~~Young~~

Chapter Thirteen

   He knew he wasn’t visible yet when he stepped in front of her, he was taking his time pulling his wings in to avoid any cramping this time, but he could’ve sworn her eyes focused on him.

   He had only enough time to frown when a bang echoed off the alley’s walls, red blooming along Sera’s side just a moment later.

   She…she didn’t just…smile…did she?

   As her body collapsed Gage could now see the bouncer standing at the end of the alley, the shot gun raised and smoking from the shot fired.

   He swallowed, his eyes wide as he looked to Sera’s writhing figure on the ground. He didn’t know what to do. No, he didn’t know what he should do. Wasn’t it just a moment ago he thought this might be the best for her?

   She was fumbling around for something, her hands digging through her coat for…a cell phone? So what, now she was going to call the authorities?

   She began choking as she held the dull black device out in front of her, blood spurting from her lips with every cough. Her eyes narrowed, tried to focus as he heard a few tell tale beeps…damn! His wings needed to hurry the hell up. Sure he could make himself visible to her, but which was worse? Gage with a full set of wings or a disfigured Gage that looked as if he had a two grotesque humps growing out of his back?

   He didn’t get the chance to decide because Sera’s hand collapsed with one last gag, then he didn’t care what happened.

   No…he thought no!

   He dropped to his knees beside her and looked over her frantically, his hands moving about but not touching, not knowing what to do to stop this from happening, knowing he should just let it happen…

   “Oh beauty,” he whispered as footsteps began echoing down the alleyway.

   But it wasn’t the men, it was the woman from before, Mama, and she threw herself at Sera.

   “What the hell are you waiting for, help her!” She shouted at Gage.

   “You…you can see me? He asked in shock.

   “Of course I can you fool, not get her out of here!”

   “Wh…how?”

   But she wasn’t listening to him, her eyes were fixed on the big guy sauntering towards them with his gun resting casually over his shoulder.

  “Fuck,” Gage spat and pressed his hand to the ground.

   Instantly a line of frost began creeping over the ground, shooting straight for the bouncer. He had enough time to frown at the crackling noises before the frost took hold of him and froze his body solid.

   “There, now we’ve got a few minutes, how the fuck can you see me?”

   She met his question with one of her own, “did you kill him?”

   “Won’t know till he defrosts, depends how strong his is,” he rambled off quickly, “now, how the fuck can you see me?”

   She looked to Sera, ran a light hand across her cheek and then stood from the ground as she pulled at her clothes. She had nothing but contempt in her eyes as she disrobed, turning from Gage as she exposed her back so he could see what was there beneath the dirt smudges. Scars, two oblong scars between her shoulder blades. Rough and discolored, the edges were ragged as if what had been there was torn away, not cleanly removed. He could only stare, knowing exactly what used to be there.