Read Online Highland Son (Highland Sorcery: A New Dawn) by Clover Autrey - Free Book Online
Authors: Clover Autrey
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ensure their own survival.”
Relief flooded through him. Along with a cold sweat and then intense prickling heat, one sensation after the other. He shivered. His head sank to his chest. It was getting harder to breathe, harder to stay awake and focused.
“L-let my f-friends go.” His words were slurred and so soft he wasn’t sure anyone heard him.
The ground began to spin. Alexander blinked. He heard Ethan screaming. That was unusual. Ethan didn’t scream like that. Not in that pitch. The chain link backstop shook, reverberating behind Alexander’s back, shaking his arms. Painstakingly, he lifted his heavy head and flinched so hard last night’s meal threatened to come up.
He started tugging at the ropes in earnest. The backstop rattled more forcefully as the Sift above him climbed down the chain links like a spider, closer and closer.
Oh he was pished. That’s what Sheppard meant. Leave monsters to the monsters. It all became crystal clear. Sheppard had fed him to the Sifts.
Chapter Five
Dez awoke to Ethan screaming, his voice hoarse with emotion. “You sonsofbitches, let him go! I’m going to rip your throats out! Let him go! Help him!”
Cheek against scratchy weeds, dirt scraped around him, the noise of a scuffle going on. Dez managed to pry his eyes open. Immediately a spike drilled through his scalp and his vision blurred. He could make out Ethan on his back in the dirt, pinned by three men, but fighting with everything he had in him. Sheppard stood there, unperturbed by the disturbance Ethan and the men were making, his focus straight ahead.
An icy chill rode down Dez’s spine.
Planting his palms, he pushed up on his hands, and his head exploded in pain, darkening his vision. He hadn’t gotten more than inches off the ground. He swayed, shaky, yet determined to get these guys off Ethan. His jaw clenched in anger at the distraught curses.
“Alexanderrrr!”
Everything stilled inside him at Ethan’s anguished cry. He jerked his gaze forward…and the world fell out from underneath him.
Alexander slumped against the tall chain link backstop, his arms stretched and bound with rope high above his head. His head that slumped forward as two Sifts fought over his torso, gouging out the young man’s stomach. Blood covered him, covered them. Their rubbery brown flesh was slick with it.
Bile rushed to his throat. Alexander, no, gods no. He couldn’t still be alive, not torn apart like that...
Ignoring the hammering in his head, Dez surged to his feet, fighting to remain conscious long enough to get those damn monsters off of his friend. He made it several feet when a body slammed into his back, taking him back to the ground.
Sheppard’s hot breath washed close to his ear. “Watch, hero. See what happens to those tainted with magic.”
A meaty fist clamped in his hair and wrenched his head back so his line of sight was directly toward the monsters. His brain sloshed inside his scalp and he blinked to right his vision.
Dez tried to shake his head out of Sheppard’s grip. His vision wavered in and out, cloudy. Ethan’s cries echoed as though across a great chasm. Everything was darkening at the edges. Dez’s ragged breathing coated the air in heavy loud strokes.
Before the world closed on him he saw Alexander again as if a mist parted around him, around the backstop. The monsters had him, oh gods the monsters had Alexander. They fought over him, what was left of him, pulling Alexander from the chain link and dragging his body off into the darkness.
Dez screamed, screamed, screamed at the darkness.
The same darkness that crept across the field and claimed him.
~~~
Dez jerked awake. Horrifying images skittered across the dark edges of his consciousness. Alexander dead. Alexander being ripped apart and…shit. Alexander…
Needles of ice dug into his scalp when he lifted his head from the freezing floor. He was lying on cracked bathroom tile, arms bound behind him.
Relief flooded through him. Along with a cold sweat and then intense prickling heat, one sensation after the other. He shivered. His head sank to his chest. It was getting harder to breathe, harder to stay awake and focused.
“L-let my f-friends go.” His words were slurred and so soft he wasn’t sure anyone heard him.
The ground began to spin. Alexander blinked. He heard Ethan screaming. That was unusual. Ethan didn’t scream like that. Not in that pitch. The chain link backstop shook, reverberating behind Alexander’s back, shaking his arms. Painstakingly, he lifted his heavy head and flinched so hard last night’s meal threatened to come up.
He started tugging at the ropes in earnest. The backstop rattled more forcefully as the Sift above him climbed down the chain links like a spider, closer and closer.
Oh he was pished. That’s what Sheppard meant. Leave monsters to the monsters. It all became crystal clear. Sheppard had fed him to the Sifts.
Chapter Five
Dez awoke to Ethan screaming, his voice hoarse with emotion. “You sonsofbitches, let him go! I’m going to rip your throats out! Let him go! Help him!”
Cheek against scratchy weeds, dirt scraped around him, the noise of a scuffle going on. Dez managed to pry his eyes open. Immediately a spike drilled through his scalp and his vision blurred. He could make out Ethan on his back in the dirt, pinned by three men, but fighting with everything he had in him. Sheppard stood there, unperturbed by the disturbance Ethan and the men were making, his focus straight ahead.
An icy chill rode down Dez’s spine.
Planting his palms, he pushed up on his hands, and his head exploded in pain, darkening his vision. He hadn’t gotten more than inches off the ground. He swayed, shaky, yet determined to get these guys off Ethan. His jaw clenched in anger at the distraught curses.
“Alexanderrrr!”
Everything stilled inside him at Ethan’s anguished cry. He jerked his gaze forward…and the world fell out from underneath him.
Alexander slumped against the tall chain link backstop, his arms stretched and bound with rope high above his head. His head that slumped forward as two Sifts fought over his torso, gouging out the young man’s stomach. Blood covered him, covered them. Their rubbery brown flesh was slick with it.
Bile rushed to his throat. Alexander, no, gods no. He couldn’t still be alive, not torn apart like that...
Ignoring the hammering in his head, Dez surged to his feet, fighting to remain conscious long enough to get those damn monsters off of his friend. He made it several feet when a body slammed into his back, taking him back to the ground.
Sheppard’s hot breath washed close to his ear. “Watch, hero. See what happens to those tainted with magic.”
A meaty fist clamped in his hair and wrenched his head back so his line of sight was directly toward the monsters. His brain sloshed inside his scalp and he blinked to right his vision.
Dez tried to shake his head out of Sheppard’s grip. His vision wavered in and out, cloudy. Ethan’s cries echoed as though across a great chasm. Everything was darkening at the edges. Dez’s ragged breathing coated the air in heavy loud strokes.
Before the world closed on him he saw Alexander again as if a mist parted around him, around the backstop. The monsters had him, oh gods the monsters had Alexander. They fought over him, what was left of him, pulling Alexander from the chain link and dragging his body off into the darkness.
Dez screamed, screamed, screamed at the darkness.
The same darkness that crept across the field and claimed him.
~~~
Dez jerked awake. Horrifying images skittered across the dark edges of his consciousness. Alexander dead. Alexander being ripped apart and…shit. Alexander…
Needles of ice dug into his scalp when he lifted his head from the freezing floor. He was lying on cracked bathroom tile, arms bound behind him.
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