Jenny dropped her phone. “Don’t you dare touch him!”

“Jenny?” Marcus asked, voice dull.

“It’s him.” Jenny was yanking on her belt, not stopping as she glared at the rogue. “Keep your filthy hands away from him!” Her voice came in short gasps.

The rogue took no heed of her, and from the focused look in his eyes, Eli wasn’t sure he’d even heard her. He reached inside the car. Eli grabbed his arm, unsuccessful in his attempt to stop the rogue from reaching the buckle. The rogue didn’t try to unclick it but ripped the belt out with force. Eli fell awkwardly onto his head and shoulders, and by trying to catch himself, hurt his injured arm.

He scrambled away from the rogue, but was caught by his hair. His scalp screamed as he was dragged by his hair, through the jagged glass in the broken window. He heard Jenny yelling after him.

“What do you want?” Eli demanded through gritted teeth, legs dragging behind him as the rogue pulled him away from the car. “The soul? It’s here, you can have it!” Oliver would probably have a fit, but Eli didn’t care about that right now. He reached for it, but the pendant was gone, disappeared into his chest again.

The rogue released Eli and he fell hard on the road. The road was an empty, straight stretch both directions and was lined with tall pines and oak trees either side of them. Aside from Noah’s jeep, lying on its roof, there was a smaller black car a few dozen yards away. Eli and the rogue were half-way between the two vehicles. No sign of civilisation in sight, and with his family trapped, Eli was on his own. Honestly, it was probably better that the rest of them were stuck, because unless dad had a gun, they would only get hurt.

“Can you just tell me?” Eli started to stand—the rogue’s eyes flashed luminous in warning—and Eli stopped, sitting awkwardly with his sore arm pressed protective to his body. The rogue slowly crouched down, and he came close enough that Eli could feel his humid breath on his face. The rogue’s cheeks were weather-beaten, there was an indent in his nose disrupting an otherwise straight line and a large scar stretched through the corner of his lips on the left side, pulling the skin taunt. It was an old wound. His cool blue eyes were sharp. The rogue was built like a football player, but thinner; muscles without the weight.

Eli’s mouth went dry. The soul hummed, as if to warn Eli of the danger, but he didn’t need a supernatural entity to alert him to that particular fact.

The rogue’s gaze moved to Eli’s chest, searching. He reached out, ripping the collar of Eli’s hoodie and shirt open, claws scraping his skin as he did, and revealed Eli’s bare chest. Eli flinched but kept frozen. His instincts immobilised him.

“I’m finally free, but you won’t leave me alone, will you?” The rogue’s top lip pulled back into a sneer.

Eli’s heart was like a bird’s, racing and frantic in his chest. “I have left you alone.” he protested, but he didn’t think the rogue’s words were directed at him, instead the soul—he’d call him ‘Luna’ after all.

The rogue dragged his palm over the cuts on Eli’s chest, then turned over his hand to examine the blood. As he rubbed a drop between his thumb and finger, the silver sheen caught Eli’s eye. The rogue’s eyes darkened. “I’m done with your games, I put up with them far too long, and you my dear,” he snatched a hold of Eli’s hair and squeezed, “Are not worth the effort.”

He stood pulling Eli with him toward the black car.

“Why not leave me here, then?” Eli spoke through the pain. “Just ignore me, pretend I don’t exist—”

“I can’t.” The rogue snarled. He collected himself, and repeated in a bitter voice, dripping with dark mirth, “I can’t. Even in this world, your soul calls to mine. It will be the same in the next, and the one after that. Even if I were to pass into shadows, I would still hear you. I will never be free of you.”

“She’s dead. You had to have seen her when you took this from her—it’s just the siren blood you hear.”

The rogue stopped dead. An icy gaze fixed on Eli. Somehow, the look in his eyes seemed even more dangerous than before. Eli’s stomach dropped.

“Siren blood?” The rogue repeated in a level voice. For a moment, it was as if he was actually seeing Eli. “You shouldn’t know that.”

Eli knew enough to realise his made a mistake.

Metal creaked behind them. Both him and the rogue looked as Noah climbed out of the car. He swayed, unsteady on his feet, but his eyes were focused on the rogue; judging, assessing.

No, no, no— “Leave him alone.” Eli said, “he has nothing to do with this, and he’s no threat to you.”

“Shut up.”

The rogue released Eli, only to follow with a kick to his chest that sent him flying back onto the road, gasping for breath. Darkness and dizziness descended on his vision. He tried sit up, he desperately tried to see who let out that cry of pain—his abdomen was grabbed, and he was lifted from the ground. There was a click, and Eli was being compacted into a small space that stank of blood and rot. His limbs woke up, fighting even though it was pointless.

His face went numb—ah, had he been punched? He couldn’t even tell what was wrong with him anymore. The boot closed, cutting off the fresh air leaving him stuck, surrounded by the stench of death. Slowly, the pins and needles receded from his body and his vision returned. All he could make out was a thin strip of daylight, and nothing else.

A loud pop sounded from a distance, followed by two succeeding pops that sounded as though they were closer. The fourth shot was more like a bang, and came from somewhere very close to Eli. He held his breath, straining his ears. Nothing. Eli rubbed his chest; “come on, be useful for once.” The soul surged in warmth, suddenly solid in his palm.

The smell around him became unbearable strong, to the point where he was certain death was getting into his body with every single inhale; it was in his nose, in his mouth, on his tongue, his lungs… but also, he heard something ticking right behind his head. He heard leaves rustling in the wind, and he heard footsteps displacing glass. Voices.

“…a few ribs?” “A fire-truck is on the way, and we can get them out of the car.” The second voice was familiar, but Eli couldn’t place it. Cautiously, he knocked on side of the boot. He heard clothes rustling.

“You hear that?”

“Hello? Can you let me out?” Eli called timidly, knocking again.

“The kid’s in the boot.” The familiar voice was approaching. “You have your eyes on the direction he went?”

“Yes sir.” A third voice. Eli definitely recognised that one—Wren.

There was a clicking as someone tried to open the boot. It didn’t budge. He tapped the hood on the outside. “Eli, it’s Matthew. I’m going to get you out of there so don’t worry.”

Matthew didn’t manage to get him out before the fire trucks and ambulances started to arrive. By then, Eli gathered from the voices that everyone was injured, but alive. He didn’t know why none of his family were awake, but at least they were breathing. Matthew and the other man didn’t seem worried that they were going to die, and Eli comforted himself on that.

“Eli,” Matthew was at the hood once more, tapping it. “The firemen have a saw to cut you out. It’s going to be loud but don’t be afraid, okay? We’ll have you out of there in no time.”

Eli clutched the soul for comfort as the metal screeched, and only when he heard the mechanism inside give way, did he let it go. This time, he felt the difference of the soul being within his chest and without as an immediate dimming of all his senses. No longer could he distinguish the voices all around him, but instead only his own unsteady breaths.

The hood creaked open. The light was fading from the sky, but it was still enough to blind him. There was something cool about daylight in November. He sat up quickly, practically leaping from the trunk as he dragged in fresh air. He looked behind himself, seeing a man’s arm, severed from the elbow down, with a golden watch on the wrist. The watch, for some reason, tugged at Eli’s memory banks.

Matthew covered his eyes and pulled him away from the car.

Dazed, Eli fell against his side and let himself get moved away. Too many voices came at him at once. From a distance, he recognised his own one among them, ignoring questions in favour of his own. “Are they okay?”

“They’re fine.” Matthew reassured him.

“But they’re unconscious.”

“They’ll wake up soon.” Matthew promised. “Can you tell me where you’re hurt?”

Eli was tugging at Matthew’s hand, trying to dislodge it from his face. Matthew’s hand didn’t budge. “I want to see.”

“Just another minute.”

His breaths came shorter, quicker. “I want to see.”

“Eli.” Matthew’s voice was low, his mouth close to his ear. “There’s a lot of regular people around who aren’t used to seeing glowing eyes. Bear with it. Wren, help me a moment, Eli there’s a step into an ambulance.”

Eli resisted.

“Noah’s in it, you can travel to the hospital with him. Relax.” Matthew reassured him.

Eli was reluctant, but let himself be guided inside. The cool breeze was cut off, and two doors slammed closed. There were two women talking back and forth about vitals and monitors. Noah? He sensed the presence of several people crowded around. Matthew was against his side, his hand still covering his eyes.

Someone touched his neck, Eli flinched in surprise.

“Wait.” Matthew told them. “Turn to me Eli.”

Eli turned his head, muscles creaking, and the hand lifted from his face. He blinked a few times, and saw that Matthew was shielding his eyes from the rest of the people in the ambulance. Under his hand, true to his worl, laid Noah on a stretcher. There was a blanket over him, and Eli saw no injuries.

“Eli.” Matthew drew his attention. Eli met his eyes, and saw Matthew very clearly checking Eli’s. For now, he decided not to question Matthew about this. He was in the know, but he was human. Maybe his dad had done a better job of finding someone to protect them than Eli had realised?

“Your family is fine. I’m armed, my men are armed, and the boss is waiting for us at the hospital to secure the building. Try taking in a few deep breaths.”

Eli, to the best of his ability, did that.

Matthew’s displeasure was evident in his face. No?

“Are they…?”

“Yeah.” Matthew nodded to someone Eli couldn’t see. “Hand me that roll of bandages.” Lowering his voice, he said to Eli, “This is just for now, I promise. Close your eyes.”

Eli consented, and Matthew wrapped the bandage around his head.

“If there’s something wrong with his eyes we need to look at them.” One of the women said.

“The doctor will do that.” Matthew replied briskly. In a softer tone, directed at Eli, he said, “They’re going to wipe that blood off you to find injuries, don’t panic.”