Arianna Rose: The Awakening (Part 2) Read Online Free

Did he get away?” Mike asked.
    “I don’t see how,” Arianna answered truthfully.  “Whatever wa s on his shirt, maybe cologne or gasoline or something, burned so damn fast.  He was covered in flames.  I didn’t stick around to see what would happen.  I just grabbed Steph and ran.”
    Stephanie began sobbing again, gasping and trying to catch her breath, the memory of it all too painful for her to bear.
    “Holy shit!” Christa said.
    “Shou ld we call the cops or something? ,” Carrie asked .
    “Yeah, this is all too crazy.  These guys should be locked up, if they’re alive,” Christa said.
    “ No.  No cops,” Luke said determinedly.  “If those scumbags are alive, I want a piece of them for trying to rape my sister and my girlfriend.”
    Arianna supposed she should be happy that Luke had announced to his friends that she was his girlfriend; it was the first time he’d said it, yet she did not feel even the slightest bit of happiness.  In fact, she felt troubled by it.  Apart from the circumstances that had instigated his announcement, she was upset by it.  She wasn’t sure why exactly, but felt shame at his admittance, at his want to defend her against her attackers.   Guilt gave way to anxiety and anxiety clawed its way into her lungs, making it hard for her to breathe.  She attempted a deep breath, desperate to not let her nerves get the better of her and make her sick all over the nightclub floor.  Not that she doubted that the floor had seen its fair share of vomit on it in the past.  She just didn’t want to be among those who had actually done the vomiting.
    “You okay Arianna,” Carrie asked and took hold of her arm.  “You don’t look so good.”
    “I’m all right,” Arianna said but remained unconvinced.
    “Then what are we waiting for?” Bulldog asked.  “Let’s go pound on those fuckers!”
    Bile rose in the back of her throat, along with the beer she’d drank earlier.
    “No!” she heard herself say and surprised everyone.  “We can’t.”
    “Why the hell not?  These guys tried to rape you two,” Luke argued.
    “The guy that was on fire is probably dead,” Arianna blurted out. 
    Deep within her, a n innate instinct portended that one of the men lived, that one had survived her counterattack, but barely.  Still, she needed to dissuade them from going into that alleyway.  Too many questions would be asked, questions she could not answer.  Lying was not her strong suit.  She was terrible at it, in fact.  But she needed to convince them to leave.
    “Let’s make sure then,” Luke said.
    “And if the cops happen to find the nine of us hovering around a couple of dead bodies what do you think they’ll assume?” she asked.  No one offered any thoughts, so she continued.  “They’ll assume we, at the very least, saw something.  Then they might ask why Stephanie looks like she does, why she has that fresh cut on her throat.  Do you see where I’m going with this?”
    “They’ll think something happened and we retaliated by killing them,” Ryan said.
    “I don’t want to spend any time in county lockup,” Bulldog said as if he’d been there before.
    “Neither do I,” Mike added.  “My brother’s been there overnight and he said it’s no joke.”
    Luke looked directly into Arianna’s eyes and he ld her gaze as if trying to silently express a profound truth to her.  His silver eyes had hardened to steel, unreadable to her in the shadowy nightclub.  But she sensed significance in his weighty watch.
    “I just want to get out of her e ,” Stephanie finally said.  “Please, can we go?”
    Luke did not lower his eyes to his sister as Arianna would have thought .  He did not acknowledge her request either.  Not right away.  He continued to stare at Arianna.  Whatever he sought to convey wordlessly, whatever psychic message he seemed intent on sending to her, was not reaching her.  She shifted her weight from one leg to the next