Autumn's Blood: The Spirit Shifters, Book One by Marissa Farrar Page B

splitting up in an uneven
number, one would always plan on getting the other’s
back.
    As if Blake’s suspicion had conjured
him, another man—a beanie hat pulled down over his head—appeared
around the corner, a gun held in both hands and pointed directly at
Blake.
    Blake lifted his hands in
surrender.
    Behind him came movement as Autumn
dived for the gun the other man had dropped. The new arrival swung
his weapon in her direction.
    “Autumn, no!” Blake
yelled, his heart lurching with fear, certain she’d be killed. But
she grabbed the weapon, rolled to one side, and sat up, aiming the
gun in the other man’s direction. She didn’t get the chance to use
it. Something launched at the man’s back, knocking him to the
ground. His gun went off with a muffled pop —a silencer, Blake realized—the
bullet streaking past Blake’s ear.
    He looked back to find Chogan sitting
on top of the other man. His cousin reached down, took the man’s
head between both hands, and gave a hard wrench, snapping his
neck.
     
     
    AUTUMN GOT TO her feet, still pointing
the gun which trembled in her grip. She’d never even held a weapon
before, never mind fired one—she was a scientist for God’s
sake!—but at that moment, she hadn’t doubted that she would have
killed to save Blake. Her back and shoulder burned from where she’d
grazed herself on the concrete while going for the gun.
    “You!”
    With astonishment, she realized that
she recognized the guy now climbing off the dead man’s body. He was
the same one who had stopped her on the way home.
    Blake spun to her. “You know
him?”
    “Yes ... no ... Well, he helped me the
other day.”
    The man gave a slow grin. “You can
thank me later, Cuz. For now, I think we need to get out of
here.”
    “We don’t need to do anything. You shouldn’t even be
here.”
    “Others are coming. We can’t exactly
hang out.”
    Autumn lowered the gun.
“Others?”
    Blake turned to her. “There are more
men on the other side of the building. And, as much as I hate to
admit it, Chogan is right.”
    The other man jerked his head to the
left, his long black hair flowing down one shoulder. “Come on, this
way.”
    She looked to Blake for confirmation.
He nodded and held his hand out to her. She slipped her free palm
into his. The heat of his skin burned through hers in the cool
evening. Together, the three of them ran down the alleyway until
they reached a part where the building ended and a small patch of
scrubland began.
    Chogan lifted up a part of a
chain-link fence which separated them from freedom. “Quick, under
here.”
    He climbed through first and then
Blake pushed Autumn after. She clambered beneath on her hands and
knees, her hair catching in the metal wire. Pain spiked through her
scalp as she tore free, her hair unraveling from the knot she’d so
carefully styled first thing that morning, leaving her curls
hanging around her face. She lifted her head to find Chogan
standing above her. The strange man reached down to help her up.
She hesitated a moment, wondering if she could trust this new
arrival, but took the offered hand and allowed him to pull her to
her feet.
    Blake rolled beneath, a smooth
movement for such a big man, and he pulled the fence back down,
hiding the hole.
    “They’re coming,” he
hissed.
    They stepped back into the dark
shadows of the alcove of the adjacent building just as two more
men, both carrying weapons, ran past on the other side of the
fence. The small group waited for a moment for them to pass by, and
then Chogan slid out of the shadows and took off across the patch
of scrubland.
    Autumn and Blake exchanged a glance
and followed.
    The area led out onto another street.
They slowed to a fast walk so as not to stand out.
    “We don’t need you here, Chogan,” said
Blake, keeping his voice low. “This doesn’t concern
you.”
    “Could have fooled me. You’d probably
be shot in the head right now if I hadn’t come along. Why are they
after