Blood Oath (A Gabby Girls Adventure Novel, Book Two) (5 page)

"Don’t come near us," I spat angrily.

One of the
Banished
’s lifeless eyes narrowed icily. "There is no ‘us.’ We only want one. The Akasha."

My heart fluttered nervously. I could feel something brewing, a weird energy coursing through my body that caused my scarlet pendant to go absolutely haywire, flopping against my chest like a fish out of water. Zora shifted to run. He growled, low, guttural, snatching her by the throat with unheard-of speed, his teeth flashing as he went to bite her. I stared in disbelief, frozen. Then something snapped in me. Energy bubbled up from my toes, straight to my fingers. I flung my hands in his direction. It was as if everything was happing in slow motion. His hands were violently yanked away by some invisible force and twisted viciously behind his back, with bones cracking loudly. He howled like a wounded animal being attacked, screaming and jerking wildly. Huge animal like scratches appeared across his chest, with blood splattering over everything, including me.

I stared in horror when his body slammed against the floor, over and over again, until it lay lifeless with an oddly colored black blood seeping into the floor.

The rest of the
Banished
nervously backed away from us with eyes wide with shock and fear. Something grabbed them, lifting them in the air and ripping them into shreds.

My hands were shaking so badly that I clasped them together in front of me to stop the uncontrollable trembling. My fingers tingled with energy begging to be unleashed.

"Run!" I screamed.

Our bodies kicked into high gear as we quickly ran through the open door. I didn’t know where we were running, but I knew that it had to be far away from them.

My heart pounded as if it was trying to burst out of my chest. My lungs burned with effort. I was so consumed with fleeing that I didn’t even notice the lifeless bodies of the professors I’d grown to love, until I tripped over them, landing on the grass with a loud thud. I scrambled to my feet, freaked out by their blooded bodies and lifeless eyes, which stared up at me, frozen in pain. But what freaked me out the most was seeing the translucent bodies of professors and students walking aimlessly across the lawns. It was as if they didn’t realize that they were dead. Some of them stared at me with eyes that were so lost, and then disappeared into thin air.

Spinning quickly, I took off in a full-out sprint with my mind screaming over and over,
Run!
And then I heard it, the familiar sound of a strangled scream. Screeching to a stop, I looked over my shoulder.

"No!" Jessica screamed as she stood over the bodies of professors and students. Her body shook with body-rocking tears.

Panicked, I ran back to her. I wanted to bawl my eyes out too, but knew that if we didn’t make it at least to the tree line, we all would die.

"Jess, keep moving. There’s nothing we can do for them now." I tugged on her arm roughly, desperately.

Jessica just stared while Rosalinda and Zora looked around anxiously.

Grasping her face roughly, forcing her to meet my eyes, I said each word very slowly: "Jessica, we have to go."

She tried to tug her face away from me to look at the bodies again, but I held it tightly.

"Listen to me, Jess. They’re dead, and we have to go. Please."

Tears streamed down her face as she sniffled then nodded with acceptance. "Where will we hide?"

"I guess in the forest, right at the edge of the tree line. We’ll be able to see what’s happening from there." I wasn’t completely sure, but at least it gave us a fighting chance instead of being easy pickings out there in the open.

Rosalinda’s head snapped around suddenly. "Did you hear that?"

We barely breathed. It took me a few seconds to pick up the faint sounds. What was that? Footsteps. It was footsteps moving toward them with top speed. I grimaced. We had to make it to the forest, fast. Then I saw shadows approaching, quick as lightning.

"Run," I said, pulling Jessica’s arm roughly. Without hesitation, we rushed across the lawn toward the forest.

Normally this sprint would be nothing for me. But with Jessica in tow, it seemed to take forever to make it to the forest. Jessica tried to keep up, but she was struggling. I slowed my pace a bit. There was no way that I was leaving her behind. But Rosalinda and Zora, they were running as if they had wings on their feet and sped by us, disappearing into the dense forest.

An icy chill ran down my spine, causing me to shiver. I could hear the
Banished
footsteps catching up. Now I was practically dragging Jessica by the arm as she stumbled along. Our feet thumped against the dewy grass. We were just seconds from the cover of the forest, and safety. My heart pounded hard against my chest. My lungs burned. My legs were like rubber, wobbly, screaming to stop.

The pursuing footsteps grew louder, closer.
Oh please, if we could just make it…

Then it happened, just minutes away from the safety of the forest. It rustled with sounds of hard footsteps, and suddenly, a menacing-looking young guy appeared from within it, directly into our path, brandishing huge, gleaming silver swords.

Startled, we came to a screeching halt. Jessica yelped, dodging behind me.

The cold, calculating look in his gray eyes rattled me. He was older than us, but not by much. He looked maybe eighteen years old, if not younger, and he was very tall and intimidating, with lightly tanned skin and jet-black hair. His leanly muscular forearms were heavily covered with an inky design that snaked downward to his completely inked hands.

He slid his swords back into the sheath attached to his back as he looked at us with cold, deadly eyes, and in that terrifyingly crazed moment, confusedly, the only thing that popped into my head was that he looked like he could have just stepped out of a fashion magazine. And that under different circumstances—like if he wasn’t going to kill us and use our bones as wind chimes—I would have thought he was super hot.

I quickly shook my head to clear my mind. I needed to focus. His absolute hotness was totally beside the point right now. He was the
Banished
, and the only obstacle keeping us from sweet escape and safety.

I heard more footsteps approaching and saw more
Banished
Warriors appearing behind him with swords raised. They were coming out of the forest in droves. Exactly how many
Banished
did it take to overpower a school full of teenage girls?

Get it together. You’re Gabrielle Martin. The daughter of one of the most powerful magic wielders on the face of this earth. Get it together, girl. Show no fear,
I thought frantically.

Giving the young guy who appeared to be their leader a venomous glare, I quickly got into Warrior stance—or my somewhat awkward version of what we were trained do by the
Circles
. I made up my mind that there was absolutely no way he was taking us down without a fight. Jessica looked at me like I was an escaped patient from an insane asylum. Her eyes communicated that there was no way we could win. But I didn’t care because I felt absolutely crazed, pumped with adrenalin; common sense completely flew out the window.

Acting out of pure instinct, spiked with a little bit of crazy, I blocked Jessica’s body. "Stay away from us," I growled.

His face was a cold, unreadable mask. He moved forward slowly, like a lion tamer approaching a wild lion, and stopped mere inches from us. "Hey, hold on a minute. Relax, okay? We’re only here to—"

He took another step forward. Too close for my comfort.

I leaped at him, striking out with a spinning kick that I had just learned this week. I knew it was stupid since I really hadn’t even mastered the move, but I was reacting out of pure fear.

With freakish lightning speed, he quickly sidestepped my move, leaving me stumbling forward. I quickly regained my footing and awkwardly got back in Warrior stance.

"Hey, come on now!" He swore, shoving his hand through his hair. Now he looked at me with sheer amusement as his crew of
Banished
Warriors just stood looking at me like a specimen under a microscope.

I groaned with embarrassment. This was such an epic fail. I gritted my teeth with anger.
I’ll show him.
Sharply, I flipped my leg out, aiming straight for his smug but beautiful face. With one swift move, he deftly caught my leg with one hand while his other slammed into me palm-first. My standing leg started to slip. Yikes, this was definitely going to hurt. Like, a whole lot.

He swiftly released my leg, then reached out and roughly caught my arm.. I steadied myself by using it to pull me up, unnervingly finding myself pressed against his body, looking up into his light gray eyes. His eyes curiously lingered on my face. My stomach got a real weird queasy feeling, like I was one step away from hurling. Then, as quickly as it appeared, it vanished, leaving a warm, oozy feeling that left me staring, mesmerized by his eyes. My mind screamed to flee, but a tinkling emotion begged to stay.

I jerked out of his hold, causing him to step back quickly. I backed up toward Jessica, who was looking on with terror-filled eyes.

A voice was carried by the wind behind us. "Gabrielle, stop!"

At first, the words didn’t register as I prepared myself mentally to launch another attack on him.

"Gabrielle, I said stop!"

I recognized Thallo’s voice.

Suddenly, Jessica’s hand caught hold of mine. "Gabi," she said nervously, "stop."

Maybe it was the soothing sound of her voice or the pleading look in her eyes. My mind clicked—
enough
. My body sagged with relief, the tension oozing gratefully from my body.

The guy stepped forward; his face was super calm. "Allow me to introduce myself. I’m Chaos,
Ares
Warrior." His voice was low and gravelly. "I’m here to take you to Transcendence."

chapter

THREE

They were staring at
me like I’d suddenly grown two heads, but I refused to let them intimidate me. So, I stared right back at the throng of burly, menacing-looking
Ares
Warriors without blinking. They were so lame.

I actually sneered before saying matter-of-factly, "Really? Am I supposed to be shaking in my boots right now?"

The one I heard them calling Orion looked at me sourly. "No fear, that’s a very good thing,
Neophyte Circle
."

Chaos looked over at me with disdain. "That’s because she doesn’t know what fear is—yet."

That was the first word he’d uttered since they rushed us off the grounds of Vineswell Academy. Now we were being rushed up the metal stairs, into a huge private jet, where they promptly shoved us into the front section, quarantined to what felt like the children’s table at Thanksgiving.

Chaos screeched to a stop when a tall, lightly muscular guy who looked about sixteen angrily stepped into his path. The guy ran an agitated hand through his tousled chocolate brown hair, his gray eyes angry. They stared at each other menacingly, practically nose to nose, as the other
Ares
Warriors snickered, crowding around them with anticipation of a fight. I leaned forward curiously, waiting for the fight to break out. At least that would be interesting.

Chaos quickly ran his hand through his short jet-black hair, causing it to stick up haphazardly. "Not now, Justice."

I watched with fascination as Justice’s hands opened and closed with lightning speed as if he was trying hard not to throttle the life out of Chaos.

He scoffed. "Not now? Are you serious? You order me to stay here and babysit the jet like some sort of child when you know that I should have been out with the Trackers," he barked gruffly. "I’m ready, Chaos. You know I am. I’m the top Tracker in my class, so why wasn’t I out there with you?" He looked Chaos up and down with a venomous stare, his body tense. "Maybe because your days as top Tracker are almost over?"

Now, I looked at them anxiously. I wanted to jump up and stop them, but I didn’t know why. I mean, why did I even care if they tore each other apart? That was
Ares
Warriors business.

The
Ares
Warriors whooped and hollered wildly, cheering the confrontation on. The air was thick with tension and anticipation.

I shook my head with amazement,
Ares
Warriors gone crazy.

Chaos’s light gray eyes narrowed coldly as his body tensed. "I’m not worried. Little whining boys are no challenge for me. Ever."

Justice’s eyes were thunderous as he reached out to grab Chaos by the throat.

In a whir, Orion smoothly stepped between and pushed them apart with hulking speed and power.