Total pages in book: 90
Estimated words: 86074 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 430(@200wpm)___ 344(@250wpm)___ 287(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 86074 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 430(@200wpm)___ 344(@250wpm)___ 287(@300wpm)
“Got you, bitch!”
A big hand wrapped around her arm, pinching so hard it hurt and suddenly the big, burly man from the bar was leering at her from the darkness.
“Hey! Let me go!” Lili gasped, trying to pull away from him. She could see the lights of the main Ybor strip, just a few yards away! If she could just get loose…
“Don’t think so. Uppity bitches like you need to get taught a lesson and I think I’m just the one to teach you.”
The man started dragging her away from the light, towards the deeper shadow cast by an open dumpster. Lili could smell the sour stench of rotting food and garbage—it turned her stomach. Her impractical shoes slid over the dirty asphalt as she fought and struggled.
“Let me go!” she gasped again. “My…my boyfriend is looking for me! He’ll be here any second!”
“Yeah, right,” her attacker sneered. “You nasty bitches always say you have a boyfriend. Stop lying and take what’s coming to you!”
Lili gave up trying to reason with him.
“Help! Help!” she shouted as loudly as she could. “Help me—someone help me!”
“Scream all you want—nobody’s gonna hear you, bitch.” Her attacker leered at her. “In fact, I kind of like it when they scream—so go ahead, knock yourself out.”
Lili felt sick—from the way he talked, it was clear this man was a predator, maybe even a serial rapist. Or worse, a serial killer! She was horribly afraid he was right about her screaming being useless. Just a few meters away in the lighted street she could hear a bunch of drunken partiers shouting and whooping—nobody was going to hear her over all that noise!
They say that when faced with danger there are three possible responses—flight, fight, or freeze. You don’t really have a choice in how you react when attacked—it’s completely involuntary. Luckily, Lili fell squarely into the middle classification.
She stopped struggling and turned to face her attacker. Aiming a kick right at his crotch, she managed to nail him squarely with the pointed toe of her impractical but extremely sharp stiletto.
“Arrgh! You bitch!” the man gasped and for just an instant his punishing grip on her arm loosened as he grabbed for his crotch.
Lili pulled free of him and ran for the light, her heels clattering frantically on the asphalt. Her heart was drumming in her chest as she finally reached the lighted street and plunged into the crowd gathered outside a rowdy nightclub.
But though the crowd of drunken revelers offered some camouflage, it also slowed her down.
“Excuse me…excuse me…pardon me,” Lili chanted as she pushed her way through the laughing, shouting people.
When she finally got free of them, she cast a glance over her shoulder. To her dismay, she saw the man who had attacked her was still coming. He had an angry scowl on his face and he was also pushing his way through the crowd, just as she had done. But he was moving much faster than she had been able to go, due to his huge size and the fact that he could just shove people out of the way.
“Hey, man—watch it!” she heard someone say as he pushed roughly past them.
Lili felt her stomach drop to her toes. God, wouldn’t he ever stop? It was like being chased by the freaking Terminator!
She must have only struck him a glancing blow with her kick, she thought. She wished now that she would have managed to kick him with the sharp heel of her shoe instead of just the toe—skewering his balls might have slowed him down more.
But there was nothing to do but try to get away again. Where would she be safe from him, though? From the angry look on his face, he was prepared to follow her anywhere. And if she ducked into a crowded club or bar and he grabbed her there, would anyone even notice or care? Everyone she saw on the street seemed to be drunk or high—would they even bother to look in her direction if she got dragged away?
Then she saw something ahead that gave her hope. Standing in a line waiting to get into a club up ahead were two huge Kindred warriors.
Lili felt sure they were Kindred for several reasons—first, the one on the left was at least seven feet tall. The one standing beside him was even taller and both were extremely muscular. Second, their skin was a kind of golden purple.
The taller one on the right had black hair and wore a strange kind of jacket that left only one arm bare, showing a muscular bicep tattooed with curving, golden lines. The sleeve on the other side had a metallic glint to it.
The Kindred on the left, who had silver hair, was wearing a long-sleeved uniform shirt that was black. Both of them were wearing tight black trousers and tall black boots. She could only see the side of their faces, but they both had strong, angular features and the dark one had a beard.