Wicked Ones {bxb}

{Chapter 50 : Ethereal - Part 2}

Jahni had underestimated these so-called Alphas. They were robust and versatile, and they struck with a ravenous determination. At one point, Jahni had forced one to his knees, his arm bent behind his back. It had seemed so easy to subdue him at the time, until the Wicked twisted and dislocated his own shoulder to lunge at him like a cobra plucked up by the tail. Since then, it had been a fight full of trickeries, and the battle had only become more challenging.

He'd relieved himself of the pressure training on his shoulders, but even without it, he was hardly fast enough to deviate from harm's way. He was matched with one of the men who seemed to have a hold on his equilibrium. Perhaps it was his ability, but Jahni found himself teetering with a dizzy sickly feeling in his stomach.

It took a moment of focus until Jahni could successfully balance himself. His recovery wasn't quick enough before two strong arms were chained around his neck. The Wicked in mention had leapt onto his back, and he found himself reddening for air past the constraint of his choke hold. He reached over his shoulder, and taking from the man's gravity was as simple as that. Jahni felt him lift from his back, the mass of his body departed, save for the arms around his throat. They held far less strength now that his body weight wasn't a factor, and it was easy enough for Jahni to reach behind and rip the Wicked from him like a stubborn leech.

In anger, Jahni clutched the man's head in his hands, holding his weightless body at an arm's length. The man was thrashing about like a fish at the end of a hook. He clawed and kicked, but Jahni only watched him with a silent disdain in his eyes. Then he positioned one hand beneath the man's chin, the other clasping the crown of his head, and with one sudden movement, Jahni yanked to the right. The Wicked's neck snapped, and to the floor, he fell like dead weight.

April was nowhere to be seen, but she was obviously giving hell to one of the Alphas. He curled inward at a blow to his stomach, but April was imperceptible. She was a ghost in his peripherals, and so she backpedaled a safe distance and observed him. This type of Wicked was one she'd seen before—one of the most popular of classifications. He relied on strength and had shown his beastly powers by throwing a punch that broke straight through the wood panels in the wall.

But despite how strong he was, he had made one grave mistake: he was fighting a Wicked that had spent the past three years of her life training with someone as mighty as Jahni. She was far too fast, and even when he'd heard a creak in the flooring and swung a hit directly at her, she managed to drop to the ground and evade it by a hair on her head. She clung to the terrazzo below her, crawling with the silent grace of a leopard. In seconds she was on the other side of him, watching him throw his fists to the air. Sure, he was blind to her presence, but he was still too strong to fight. The only way April was going to win this one was if the man took a bit of a fall.

She waited until he'd neared the railing just enough, and then April began to charge. She readied herself and as she neared him, she leaped. Her legs extended, and she bounded from his body with a kick to the back. It was more than enough to send him over.

April tumbled to the ground and scrabbled to the railing, peeking over to see where he'd gone. She could hear his shouting as he plummeted to the ground—nothing short of fifty feet below. His body twisted, and writhing in the air, like a cat fraught to catch itself on its feet. But his landing wasn't one bit as graceful. He met the ceiling of a glass cell, and April cringed and clapped her hands over her ears when she heard the snap from his spine and the echo as his body hit the floor.

As she turned, there were three more bodies strung about. Arlo was clearing the blood from his fist with the most remorseful of looks on his face while Jahni nudged one of the Wickeds until his head rolled over limp. But something about the scene made April hitch.