Chapter 4: The First Strike
327 Words
# Chapter 4: The First Strike
The attack came on the night of the new moon.
I woke to the sound of breaking glass and Lyra's scream. Shadows moved through the cottage--dark figures with glowing red eyes.
"Hunters," Lyra hissed, throwing a shield around us. "The Council's assassins."
My blood ran cold. They had found us.
"Stay behind me," Lyra ordered.
But I couldn't just hide. The silver light erupted from my chest before I could control it, blasting three Hunters through the wall. They hit the ground hard and didn't get up.
Lyra stared at me, shocked. "You just advanced a year's worth of training in three seconds."
More Hunters poured through the broken walls. I stood my ground, silver fire crackling around my fists.
"Come and get me," I growled.
The battle was brutal. I fought with power I didn't know I had, sending Hunter after Hunter flying. But there were too many. Just as one fell, two more took his place.
A blade found Lyra's side. She crumpled.
"NO!"
The silver light exploded from me in a wave of pure energy. Every Hunter within fifty feet was thrown back, unconscious.
I caught Lyra as she fell. "Stay with me."
"Your mother's killer," she gasped. "His name is Marcus. He leads the Council's hunters. He'll come for you next."
"I won't let him hurt you."
Lyra smiled weakly. "You remind me so much of her."
She closed her eyes.
---
A hundred miles away, Damian Blackwood jolted awake, a scream caught in his throat.
He had felt it--a surge of power so intense it had traveled through the broken bond like lightning.
She was in danger. And for the first time in weeks, he knew exactly where she was.
He grabbed his coat and ran.
**Hook: Lyra is gravely wounded. Damian senses Elara's distress and races to find her. Will he reach her in time? And who is Marcus, the man who killed her mother?**
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