Page 34 of Halfblood Deceived

She tried to hear behind his horrible voice and the car’s motor to discern where they were, but it was impossible.

The important part was that they weren’t back at the mansion yet. There would be no chance of escaping if they dragged her back to that place.

Not that Aella’s chances were any good. There wasn’t a part of her body that didn’t hurt, but her left side was pure agony. Her blood made the seat feel wet underneath her feverish body and she half wondered how she wasn’t dead yet.

The right side of her face was sore beyond belief. She was certain that several of her teeth were close to falling off.

But she had to escape.

Because Micah and the others were going to do to Zeydan’s family what they’d done to the little girl and her parents.

She didn’t even know the vampire family members’ names, and that felt wrong. Horribly wrong.

So this is what Gargoyles did every night. What they were proud to do. Killing innocents.

Because there was no doubt in Aella’s mind that the family living in that beautiful cabin—who had been dining and playing Scrabble, just like any other family—was innocent.

Silent tears fell down her eyes as the girl’s cries echoed in her head.

Micah had no doubt finished killing her by now.

Aella’s heart ached so badly that she half expected it to stop working. She wished it did. Death would be better than the corrosive burn of guilt and shame in her chest.

But death had to wait because Aella had a mission first.

She had to warn Zeydan.

Moving as little as she could, she fished out the bracelet she’d tucked under her bra. Being surreptitious was easier than she thought, as she was lying curled up on her side.

Eli kept doing that howling shrieking he called singing.

Aella gripped the bracelet. It grew warm and turned into a dagger in a flash.

Eli’s singing stopped.

Aella pushed herself up and sank the dagger into his neck.

The SUV careened out of control at once.

Aella fell to the floor of the SUV, between the back seat and the front seat.

The sound of screeching tires grated her ears, and then there was a collision that jostled her sore body.

The SUV was finally still.

Breathing hard, Aella sat up.

Eli was slumped against the wheel, the dagger still stuck in the crook of his neck. The SUV had crashed against the wall of a donut joint. Fortunately empty, since it was late in the night.

Aella didn’t dare pluck the dagger out of Eli’s neck or check if he was dead. If he was, she was now a killer. If he wasn’t, she’d wish she were a cold-blooded killer and she could dig the blade into him again.

Stomach turning and limbs weak, Aella grabbed a black coat someone had left on the front seat, unlocked the doors, and got out of the SUV. It was raining. Heavy droplets hit her overheated, sticky face. The donut place had an alarm, and it was blaring.

Aella put on the coat, her stomach twisting as Micah’s familiar scent invaded her nostrils. But she needed to cover her wound with something.

Fearing being caught by the police, Aella dashed into the nearest alley as fast as she could. The wound pulsed with pain and burned as if irritated with salt. She had never been in so much pain before, but she forced it to a corner of her mind.

Zeydan’s family will be killed if you don’t do something, she reminded herself.

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