C
hapter 1
Not a Child Anymore
Blood paints the ground as the bodies drop, and screams follow the mouths of the fallen. My guns are burning against my hands as the bullets fire rapidly, slapping their uranium promise of death against my enemies.
With the mountainside at my back and my adversaries straight ahead, I’ve got nowhere left to go. Our ammunition is steadily running out, and this is about to get uglier.
I only wish I knew how to use all the fucking power inside me. If my mother was here… well, let’s just hope it doesn’t come to that.
Please hurry and show up, Uncle Grayson.
“Aria! Down, now!” Rex screams, his visions prompting him to duck and dive before he has to on his way to me.
I scream out as a uranium grenade explodes beside me, and I roll through the gap of two boulders just in time to dodge the deadly blast.
Damn that was too close.
Suddenly, bodies opposing us start falling rapidly to the ground. I hear the shots coming from far away at an angle where we shouldn’t have any men.
Damn it! Uncle Brazen is here.
Only he can make that many bodies hit the ground without being seen, and he’s going to be so fucking pissed.
I fire my last few shots into the hoards of the Unaligned. I curse when my chamber clicks empty, reminding me I’m of no use to anyone without a weapon. I try forcing my gift free, but it’s pathetic... as always. Nothing happens besides a slight ground stirring, but the Unaligned gifted come out to play the moment they spot my attempt.
I scream as I fly backwards after feeling a bursting in my abdomen. I look down to see the slices on my shirt from the strike I never saw, and then I scream again as a gifted hybrid jumps up to show me her face.
She holds her hand toward me, and the slices emerge again, revealing the mystery. I feel as though I’m being torn apart by a jaguar with uranium-dipped claws.
She screeches when a bullet slaps her in the stomach, and she ducks down before five more come flying in with a fiery blaze. One of her men steps in and takes the brunt of the bullets whizzing toward her, and they both limp off together before I’m joined by the pale eyes I’ve been dreading to see.
“Damn it, Aria. How many fucking times have I told you to not get yourself pinned against a wall?” Uncle Brazen scolds while tossing me a pack of blood.
He begins firing again, and then he tosses me an ammo clip to replace my empty one. I quickly refill it and squat behind the rock to help him fire into the crowds. I appreciatively drink the blood, gasping in relief when I feel my wounds closing up.
“It looks like you’re pinned now too,” I snark, though I’m so damn glad he’s here right now.
I look over to see Rex still dodging bullets, and Uncle Brazen takes out the men surrounding him as he makes his way through the massacre to join us.
“I’m only pinned because you almost died,” Uncle Brazen growls, his eyes too busy to join his mouth in scolding me.
“I’m sorry. Don’t be mad. This is bad enough.”
“It’s not me you have to worry about being mad,” he murmurs with a twisted, secretive smirk.
“Damn it! She’s here?” I squeal, the knots in my stomach twisting, turning, and growing all the more rancid as I get sick.
He smiles bigger when the question I asked is answered in front of my eyes. The clouds part as a suctioning force breaks free like an instant stage five storm. The black hole promise of death pulls the weapons of our enemies from their hands as my eyes fall upon the woman walking through the fight without fear.
Her long, red jacket blows in the wind that has been created by her own hands, and her dilated pupils strike fear into the eyes of everyone - including our own people. But her sexy ensemble makes me roll my eyes while inwardly gagging.
Gifted hybrid foes step up to take their shots, their savages emerging when they release their power tied to it. They’re no match for her though.
Her invincible body takes the full brunt of their force as though it’s sand swirling against her. Cat Claw Girl gets a dose of her own medicine as she spirals backwards through the air to be gashed up by a raging bolt of red lightening.
Finally, the woman in red decides to bring her dramatic entrance to an end as she uses her savage, chime-toned voice to say, “Sleep.”
