Unknown L (Book 1)

~~~~ Coming Together ~~~~

L screamed and realised too late that it didn't need to kill her, just cause her too much pain to be a problem. The diversion was just what they needed, though. While the scorpion was distracted, Bryce had time to move to where his dagger lay on the floor.

L watched in agony, the blade was suddenly glowing brightly, and it came down fast, slicing through the scorpion's injured tail. The sound it made was horrifying, and it let go of L immediately. She dropped to the floor and shuffled back while it writhed in front of her. Bryce had jumped out of the way, and they watched the creature fall to the floor, twisting and flopping around. 

L couldn't help but stare at it until it finally stopped moving. Her idea had been right- cutting its tail off would kill it. She stared over at Bryce, who looked relieved and then to the Worcesters, who appeared to be in shock. L tried to get up, but the pain in her leg was too intense. She sat on the floor with her back against the wall and caught her breath instead.

She could see blood pouring from the cut, but she didn't have anything in her to try and stop it. Bryce came running over a few seconds later, followed by the Worcesters who were all silent. Bryce leaned over her wound and laid his hands on it carefully. He was muttering something that even L couldn't catch, and a minute later, she felt the pain subside.

"The cut is really deep, and I don't know if anything's broken, but that should hold it 'til we can get you to the hospital. Good idea about the tail, by the way."

He was smiling at her, and L felt relieved that he wasn't going to lecture her again. She'd had enough of his lectures.

"I guess staying home doesn't really keep danger away from me, does it?"

Bryce rolled his eyes and just barely smirked, "Alright, point taken. I guess it doesn't, but even under these circumstances, I'm glad we finally found the other traitor."

"How did you know it wasn't really Edra, though? It was the spitting image and sounded just like her... at first."

Bryce smirked wider, "It's a magic thing, those trained with magic can see it when it's being used and the true masters, like Edra, can detect what species is using it for what purpose. I just sent Edra a message with the magic surrounding this house. If it had really been her, then she would have seen it, understood it, and followed what it said."

"What was the message?"

"Use the back door."

L stared at Bryce for the longest moment until a chuckle escaped her, "That simple, huh?"

"Yup, so I knew it wasn't Edra when she kept coming at the front door trying to talk me into letting her in."

L was smiling widely at how amusing it was. She wasn't sure if she was in shock because it shouldn't have been that funny. She only realised the Worcesters weren't all there when Mrs Worcester came rushing back with a first aid kit.

"This will help with the bleeding for now, but she doesn't look so good. She's lost too much blood already."

The panic in her voice brought L around a little, and she could feel the haziness had started to take over without her realising.

"I think Mrs Worcester is right, I need to go... to hospital."

Bryce's smile faded, and he helped to bandage L's leg with Mrs Worcester, then he carefully pulled L up off the floor.

"We'll be up there in no time."

But just as Bryce was about to pick her up, something started moving behind them. Something was clicking and shifting. They all turned as one to see the scorpion body moving again. It was beginning to stand, and to their horror, the tail was gruesomely growing back.