Once Bitten (Shadow Guild: The Rebel 1)

“Raise your hands,” demanded the younger one, who couldn’t have been more than twenty-five.

Instead, I shoved my hand into my pocket and drew out a freezing charm. I chucked the thing at them, praying it would work. The dusty blue cloud exploded into the air, and the men froze solid.

“That ought to buy us a few minutes.” I turned back to the body. There was no point in trying to put it back together. The guards had seen what we were doing. Fortunately, I still didn’t look like me.

I grabbed a plastic bag and shoved my gross gloves in them, then put it in my pocket, not wanting to leave anything with my fingerprints behind. I put my leather gloves on, then wiped the scissors and clamp off with a paper towe

l, getting rid of any prints, and returned them to the table.

Mac and I hurried from the room, skirting around the frozen guards and moving as quickly as we could without full-on running. We made it to the top floor and strode toward the main exit.

I prayed there were no other guards in the building.

We were nearly to the main doors when they opened, and two new cops walked in.

Shit.

They both got a good look at our faces, and I prayed the potions were still working.

“Other way,” I whispered, and we spun on our heels and hightailed it deeper into the building.

“Hey, you there!” shouted one of the cops.

“Run.” I sprinted down the hall, fumbling in my pocket for the other freezing potion bomb.

Finally, my fingers closed around it. I grabbed it and chucked it behind me, looking back in time to see it explode in front of one of the cops. He froze solid, but the other one wasn’t in the line of fire. He kept running for us, face twisted in a grimace.

I sprinted on, pushing myself until my lungs burned. Mac easily kept up, as her legs were longer than mine. We raced down the hall, taking the first right, and sprinted to the end. An office on our right had an open door, and we dashed inside. A large window beckoned, showing the street beyond.

“Thank fates we’re on street level.” Mac grabbed the chair from behind the desk and tossed it at the window. The glass shattered.

Wow, breaking out of windows was getting to be a habit with me.

An alarm shrieked as we climbed out and landed on the pavement. We sprinted away from the building. I looked back in time to see the officer lean out the window, his gaze on mine.

Oh, please don’t catch us.

14

Carrow

Mac and I raced away from the morgue. Behind us, the cop jumped out of the window, tripped, and landed on his knees.

Oh, thank God for luck.

We ran faster, leaving him behind as we turned one street corner, and then another. As we sprinted down the pavement, we tore off our stolen white coats, chucking them into an alley as we passed. I kept the badge since that probably had my fingerprints on it. Police sirens sounded from a street away, and my heartbeat thundered.

“Are those for us?” Mac demanded.

“Oh, yeah, they’re for us.”

“Damn it. I don’t want to go to human jail.”

“Same.” We turned right, and I spotted a cab. With the cops on our tail and the Tube station still several streets away, it was worth the splurge. I shot my hand up in the air, praying.

The cab spotted us, changing lanes to come to a stop at the curb.

“Thank you.” I climbed in, Mac following. “Covent Garden,” I told the driver. “The market.”