Chapter 12 #2
Eli comes over to me, rubbing my back while I choke when Cyrus walks out with my dressing gown. I slide my arms into it, and he ties it in place before ripping me against him.
“Wrap your arms and legs around me, love. We are jumping,” Cyrus says, and I look at him.
“Fuck no. I would rather die from the smoke.”
I hate heights. Cyrus ignores me even as I try to get out of his arms. He stalks off toward the back of the apartment to the stairs leading to the roof.
He opens the door, rushing up the steps before opening the door to the roof.
Eli walks ahead, looking over the side, and I nearly throw up at the thought of jumping off twenty floors.
“No, we can just wait here. Help will come,” I tell Cyrus.
“The floor below ours is on fire,” Eli says, looking over the side before he walks to the other side.
“What about you? Can you get down, or do you need me to come back?” Cyrus asks, and I look at Eli.
“I will find a way down. I don’t think this was an accident. We can’t leave her by herself. Sam could be anywhere down there,” Eli says, walking to the other side.
“Are you sure you can get down?” Cyrus asks him.
“I will find a way. Just get her to my sister’s,” Eli says, coming over to us.
“Wait, Eli isn’t jumping?” I ask, confused.
“No, I can jump from this height and be fine. Eli jumps, it could hurt him. Wolves aren’t made for extreme heights. Their bones break easily for the shift. A fall from this height will injure him badly.”
Eli comes over, kissing me on the forehead before something below us explodes, the roof shaking, and I hear windows exploding below us.
“I will see you soon,” Eli says, and Cyrus quickly kisses him before walking to the edge and climbing on the barrier.
“When I am about to hit the ground, I am going to toss you, but don’t worry, I will catch you.”
“What?!” I squeak.
“It’s not like in the movies, Addie. I jump, it’s going to jolt you. I will be fine, but there is no smooth landing, and I don’t want the sudden jolt to jar you. Just close your eyes.”
“Nope, nope, nope. Not happening!” I shriek in panic before he suddenly steps off the edge. The cold rush and the sound of the wind whipping past me are deafening, and my stomach drops, plunging somewhere deep inside me, when I suddenly feel Cyrus’s hands grip my arms.
“Sorry, love,” he says before I find myself suddenly going up while he continues down before I fall again. I scream, shutting my eyes, waiting for my death, when I feel arms and skin.
“Told you I would catch you,” Cyrus says, and I open my eyes to find him holding me. He places me on my feet, and I throw up as soon as he does.
Cyrus jumps, and I just miss him. Looking at the ground, it is cracked, and we appear to be in some alleyway.
“Eli?” I ask, and Cyrus looks up. He nudges me with his elbow before pointing to a roof down the street, and I can just see his silhouette running across the roof before jumping to another before he disappears out of sight again.
“We need to get you to Emery’s place,” Cyrus says, his arm wrapping around my waist before he wraps my legs around his waist.
I groan when I realize he is going to run; my stomach is not made to handle this sort of movement.
I can hear all the chaos in the street as it zips by in a blur of colors. Cyrus suddenly stops when he gets to the end of the street, and at first, I am confused when I notice the power to the entire city is starting to go out, block by block.
“What is it?” I ask Cyrus.
He looks around, and people are coming onto the streets. Even the streetlight has gone out, leaving the entire city in darkness.
“Found you,” Eli says, catching up to us. He holds his arms out to Cyrus, wanting to take me, and Cyrus hands me to him.
“Get her to your sister’s. Something isn’t right,” Cyrus says, his eyes darting around nervously.
Eli goes to turn and head down across the street when the first bomb goes off, the blast knocking us backward.
I land heavily on top of Eli, knocking the wind out of him, my ears ringing loudly as I try to see through the smoke and hear over everyone screaming in panic.
Eli groans, and I climb off him and look in the direction of the explosion only to find it was a car.
Moments later, I start hearing more going off in the streets surrounding the apartment block.
Cyrus grabs Eli’s arm, pulling him to his feet. People in the streets are in a panic, worried about terrorists and that we are under attack. Only, we know it is Sam; this is his doing.
“We need to get her out of here,” Eli says before pointing to a nearby alleyway.
“Probably not the safest. We need to stick to the main roads. He would be expecting us to use the alleyways to escape and remain out of sight of the public,” Cyrus says before looking down the street just as another one goes off, the blast making the ground rumble and vibrate beneath my cold feet.
“Stay away from the cars,” Cyrus says, grabbing my arm and yanking me over to him.
“Easier said than done. We are in the city. Cars are everywhere,” Eli says, and he is right; cars are lining the streets on every street.
“Stick to the center of the road,” Cyrus says, and then he starts running.
Every street seems to have something going on, until we come to a dark street that, for the most part, seems untouched.
There is no power, like the rest of the city, but it is eerily quiet considering the chaos a few streets over.
Cyrus stops and looks around before vampires start coming out of the shadows and from behind houses.
The fluorescent blood-red eyes are all I can see in the darkness, accompanied by their low growls as they close in.
Cyrus pushes me behind him as three men come out from behind a house and step onto the road.
I can’t understand what is going on at first until I recognize one of them; I have seen him before, yet I can’t place him.
One thing I know, though, is that he used to be a hunter like Sam.
“Hand her over,” a voice comes clearly to my ears.
A shiver runs up my spine at how cold his voice sounds, so void of emotion, almost like he is bored.
“Not happening,” says Eli, his back pressed to my side while Cyrus stands in front of me.
But all I keep thinking is how many people might have died in the explosions; my life is not worth theirs, but at the same time, I know handing myself over would get me killed and possibly my mates.
So instead, I remain rooted to the ground, unmoving, praying we’ll find a way out of this.
Eli and Cyrus are severely outnumbered; though, these are all hunters and newly changed, hoping that might be to Cyrus and Eli’s advantage.
But then again, they are also well trained.
“Suit yourself then,” the voice says again.
Even this voice sounds familiar, older; then I realize who he is.
“My son won’t stop till he gets her. She is, after all, carrying his child.”
My head whips to the side, trying to see the man behind the blood-red eyes peering back at me. It is Sam’s father; there is no doubt in my mind about who he is, and the resemblance is uncanny. He is supposed to be dead.
“He can’t father our child. He isn’t her mate. You should know this.”
“Regardless, I owe my son my life. A debt for what he did for me, and now he wants to claim it. If he says he wants her and the child, I plan on giving him that. Sam doesn’t care about paternity. He just wants his family back.”
“Your son is sick. He needs help. How can you even go along with this? And now you are the very thing you spent years hunting, the very thing you hunters despise,” Cyrus spits at him.
“I personally think it is an improvement, and I have my own score to settle with Adeline Paisley. Her father almost ruined me, almost ruined everything I built,” he says before stepping out of the shadows and taking a step toward us in the center of the road.
His gray hair looks almost silver under the moon, his fangs protruding from his top lip. He is wearing a suit, like he is heading to the office, not about to kidnap somebody.
“Now, Adeline, be a dear and come here. I would hate to see something happen to your family. Sam is done waiting, and I can’t say I would be upset if I were to snuff out your entire bloodline, especially after what your father tried to do to me and what your mother cost me,” he says.
Eli suddenly shifts. His bones snap and rearrange quickly, and I feel fur brush my legs, his tail hitting me as he growls at them closing in around us.
My heart rate spikes and thumps loudly in my chest when I see the first one attack.
Eli steps forward and meets the man head-on, ripping into his arm.
I feel Cyrus move, a rush of air blowing my hair into my face while all hell breaks loose as they try to get to me.
Cyrus and Eli are the only people standing in their way when I hear a car in the distance traveling alarmingly fast. The screeching momentarily distracts everyone before they start fighting again, and I feel arms grab me momentarily before one falls at my feet, making me scream.
Eli tears it from the man’s body, blood spraying onto my face, when suddenly the entire street is lit up by lights coming from each end.