“Hand me the gun,” Erik said, trying to sound calm but not doing a very good job of it. “Just hand it over and everything will be fine.”
“No.” Tears stung the corners of my eyes. “They aren’t listening to us! And you were right. They shoot first and ask questions later.”
“Camille,” he said.
“No!”
Cara took another step, so close I could see the golden highlights in her hair. I could see the matching flecks of gold in her eyes.
“Camille,” Erik repeated. “You don’t want to do this.”
No, I didn’t.
He reached out slowly and wrapped his fingers around mine. His touch was gentle; I could feel the callus on his palm, a little abrading. “They’ll never believe you’re innocent if you start shooting.”
“But—”
“You don’t know the things they’re capable of. Don’t become their enemy.”
“I think I might already be their enemy,” I whispered, desperate.
“I won’t let anything happen to you. Okay? Trust me. I’ll take care of you. I’ve taken care of you up to this point, haven’t I?”
“Well…”
“From now on then.”
Cara reached the door, her booted feet touching mine. The gun pressed into her chest. “You didn’t used to make promises you couldn’t keep.”
“Shut the hell up, Cara. She is innocent. I’ll come in and explain.” Erik paused, his eyes never leaving me. “Camille. Give me the gun.”
A tear escaped and slipped down my cheek. I allowed Erik to take the gun from me. My shoulders sagged in relief. I hadn’t really wanted to shoot anyone anyway and I’d never been good at confrontation.
In the next flash of time, Cara gave her arms a single shake and two blades fell into her waiting hands. Before I could blink, she had the sharp tips at Erik’s throat.
I gasped in shock, in horror. “You said you were unarmed.”
“I lied.” She didn’t face me. I guess she didn’t consider me enough of a threat. “He’s subdued,” she called. “Aren’t you, baby?”
Erik remained silent. Our gazes met, and he gave a single shake of his head meant to assure me that everything really would be okay.
The other girls rushed forward and I saw that I’d been right. There wasn’t just three or four of them. There were six of them. Someone, the one with the blue trident tattoo, grabbed me and shoved me to the ground, face-first. Dirt filled my mouth and I tried to spit it out.
“Don’t hurt her,” Erik commanded. “I told you. She’s innocent in all of this. I gave her the napkin to distract you.”
“She’s as innocent as you, I’m sure,” Cara scoffed.
My arms were jerked behind my back and I screamed so loud and long the sound echoed through the night. The action had caused the numbness in my wound to wear off abruptly and I felt every new throb of pain.
Erik grabbed Cara’s wrists and gave a sharp twist. She tumbled to her knees with a yelp, her blades falling to the ground. He dove for me in an effort to free me, but someone—a human cat?—met him halfway and they tumbled together on the gravel.
“Let her go,” he snarled. “You’re hurting her.”
Erik and the girl, who had multicolored hair and pointy ears, struggled and rolled on the ground. The girl hissed and lashed out with her nails. Erik didn’t punch her, as I would have liked him to do, but he dodged her blows and struggled to pin her.
“Careful with him, Kitten,” Phoenix growled. “I want him alive.”
“Yeah, well,” the purring one said. “You want me alive, too? He’s fighting dirtier than when we last rumbled with him.” She grunted as Erik flipped her over his shoulder.
She held onto him, pulling him back down. Her orange, red, and black hair formed a curtain around them. Moving with the grace and fluidity of a cat, she arched her back and slid herself up Erik’s body. She was a Teran, I realized.
Captured as I was, I didn’t know what to do, how I could help. So I said, “Erik, it’s okay. I’m okay.”
Cara had reclaimed her knives and leapt at the dueling pair. Distracted, Erik didn’t see her and soon Cara’s blades were once again compressed against his throat. Several droplets of blood cascaded down his neck.
And yet, still he fought to get to me.
“I’m okay,” I repeated, fighting past the pain. “I’m okay.”
This time, he stopped moving. Panting, he moved his gaze over me to judge the truth of my words. I had a feeling that he would have started struggling again if I’d so much as frowned.
With Cara pressing the knife into his throat, the one called Kitten wound laserbands around his wrists. Laserbands were wound around my wrists, as well, their light bonding to my skin. If I tried to take them off, I’d take hunks of skin and bone with them.
“Now that that’s taken care of,” Phoenix said. She stood in front of us and dusted off her hands. She was the girl with the blonde hair and brown eyes. Pretty, almost fragile-looking—a startling contrast to the aura of death that blanketed her expression. “Let’s get these two to A.I.R. lockup. I’ve got questions. They’ve got answers.”
7
Erik and I were shoved into separate cars. At that point, everything became surreal to me. One minute I’d been at a club with my best friend, scoping out my crush, the next I’m injured and the prisoner of a group of people who’d so far proven themselves to be ruthless.
What could I do? I’d mentioned the napkin, I’d tried to explain what had happened, but so far no one had cared to listen to me. Not even when I’d held that gun.
I was beginning to suspect, deep in my bones, that they might never believe me, no matter what I said. In their minds, I was guilty and that’s all there was to it.
Trying not to panic, I slumped in my seat. No one had bothered to shut the passenger door, so I heard the girls as they laughed proudly about their capture and taunted Erik.
“Thought you’d escape us, did you?” one of them said.
“You should have known we’d catch up to you sooner or later,” another proclaimed. “We always do.”
“You never were very bright,” still another chortled.
He didn’t respond, but even from this distance I could see the hurt in his dark eyes—eyes that had once been green, apparently. I tried to picture him with green eyes but couldn’t. How could they be so cruel to him?