Of Venom & Vengeance (City of Legends #2)

Prologue

ELIJAH

Blood.

That’s blood...warm, thick, and still dripping onto my face.

It’s on my fingers now as I’ve wiped my cheek.

Why is there blood on my face? I can barely see at all but, I’m familiar enough with the viscous liquid to know that this is blood.

The harsh copper tang of it is thick in the air. Is it mine?

Every nerve in my body is alight with torment.

The intense pain has made me aware of parts of my body that I’ve never felt before.

Slowly, consciousness is creeping back in.

Was I asleep? Or maybe...knocked out? There’s an awareness that I should move, but the searing thrum in my head tells me if I move, I’ll vomit.

The indescribable agony my body is in overrides the need to survey my surroundings.

There is a substantial weight on my chest. What is that?

I can breathe, but I can’t move much more than my fingers.

As they flex at my sides, the rubble on the ground scrapes against my skin.

There’s a piercing ringing in my ears, and my vision is blurred.

Why are my eyes so gritty? It hurts to blink.

Dirt. There’s so much dirt in my eyes, and I can hear things falling from somewhere above, stirring up more dust. The debris.

..pieces of the structure we’re in. The structure we were in.

There’s still a roof, but very little of the walls remain.

The kid.

Yeah. That’s right. There was....a kid. The bomb. The captives were never in here. This was a trap.

Shit....Abe.

“Abe.”

My voice. It’s more gravelly than normal and barely loud enough for even my own ears to register. My team. My... “Abe.”

Nothing. He doesn’t respond. No one says a word. Can they not hear me? Did they get out? Please let Abe be okay. Please, God. As soon as the thoughts are loose in my mind, I already know it isn’t good. There’s no way he left this place without me. Fuck!

“Damn it. Abel!”

Each time I say his name, it feels like blades in my throat. It hurts worse to talk than it does to move or blink my eyes.

“Abe!” I try to speak louder this time, but it comes out even more broken than before. Lifting my head, my forehead bumps into something solid so I let my head fall back to the floor. Closing my eyes tightly, I move them around behind my eyelids, attempting to clear some of the grit from my vision.

Once I open my eyes again, I wish I still couldn’t see, as every nightmare I’ve ever had becomes a reality.