CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
"You four are seriously more trouble than you're worth," the vampire spit out. "You had us running around the isle searching like a bunch of crazy duds."
Diego took one harsh step, only to be stopped by gang members's growls. He growled right back like a dog that had been cornered. The tension made Kylie stiffen into protective mode, and Snow feared the worst. In that moment, he wished for the one thing he couldn't have: power.
The lead vampire clicked the trigger. Miranda gasped rapidly. Everyone felt the worst scenario was coming right out of the next corner.
"Pull that trigger and you'll be sorry," Diego seethed. Snow didn't say anything, but he knew he just made a threat at the worst moment. Ever.
Then, in half a second, something even worse than the worst happened. The leader swayed the gun from Miranda and redirected it to them. Snow started to dart to the front to protect his boyfriend. The throbbing pain in his shoulder immediately came back in double force. A loud bang exploded from the gang. Snow tensed as he saw smoke floating out of the gun's hole. He flickered his focus to Diego. His unharmed boyfriend. Then he glanced at Kylie and saw her feet loose balance and falling backwards. Diego managed to catch her in his arms before they both fell on the ground. The chameleon girl's shirt, which had been complete sky blue before was now tainted by red. Blood. Miranda squeaked in fear. Diego stood up and supported Kylie's hand with his arm and pressed a free hand to her wound. Snow felt thousands of needles prick at his skin as he stared helplessly at his injured friend. He mustered up the strength to scurry to their side Her blood spread throughout her abdomen and began to leak down her side. Never had he seen so much blood in his life.
"Don't want anyone getting away now, do we?" the Tattooed Leader said ruthlessly. Taking a life was obviously not an issue for him. "Don't worry, we'll get her a healer once we dealt with you all. She's the only one we need after all."
Snow didn't like the sound of that. 'Out of the picture' equaled 'death'. Now they were really screwed. He realized then why he shot Kylie first. Freddie's description of protectors replayed themselves in his mind. Kylie's powers were at their strongest peak when she wanted to protect someone. She was like Supergirl or Wonder Woman. But if she were the one in danger, her powers were useless.
"Get the girl," the damn vamp told his followers.
Diego immediately put Kylie in Snow's lap and took the defensive stance with a snarl grumbling out of his throat, ready to launch toward them all. Snow screamed for him to stay where he was, but it was drowned out by the sound of another gunshot. His heart drowned the same time Diego fell heavily down on the ground with a loud thump. The sight of blood pooling out of his chest sent a painful shock to Snow's limp body. The vamps and weres laughed like they were enjoying a TV show that wasn't funny in the least. Murderous glances and vicious tendencies loomed in the situation. These people killed for kicks.
Snow scrambled to Diego's side and brought his arms around his unconscious boyfriend as though he was cradling a baby who was running a fatal fever. The subtle dark blue sky offered just enough light to help him see the blood pooling through the fabric of Diego's front shirt. Blades, fire, knives; every sort of torment went through his heart like someone was planning on destroying every last tissue of it. He panted as he feebly tried to stop the bleeding with his hand, not that it did any good. Laughter echoed again from across the docks, and he saw the clearly entertained gangsters, with Miranda still in the leader's grasp. Soon it will be his turn to die, he realized, but that was the last thing he cared about.
In that moment, all he wanted - No. All he craved - was power. Power to protect those he loved, to save the ones most special to his heart. Diego, Kylie, Miranda, his new family at Shadow Falls Academy, his parents - he urged to protect them all. Somewhere deep down, something boiled. He rose to his feet. Tattooed Leader, with an evil grin, redirected the gun towards him and fired again. A quick sharp pain exploded in his abdomen. The impact knocked him aback a few feet, to the edge. Then he fell off; into the sea water. The fluid case of pure serenity. Snow saw his own blood slowly float out from the wound. It didn't bother him though. As it had always been, the water was a world of serenity that made it special to live in. He could feel the sensation wash over him, taking away all that pain and panic. The docks faded upwards as he descended into a non-troublesome abyss. It was like there wasn't a single worry in the world. But that wasn't true. No matter what, there was trouble in the world. He knew they had to survive somehow. Diego was dying, Kylie was hurt, and Miranda was probably next. There must be a way to save them.
"Please give me the power to save them," he called out mentally to the all-mighty God whom he had never spent much time to think about. But now that he was desperate, he had to try something. Perhaps God will not listen to his prayers now, but he didn't care. "Please, God. I'll trade my life for theirs, so long as you help me save them."
He closed his eyes, wishing to nothingness. An unexpected flash of light made them open again.