A couple of you were asking where you could reach me, and you can always find me on Twitter, and I talk about my books more often on there, it's @/furysillyana
K E I R A
Las Vegas, USA
We'd been driving for the past fifteen hours, and while they had gone by uneventfully, I knew that would change now that darkness had settled in and the traffic on the highway had gotten scarce. It wasn't even the leaden taste of fear at the back of my throat that had my hackles rising; it was the knowledge that they were coming for us. Nikolai had talked me through Kyzer's master plan; however, I couldn't shake the feeling that the ghosts chasing us would just be gone after that.
It just didn't seem realistic at all.
"Fuck." Nikolai mumbled under his breath, freeing his hand from mine as his eyes danced between the side mirrors frantically.
I turned around, counting the number of headlights behind us, "It's five that I can make out."
Nikolai nodded before flooring the accelerator, sending the car flying. I took my gun in my hand and got into position, waiting for them to take the first shot. Nikolai had his own Eagle in his hand as he steered the car on the asphalt. One of the SUVs drove next to us, and then its window rolled down before a gun barrel became visible, and I stiffened, aiming. Nikolai brought his own window down, nodding at me, and I pressed the trigger, shooting the fucking driver in the side of his head. The SUV swerved before going off the road and toppling over.
One down.
The others became more frantic after that, raining bullets on us, and I crouched low in my seat. My eyes met Nikolai's, and for a second, I wanted to just keep staring at his eyes. I checked my mag and then loaded my bullets and focused on aiming at the other car right behind ours, blowing its tires off. The third car rammed us in the back, and I jerked forward, barely keeping my head from hitting the dashboard.
"Are you okay?"
"I'm fine." I turned my head to Nikolai, who was clenching his jaw, his eyes trained on his side view mirror as he swerved the car to the side. My head jerked towards the window, and I placed my hand on the window to soften the impact.
Meanwhile, Nikolai was busy swerving away from the other vehicle trying to crash into us. I kept my eyes towards the back screen and watched as the SUVs parted, making way for a black Lamborgini, its lights blinding.
"Niko, they're making way for a Lamborgini." My voice was shakier than I'd wanted, and Nikolai eyed his side-view mirror.
"Fuck." His eyes met mine, and the look in them should have scared me half to death; however, when he tilted his head, I nodded and opened my window.
I'd placed the barrel of my gun at the edge, aiming behind us while I kept my eyes on the side-view mirror, and when Nikolai moved the car to the overtaking lane, I pulled the trigger just as he said,
"Now."
The shot echoed in the space around us. However, when none of the cars behind us seemed to have slowed down, I knew I'd missed the driver.
"Shit." My teeth sank into my lower lip as I tried to get the third car's driver, but there was no visual. I couldn't take him out.
"It's fine. Blow the tires off." Nikolai murmured, and I did just that, without any mistake this time.
It was hard to hear anything beyond the beating of my heart inside my chest, but I managed to take three out while Nikolai kept us on the road. Still racing against the wind, with trouble chasing after us in the rear-view mirror. Nikolai didn't take the next exit off the highway, running straight ahead on the road; the darkness only lit up momentarily by the golden headlights of the car.
Another gunshot echoed in the air, and this time, the bulletproof glass gave in, and the rear screen crashed, glass shards flying everywhere. I crouched, head between my knees, waiting for the worst of it to be over. Nikolai groaned, and I whipped my head in his direction, gasping when I saw that a shard had cut his cheek and another was stuck in his forearm. For that one second, I thought it was over. The acrid smell of fear burned my throat, and the adrenaline felt like falling off a flying plane with no parachute in sight. For a second, as I'd watched the cars chasing us losing the tail because of my bullets, it'd almost felt like flying, but now the crash made it seem like any wings I might've had were battered and bleeding.
I leaned forward, feeling up the area around the shard to make out the depth of his injury, sagging with relief when I realized it hadn't gone in deep.
"Do you want me to take it out?" I whispered my grip tight on his arm.
"Yeah. Take it out."
"You'll bleed."
"Won't be the first time." Nikolai laughed darkly, meeting my eyes before he returned his focus to the road.
I sighed and pulled it out. I'd tried to be careful, but that was a little challenging to achieve when you were going over a hundred miles per hour with cars chasing you. Nikolai stiffened but otherwise remained silent as I took it out, and I relaxed when I noticed it wasn't bleeding much.
My heart was almost to my stomach, and I wasn't even stressed about myself. I knew between the both of us, the only one that was more exposed was Nikolai, and there was nothing I could do to ensure that he stayed safe when it was time for us to crash.
Nikolai played with the vehicles behind us some more as I shot at them, doing a shit job of trying to kill them if I said so myself. His lips finally turned up into a smirk as the reality sank in that we'd managed to stick to the mirage that we wanted them to see because when it'd burst, Astley would realize that it was a deliberate hoax to make him believe he was the puppeteer when that couldn't be far from the truth. This was Kyzer's show; he was the magician, and no matter what Astley would pull from his hat, he had already mastered ten ways to disarm his scheme.
Nikolai hit the brakes, allowing the two SUVs and the Lamborgini to catch up, and when I could see the driver of the fourth one, I aimed and shot him dead between the eyes.
"Down," I whispered, and then my eyes sought out Nikolai's in the darkness. The side of his face had darkened with dried blood on his cheek, and he wasn't even looking at the road.
It was dangerous but not more than tempting death by presenting ourselves on a silver platter. I reached forward and slammed my lips against his, my hands fisting the collar of his jacket. He moved his lips against mine in a short kiss that stole the need for any more words we could have said. He pressed his forehead to mine, breathing for me before opening his eyes.
"Do you think we've played with them enough?"
"We got rid of four of their vehicles. I think it would be okay if you make a mistake."
Nikolai scoffed before slowing down, speeding up again when the last of the cars almost touched the back of our car. This time, the SUV rammed into us from behind, the Lamborgini's front collided with the tires of our car, and I jerked forward, only staying in my seat because of the seat belt. The SUV came at us again, hitting the vehicle from the side as the driver hit one of the tires. The Aston Martin screeched on the road, and when the fucker hit the car again from the side this time, Nikolai hit the brakes, making the car spin. Another impact sent the vehicle rolling on the road, and I sought out Nikolai's hand, knowing this was it.
He took my hand as the vehicle skidded on the road on its roof before coming to a stop. I exhaled, my muscles moaning from the impact and head woozy from hanging upside down. I barely managed to open my eyes and make out two sets of feet, pulling the doors of the car open. I whimpered as I was pulled out of the car, trying to look for Nikolai, when a foot on my back stopped my movement.
Someone said something in Italian before they tied my hands behind my back, throwing me in the back of the SUV. I forced my body to relax and closed my eyes, making them think I'd passed out, but I honestly could have passed out from relief when I felt them toss Niko's warm body on mine. Except there was also something. He was wet, and I just knew it was blood. My throat seized up as I struggled against my bindings, trying to sit up.
I didn't think this was supposed to happen.
A hiss escaped my lips when someone pulled me up by my hair and ordered someone in Italian. I held my breath, holding the bastard's gaze with indignation, not even surprised when he backhanded me. Some men felt good preying on the weak, except I could wipe the floor with him if my hands weren't tied. I didn't get a chance to straighten when something pricked my arm, and all the fight seemed to leave me as my eyelids got heavy, and I surrendered to the murky darkness calling out my name.
* * *
Oops...
What do you think will happen now?
Thoughts? Theories?
I'll update soon, in the next week because I've been working hard writing ahead so once the book is finished offline, I'll pull in first chapter of Kyzer's story and then I'll do a double final update for Nikolai and Keira❤️
Thank you so much for reading! Please vote & comment!