weight, feeling his blade pierce the granite-hard surface of her skin before sliding slick and smooth into her heart.
She gave out a small gasp of surprise, and then looked down at the hilt of the knife embedded in her chest. She collapsed to the ground, her hands tugging at the blade, trying to pull it free. Lucas drove his boot into her chest, pinning her to the ground and yanked the blade out. With his spare hand he reached for the paraffin in his bag, pulling off the lid with his teeth and dousing the girl even as she struggled beneath his boot. She spluttered and screamed as he sprayed the rest of the contents across the lawn, tossing the bottle towards the body of the other Original.
Then he took off, running, throwing his lighter over his shoulder and watching the blue flame ripple out with a whoosh, igniting the girl in a ball of shrieking flame, before snaking across the grass, sending great black clouds of smoke into the air.
Lucas dodged the wall of flame and dived towards Flic.
Chapter 36
A scream from the street made Evie freeze. She was halfway up the tree, scrambling up to see what it was Selena had seen on the other side of the wall. But at the sound of the scream her attention flew back to the street.
‘RJ,’ Selena whispered from the branch above before jumping to the mulchy ground and instantly breaking into a sprint.
Evie caught up with her, grabbing her by the arm and yanking her backwards into the undergrowth.
‘No,’ she hissed, ‘it could be a trap.’
Something didn’t feel right.
And just then the howling wail of sirens suddenly cut off with an almighty screech of brakes followed by the rip of metal and smashing glass. From the other side of the wall, Evie could now hear the roar of flames and someone – or something – shrieking. Oh please, dear god, don’t let it be any of them, was all she could think.
She turned back in the direction of the house, fighting every instinct in her body to go and join the fight. She needed to make a decision. If she was on her own she wouldn’t be standing here, she’d be over the wall already. But she had Selena with her, and RJ might be in trouble, and for good or bad she couldn’t just leave them, no matter how tempting it might be.
‘What did you see? What was on the other side of the wall?’ she demanded, shaking Selena by the shoulders. ‘Did you see Cyrus?’
Selena shook her head, mute, the whites of her eyes gleaming in the darkness of the undergrowth. The fear on her face was enough to make Evie’s own stomach clench into knots. Gone was the tough girl with attitude and in her place a scared child, looking to Evie for help. She couldn’t just leave her there.
‘Damn,’ Evie swore. She hauled Selena to standing. ‘Come on, let’s go.’
She would drag her somewhere safe and then go back to help the others. They hadn’t gone two yards though when a foot suddenly crunched through a pile of leaves close by them. They froze, Selena gripping her hand so tight Evie felt the bones crunch.
She ignored the pain shooting up her arm and focused her senses on that one area, twenty metres or so to their right. Something was stalking them.
‘Run!’ she hissed, pushing Selena away from whoever was approaching.
For a split second Selena stood there like a rabbit caught in headlights before she started running blindly, jumping over roots and bouncing off trees.
Evie darted out from the cover of the trees and onto the lawn, making herself a visible target, yelling, calling attention to herself, praying it gave Selena enough time to get away.
It worked. Evie blinked and suddenly it appeared. Right in front of her. An Original. Male. Over six feet tall, wearing jeans, a crisp white shirt and a pair of deck shoes – an outfit that seemed so incongruous with what it was that Evie blinked, trying to clear her head. It was only the red stain spattered across the shirt that gave her a reality check.
Her stomach turned somersaults. Her pulse spiked, announcing itself like a siren call. She started backing away, towards the house, in the opposite direction to the way Selena had run. She couldn’t run herself. It would take her down in a split second, in a heartbeat. She cast a quick glance over its shoulder.