Free Severed by Sarah Alderson Page B

screaming and trying to get away from the fight. Lucas forced his way through the crowd, stepping in front of the Thirster, who had wrenched his head back into position and was marching towards Flic with murder in his eyes.
    Lucas didn’t hesitate for even a second. His blade was out of his hand before he could even think. It flew silently, slicing through the marble flesh of the Thirster’s throat as if it was no more solid than air, embedding itself up to the hilt in the concrete pillar on the edge of the dance floor.

Chapter 14
    Jamieson was tugging Evie through the crowd, his fingers wrapped tight around her arm. Someone bowled into her, and she felt a stinging pain as something sharp scratched her above her left eye. She and Jamieson shoved a path through the screaming people. The crowd was thinning as it streamed towards the exits and they were finally able to push their way free, when suddenly a shadow fell over them. Evie glanced up, remembering Issa’s words almost too late.
    ‘Duck!’ she yelled, reaching a hand out and grabbing Jamieson, pulling him down just as something hard smashed to the ground by their feet, making a crater in the concrete floor and sending a cloud of dust up into the air.
    Evie opened her eyes slowly, almost too afraid to look. It took her several seconds to piece together what she was seeing. The Thirster with the auburn hair was staring back at her unblinking. His mouth was frozen in a silent shriek, his blackened tongue lolling out of his torn-out throat. She was still staring at the frayed edge of skin and the white rope of spinal cord that was visible when someone lit the place up in a blaze of UV. She curled into a ball and closed her eyes, sealing out the light as well as what was in front of her.
    When she opened her eyes again, the head was still there, the mouth still open in a rictus of terror, the teeth still glinting moistly with saliva while the skin turned slowly black and fizzled.
    In the next second Evie was on her feet, stumbling backwards, away from the head. She’d made the mistake before of thinking a Thirster was dead when it hadn’t been and it had come back quite literally to bite them. Even a decapitated head that was slowly cooking wasn’t something she was going to get too close to.
    She glanced around, blinking away the harsh lights that were making her eyes water. The warehouse had emptied in the few seconds it had taken her to open her eyes and stand. A few stragglers were dragging unconscious friends who’d been trampled in the stampede through the exit at the top of the stairs. Six Thirsters lay in heaps around the dance floor, steam rising from their bodies as if they were drying themselves over heating vents.
    A hand on the back of her neck made Evie jump.
    Lucas steadied her, his hands coming to rest on her shoulders. His eyes were searching hers frantically, as if he was looking for something in them. Evie realised that he was probably just checking that she was the right Evie and not a Shapeshifter. She took hold of his hands and realised he was shaking. No. That was her shaking.
    ‘Are you OK?’ Lucas asked, his hands suddenly cupping her face, pushing back her hair. Ouch. She let out a yelp and put a hand up to her forehead, which was suddenly stinging like crazy. She pulled it away and stared at the blood on her fingertips.
    ‘It’s OK, you’ll live,’ Lucas said, as he checked her carefully for other bruises and cuts, his hands running the length of her body. She wanted to stay like that for ever, feeling the gentle pressure of his fingers, letting them anaesthetise her body and her mind. But Flic was suddenly looming between them, tugging at Lucas, pulling him away. She was handing him something. Lucas took whatever it was and followed Flic across the dance floor. The two of them started dropping things onto the heaps of hissing Thirsters and Evie frowned for a moment, not understanding, until the flames started whooshing and she