Noir_A Crimson Shadow Novel by Nathan Squiers

Author:Nathan Squiers [Squiers, Nathan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Literary Dark Duo Publishing
Published: 2018-11-08T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

Seeing red again/The hard goodbye

The music was far too loud and added to Xander’s already throbbing head. He cringed at the melodic invasion and dug himself deeper into the cushioned surface he found himself on in an attempt to drown it out, groaning in pain as he shifted. A drum solo kicked in and he cried out in pain.

“Xander? You awake, buddy?”

He groaned again as he shifted his body—careful to move slower in an attempt to avoid any more aches—and felt his arm drop over the edge of whatever he was lying on. As gravity tugged at his injuries he let out another pained moan.

The music silenced then, plunging the swirling darkness behind his eyelids into silence. Finally able to hear himself think, he wondered why his eyes hadn’t opened yet.

“Hey,” a familiar voice called out again, “c’mon, Stryker! Show me you’re still alive!”

Xander whimpered in response as he pulled his arm back to his chest and turned around; he didn’t care where he was, how long he’d been out, or even how he’d survived being hit by what had felt like a bomb—especially since it felt like he’d taken almost all the impact on his head. He just wanted to slip back into unconsciousness until the pain was something close to bearable.

“Come on, Xander!” he finally recognized the voice as Marcus’, “Open your damn eyes and tell me you’re at least not blind!”

“That’s… not… funny!” Xander took in a deep breath to try and combat the agony in his chest as well as the Antichrist that was birthing itself through his skull.

“It’s not supposed to be, bud. Now open wide and tell me what you see,” there was a faint slurping.

Xander sighed and strained his eyelids to open and cried out in pain.

Marcus sighed, “Yea, Stan said you’d be hurting for a while. He did all he could on you, but there’s only so much that magic can do.” Xander noticed his voice get louder as he approached, then another brief slurp, “All things considered, it’s a damn miracle that you’re even alive!”

Xander frowned at that and turned his head towards Marcus’ voice and tried to open his eyes again. There was another pinch at his temples as he did, but he held them open through the agony and looked up at Marcus, who stood over him with two medical bags of blood, one of which he had opened and was sipping from with a crazy-straw. He started to laugh at the sight but a sharp pain in his spine stopped him.

“Stan?” he gritted his teeth and rode out the sensation, “You know him?”

Marcus scoffed, “There aren’t many in the Odin Clan who don’t—” He frowned, “… Who didn’t know of Stanly Ferno. I’m surprised you didn’t know.”

Xander shook his head. “Depok said something…” He sighed, “What was Stan doing at the mansion anyway?”

“I’ve learned better than to question Stan and his methods,” Marcus answered, “Either way, he saved your life; though we were both concerned about your vision.

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.