Haze by Paula Weston

Author:Paula Weston
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Romance, Fantasy
Publisher: The Text Publishing Company
Published: 2013-04-16T04:00:00+00:00

NASTY SURPRISE

Oh shit, oh shit.

Bel.

Blood and all the noise of the street and the kids roars in my ears.

The pale demon is standing in the middle of the road, a broadsword at his waist. I vaguely register that he’s recovered from the blade Nathaniel buried in his shoulder earlier in the week. He looks taller in daylight, his fine features and white hair more startling. His irises are still on fire. My fingers tighten on the bars.

Behind me, the men from the club hit the back door. I hear it open, then sounds of fighting.

More screaming. The kids have seen Bel. He stands there on the street, soaking up the fear and panic roiling behind the gates.

I risk a look over my shoulder. Ez is holding off the men, kicking and punching them back into the hallway, using everything but her sword to slow them down; they’re a problem we don’t need, but they’re still human. She doesn’t know we’ve got a bigger problem outside the gates.

The kids are swarming, frantic, caught between the fighting men and the monster outside the gate. I catch a glimpse of a floral dress and then it’s gone, lost in the crush.

Something clicks in the metal under my hands. I freeze.

‘Open it!’ Mya shouts.

‘We’ve got company.’

Mya straightens, sees Bel. ‘Jess, call for back-up.’

Jess’s eyes skitter to the white-haired demon. ‘I can’t! You’re not done inside yet!’

‘I don’t care. We’re getting these kids out.’

‘But—’

‘DO IT!’

Jess pulls a slim-line phone from inside her nurse’s uniform, taps in the number one-handed. Bel strolls back and forth in front of us, his eyes flitting from Mya to me and back again. The children cower back from the bars now, crying.

‘I knew you would not be able to stay away from here,’ Bel says to Mya. ‘All that guilt. All that regret. But you, Gabriella, you are a most delicious surprise. Are you still trying to work out which side you want to die on? Let me give you a tip: Nathaniel will not be turning up to save you this time. Not at this place of the damned.’

Scuffling continues behind us. ‘Hey!’ Ez shouts. ‘Either open that gate or give me a—’ She doesn’t finish the sentence and I’m not game to take my eyes off Bel again to find out why.

‘Bring the bus,’ Jess shouts into her phone. ‘And bring back-up—uugh!’ She slams into me as the men from the club crash into her. Ez isn’t holding them back any more. Mya and I lock eyes. We have to open the gates. It’s not as if they’re keeping Bel out.

‘Go on, let the little ones run,’ Bel says. ‘More Immundi are coming. It will give them something to do when they see their pets fleeing.’

Bodies press against me. I react without thinking. I punch two men and use my knee to push a third away. They stink of bourbon. Mya lays a hand on the gate, looks at me. She’s waiting for me to make the call.

Is this more complicity or is she unsure? Right now it doesn’t matter—there’s no choice.

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