A Glimmer of Hope (The Avalon Chronicles #1)(29)
He darted forward faster than Gyda had been expecting and grabbed hold of her arm, his grin widening. “I think you’ll be a lot calmer now.”
Gyda looked down at his hand, and then back up at his face. She smiled. “You’re expecting something to happen, aren’t you?”
She could see the crushing realization that something was terribly wrong as it hit Shane, but he didn’t move fast enough to get away. Gyda drove her elbow into his jaw. Shane staggered back and Gyda kicked him in the chest, causing him to fall to the ground.
“That should have worked,” Shane said, his nose and lip both bloody.
Gyda didn’t reply as she went on the offensive, kicking out Shane’s knee as he got back to his feet. He staggered slightly, but Gyda was faster and more aggressive, driving her knee into his chest. She grabbed the back of his head and brought it down onto her knee, before kicking him in the stomach, sending him up against the far wall.
Shane spat blood onto the ground and blocked a left-hand punch, ducking under it and striking Gyda in the stomach. Gyda moved back, showing no outward indication that she was injured. She hadn’t felt pain for a long time and the physical sensation after so many centuries was almost too much for her senses to take, but she fought to ignore it. As she wasn’t the host of the body, it would be a while before the pain wracking Layla’s body would have any effect on Gyda’s ability to use it. And, hopefully, by the time the body got used to her presence, she’d be able to let Layla back in control. She kept a distance from Shane as he drew a dagger from behind his back. It was seven inches long and slightly serrated on one side, with a wooden handle.
“I’ve used this a lot over the years,” Shane told her, holding the knife down by his leg.
The metal covering Layla’s hand and forearm began to shimmer, but Gyda didn’t want to give away what she could do.
“Want to come back now?” Shane asked. “I really will get into trouble if I cut you, but I’m thinking a little off the ears won’t cause too many problems for me. Maybe a finger. Something you can live without.”
“How many have you killed?” Gyda asked.
Shane smirked. “Humans? Fourteen back in Texas, before these fine people found me and gave me a better purpose. That was ten years ago. Another dozen since then. Nonhumans? I stopped counting some time ago.”
“People like you never stop counting.” Gyda ran forward, dodging the swipe of the dagger, and drove her fist into Shane’s stomach, igniting the power inside her at the same time. The metal around her hand and forearm tore into Shane as if he were made of paper, cutting through his body as a dozen thin blades punctured his stomach.
Shane gasped and dropped the dagger, before falling to one knee. “I always thought you were a sweet girl, Layla.”
“Sorry, Layla is sleeping.”
Shane’s eyes widened in recognition and surprise. “She found a spirit scroll.” It wasn’t a question.
Gyda retracted the metal and wrapped it around her hand. She walked behind the kneeling Shane and placed her hand on the top of his head. “Final words?”
“They’re going to . . .”
Shane never got to finish his sentence, as a scream from behind her caused Gyda to knock him out with a punch to the back of the head. She spun around to face the blood elf that had charged her, its wicked sword drawn. She transformed the metal into a sword and parried the blade the elf swung toward her. It didn’t care how she died, it just wanted to kill.
It swung the sword with power rather than accuracy, and Gyda easily dashed back out of the blade’s reach. She waited until the sword had moved far enough through another swing that it was no longer a threat and sprinted forward, driving her own blade up into the face of the blood elf, cracking through the skull, and killing the creature instantly.
She left the metal sticking out of the blood elf’s skull, and went back to Shane, searching his pockets. She found a set of car keys and pocketed them. After using Layla’s power to tear all the metal out of the controls so that no one could bring the lift back down, Gyda boarded and pressed the green button to take her to the outside.
It was a long journey, and she spotted Shane’s allies arrive a minute after it had started. They screamed at her, but Gyda ignored them, the words all mixing into a torrent of abuse she barely gave any thought to. It wasn’t until she heard the sound of a gun firing and felt a gut-wrenching pain tear through her arm that she used Layla’s power to move most of the nonessential metal beneath the lift to create a shield against more shots. Blood ran freely from the bullet hole in her shoulder and every movement was an agony she’d forgotten could even exist, but she wasn’t about to let it stop her escape.
As soon as she was outside in the darkness of the night, she spent a few seconds getting her bearings. The exit to the underground complex had taken Gyda up into a large wooded area. A hill sat behind her, and a dirt road ran just in front. She couldn’t see much, except what moonlight managed to break through the leaves, but it did illuminate a white Range Rover parked just in front of a large tree. She removed the keys from her pocket and pressed the button to unlock the car, which it did with a click and flash of the head-and brake lights, illuminating the otherwise dark woods.
Gyda had no idea where she was, or how to get to safety, but after searching Layla’s memories, she knew that she was several miles from a town. She hoped Layla’s memories of driving would be enough, and took the vehicle out of the woods at a slow but steady pace. It was faster than running. Eventually she came to a main road and stopped, using the built-in sat nav to find the nearest hospital.