Darlings of Paranormal Romance (Anthology) (37 page)

She nodded, even though she knew she
was about to sign her death sentence. Making her way through the
sea of people, Sarah hoped it would work, or else she’d be burning
right along with her team. She wondered if fire would kill her, but
even if it didn’t she was sure it’d hurt like crazy.

As Sarah pushed past a stick-thin
woman to the front, Beth spotted her and screamed out her
name.

Sarah gazed up into her pale face and
terrified green eyes. Her long blonde hair was a dirty mess. “Shh!
Beth, I’m going to get you out of here.”

“
Hurry!” Adam said,
struggling against his bindings.

“
The roast’s about to start
any minute,” Steven hissed. “Since we’re the main course, this is
one dinner I’d rather miss.”

“
I’m doing all I can.”
Sarah’s gaze fell on a man with long black hair and a matching
beard. Somehow, he stood out from the cheering crowd as he stood by
her friends. Maybe it was the glint in his eyes or the serious
expression, as though he didn’t quite enjoy the display like all
the others. She straightened her back and marched over to him,
regarding the guards as she whispered, “Please, sir, I beg you to
stop this execution.”

The man glared at her. “Get back with
the others, miss, or we’ll have another fire to light.”

“
But—”

He turned his back on her as he
addressed the crowd. “These thieves were caught stealing a loaf of
bread that’d just been dropped off by a friend from the next
village. Now they must pay for their crimes. What do we do with
thieves?”

“
Hang ‘em!” the crowd
cheered.

“
Nobody steals from us.
NOBODY!” a man yelled.

“
We don’t have enough to
feed our own children, yet they steal bread for themselves!” a
woman screeched. “Kill them now! That will teach them and other
would-be thieves a thing or two about greed!”

Sarah groaned inwardly. Her ability to
read people was awfully off track, as she had thought the man might
have something remotely gracious within him. Like the rest, his
smile likely only meant he was already imagining the gruesome
details of the execution about to take place before his
eyes.

“
My baby hasn’t eaten in
two days!” someone yelled.

Sarah had to stop the madness, even if
it meant sacrificing her own life. Slowly, she rose from her
cowering position. Her gaze met Frank’s somewhere in the distance,
but she ignored his questioning frown. Her voice came low, then
increased in volume as she gathered more courage. “I’m Princess
Gloria, and I demand you stop this nonsense now.” To prove her
point, she lifted her hand to flash her ring.

The bearded guy bowed, deeply
muttering, “Your Highness.”

The crowd fell silent and followed
suit.

Now that she had their respect, she
demanded, “Release these prisoners.”

“
With all due respect,
milady, our orders come straight from your father, who despises
thievery more than anything,” the bearded guy said.

She watched in horror as he retrieved
what looked like an axe from behind his cloak. Not only did she
suck at reading people, but she gathered that her sixth sense and
ability to pick up any dangerous undercurrents must suck
too.

The man continued, “Please step
aside.”

Taking a
deep breath, she thought back to what Jules had said. She was an
Immortal now, and immortality did come with a few perks. She had no
idea how it all worked, but she had to give it a try. “I demand
that you stop this execution right now!” A pang of heat burst
through her head, making her wobble on her feet for a
second.
Maybe the ability of influencing
someone’s mind is connected to emotion
. It
had surely worked when the knight had planned on executing
her.

The executioner laughed, his eyes
glinting with malice. “Trying your parlor tricks on me? I know how
to block you out. You Immortals are really something, and you?
You’re not even that strong. Stick to the weak-minded, young
one.”

She
smirked.
Great. Even strong-willed humans
can block me out.
Irritated, she blew out a
breath and walked back over to Frank and Jules. “It’s not working!
We need a Plan B…pronto. You two got any more bright
ideas?”

Chapter 13

Sarah stared at her three friends tied
to long poles, awaiting their fiery fate. Her heart lurched. “So?
What’s the plan?”

“
We could try creating a
riot,” Frank said.

Jules cocked a brow. “That may work.
We could force a fight in the crowd. It might be enough of a
distraction to pass through without further incident.”

“
It’s worth a shot.” Sarah
tilted her head, considering his suggestion. For once, Frank’s idea
wasn’t such a bad one, particularly since pretending to be Princess
Gloria didn’t work. “Look over there by that wood pile. See
Steven’s black camera bag in the straw?”

Frank nodded.

Sarah continued, “Maybe you should
show them some of our technology. We could pretend it wields great
and dangerous magic.”

“
Why me?”

She rolled her eyes. “Obviously
because Jules has no idea how to use the stuff, and everyone knows
my face.”

Frank groaned. “Do you remember what
used to happen to anyone who dared to brew tea from some
herbs?”

She shook her head,
grinning.

“
Think pyre and lots of
fire…and surely not for roast beef.”

“
You got any other
brilliant ideas then?”

He sighed and pushed his hood further
down his face. “All right. I get it. We could film me commanding
them to let the others go, threatening to send down hail and
brimstone if they don’t cooperate. Then we could play it back to
them.”

The crowd
cheered, excited again at the prospect of murder and
suffering.
How can they be so excited
about killing people?
“I’ll sneak over and
grab the bag,” Sarah said.

Without waiting for Frank’s answer,
she took a few steps forward, bumping into a broad guy. She glanced
at the executioner, who now held up a torch as a priest gave last
rights. She’d never seen Beth so freaked out. Tears were streaming
down her cheeks as she pleaded for them to change their
minds.

“
Hurry!” Frank
hissed.

“
No!” Jules said, grabbing
the edge of Sarah’s cloak. “Come to think of it, Frank’s plan is a
better idea. We should go with a distraction. We don’t need them
trying Frank and me as witches. I’d rather not leave it to you to
save us all.”

She turned to Frank. “So which is
better? Distraction or magic?”

Before he could answer, Beth let out a
wailing shriek. The executioner lit the straw beneath
them.

Sarah gasped as her stomach lurched.
Without another thought, her Immortal reflexes took over, and she
blew at the tiny flames, extinguishing them with one single
breath.

“
Powers like that can only
come from an immortal being.” The executioner’s gaze shot straight
to the crowd, focusing on Sarah. “You can’t stop this, Highness.”
He nodded at a monster-sized muscular man. “Seize her!”

Pain shot through her as he grabbed
her arms from behind and dragged her on her heels through the
crowd. “No!” she shouted. Without her, her friends didn’t stand a
chance. They were all as good as dead.

Suddenly, a man charged into the
crowd, yelling, “She’s dead! Mella’s drowned. I need a healer! Only
a healer can save her.” The crowd turned toward him as he laid down
a woman on the ground, her face blue and swollen, her brown hair
dripping wet. Cries and shrieks echoed through the crowd. For a
moment, the attention was drawn away from the execution to the
crying man cradling the woman’s head.

“
But…but she’s dead
already!” shouted a man.

Sarah
jerked out of the man’s grasp. When he grabbed her arm again, she
flung him into the crowd as if he weighed nothing more than a fly.
Somehow, emotion was connected to her powers, but she wasn’t sure
how to use it just yet. She inched closer when she noticed the
woman’s finger twitching, indicating that there might be some life
still lingering in her. Without giving it another thought, she
rushed over and knelt down, placing her ear over the woman’s mouth
to hear or feel for air.
Nothing
. Putting two fingers on her
neck, she felt for a pulse.
None
. “Frank!”

He nodded and positioned himself at
the woman’s chest. “Two-person CPR? What’s the ratio?”

Sarah looked up at Beth, still tied to
the pole. “It’s been years. I don’t remember. How many?”

“
Thirty to two,” she
answered.

Sarah
titled
the woman’s head back and pinched
her nostrils closed. Bending forward, she blew two breaths into her
blue-lipped mouth.

Frank started chest compressions. “One
and two and three and…”

“
Gentle CPR won’t save her
life!” yelled Beth. “Pump hard and fast. Push on her chest hard
enough to compress the heart. Depress the chest wall about the
width of an 800-page book. We need uninterrupted chest compressions
of about 100 a minute.”

The man grabbed Frank’s shoulders, his
face a mask of fury. “Get off of my wife, you freak of
nature!”

“
We’re only trying to
help,” Sarah whispered.

“
Listen, mister,” Beth
yelled, “give them a chance. It might look strange, but they’ll
bring her back to life.”

“
Why would anyone kiss the
dead, unless they’re dead themselves?” the husband
hissed.

“
Untie me,” Beth said. “I’m
a nurse…a healer. I can save your wife.”

“
It’s a trick!” a woman
yelled. “The dead are beyond healing.”

Sarah gazed into the man’s eyes. “Do
it! She isn’t dead yet, but we’re losing her. You’re wasting
precious seconds that we need to save your wife’s life.”

He looked down at his wife and then up
at the executioner, nodding. “Release the healer!”

Sarah’s attention focused back on the
CPR. There was no way she was going to let the poor woman
die.

An instant later, Beth appeared beside
her and took Frank’s position, starting chest compressions. Sarah
shot her a bitter smile, then focused on her breathing
again.

The crowd fell silent, countless eyes
peering at them. Sarah could feel beads of sweat gathering above
her brows as she tried to ignore their probing gazes.

After several minutes passed, Beth
finally said, “Got a pulse.”

The frail woman coughed, and water
gushed out of her mouth. Her color went from blue to
pink.

Her husband scooped her up in his
arms, stroking her hair. “Oh, Mella!” He looked up at Sarah, then
Frank and Beth. “Thank you! I cannot allow my wife’s saviors to be
harmed, let alone killed. You saved my precious Mella. As
magistrate of this village, I offer you pardon.” Glancing at the
executioner, he ordered, “Untie the others. These people are free
to go.”

Tears
welled up in Sarah’s eyes as she met the magistrate’s eyes. “Thank
you.” Sarah reached for her bag of gold and untied it. The
villagers needed food, and she was going to do whatever she could
to help. People surrounded her and started to shove and bump her as
she tried to hand out coins.
Getting
trampled wasn’t in her plan, so she threw the gold up in the air
and watched it fall like rain over the villagers’ heads. The crowd
screamed with delight and scrambled for the coins, like children
searching for candy from a broken
piñata.

Beth pulled Sarah to her chest, tears
shimmering in her eyes as she whispered, “That was so generous. I’m
so happy to see you, girl.”

Sarah hugged her back tight. “Think I
was going to let you guys fry?” From the corner of her eye, she
noticed Frank helping to untie the others.

As soon as his hands were free, Steven
hurried over and grabbed his camera bag, checking it over as if it
was his child.

“
Yes, your camera’s lovely.
You won’t even find a scratch. We’re all great, too, just in case
you were wondering,” Beth said.

“
Let’s cruise out of here
before these medieval nutcases change their minds,” Steven said to
Beth once he realized his camera was, in fact, fine.

Adam scooped Sarah up and swung her
around. “I owe you dinner, big time. You know what I’ve been
thinking?”

“
What?” Sarah loved his
sparkling blue-green eyes and his laugh too. She looked up to him
like a big brother.

“
We’re not in California
anymore.”

“
Gee, really? I didn’t even
notice.” Sarah rolled her eyes, smiling.

Adam’s eyes grew wide. “I saw…all of
us saw the creatures for the very first time. It was mind-blowing!
Did you see them?”