Page 12 of Crown of Death
He clears the alley, into thestreet.
Just fifteen feet from me, where I stupidly stand on the sidewalk,gaping.
His glowing red eyes lock on me. And I’m frozen as he lungesforward.
A thick set of arms wrap around him, and the two figures collide in mid-air, tumbling over theconcrete.
Eli tackles the man, turning over,rolling.
A scream rips from my throat and I dart forward twosteps.
But before I can get within ten feet, the two figures from the alley explode fromit.
I don’t know whathappened.
One second Eli was wrestlingRhys.
The next a head is rolling down the road, the man and the woman panting, looking at Eli and me with equally brilliant redeyes.
Chapter 4
Eli swears.
I don’t think I’ve ever heard him swear before. But he does. Loud andblunt.
“You’ve both seen an awful lot in the last sixty seconds,” the man says, looking up from Eli to me from beneath his dark eyelashes. “And for some reason you seemed to think you could do something about our little scene.” He directs his words at Eli. “Why?”
Eli slowly rises to his feet. He holds his hands out slightly, as if to hold the two of them back. That’s fear in his eyes. Genuinefear.
Justified. Considering the decapitated man lying in the street. The lifeless woman resting in the alley behindus.
What… Oh, lord. What…what ishappening?
Why are their eyes glowing likethat?
How did they move like theydid?
“I just heard a woman scream,” Eli says as he takes a slow step sideways toward my side. “I came to help. We…we didn’t see anything. I swear. We’llgo.”
The woman laughs and my bloodchills.
We’ve just been witness to…to what? We watched them kill that man. And that woman hekilled…
The man before us narrows his eyes at me. He takes two steps forward, searching my face. “What’s your name?” he asks. His voice is smooth like butter, and carries a faint Spanishaccent.
My mouth opens just slightly to answer, but no sound comesout.
“She’s no one,” Eli interjects before I can even answer. “I promise, we’ll cause you no trouble. Just let us go and you’ll never hear a word fromus.”
“I’m afraid this is a bit of a problem for us,” the woman says, taking a stepforward.
My heart rate doubles. Sweat breaks out onto my palms. Fear crawls through me like a millionants.
“No,” the man says, taking two more steps forward through the darkening night. “I know you. Don’t lie to me. What House are you affiliated with? Sidra?Martials?”
“Hou…house?” I stammer, looking from him, to Eli. “I…I don’t know what you’re talkingabout.”
The man’s eyes flare brighter, red andbrilliant.