Dark Vision by Debbie Johnson Read Free Book Online

she knows better than most how little I like to be touched.
    Gabriel looked away from our happy reunion and crouched down, touching the neck of Plant Pot Man with his fingers, then doing the same for Nose Bleed.
    ‘They’re out, but still alive,’ he said, with an element of regret.
    ‘Shame,’ said Carmel, kicking the one nearest to her in the ribs. ‘I was aiming for annihilation. Now – is someone going to tell me what’s going on? I was worried about you, Lily. You didn’t return my calls, and I thought you were freaking out about the whole Maura Delaney thing.’
    I saw Gabriel’s eyes brighten at the unexpected mention of the name.
    ‘Yeah, I know,’ I said to him. ‘I’m not quite as dumb as I look. What happened, Carmel?’
    ‘I came round to check on you, used that key you keep so well hidden under the recycling box out back. Within a minute of me arriving, those two bastards came in, shouting something about death to the Mother of the Mortals, and full-on
Lord of the Rings
mayhem ensued. I tried to tell them I wasn’t the Mother of the Mortals, whoever the fuck that is, but, well … they weren’t very nice. And you know how upset I get when people aren’t nice.’
    ‘How did you do this?’ asked Gabriel. ‘When you entered the building you triggered a surveillance spell, and they attacked. They will have been waiting nearby. These men are warriors. How did you defeat them? What kind of martial art do you use?’
    Carmel stared at him, as though seeing him for the first time.
    ‘The martial art of having six big brothers. I don’t take shit from anyone.’
    She turned to me and gave me a small grin.
    ‘You were right, he is.’
    ‘Is what?’ asked Gabriel, as he started to drag the men feet-first into the centre of the room.
    ‘Nothing!’ I snapped, still enough of an immature girl to want to hide that I’d described him as gorgeous the night before. ‘Now, if you two can give me a few minutes, I’ll grab what I need – are we OK for that, Gabriel?’
    ‘Yes,’ he replied. ‘But make it very few minutes, or there will be more of them. They’re like cockroaches: however many you stamp out, more appear.’
    Nice image, I thought, making my way into the bedroom. I grabbed a backpack and started to shove in a few essentials – underwear, clothes, phone charger, iPod – before pulling out my top drawer and getting what I’d really come for. The photograph. The only one I had of my parents before they died, apparently with me along for the ride. So many questions, and so little time – this whole fleeing-from-death scenario was getting seriously tiresome.
    The door opened, and Carmel peeked her head in. Her thick black hair was wild, her whisky eyes still bright from battle. She was wasted on that news desk, when there were wars to be waged.
    ‘Come on! Mr High and Mighty says we need to leave – now!’
    I nodded, slipped on the backpack, and we ran back out into the street. As we reached the pavement, a silver Lexus pulled up across the road. The windows were tinted a nice shade of drug-dealer black so I couldn’t see who was inside, but from Gabriel’s reaction I could hazard a guess.
    ‘Run!’ he shouted, taking hold of my hand and dragging me yet again down the street. Carmel sprinted ahead, even faster, and I could feel the adrenaline flowing from her as she headed for the park.
    We dodged traffic as we crossed the road, ran through the wrought-iron gates and on to green fields that were dotted with kids playing football and mums pushing prams. Gabriel was doing a weird thing as we ran, kind of sniffing the air like a bloodhound, his head swivelling around like a satellite as he checked the layout of the park.
    I’d heard the dull clunk of expensive car doors slamming, and the sound of feet thudding behind us as we ran, so I didn’t need to look back to know we were being chased. Again.
    ‘This way!’ Gabriel shouted, after an especially big sniff, pointing towards