Chapter 1 - RUN (cont.)

Okay, I didn't get to get as much down as I wanted, which meant I cut out with my heroine looking like a woos. SOOO. . . you get a bonus post before next Saturday.

Oh, and guys, please let me know what you think. I hate to think I'm doing this in a vacuum.

THANKS.

CHAPTER 1 - RUN (CONTINUED)

Okay, I’d like to say that my first instinct was to protect Bob and Bobbie. I’d be lying. My first instinct was to run like hell. But looking at the dead hound on the floor, I couldn’t. I couldn’t abandon a 16 year old kid and her 86 year old grandpa to deal with what would be coming behind that hound. Yeah, she was a smart kid. And he was a tough old Texas coot who kept a loaded shotgun in his office, his truck, and by the front door of his house. But that didn’t change anything. Not really.

So I gathered up my wits and my courage, and when I opened a seam in reality, instead of travelling to. . . oh, Barcelona, maybe the Bahamas, I went back into the front office. Making damned sure, by the way, that I was not in the line of fire from the hallway. Just in case Bob had the chance to reload.

In other words, on top of the counter.

I crouched down, preparing to attack the back of the dark-clad figure gathering a glowing ball of pure power in his left hand to throw at the defiant old man who was charging up the hall, shotgun held like a club.

"HEY UGLY" I screamed the words at the same time I threw the first thing that came to hand—a stapler. He spun around at the sound of my voice, the ball of power flying straight toward me.
Shit! I dived off, into the small space between the counter and my desk, raising my shield, as the marble where I’d been exploded, sending hot shards of stone and dust in a stinging rain that had slowed just enough not to break skin.

"You should’ve run while you could child." Evan Shadows, smiled, but there was no warmth in his eyes. His handsome features were as cold and beautiful as carved marble.

I watched him gathering his will and his power for a strike that would, undoubtedly, kill me, and I wondered why? Why me? What had I ever done? I wasn’t the strongest. Obviously, I wasn’t the smartest. In the three years since I’d been discovered by the magical community I hadn’t done anything to set myself apart as special. It didn’t make sense.

Bob hadn’t stopped his insane charge. He was behind the wizard now, and he swung his makeshift club with all of his might at the back of Evan’s dark head, only to have it bounce harmlessly off an invisible barrier.

"Get back Grampa." Bobbie’s voice was calm, steady. "And you, drop the . . . whatever, or I’ll shoot. I’ve already called 9-1-1, the cops are on their way."
Like I said, smart. God love her.

Evan snarled, and let the power dribble away. It was a smart move. Because he couldn’t put up a new shield without dropping the old one, and he couldn’t shift the old one without giving gramps an opening.

He looked down at me, his expression one of pure malice. "This isn’t over."

"Of course not." I answered. But he wasn’t there. In less time than it took me to form the words he’d opened a way, cutting a seam in reality, and was gone.

END OF CHAPTER 1 – RUN

COMING SATURDAY –
CHAPTER 2 – PEACE THROUGH SUPERIOR FIREPOWER.