“That’s not true,” I muttered. It couldn’t be.
“And what’s to stop one of your thugs from killing Kat?” he directed back to Adam. “Your men know she’s a target now. Whether I turn her or not, she’s still a liability. A threat just waiting to happen. If I let her go now, Kat’s as good as dead.”
I could see the anguish in Adam’s eyes, but I knew him. He would never hurt me, and he’d never let anyone either. It was why he wouldn’t risk taking a shot at Blaine so long as I stood between them. But Blaine…his repositioned hold around me had freed my arm just enough.
I slowly drew my foot up, almost imperceptibly, my fingers grazing the tip of the blade strapped to my ankle.
Blaine suddenly seized my hand. “Now, now. No need for bloodshed, love. Save that for later.”
Fury riddled every last nerve in me as I thrashed, kicked, and flailed to no avail. Why couldn’t I ignite any of my runes?
“Because I don’t want you to hurt yourself,” Blaine whispered, steadying me in his hold.
Did he just…?
I couldn’t even process the thought when a deafening blast tore through the air, scaring me stiff.
“Enough!” bellowed Adam.
Blaine only seemed more amused, admiring the bullet hole now lodged in the wall beside us. “I’m gonna take a wild guess and say that those aren’t made of Angelorum steel?”
“Silver. And they’ll do the job just fine if I plant one between your eyes.”
“Indeed,” he mused. “Only, we both know you’re not going to try. Not while I’ve got your little sweetie here.”
Adam repositioned his aim, for my shoulder. If Adam fired, the bullet would go through me and into Blaine. And the silver would put him down, even if only long enough for me to break free from him.
“Do it,” I whispered.
“He won’t. He’s too much of a coward.”
My eyes suddenly darted to the door. “Adam…”
His reaction time was flawless. Not a split second after Daniel sprang in through the doorway did Adam unload a slug right into his shoulder. Daniel staggered back, but only laughed. It took him a few seconds to register the severity of the gunshot, because he suddenly collapsed to his knees. The bullet must have gotten lodged in him, because I could see smoke emitting from his back as he hunched over, hollering in agony.
A barrage of footsteps echoed down the hall, forcing Adam’s attention back to the doorway. Blaine hauled me sideways to the backdoor entrance, only to let go of me. I stood still for a second, confused. He suddenly shot his hands up and closed his fists. Sparks rained down as every light bulb in the room and hallway exploded, letting darkness swallow up every corner of the open space. My hands blindly reached for the doorknob, wrenching it every which way until it finally gave in. I stumbled inside the dank, musty stairwell, only to find that it too was pitch-black. I slammed the door shut behind me, trying to feel my way down. The cement stairs were awkward. Too high and yet not long enough. I didn’t have big feet by any means, but my toes still hung off the ends of each step, causing my stomach to lurch with every rung.
I only made it halfway between floors when the door slammed open from above. I could hear hands grip each of the banisters, and in one fell swoop, feet planted themselves right beside me on the platform. Holding my breath, I recoiled into the corner. The pair of feet pivoted toward the next set of stairs, and just as quickly hit the next landing. Hinges creaked as someone pulled the second floor door open, their footsteps vanishing in the distance. I finally let out a shaky breath, feeling my way down to the level.
“Kat?” someone hollered from the other side of the door. The voice was muffled, but…it sounded like Adam. He’d been the one in the stairwell.
I yanked the door open, peering into the hallway. It seemed Blaine had wrecked the emergency lights as well, because only the eerie glimmer from the streetlights outside illuminated the corridor through the windows.
“Ad—”
I barely had time to register the silent sweep of wind that rushed at me from the darkness. A hand clasped around my mouth as a familiar hold grabbed me from behind. I tried screaming anyway, but Adam’s voice was too far away to hear my stifled shrieks. Blaine pulled me up off the ground, hauling me back inside the stairwell. Blue lights shone in my eyes, but they weren’t from my runes. The tilted Z symbol on Blaine’s arm glowed, illuminating the closed corridor. I managed to pivot my right foot on the wall in front of us and used it to push myself backward, driving all my weight into Blaine. He tried steadying us, but the force was too much. His back slammed into the opposing wall, knocking the wind right out of him.