In Less Than A Moment (Moments of the Adept Universe 0.2)

Excerpt. In Less than a Moment is the second Kandy prequel novelette available in Moments of the Adept Universe 1, including this ridiculously perfect illustration by Memo (one of my favs of the entire collection).

Click here for Kandy’s bio and illustrations.

Click here for the full reading order of the Adept Universe, including a downloadable PDF.

In Less Than A Moment

Moments of the Adept Universe 0.2

(Kandy 0.5)

March 2008.

A back alley in Boston.

Justin was dead.

I had dragged him behind an industrial garbage bin … or maybe it was for recycling. At least … I thought it had been me who had dragged him … blood streaking away from us into the middle of the alley … 

Justin’s blood. From the three gunshot wounds. 

They’d shot him in the back.

I thought they’d shot him.

Though it wasn’t yet clear to me who they were.

He’d gone down without a sound.

We’d been chatting and laughing … and … 

Now Justin was dead.

Vaguely aware that I was panicking, I rolled him over, tearing his T-shirt so I could get a better look at his back. I accidentally scored his pale skin with wolf claws that I hadn’t consciously manifested.

Blood was just pouring out of him, pooling underneath him. I was crouching in it, kneeling in it. His warm lifeblood.

I’d thought … if I could remove the bullets … but the wounds were already blackening at the edges, a poison there spreading as dark veins of death.

Justin was dead.

Three bullets to the heart would do that.

Even to a werewolf.

If those bullets were silver.

And wielded by a sorcerer.

Sorcerer …

Even as I gently settled Justin onto his back, I whirled around, placing myself between him and the Adepts who were coming for us, hunting us.

No.

They’d already found us. Meaning we had no idea we hadn’t been the only ones doing the hunting.

Wait… had we been hunting?

No …

I touched my temple, then looked at my fingers. More than just Justin’s blood coated them. I’d been shot too. Now that I realized it, I could feel the gouge. It burned and wasn’t healing. More silver.

Had … had Justin shoved me out of the way?

Yes.

I’d darted back for him, dragged him to shelter.

But he was already dead.

The alley had been empty.

Seemed empty.

But it wasn’t.

I could smell the magic now … spells that they’d ignited at the same time as their shooter tried to take us out from behind. That power felt oppressive, like tight boundary spells often did. They’d sealed us in the alley.

So they could murder us.

The sorcerer I’d been expecting stepped around the garbage container, his gun trained low, pointing toward my heart. Black gun. Dark suit. White dress shirt, no tie. Clothing layered in protection spells. I knew. I’d been trained. Was in training.

The sorcerer’s brown eyes flicked to take in Justin sprawled behind me. Dead, I reminded myself. And for the briefest moment, the tip of his gun wavered, lowered.

As if he wasn’t going to shoot me.

The beast that lived deep within my soul tore through my human skin, shredding my clothing and sneakers. Bones shifting, pain streaking through me, I transformed far more quickly than I ever had before. Massive clawed feet scoring the pavement, teeth so large and jagged that I couldn’t effectively close my maw, I rose.

The sorcerer stumbled back, having to look up at me as I now towered over him. Belatedly, he remembered to try to pull the trigger. I crushed the gun in one clawed hand first. Then, clamping my other hand on his shoulder, I tore the offending limb completely off his body.

He screamed.

The protection spells on his suit weren’t rated for a werewolf in warrior form. At least not against my beast. 

I snapped his neck.

So he was dead.

Like Justin was dead.

– Excerpt from In Less Than a Moment (Moments of the Adept 0.2)