you need me, Gia.”

She lived in a nice brownstone. I knew she could afford it because her grandmother left it to her when she died. It was in a safe neighborhood and you could feel the love the moment you stepped over the threshold.

“How about I make you some tea and you find a ridiculous movie to watch?”

“You’ll stay?” Her dark brown eyes widened.

“I meant what I said, Gia. I won’t leave you.”

She rushed into my arms and I hugged her as hard as I could because she needed it.

“You’re the best.”

“Yeah yeah. Now find that movie while I get your tea.”

I’d been to Gia’s place a few times so I knew where the kitchen was. I rummaged for a few minutes before I found everything I needed and went about making tea. I saw somecookies so I put them on a plate, why? Because times of absolute carnage called for sugar.

“What movie did you find?” I shouted when the kettle whistled.

I placed it all on a tray and made my way to the living room. “Couldn’t hear you, the tea was screaming at me, so what movie are we?—”

You read how in movies the main character stumbles upon a moment in their life that has them freezing in place. They can’t speak or move. You yell at the screen for them to do something but they don’t.

I used to yell too, but for the first time I understood it. You could see something so unbelievable, so mind altering that you lose your ability to move or form any words.

I should have dropped the tray but again, frozen. I wasn’t sure what I was seeing.

Three people…maybe people, they didn’t seem human. They were standing in Gia’s living room. One had Gia by the neck, dangling her a few feet from the ground. She was alive, but struggling. The other two were staring at me. Eyes the color of blood, skin as gray as concrete, and the aura of all bad things wrapped around them.

“There you are,” one of them said with a hiss like a snake. “We’ve been looking for you.”

My gaze darted to Gia, she was looking at me, struggling to breathe.

“Um…can you put my friend down?”

Really, Ezra, that’s what you say?

The one holding Gia laughed, it sounded like rocks tumbling over metal and I flinched.

“Where is he, human?”

“Who?” Because I really didn’t know what they were talking about.

“The hospital,” Gia wheezed, and I darted my eyes back to the man asking me questions.

“You were at the emergency room tonight?”

He nodded. “Looking for you.”

“Why?”

He took another step closer…very much not human.

“Where is your protector?”

If I wasn’t two seconds from pissing my pants I’d laugh. “My what?”

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