Insidious(129)

My legs started to shake even worse, and it wasn’t from exhaustion. I wanted to tell him that wasn’t true. But what if it was?

“I can help you.” More than anything, it was the earnestness in his voice that startled me the most. “You don’t have to be afraid, ashamed of what you are. You won’t have to hide. I can teach you how to harness your gifts.”

“You’re psychotic,” I barely managed to mutter. “I hate you.”

“All in good time…” The slightest hint of a smile teased at his lips as he started to lower my hand, and the pleasure, the sick amusement he seemed to find in what he’d done to me, burned a whole new kind of ferocity inside me.

Every cell in my body raged with an electrical charge unlike anything I’d ever mustered before. The bright blue light manifested so quickly in my hand that Blaine barely had time to notice it. In one instant, he had me pinned against the brick siding of the alley. The next, he was gone. The discharge from my hand emitted a thunderous boom roaring through the air as it hammered into the side of his head, and the blast left Blaine airborne. His body rocketed clear out of the alleyway, hurtling right into the courtyard.

My heart suddenly clenched up, feeling as if someone reached right into my chest and squeezed the muscle until it almost burst in their hand. I gasped, crumpling to the ground. Was I going into cardiac arrest?

I looked over at Blaine, seeing his unconscious frame shudder for a split second. And just like that, the feeling lifted. He hadn’t been lying about our connection. I’d felt it right then and there. Whatever I just did had stopped his heart, and in return, it stopped mine. Now knowing that our lives were tethered together, his survival meant just as much as my own. At least I could find relief, though miniscule, in the fact that he really was as strong as I suspected. He’d healed quickly enough to recover from that part of the blast, but he still remained unconscious on the ground.

Everyone nearby began circling around his body, but no one dared to touch him. They were all exchanging looks back and forth between me and him. Clearly, nobody could quite wrap their head around what they’d seen. A solid, 170-pound guy had been sent flying through the air by…me? Even if by some freak chance I happened to be a kung fu master, that didn’t make sense…unless I was armed with a catapult, which I wasn’t.

People began looking up at the rooftops, now murmuring about how he maybe jumped from one of the buildings. Apparently, no one had actually seen what had happened. I staggered back up to my feet, hugging Adam’s jacket around me to avoid anyone seeing the blood pooling all over my shirt. The smell of mint soap clung to the lining, now making me sick. I ambled out of the alley with my head hung low, eying Blaine as I inched along the wall away from the spectacle.

“Hey, you! In the black jacket!” a guy called out behind me, but I didn’t turn. “Hey! Someone, stop her!”

The mob moved in every different direction as people pushed their way through the masses of huddled bodies, and I eventually got lost amid all the hoopla as several bystanders called 9-1-1. More clicking and snapping resonated from inside my rib cage, allowing me my first decent breath. I pushed my way through the crowds until I found myself at the front entrance. I’d made it.



***



Sirens whaled from the parking lot, which I’d mistaken for an ambulance. It wasn’t until I was standing at the gate that I realized it was a squad car. I didn’t need to pull up my sleeve to recognize the familiar burn of one particular rune. A threat drew near.

Blaine said he had members of the police force in his pocket, and I wasn’t going to stick around to see if these particular ones were. The trolley system would take at least forty minutes to get close to my home. I couldn’t wait that long. Blaine could already be awake for all I knew. He, along with Mr. Reynolds, knew I’d give myself up rather than put my parents in harm’s way. It was open season now, and they were prime hunting targets.

Then another curious thought ate away at me. How come this rune didn’t activate when Blaine was around? It hadn’t gone off even before he bit me. Surely he was a threat, more than anyone. Call me crazy, but damning your soul for all eternity certainly seemed like a hostile act. Yet, I hadn’t received any forewarning.

It wasn’t something I was particularly proud of, but even I had to admit there were perks to having demonic energy. I slinked over to a parked Beamer and placed my hand on the driver’s door. The lock popped up without resistance, same as the engine that roared to life as I climbed into the car. Add grand theft auto to my list of offenses. The moment I exited the parking lot, I floored it.