Ellasyna [Ceaelie #1] | completed

xvi | Gunpoint

© Stephanie Anne and Dee Atkins

                  Chapter Sixteen

       Those words echoed through the air around me. It was getting harder to breath, growing hazier. I was getting dizzy. No… I could see Cameron moving towards me, but I was unable to concentrate.

       I couldn’t breathe, let alone think straight. My limbs had gone numb all of a sudden, my heart picking up in my chest, speeding away. My palms were slick with sweat as I slowly began to stagger backwards, Cam following, eyes narrowed to slits, hand trembling at his side, slowly reaching up to grab what I knew would be a gun.

       And that was all I needed to turn on my heel and sprint for the window, grabbing my weapons on the way. I heard Cam swear loudly before rushing after me, but he was a fraction too late. I vaulted out the open window, heart hammering as I sprinted. Cam let out a yell as he chased after me.

       I could hear his pounding footsteps close behind me. He was fast, but I was faster. I raced through the woods, dodging trees, jumping over fallen logs and branches, sidestepping large rocks. My breathing was fast becoming ragged. My senses were on high alert. I could feel the earth around me humming, the wind picking up my loose hair as I ran, letting me know it was there if I needed it.

       A stream lay ahead and I quickly jumped across, heels of my boots skidding in the dirt on the opposite side. Cam was still behind me, never relenting, gaining on me. My legs ached from running, my mind muddled. The whispers in the wind guided me, urging me onwards; telling me not to give up.

       A gap in the trees emerged. I pushed myself faster, hearing Cameron right behind me. It occurred to me that this may be a trap; he might've wanted me to run. I could've been running right into my enemy; straight into an ambush.

       I shoved such thoughts aside and bolted, running faster than I ever had before. I passed through the gap in the trees, entering a clearing. My aim was to run straight through, but suddenly something hard and heavy collided with my back, making me yelp and be knocked to the ground.

       Cameron hissed at me and I immediately rolled away from his clenched fist that was aimed at my face. He was on top of me, but it didn’t mean I was completely useless. It was something Marceus and I had actually practiced - breaking the hold of a larger opponent. It wasn’t even that difficult.

       I wrapped my legs around Cam’s waist and flipped us over, focusing my weight on that single movement. We rolled, landing hard. I kneed him in the stomach, releasing my grip on him before running back towards the forest, my hands just reaching the two trees before I was ripped back and thrown on the ground.

       Cam straddled me, hands around my throat. The look of desperation and betrayal was clear in his stormy eyes, even as he tried to kill me. But my desperation and and stubborn determination pushed me to fight harder, to best him. But Cam wasn’t going to give up easily. He’d trained for this moment his whole life, his father, no doubt, drilling him with orders and training sessions. He’d probably been learning to fight ever since he could hold a weapon. He’d been taught his whole life to despise my kind, to kill us if given the chance, and I knew Cam wasn’t going to let me go, not until he’d finished the job - or one, of us was dead.

       My hands thrust out, clenching in his shirt as I shoved him with all my might, struggling beneath his strong grip. It was no use. He was strong, and heavy on top of me. Fire ignited in my veins and I suddenly, forcefully bit down on one of the hands that were restraining me, drawing blood. He grunted in pain, grip loosening enough for me to be able to slip from his grasp, rolling to the side into a defensive position.