Charmed I'm Sure Read Online Free Page A

screamed a most un-birdlike scream as she lurched farther into the trees. I could hear her wings continue to flap, but their beat was uneven. Her kind cannot be harmed by most of the naturally occurring elements from our world, but space-age synthetics are difficult for them to process.
    She would have healing magic of some kind, but I had bought us some time.
    Time Eric was determined to waste.
    When I looked over, Eric was scrambling to his feet and pointing the Thompson at me. The white-hot rage that had been waiting beneath the surface to erupt was ascendant now, and his earlier feeling of powerlessness was being washed away by a tidal surge of adrenaline. There was a bleeding gash near his upper right thigh that I had not seen clearly before, and he was swaying.
    â€œWHAT THE HELL! WHAT THE HELL? WHO THE FU—”
    Did I mention that I move very fast? My bow swung to the right. My body darted to the left. I was outside the range of the Thompson’s barrel an instant before Eric pulled the trigger. The top of my bow collided with the tip of the machine gun barrel as he tried to move it to track me, and then I was inside his firing zone. Some of the hand-to-hand training that had been drilled into his muscle memory remained, but he was worn out and freaked out and didn’t keep his head.
    I dropped my bow and grabbed the stock of his machine gun and briefly tugged it, just for a moment. He instinctively started to pull back, and I immediately switched directions and added my weight to his, pushing the weapon in the same direction that he was tugging and smashing the butt into his jaw. He staggered back, and I kicked the heel of his wounded right leg out from underneath him and tore the machine gun out of his hands as he was falling onto his back.
    He found himself half-conscious and staring at the Thompson. Again.
    I spoke in the clipped tones of a drill instructor, hoping that would help the words reach him. “Soldier up, you box-kicker! That thing is still on our 360, and if I die because you can’t pull it together, I’m going to take it personally.”
    He looked like he was about to cry or scream in rage. “I can’t…what…”
    â€œI have to bind that wound in your leg,” I said. “Can I trust you not to do anything stupid while I patch you up?”
    He sank his head to the ground, which I took to be a yes. I put the Tommy Gun down and removed a bandage roll from a pouch on my belt. I didn’t have time to stitch him up. The blood was not coming from his femoral artery, but the gash was deep and he had lost a lot of it all the same. I crouched down and bound the wound as best I could.
    â€œThat thing…” he gasped.
    â€œIt’s called a wila,” I told him, confident that I had the Fae’s number now. “She’s fast, she’s strong, and she can change shape. And she’s not going to let us leave these woods alive, so we have to get moving.”
    â€œWho—”
    â€œThat thing killed my brother just like she killed your friend,” I lied. Claiming to be avenging a loved one is one of the easier ways to get someone to trust you quickly, especially if they’ve just lost friends or family themselves.
    â€œBut—”
    â€œShut up and focus, Marine.” I willed him to understand what I was saying, tried to project every ounce of intensity and urgency that I had into my voice. “It doesn’t matter if this is possible or not. It’s happening, and I can’t carry both you and our weapons. You have to trust me if you want to survive. And I have to trust you.”
    I was done binding his wound. I offered the Thompson to him. “Will you help me kill this thing or not?”
    Eric took the weapon immediately.
    â€œGood,” I said, and went back and collected my various weapons, re-anchoring the less cumbersome ones and reloading as needed before retrieving the pike.
    â€œFollow me if