The humans had split off, attempting to flank their target. I had no way of knowing whether they had seen the rest of the council. I had to believe they hadn't, after all who would be crazy enough to charge into the middle of a situation where they were so sorely outnumbered just to play hero? I mean, I knew they could see the Mejore - how could they miss him - and they must be able to see the enforcers beside me, but I did not sense fear from either of them. I was thinking how odd that was when I was snapped back to my own dire straits.
The Mejore tightened his taloned fingers around my throat, cutting off my air. "You two go take care of the intruders" he clipped out of his lipless muzzle, his eyes locked onto mine. The two who had stood guard over me were gone so quickly my hair ruffled in the breeze.
Shit.
I really had been hoping everyone here was too distracted by my sorry ass to notice them. I could not see the rest of the council, but I felt them ghost into the woods. Black spots and white starbursts painted the Fourth of July at the edges of my vision.
Then all hell broke loose.
Three things happened almost simultaneously. A gunshot to my right followed closely by the anguished cry of a dying animal told me one of the enforcers had shape-shifted, and a large man with spiky hair went sailing over my head in the near-dark sky.
Over the sound of my heart pounding in my hears I heard the meaty thunk of his body connecting with the boulder behind me to the left, all of the air leaving his lungs in an agonized cry as his head cracked off the unforgiving object. He slammed to the ground and was frighteningly still.
I heard another gunshot, then nothing from the other one.
The Mejore released my throat and I gasped a lungful of air as he lunged for the man behind me. Except there was no way in hell I was letting him hurt this man who had tried to help me.
With his long stride he was fast - with the adrenaline surge from my near-death experience I was a fraction of a second faster. I managed to throw myself horizontal, sliding along the fallen man's body and covering it with my own just as the Mejore lashed out for a killing blow. I wrapped my arms behind me, holding myself to his limp form.
I felt the claws tear through my stomach and my vision greyed out. I fought the instinct to curl in against the pain, which would leave the unconscious man underneath me defenseless.
Gasping for air, my vision cleared barely enough to see the Mejore's face just inches from mine.
"Never return to these lands," he growled in my face over the ringing in my ears, as if he expected me to survive the damage he had just dealt.
"No Father," I whispered, and before I could blink he reached out and slashed my face open. He spun and headed for the trees, a blur in the night. Shaking, I watched the only parent I had ever known abandon me to death. I knew I did not stand a chance in hell of making it.
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A/N I know it's a short one, but I wanted to hurry up and get the guys going. I am actually shooting for a chapter a day if I can, until the whole story is up. The way my life goes, though, I'm not holding my breath. You probably hadn't ought to either. I know CPR, but unless you're next door...