A Rose Among Thorns by Ash Fitzsimmons

Author:Ash Fitzsimmons [Fitzsimmons, Ash]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Ash Fitzsimmons
Published: 2022-04-18T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 10

* * *

I should have run. Anyone sane would have run. I was outgunned, outnumbered, and not at all confident that I remembered as much as I’d have liked of my self-defense classes.

Instead, I threw the door open and took aim before the men inside realized what was happening. “Drop ’em,” I ordered, glowering for all I was worth and wishing my voice were a solid octave lower. “Unless you’re in the market for a new piercing.”

The two paused to consider the threat, then snickered in disbelief. The shorter one turned his gun on me, leaving his friend to keep Yven under guard. “You want to rethink that, girlie?” my standoff partner asked me. “Seems to me that we’ve got a two-on-one situation. Want to think about those odds?”

“You haven’t met my backup.”

“Oh,” he said with mock fear, “she has backup! What, do the garden gnomes come out at night with little pitchforks?”

As he chortled at his own joke, I took a deep breath, then bellowed, “Sally! I need you!”

“Hope your friend brings something better than that peashooter,” he said, grinning with malice. “Now, why don’t you be a good girl and drop the gun, sweetheart?”

Behind me, far across the nursery, I heard the faint tinkle of breaking glass.

“I don’t think so,” I replied, keeping my pistol aimed at his chest.

“If you don’t drop it, we’re going to use your little buddy here for target practice.”

The other man moved closer to Yven, gun raised and primed. I saw Yven stiffen, waiting for the shot…and then, as I heard a distinctive rustling noise speeding toward me, I smiled at my assailant. “Cavalry’s on its way. This is your chance to run.”

“Run, she says. Girl, are you blind or just stupid—”

The rest of that thought rose into a surprised screech as thick green tendrils swarmed into the shop through every window and around my feet, heading for the intruders. The men fired at the vines, but for every successful shot, another vine appeared—and if I wasn’t mistaken, the gunshots were just making Sally angry.

Within thirty seconds, the men were disarmed and tightly bound, a pair of squirming green bundles emitting muffled screams. “Thanks, girl,” I said, giving Sally a pat on the vine that rose up and bent like a head. “Nice job. You’re fast, you know that?”

The vine nuzzled against my palm when I withdrew, and I gave it another scritch before I hurried behind the counter to check on Yven. “Let me see,” I said, pulling his hand away from his swelling face. His cheek and the area around his right eye had turned an angry red, and he winced as I gently prodded for broken bones. “You’re going to be black and blue in the morning. Do you want to go to the emergency room?”

“Bad idea,” he replied. “Elf, remember?”

“Hopefully not an elf with facial fractures. Seriously, do you want someone to look at that? Go call your people—I’ll take care of these two,” I said, giving the nearer of the men a sharp kick.

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