Page 28 of Stealing Embers
“Mark is alive. He’s safer out here than he would be in there.” He jerks his chin to the room beyond the jagged opening Mark’s body created. Dark-haired men and women stand in lines, shoulder-to-shoulder, around an unseen threat.
And oh my gosh, some of them have feathered wings.
Steel rips out of my grasp, upsetting my equilibrium. I stumble a few steps. My feet tangle and my body tilts toward the hole.
With a squeak, my shoulder slams into the wall and I pitch through the opening. I throw my hands out to catch myself, but before I connect with the floor, bands of steel wrap around my middle and my body jerks to a halt. Then I’m yanked up and set on my feet.
With my back settled against a warm chest, I suppress a shiver.
“You’re going to have to work on your coordination if you want to stay alive.” Steel’s breath fans over my cheek, causing the hairs at my nape to stand at attention. His arms melt away from my stomach and he steps away before my muddled brain figures out I should pull free.
“Steel! Emberly! What in the world are you doing here?” Sable stands to our left.
Her once-perfect hair is a dark nest on one side. A small cut leaks blood from her brow that trickles down the side of her face and over a bruise that has already started to swell on her jaw. Her unkempt appearance rattles me almost as much as the shrieks of the creature the hoard of Nephilim warriors are battling.
Her eyes dart between the two of us.
“You should both be in a bunker.” Her gaze lifts over my shoulder to land on Steel. “You know the protocol. I know you think you can take on the world. But we have our emergency plans in place for exactly this reason. I don’t want—”
“One entered the cafeteria as everyone was fleeing.” Steel’s words are filled with frustration. “I dispatched it, but the newbie here accidentally phased and doesn’t know how to phase back.”
Sable’s surprised gaze cuts to my face.
I hunch in on myself. What did they expect? Up until a few hours ago I had no idea there were people in the world like me, let alone how and why I can see the things I do.
I’m still waiting to find out if I can do magic.
“Right.” Sable nods, accepting Steel’s explanation. “Take Emberly to the above-ground bunker. If she can’t phase back, that’s the safest place for her.”
“Sable, you know I could help. If I shift—”
“No. We don’t know that they aren’t here for her.”
I straighten my spine.
They think these creatures might be here for me? Why? What could I have done to draw their attention? I’ve never even seen one of them before.
“You need to get her hidden, and you need to do it right now,” Sable continues. “We’ll come collect you when we’ve eliminated the threat.”
Steel shoves a hand in his raven hair and fists it. The teal in his eyes seems extra bright.
Are his eyes . . . glowing?
Neat trick.
With a muttered curse, he releases his hold on his hair and drops his arm. “Fine.”
Grabbing my hand, he tugs me into the hallway.
I snap my teeth at him. The next time he jerks me around, I’m going to bite his hand.
If I don’t get some concrete answers soon, I’m so out of here. Yeah, the streets weren’t a safe place, but I never encountered ugly, unwashed vampire things before being kidnapped for “my safety.”
“Steel,” Sable calls right before we disappeared from view, “who was it?”
Who was what?
My eyes cut to Steel. His lips are pressed into a firm line.