Bloodrage Read Online Free Page A

couple of the shots slowed me down, but they weren’t really going to stop me. 
    When I was a few scant feet away from him , I eyeballed him and hissed, “Did you really think you could get away with this?”
    “You’re talking about your hair, right?  It’s not my fault if you’re such a gullible bitch that you’d fall for something that stupid.”
    My bloodfire blazed.  I leapt in the air, kicking out one leg and catching him on his chin so that his head snapped back, then sent one punch to his midsection leaving him doubled over.  Several other mages who were clearly trainers rather than students hastily got to their feet to stand beside him, each one with their attack fire gleaming on their palms.
    “My fight is not with you,” I growled.   “But if you get in my way, then I will take you down.”
    They didn’t answer, but instead looked at each other as if in silent communication and then, all at once, sent out a stream of blue flames towards me.  Their fire combined into one deadly shot, but I somersaulted in the air and to the side, letting it miss me completely.  By the sounds of things it did some rather catastrophic damage to the tables behind me, however I stayed focused on the real action.
    I kicked over some of the tables in front of me so that they formed a barrier between myself and the gang of bully mages.  I sensed, rather than saw, a flicker of fire coming at me from the left so I sprang backwards to avoid it, then sent out my own green answer.  The yelp of pain assured me that my flank was covered, so I turned the spray of flame onto the tables, setting each one alight and creating a wall of hot light through which Thomas’ friends couldn’t get through.
    Three of them began to concentrate on my barricade, attempting to douse the flames with their own, whilst the others began to send out a steady stream towards me.  A section caught my shoulder, knocking me backwards, but my hand found a plate on the floor and, as I scrambled back up, I sent it flying towards the trapped mages, hitting one smack bang on the middle of his forehead.  There was no thought now; it was pure adrenaline and fire.  I reached out for more plates and sent them out towards the others, one after the other.  Every time one connected, I was rewarded with a gasp or shout or scream of angered pain.  Good.
    I focused back on Thomas, who was still doubled over on the floor.  I took a running jump and leapt over my own flames, then twisted my body so I was behind him, and pulled the crook of my arm around his neck, beginning to squeeze.  He choked and gurgled but I yanked harder.
    “You’re going to pay, Thomas,” I snarled.
    He answered with a gasp.  I tightened my grip even further.  There was a pounding in my ears.  The heat in my veins and arteries was almost overwhelming.  I looked out across the room.  It seemed that everyone had left, abandoning the scene as soon as they had realised what was going on.  I could vaguely make out shouts from outside as no doubt reinforcements were being mobilised.  My eyes fell across to Mary, who was still standing where I’d left her, a lone silent figure surrounded by the carnage and debris of over-turned tables and smashed china.  Her eyes were filled with horror, and what gallingly appeared to be pity.  A tiny tendril of sanity made its way through my brain.  Fuck.  I released the mage and he fell forward onto the floor, clutching at his neck and gasping for breath.  Then I sat down on the floor next to the prone and groaning bodies and covered my face with my hands.

Chapter Three
     
    I assumed that the door to my little bedroom where I’d been frog-marched back to by a posse of grim faced mages was locked.  Regardless, I didn’t bother trying it. How could I have lost control so utterly and completely?  I moved my hand up to my hair to run my fingers through it in an almost unconscious movement, then remembered I had no hair left and my hand fell