him. Her mouth was moving, but all he heard was static and noise, like he’d been punched in the head and his ears were still ringing.
He took her hand and led her out the door. He felt his feet break into a run, bringing A.J. along with him. None of his motions felt real, he’d switched over to running a program — his own internal survival software was clicking through his muscles and joints, setting the pace of their quick steps.
Whatever force controlled his movements, also shot them out of the building to the deserted parking lot. Their feet slapped over and over on the wet pavement, but he felt them being directed to his parked car. It waited to transport them to the safety of a different world.
Trey released her hand so he could unlock his car with his key fob, the accompanying blinking light reflected off the wet droplets covering its dark blue paint, creating a halo of safety. He could feel his chest relax slightly as he reached back for A.J.‘s hand to help her get in the car. All he found when he grasped for her was empty air, and the terrifying sound of her scream.
As Trey turned, he saw the forms of two men; one was holding A.J. around the waist and she was sobbing uncontrollably. He lunged for them, but the other man grabbed him from behind.
“Say good-bye to your girlfriend,” he ordered, his accent thick and unmistakable.
“Help me, Trey, please,” she whimpered.
“I promise, I will. I promise!” Trey shouted. He tried to lunge for her again, but a fierce blow to his lower back doubled him over in pain. An elbow came down on him from above, hitting at the base of his neck. He fell to the ground, the wet pavement jarring his knees and seeping through his jeans. The cold didn’t even register in his brain, because his body had already turned to ice.
“Sorry, but you asked for that. It’s not nice to lie to a woman, Mr. Adler,” the man holding A.J. said, taunting him. “You will be fine, the ransom we can get for you is too high to pass up. Now this one here, though? We aren’t sure what she’d be worth. Probably too much trouble, right, Ivan?”
“Your choice, Vlad.”
The one called Vlad chuckled, “I like that. Choices are good.”
A.J. turned her head to find Trey’s eyes. Her face became fierce with power and strength. He tried to shake his head at her, tell her not to do anything stupid, but he couldn’t tell if any part of him had moved — the glacial chill of doom had already frozen his whole body.
She slammed her heel down hard on the top of Vlad’s foot, and then elbowed him in the stomach. He growled furiously, grabbing her hair in his hand, making her cry out in response. He yanked her body around by the hair repeatedly.
“A.J.!” Trey shouted after them, finally finding his voice. He heard a gunshot and saw the bright flash of the bullet’s report. A.J. made the oddest sound — a combination of shock and pain, then her body crumpled to the ground.
Before he could see her face one more time, Trey felt a brutal impact against the back of his own head.
Blackness invaded the edges of his eyes, and with his last conscious thought the crushing reality hit him: this was what it really meant to be an “Adler” — he was not a creator of worlds, but a destroyer of them.
CHAPTER ONE
Approximately Ten Years Later
Claudia McCoy slammed the driver’s side door of her car shut behind her so hard it sent reverberations through the metal handle, rattling her hand and jarring the length of her arm in response. For good measure, just in case the offending automobile wasn’t perfectly aware of how supremely pissed off she was, she delivered a firm kick to her front left tire. The rounded tip of her leather boot connected perfectly, bringing a grim smile to her tense face.
The satisfaction faded quickly, leaving her with jangled nerves. She cringed at her lost temper, taking a moment to peer at the door and make sure it was okay. It wasn’t really her car, after all. It was the safe and reliable ride her brother, Wyatt, had bought for her as a college graduation present — another gift she’d never asked for, but could certainly not decline.
On a good day, Claudia treated such things with much more care.