“Make sure he’s got the clan mark,” Terian added, glancing over his shoulder at Varlan. “That’s documented somewhere...and the sun and sword too.”
Varlan bowed, his eyes expressionless. “Yes, sir.”
Terian looked down at Dehgoies, frowning at the blood, the pallor of his skin.
He faced the others.
“Get him ready to be moved.” His eyes darkened as he stared around at faces. “I’ve decided my friend will survive this ordeal. You will make certain that he does.” His voice grew cold as ice. “If he dies...you all die.”
Nine by Night: A Multi-Author Urban Fantasy Bundle of Kickass Heroines, Adventure, Magic
21
FIRE
I limped down a darkened aisle, head low. I’d picked the movie theater because it was dark, and close to where the crew stairwell let out on the first floor deck.
Now I felt a little too Lee Harvey Oswald.
I reached a side exit, glancing up at the movie playing on the white screen as I grasped a door handle. I opened it, only remembering then that the light on the other side would make my outline visible to every person sitting in the dark theater.
I needn’t have worried. The attack didn’t come from behind.
Strong hands grabbed me, pulling me through the opening before my eyes could adjust, swinging me around and slamming my back against the wall. I heard the door close behind me with a bang.#p#分页标题#e#
The seer holding me turned me around, shoving my chest against the wall to bind my wrists. I jerked my elbow back, missing his face and he smacked mine against the same wall, stunning me. I managed to kick backwards a few seconds later, but he grabbed my leg and deliberately bent my hurt knee the wrong direction.
I screamed. Before I could get very far, he clamped a hand over my mouth, shoving me to the floor. I fell hard to the deck, sucking air.
It all happened so fast I couldn’t move at first.
Standing over me, he reached over his shoulder, pulled out a black metal rod. An arc of current sparked from one end.
Staring up at it, I gave a kind of choking laugh. “Jesus...” Gripping the floor with my fingers, I tried to crawl away. He kicked me in the stomach. As I crumpled to a fetal position, gasping for air, he lowered the prod, aiming it for my back.
Shots echoed in the small corridor.
Two volleys followed, one after the other, barely a breath between them.
I flattened myself to the deck, flinching as bullets pushed air in a rush over me. The guy who’d been on the verge of jabbing me with a cattle prod lay sprawled on his back. I didn’t have to look for long to know he was dead.
Down the hall, another seer lay on the floor, one I hadn’t seen, although he must have stood there, watching as I failed to fight off the first guy. He lay on the floor too, holding his chest, making choking sounds. I stared at his blood-covered hands.
Then I turned. Briefly, my heart lifted, sure it would be him.
But the man who lowered the gun had two different colored eyes. His full lips curled into a frown as he released the empty magazine from the still-smoking Berreta, replacing it with a fresh one. Locking it into place, he motioned for me to get up, holding out a hand.
“Come on, love,” Eliah said. “No time to get teary.”
I tried to comply, but my knee wouldn’t cooperate. I got halfway up before it crumpled, and I let out an involuntary cry.
Walking closer, Eliah slid a shoulder under my arm, still holding the gun. He brought me to my feet, then through a side door marked “Crew Only.”
I stumbled onto a metal, mesh deck that started just past the door.
“Where’s Revik?” I said.
Eliah gazed at a fork in the corridor, surrounded by exposed pipes. He paused only long enough to glance at me.
“Sorry, love. He's gone.”
I felt the world gray, like it had in Vancouver.
My breath stopped as I forced it back, biting my tongue until the lines sharpened once more.
“Gone? What does that mean?” I said.
“Quiet.” He said in a whisper, “I’ll tell you everything. But you have to be quiet now, love. Or we’re dead.”
He waited for me to acknowledge him when I didn’t answer, shaking me until I nodded. Then he brought me through the narrower of the two passages and down several flights of stairs. I let him support most of my weight as we passed through a few more sets of doors to emerge in the main storage bay of the ship’s stern. Still holding me up, he led me through a long, towering row of boxes and covered crates, between one-seater forklifts and bolted-down vehicles being transported to Anchorage and the Russian coastline.
He finally stopped at a low ramp that ended in a massive roll door.