Prolusio Three Stories of Fates Fire Shifters & Dragons Kris Austen Radcliffe by Unknown

Author:Unknown
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2014-03-18T16:00:00+00:00

2

They tumbled out of the vehicles. Ten, twelve, maybe more, their stench so thick it hung in the air like a sick yellow-green mist. Rysa coughed and the man holding her by the neck laughed.

“Billy! You found her, huh?” The smallest of the group lunged out of the hatchback. Slight and willowy, he—she—Rysa couldn’t tell for sure—wore tattered sweats low on her ass and a baseball cap twisted to the side. She stopped close and tapped her foot on the asphalt as she leaned forward, her little fists pushing into her hips.

The air whistled into her scrunched-up nose. “Yep, she’s one of them, alright. Pricks!”

This thing in front of Rysa was a child, no older than ten.

The kid jumped straight up into the air and spun in a half-circle, landing on the precise spot she’d launched herself from but with her back to Rysa. “Bring’em out!” she yelled. Another bounce and she faced Rysa again. “Party time, skankadoodle.” Little sparks popped between her fingers when she clapped.

Billy waved his hand in the air, his fingers skittering like they had a mind of their own. “We’re too visible. He’ll find us again, like at the park with the rollercoaster. That way.” He pointed east, toward Wisconsin. “The Fells. Kells.”

“The Dells, dickweed.” The child shrugged.

A woman with dirty hair jerked out of the van, a balled up blanket in her arms. She staggered backward into the bumper—the weight she carried obviously throwing her balance—and she dropped the bundle.

Chains unfurled. Shackles bounced against the van’s door.

Metal clinked across the pavement.

Rysa’s mind drowned in a final flood of panic. She’d been able to keep some wits about her. She’d sent Gavin away. But the pressure behind her eyes screamed and these people had chains and she needed to get away before—

Time hiccupped. She had her hand around the neck of the dirty-haired woman. The skin of her palm burned as if she’d touched a hot stove and she shrieked, pitching backward.

How did she get away from Billy? She must have slammed the female ghoul against the van. Her stomach rolled. They’d kill her now. Chained or not, no way would they let her live.

“Bitch!” the woman shouted.

Her teeth glowed like miniature, bright-white scalpels. Rysa tried to scream, but no sound came out of her mouth. But the woman had a grip on her arms and heat pushed toward her skin and the panic wouldn’t stop.

“Lizzy!” Billy caught the woman’s arms. “Hush now.” Wisps of something—smoke, dust, ash, Rysa didn’t know—rose from the woman’s skin when he touched her cheek.

The child skipped over, her little finger poking at Rysa’s chest. “Get her up!”

Lizzy let go and another ghoul snatched Rysa’s head back. Disorientation overrode all sense of up or down. A raw scream erupted from her throat, sound finally pushing out. Hands lifted her hips into the air. More held her legs. The ghouls flung her up high above the pavement and giggled when they caught her on the way down.

The chains rattled and the child’s harsh laugh hissed through the air.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.