Officially back on the 500 Word Challenges. Today's was: The story begins in a crypt. There is a dramatic change in weather. A character drinks something they haven't had in a long time.
- - -
This job couldn’t get much worse.
First, it was the assignment to recover some booze from a Zeus-blood witch named Vince. Then it was having Vince manipulate the weather so that we were soaked in rain. After that, it was being punched in the head and being left behind.
Derek wasn’t stupid, but he was an overprotective brother with a short temper. I’d gotten cracked in the head, Vince had taken off, and Derek had chased him into the crypt.
I pushed myself up from the mud, muttering a quick pain-numbing spell to keep from passing out. I followed them out of the dark night into the dark crypt. I turned the corner and saw Derek throwing soulfire at Vince. They were pretty evenly matched, the fire from Derek’s hands just flicking past Vince. I realized that Vince was waiting for an opening.
Before I could say anything, he took it.
Derek didn’t have time to dodge, and the electric blast caught him square in the chest. His face contorted with pain as he dropped, and I knew his magic was spent. Vince wasted no time in creating electricity between his fingertips, then forcing it all onto Derek.
My brother convulsed in pain, unable to create a spell to stop Vince. Anger coursed through me, and I drew on the blood-power of my ancestor Ares, creating soulfire. I built a quick ball of it, then hurled it at Vince.
The ball struck him in the back and ended Derek’s electrocution. Vince turned on me, fury in his eyes. I got ready to use my magic, but Vince cheated.
He pulled out a gun and shot me.
One moment I was standing, the next I was on the ground. I hadn’t seen that coming, so I hadn’t made a shield in time. Pain pulsed through my chest, making it hard to breathe. Vince walked towards me, electricity building in his fingers. I couldn’t fight back, but I didn’t need to.
Derek stabbed Vince in the back, piercing his heart and killing him instantly. Once he was sure Vince was dead, Derek dropped next to me and yanked up my shirt.
He sighed. “That’s gonna leave a mark.”
I looked at the bullet lodged in my Kevlar vest. “Chicks dig bruises, right?”
“Always,” Derek said, pulling me up.
He made sure I wasn’t hurt anywhere else, then stepped back.
“I’m sorry I left you out there, Liam,” he said. “I just...”
“Got pissed off and brotherly?”
He stifled a laugh. “Something like that.”
I waved it off. “No worries. I would’ve done the same for you.”
Derek smiled admiringly, then glanced over his shoulder, seeing crates marked Ambrosia.
“Looks like we found the booze.”
“Think we can have some?”
He grinned.
“Well, there was gunfire. A bottle could have been broken by accident.”
When we stepped out of the crypt later, drunk and feeling great, the sky was clear. The job had sucked, but the result had paid off.
- - -
I decided on writing the POV of Liam from Hollow Hill because there are only 10 days left until NaNoWriMo, and I wanted to slowly ease myself into the mindset of the universe. The story will be told from Derek's POV, but when I thought up the story it made more sense to tell it from Liam's perspective. I'm thinking about keeping up the stories for Derek and Liam, since I haven't written anything for them except a brief dream synopsis. Usually when I'm about to start a new story or series, I have a couple scenes in mind that I write down so I know how to write my characters. It's hard with Hollow Hill because I'm aching to get a head start, but this time I have to play by the rules.
Still, I can wait 10 days... :)
Amy
No comments:
Post a Comment