Read House of V (Unraveled Series) for Free Online Page A

crowd screamed. I looked up to see the DJ on a stage at the front of the
crowd. He lifted his hand in the air, pulled his headphones over his ears and
nodded his head before moving his attention back to his turntable. The crowd
pulsed to the beats like a breathing room at the same time the neon rings
bounced and moved to the frantic pace of the music.
    I crept along to the right, the
alcohol now buzzing through my veins at a rapid rate, but I kept my feet steady
beneath me as I moved along the wall in search of another door.
    I needed out. Now.
    That’s when I saw her. A pink
stream flashed across her face before her eyes disappeared into the darkness. I
saw another silhouette beside her, close, hovering over her. He was hunched,
ready to attack. I closed my own eyes, feeling my heart thrash in my chest, the
adrenaline spiking through my body. It caught in my throat, like it always did,
making me stop.
    I didn’t want to believe what I
saw, and I didn’t want to feel what I felt, but I knew it was there, lurking
and calling for me. I waited for another flash of light to see her face again,
but it never came. I had never seen the woman before, however I have seen the
look on her face. It was an expression of pain and a twisted look of fear.
    I darted toward the spot where the
woman was, but her body was gone. I shook my head, trying to release the image
from my head, yet it was real, I saw it.
    Damn it, I saw it.
    I moved along the wall again, the
point of my knife tipping into my thigh when I hit the metal casing of a door.
A cool breeze still lingered in the air before it vanished into the thick heat
of the crowd. She was out there. I slipped my hand beneath my skirt, gripping
the handle firmly as my skin stretched over my knuckles. I pulled out the blade
Ryan had given me, holding it tight against my chest.
    One. Two. Three. Four. Five.
    My back slid against the metal of
the bar, opening the steel door only inches so I could slip through. A muffled
scream sounded in the alley as I squinted, my eyes adjusting to the dark, cool
air of the night. The alley was a narrow passage of maybe fifteen feet with
garbage containers flanking both sides. I crouched along the wall and scanned
the scene ahead of me. There was only one way out, and it was thirty feet in
front of me.
    I had moved a step out when I felt
a throbbing thud in the middle of my back. I sprawled to the ground, still
gripping my knife, registering the kick of a boot that knocked the wind out of
me. I gasped for air, feeling my chest constrict into a tiny ball incapable of
consuming any oxygen. My throat convulsed anyway, trying to suck in any sign of
life.
    The burn overcame me as a cowboy
boot appeared in front of my face. Next to it, the woman’s red flats dangled
just an inch off the ground. Her shoes mildly kicked against my shoulder before
she let out another muffled scream. The kicking stopped, and the red flats went
slack. I wouldn’t let her go down like this. My mouth sputtered against the
pavement as I dragged the knife from beneath me with a slow, deliberate pull.
    The sound of a struggle was no
longer evident in the woman’s body next to me as he moved forward. His boots
stopped two feet in front of me as he contemplated whether or not he should
leave me. The knife was close, up to my chest now, but my body felt incredibly
heavy above it. Impossibly heavy, yet it was now or never.
    I yanked my arm out and stabbed the
blade into the boot in front of me. It connected, sinking through the leather
and into his flesh. I pulled up and thrashed at his calf, connecting twice
before the woman’s red flats planted on the ground and staggered away from me.
The man yelled out, grabbing at the wound in his leg, the red stains squirting
through his fingers.
    I thrust my body into an upright
position from the ground; the burn in my lungs still festered as I lunged at
him again. His arm grabbed my wrist, twisting my arm until the knife clattered
to the ground. I