Rich Kids Don't Die | Featured

Chapter Twenty Nine

I'm not in danger. I am the danger.

THE MAN LET OUT A DEAFENING ROAR, an animal caged within Alex's iron grip. Jagged shadows and fragments of moonlight shone on his broad features, highlighting the wide space between his cat-like amber eyes, down the bridge of his crooked nose and all the way down to his snarling mouth. Blood freckled his cheeks.

Katya's hazel eyes lowered to glowing slits as she watched him, silently fuming. "I knew you would have come eventually, Kazimir." she hissed. "Did you really think I wouldn't recognize you?"

A lazy, wicked smile curled onto the man's lips. He was still struggling for breath. "I was actually hoping you would, dear sister." he spit out the word, each syllable unraveling from his lips like dripping, acid poison that burned into Katya's skin. "That way I could whisper it into your ears over and over again, as you died by my hands."

Leah drew her sword from her glamoured purse. "Alright, someone should probably kill him-"

She never got the opportunity to finish her sentence. In a single electrifying flash, the man lunged forward, escaping from Alex's hold and swiftly tackling him to the glass-littered floor. Maddie sprinted towards them, brandishing her magic. Power lurched at her fingers, her immortal blood thrumming with mingled exertion and a crazed thrill.

The ground spun out from underneath him, a strangled scream as the shards of glass found themselves piercing through his skin. Silver vines flourished from the ground, restraining the man in enchanted bindings as he flung himself forward to tear at Alex with his claws.

Before Alex could rise freely, another hold clicked into place over his ankle. This time the hands of the second cloaked man, who had wriggled free from the table Katya had so gladly thrown on him. Alex's features screwed into a scowl and he kicked at the man's chest. Instantly, his hands fell from Alex's foot and he flung back onto the ground.

Annika drove a dagger through the edge of his cloak, pinning him to the ground and just barely missing his ribcage. He heaved his weight sideways to tug it out with his bloodstained hands, wearing a murderous glare.

Kazimir twisted fruitlessly in the silver vines before gathering his breath. His lungs rose and fell in caged fury. "After all this time," he spit out venomously. "You still choose to betray us. You still choose to disappoint us. You're still an abomination-"

Leah grabbed his wrists in one hand and twisted, tearing a silver chain off of her neck before allowing it burn into his skin. He screamed. There was a loud click as her necklace wound around his hands, before finally widening in size, the silver stretching with an almost cartoon-like elastic energy as it grew into gleaming handcuffs.

Two of them were now constrained – for the time being, which was running out fast. Violet faced Alex and Maddie, hesitating for words. "Guys?" she began quietly. A broad shadow appeared behind her. "Where's the other-"

An arm snaked around her neck. A scream lurched out from Violet's lungs, tearing through the air like a bolt of blinding lightning striking the bloodied room. Katya rushed towards her, a glinting knife spinning from her fingers. Each wary step closer Violet was dragged farther away, her screams louder each time.

A smoky orb of gray light burned vividly from behind Violet, illuminating the features of the man who held her as well as the swirling horror in her glittering eyes. Limb by limb, the gray light darted across her figure. A second hand glowed in the illumination, twisting around her abdomen. A transparent, black dome of magic flickered around them.

Katya snarled, throwing her knife at his forehead. The blade shot through his shield as easily as she'd expected, but he'd thrown himself sideways and it had dug into his shoulder instead. A blast of pain spilled over his bones, and his shield flickered away just as fast.