Blood Rush (The Lost Witch Trilogy #2) (20 page)

She closed her eyes in defeat and exhaustion, but lifted her head when she heard a scream of rage come down the tunnel. She flinched at the raw emotion echoing down the small passageway and pushed back into the farthest corner of the tunnel. She wrapped her arms protectively around herself and felt a weak spark of energy flow down into her fingers. She knew it wasn’t enough to protect herself though. She’d used too much flying and commanding the earth. But she wouldn’t be found cowering in the dirt either. She had too much pride for that. She felt around in the dark for a rock and then stood up shakily. He would be expecting magic. He might not expect a rock to the head.

She heard the sound of rustling leaves and foot falls and then the sound of someone dropping down into the tunnel. She swallowed nervously and called out with her mind, in case Zane was close by
, I love you Zane, good bye.
She then squared her shoulders and walked towards the person in her tunnel.

“Sarah!” roared a familiar voice and Sarah fell to her knees in relief.
Zane.

Zane rushed towards her, scooping her up in his arms and then turning and running out of the tunnel again, bringing her out into the light. “I thought you were taken,” he whispered in her hair, sounding like he had tears in his voice.

Sarah felt weightless as Zane carried her, but she had enough strength left to hold out a hand to protect herself when she came into contact with the wall of glass. To her surprise, she felt nothing as Zane lifted her out of the tunnel and into someone’s waiting arms. She opened her eyes and saw Lash’s face in front of hers, staring at her, his eyes wild with fear and worry.

“Sarah, you scared me to death,” Lash said and then laid his forehead against hers.

Zane jumped out of the tunnel and then took Sarah out of Lash’s arms without a word and ran out of the clearing with her. A few minutes later, Zane stopped, his chest straining at having to run with her extra weight.

“Sarah!” she heard her dad yell. But by then it was too late. Everything faded and she passed out.

Chapter 15 - Blood Rush

Sarah woke up, feeling weak, shaky and disoriented. She turned to her side and groaned weakly.

“
Shh!
Be very quiet Sarah,” her dad ordered in a whisper.

Sarah blinked, feeling even more confused. She turned over and got up on her knees and immediately felt two arms come around her. No warmth or power. Not her dad either.

“Sarah, be very still and very quiet. We’re still in the forest. Someone is hunting us. Zane is trying to circle around them and come up from behind. But they’re close by,” Lash whispered, his voice sounding serious and fearful.

Sarah knelt back on her heels, allowing Lash to keep a hold of her. She could tell he was scared and he needed the comfort of physical contact. His arms were too tight and she was feeling claustrophobic though so she pushed gently against him.

“Okay,” she whispered so he knew she understood. As her eyes became accustomed to the darkness, she realized two things. She was freezing and the forest was terrifying at night. She could sense her dad in front of her. They were in a grouping of trees and bushes. Her father was standing behind a tree, watching silently while Lash was next to her on the ground. She slowly got to her feet, feeling wobbly and nauseous, but she walked to her father’s side, knowing that Lash was staying with her every step of the way. She reached out and touched her father’s sleeve.

“Who’s hunting us?” she asked softly.

Race put an arm around her shoulders and kissed her forehead fervently before answering. “I can’t tell. It’s not Charles though, which means whoever comes through those trees is going to wish they hadn’t,” he swore furiously.

Sarah leaned her head against the tree they were standing behind and lifted a shaky hand in front of her face. She stared at the lines of red covering her palms and felt the pulsing pain through all of her nerve endings. She was so weak, she didn’t even have the strength to heal herself.

Lash took her hand gently in his, kissing the palms, like a mother would whose toddler had fallen and hurt herself. Sarah couldn’t pull her hand away and watched silently as Lash kissed the cuts. Her heart ached at the gentleness of the gesture. She watched curiously though as Lash lowered his head slowly one more time. She could feel his muscles tremble in his body and his neck and his shoulders tense.

Sarah frowned in concern and tried to step back. Lash still had her hand grasped in his and he slowly brought her hand back towards his mouth. He lifted his gaze to hers and his blue eyes shone wildly as they connected. He raised her hand slowly to his lips and bent down. Sarah felt one of Lash’s teeth grip down on an open cut and rip it open. She screamed helplessly at the pain and collapsed to her knees as her father whipped around to find Lash sucking the blood out of her hand. Race roared in rage and knocked Lash to the side. Her father must have hit him pretty hard, because Lash had a hard time getting up, shaking his head as if to clear it.

Sarah gasped in pain as the torn flesh of her hand wept with her blood. Race stood over Lash, breathing hard, his hands clenched in to fists. “I trusted you,” he screamed.

Lash stood up slowly, raising his hands up defensively. “I’m sorry Race. I don’t know what came over me. I kissed her hand and just a little blood got on my tongue. And then I lost it. I’ve never tasted anything like it. Her blood is different. It’s like I’m filled with energy now. It’s the most amazing thing I’ve ever experienced. I couldn’t help myself, I’m sorry,” he pleaded frantically.

Sarah scooted back further from her father and Lash and came up against a rock. She winced as she saw her father point to Lash and with a bright spark of light she watched Lash’s body flung backwards into the night and land in a heap on the ground.

Race turned and rushed to her side, grabbing her torn and bloody hand and placing both of his on either side. “Oh sweetheart. What you’ve been through today. If we ever make it out of this alive, I’m going to make it up to you,” he said softly as he sent warming pulses of energy into her hand, closing the jagged wound and staunching the bleeding. Sarah’s shoulders relaxed and she started breathing easier as the pain eased. Her dad was a good healer.

“Dad, can we go?
Please
get me out of here,” she begged, staring out into the darkness, exhausted and heartbroken.

Race caressed her cheek but shook his head. “Someone’s been following us Sarah and now they know exactly where we are thanks to Lash,” he said, and stood up suddenly, letting go of her hand and turning towards a soft sound he heard coming from their left.

Sarah’s eyes widened in fear as she saw a form pull away from the shadows and walk towards them.

“You can’t blame Lash. He loves the taste of blood almost as much as I do,” came a cold, gleeful voice.

Race threw an arc of energy up into the sky, illuminating the face of Mason Crossly. Sarah blanched and scooted back as his gaze turned towards her.

“There you are Beautiful. I’ve been waiting a long time for you,” he said with a satisfied grin and then leapt towards her.

Race bellowed and jumped in front of Sarah to block him. The two men tumbled to the ground. Sarah screamed in terror, knowing she was too weak to help her father. She called out with her mind,
Zane! Zane help us!

She watched helplessly as Mason took out a long wicked knife from behind him and raised it up to slash down. Race held his hand up and sent bolt after bolt of energy towards Mason, sending him flying up into the air and towards a group of rocks. Mason’s body fell hard against the rocks, but he slowly stood up, rubbed his hand over his head as if he were fixing his hair and then walked slowly towards her dad looking purposeful and merciless.

Race looked back at her over his shoulder and said one word. “Run.”

Sarah attempted to get up, but fell back down to her knees. She tried again, this time standing up shakily. She walked backwards on trembling legs, helplessly watching Mason stalk her father. Race stood where he was, not retreating. He held both of his hand high over his head and then brought them slowly down in front of him and said the word “
Stop!”
loud and clear.

Sarah gasped in surprise as Mason’s hands came up, clawing at his own chest, his eyes wild and shocked. Race walked forward, towards Mason, standing within a foot of him as he groaned in pain.

“I was commanding your blood stream. Not you,” Race said almost conversationally as he watched Mason’s face turn pale.

Mason leaned over, his hands on his knees as he breathed harshly, filling the quietness of the night with his struggle. He slowly raised his head a minute later and smiled at Race. “What works on a regular man doesn’t work so well on me. I’ll give you some credit though, that one hurt.”

Race stepped back, and turned to run, tripping over a large rock and landing hard on his face. He lifted his head slowly and when he saw Sarah looking at him in anguish, his face contorted with terror. “
Run!”
he screamed at her.

Sarah gasped in fright and scooted backwards, coming in contact with the rough bark of a tree. Her hands slipped down, reopening the wound in her hand. Mason paused behind her father and lifted his face to the sky, a wolfish grin emerging. “
Aah
, the scent of blood. My favorite.”

Race moved to get up, but Mason was faster and stepped on his back, making Race groan in pain.

“I don’t think so. You’ve caused enough trouble I think,” he said with a laugh that turned into a scream.

Sarah gasped as Mason flew back off of Race and landed in a heap in front of Zane. Sarah felt all of her muscles tremble in relief as Zane stepped forward, kicking Mason hard in the side and sending him rolling. Race stood up gingerly and went to stand beside Zane, his hand on his arm. Race leaned over and whispered in Zane’s ear and Zane nodded grimly.

Mason’s body flew high in the air, twisting and contorting, causing a high pitched scream to pierce the night. Zane let Mason dangle in the air as he turned and looked at Sarah, his silver eyes glowing dangerously.

“Sarah shouldn’t be seeing this. Why didn’t Lash take her out of the woods?” Zane asked, his voice harsh with anger.

Race put a restraining hand on Zane and shook his head, pointing to Lash’s body still laying where he left it on the ground. “He accidently tasted Sarah’s blood and lost control. I had to knock him out. He’s no good to us now. I can’t ask you to kill Mason, Zane although I know you can and you probably should. He’s a feral animal, only wanting to kill and destroy. No jail can hold him with Charles as an ally.”

Zane looked up, floating Mason’s whimpering body higher and higher in the air, twisting him in crazy circles. “I can cause a blood clot in his brain. Or maybe a heart attack?” he said. She could tell by his expression that he was considering it.

Mason screamed down at the two men. “No! I’ll do anything. Let me go and I’ll tell you everything I know. I’ll leave here and I won’t come back. I promise,” he swore, squealing as Zane let him go and he crashed to the ground. Zane stared without compassion at the man groaning in pain at his feet. With a flick of his hand Mason was thrown high and somersaulted through the air again.

Race shook his head. “I don’t believe him. But I would love to get some information out of him. Let’s bring him down and see what he has for us.”

Zane nodded and brought him down again, crashing onto the ground. Mason knocked his head on the hard packed dirt and moaned in pain. “I think my leg’s broken,” he said through gasps.

Race smiled and walked over to him, pushing him over roughly, causing Mason to screech in agony.

“Tell us what you know and I’ll let you go. Lie or hold something back and you’ve got yourself a nice little stroke. Understand?”

Mason nodded his head. “I’ll tell you everything. I can start by telling you that Charles is . . .”

Sarah gasped as Mason disappeared before their eyes. Zane flinched and started forward, feeling along the ground where Mason had been just seconds before. Race swore loudly, kicking the dirt and turning around in circles as he stared into the dark.

“Gone. We were so close,” Race said, shaking his head in disappointment.

Zane ignored Race and hurried to Sarah’s side, kneeling on the ground next to her. “Forget him. We’re close to the car Sarah. Put your arms around my neck.”

Sarah nodded weakly and used the last of her strength to obey. As soon as Zane stood up, she could feel his power wrap around her and she relaxed. Zane ignored Race who was picking Lash up and hefting him over his shoulder and ran out of the clearing.

Sarah closed her eyes and blacked out. She came to as someone opened the front door to her Grandmother’s house for them.

“Thank the Lord,” she heard Agnes say.

Zane didn’t pause and kept right on going, up the stairs and down the hallway towards her bedroom.

“She needs to be cleaned up,” called Agnes after them.

Zane shook his head. “I’m taking care of her,” he called over his shoulder, not stopping.

Sarah smiled weakly as Zane laid her on the bed and removed her shoes and jeans. She would have blushed if she had the energy, but instead just felt grateful. He removed her sweater quickly, but left her t-shirt on, then covered her up in blankets. She expected to hear the door open and the sound of Zane walking away, but instead, she heard his boots hit the floor and the sound of him taking off his jacket. Seconds later, she felt him lay down beside her, pulling a quilt over himself and then pulling her into his arms so that her head was pillowed on his shoulder.

“I’m just going to hold you for a while. Everything you did back there emptied you. I’ve never felt you so weak before,” he murmured softly into her hair.

Sarah smiled in relief as Zane’s energy began to wrap around her. She snuggled her head closer to Zane and moved her hand to lie over his heart. She felt his heartbeat, solid and even and felt herself pulled under into darkness.

Hours later, she opened her eyes and blinked in surprise as she realized Zane was still there, wrapped around her tightly. She breathed in deeply and let it out slowly, not wanting to wake him. She felt warm, safe and peaceful in his arms. She couldn’t imagine how worried her dad must be about her to allow Zane to stay with her in her room. She grinned in the darkness and felt Zane stir.