Deviant Knights by Alexandra O'Hurley Read Free Book Online Page A

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blood would spew from her wound.   She
breathed deep, imagining herself anywhere but right there.   Anywhere but surrounded by death.
    Michel rushed to her side and she opened her
eyes to his.   He refused to look into her
gaze as he checked the wound, making her apply pressure before he rushed to
another room.   Coming back with a first
aid kit, he worked to contain her cut and dress it.   As he cleaned the blood from her, his eyes
were wary, looking over her intently.   Her throat felt rough, raspy, from the pressure put on it and her
screams.   But she needed to find her
voice. She had too many questions.
    “Who were those men?”
    “They are evil, intent on killing us,” Gabriel
spat out as he sat up slowly, his face ashen, blood still sluggishly leaking
from the wound in his chest.   He looked
down to the spot and rested a hand over the entrance, trying to stem the
trickle.
    Another scream lifted from her throat.   She felt disembodied from it, as if another
person had voiced the sound.  
    Realization hit her.   It had all been a farce.   She pulled from Michel’s arms, standing on
wobbly legs.
    “You guys are assholes.   Do you do this often?   Bring an unsuspecting woman home and then
play fight to the death?   Does that get
women hot or something?   Or are you just
total douchebags ?”
    “What are you talking about?”   Michel was a supreme actor.   He didn’t even seem to be phased by her rant.
    “ This…this…farce.”   She pointed at the blood and “dead” bodies
around her.   She waited for the other men
to jump up and yell, “Boo.”   Which didn’t happen.
    “ Querida , this was no
farce.”   He stood with what appeared to
be pain and showed her his wound.
    “Theatrics and movie stunts.   The lot of
it.   You two are unreal.   Bored rich guys having their
fun.   Well, it isn’t fun.   Not for me.”   She turned to walk back into the sitting room to get her dress.   It was past time to go.
    Gabriel made it to the fabric first, pulling it
into his hand.   She reached out for it,
but he encased her wrist, pulling it to his wound.   “It’s real, querida .   I can show you.”
    He brought her hand closer to the angry red
slash into his abdomen, his grip pushing her into his wound.   Bile rose again as
she felt his viscera.  
    He really was hurt, and bad.   Gabriel wobbled on his feet as he released
her hand.
    “What is all this?   Why did they attack you?”
    “Because they know we hold the truth.”   Gabriel was not willing to give her more.
    “Truth about what?   After all this, I deserve to
know why!”   She was ignoring the fact
that Gabriel had just come back to life.   It was an impossibility .   These men were insane.
    “Gabriel, she’s in danger now.   She needs to know from whom.”   Michel leaned back, seating himself on the
floor, his back resting on the fabric-covered wall.
    “She won’t believe us.”
    “Try me.”   Even as she said the words, she wondered if she had the strength to hear
what they had to say.   A hand to her
neck, she lowered herself to a chair and looked at them both.
    Gabriel lowered to his haunches, a haunted look
in his eyes.   “They were soldiers in the
Illuminati.”
    “The Illuminati?” she replied, sarcasm filling
into her voice.
    “We are Templar Knights.”
    “As in the Crusades Templars ?”
    “Among other things, yes.”
    “The Templars are from
another time.   So, there are modern
knights, is that what you’re saying?”
    “No.   Well, yes and no.   There are men
who claim to be modern Templars , but that is an
untruth.   Myself, I was born in the Year
of Our Lord, 1282.” Gabriel looked quite serious, even with the load he was
telling her.
    Michel interrupted, “And I was born in 1277.”
    “Our order was labeled outlaws and rounded up in
1307 by the King of France and Pope Clement the Fifth.   Most of our number was burned at the stake in
1314.   Some of us were saved,