Dead Man's Deal The Asylum Tales - By Jocelynn Drake Page 0,97
worried. I wasn’t in the mood to wait on Mother Nature when I had other problems weighing on me.
Traffic was starting to pick up as kids got off school and first-shift workers started heading home. I couldn’t find any parking near Diamond Dolls, so I slid into a nearby lot about a block away. I didn’t mind the short walk in the warm early-evening air, as it gave me a little time to think.
As I reached the corner and started to turn down the next block, an explosion rocked the area. The earth shifted beneath my feet and the concussive force slammed into my back, knocking me to the ground. I tried to catch myself, skinning my palms and banging my knees in the process.
There was a ringing in my ears and my body protested this constant abuse. As the ringing faded, I could make out the sound of screaming and desperate shouting down the street behind me. Turning to look the way I’d come as I got to my feet, I was thinking that it had to have been a gas leak at one of the shops. Or maybe a meteor fell from the sky. Clearly, I was in denial.
My heart jumped into my throat when I spotted the two witches and the warlock strolling down the street through the billowing smoke. They all held wands in their hands. With a quick flick of the wrist or a broad swing of the arm, a building would burst into flames. I backed up, ducking behind the corner of the nearest building so that I wasn’t in their line of sight. Cars were overturned or simply stopped in the middle of the street, as the occupants preferred to beat a hasty retreat on foot, hoping to provide a smaller target for the magic users.
People tried hiding in the various stores along the street, which had worked in the past, but the deadly trio was blowing out windows, tearing off roofs, and setting structures on fire as they slowly progressed. A man darted out of one of the stores before it could be torn apart. He tripped and fell hard to his knees in front of one of the witches. Grabbing up her cloak in one hand, she gleefully kicked him in the head while the warlock landed a kick to his stomach.
Swearing a blue streak, I pushed away from my hiding spot. I didn’t have my wand, but I had to do something. They wouldn’t be permitted to continue causing this carnage unchecked through the city. Before I could step into view, a hand clamped down on my shoulder and swung me around until my back hit the wall I had been hiding behind.
I blinked in shock and found myself staring at Gideon. He was looking a little more pulled together than he’d been at our last meeting, but with him standing so close, I noticed that his tie had been pulled loose as if he were having a tough day at the office.
“What the f—” I started to shout, but Gideon cut me off.
“Shut up and keep hidden!” he ordered. I tried to push away from the wall as he leaned over toward the main street to get a better view of the carnage, but he immediately put a hand in the middle of my chest and pushed me back. “Stay here.”
“Why? What the fuck is going on?”
“They’re searching for you.”
My blood ran cold in my veins with those words and I leaned against the wall for support. “Why?”
Gideon frowned at me for a second before he dropped his hand. “William Rosenblum came looking for you and he never returned to the Towers. Judging by your appearance, I’d say it’s a safe wager that he found you but didn’t survive the encounter.”
I nodded. In truth, I was a bloody, ragged mess because of Reave, but that was beside the point. Wild Bill had come looking for me and got to chew on the front bumper of a truck for his troubles.
“Rosenblum dies in Low Town, so these assholes decide to come to town and tear shit apart. What the hell!”
The warlock shook his head as he peeked around the corner. Whatever he saw made him pale, but he came back to me with his face wiped clean of expression and roughly grabbed my arm. He pulled me down the block until we could duck down another alley, farther away from where the trio was destroying the shops.