Chapter 16
ELENA
A lfeo's eyes flickered, wild and unfocused, darting frantically around the confined space of the van like a cornered animal searching for escape.
The whites showed all the way around his irises, giving him a manic, unhinged appearance that sent ice through my veins.
There was something terrifying in that gaze—the look of a man who'd crossed a line he hadn't meant to cross and now saw only one way forward.
I'd seen fear before, seen anger and desperation, but this was something else entirely—this was the unraveling of a human being happening right before my eyes.
I held my breath. We all did.
"He shouldn't have gone for his gun," Alfeo muttered as he shook his head. "But I can still fix this."
But there was no fixing this. Not now. Not with that gun in his hand, which was trembling ever so slightly.
The silence was suffocating.
No one dared speak. The only sound was the metallic rattle of the gun as he shook it in frustration. My heart was a drumbeat in my throat. We're going to die here, I thought. Mom will never know what happened to me.
"Fuck it," he snapped. "I need to run. Can't have any baggage."
Ivy's breath hitched, her voice breaking through the tension. "I thought—" she sniffled, tears streaking her mascara, "I thought we shared something special, Alfie. Was it all nothing?"
What was she doing?
He scoffed as he climbed into the van, aiming the gun at Jackson as he stepped around him. "Special? You were just a whore. A hole to fill." His words were venom, deliberate and cruel.
Ivy's shoulders shook with sobs, her face crumpling.
Was she just acting? Surely she had to be?
"Why, Alfie?" Ivy cried, and he rolled his eyes before crouching down and turning his attention to Jackson. He let the gun lower as he cocked his head, smirking at Jackson.
"I swear, these fucking whores?—"
In that split second, Ivy pulled a hand free. Before I could process what was happening, she thrust her arm forward, a hissing sound filling the van as she sprayed directly into Alfeo's eyes.
He howled, clawing at his face, and Jackson seized the moment, lunging forward. He slammed into Alfeo, knocking him out of the van. The gun went off with a deafening crack that made my ears ring, and Ivy's scream echoed in the van.
Gunfire shattered the air again.
I ducked instinctively, curling into Ivy as Jackson and Alfeo wrestled outside on the gravel. The sound of fists connecting with flesh made me wince. Ivy's hand found mine, squeezing hard enough to hurt as we huddled together. We were frozen. Helpless. The copper tang of fear coated my tongue.
Another shot went off, and Ivy cursed, her body flinching along with mine at the sound.
"They're away from the door!" Ivy gasped as she dared to glance up. I turned, realizing the pair of them had moved their struggle alongside the van. I listened, following the movement as Ivy and I broke apart.
They were close to the front of the van now. Was one of them crawling away? Was it Alfie? Ivy had blinded him pretty good, giving Jackson a fighting chance while wounded.
"Elena!" Ivy hissed as she moved towards the front of the van.
I knew what she was thinking. Hopefully he'd left the keys, giving us a way to get out of here. I pushed off after her, my heart rattling in my chest.
Through the windshield, I saw Alfeo's face appear as he tried to stand—bloodied, eyes struggling to stay open from how red they were—just before Jackson tackled him again.
They were still fighting. Still punching.
Still trying to kill each other. The moon doused them in an eerie glow as Ivy moved to step into the front of the van.
"Run!" Jackson roared as he caught sight of us through the windshield.
"There's no keys!" Ivy hissed as she slid back. "He must have them. We need to get out of here." Ivy yanked me out the back of the van, and I stumbled after her. The cold air bit at my skin, but I didn't even make it a few steps before I froze.
I couldn't leave him.
I twisted back. Jackson was still fighting, still bleeding. I saw the discarded gun on the ground where it had fallen during their struggle to the side of the van. I moved before my brain did. What am I doing? The voice in my head screamed. I'm not a killer!
I picked it up. Cold. Heavy. Real.
I raised it as I moved to the front of the van, drawing in shaky breaths as Ivy stayed behind me, silent. My hands shook, but I aimed. The weight of it was nothing like I'd imagined.
Somehow, despite the pepper spray, Alfeo had Jackson down on the ground, and he was trying to pin his arms down.
"Stop," I said, my voice cracking. "I'll shoot." The wind whipped my hair across my face, but I didn't dare move to brush it away.
Alfeo laughed as he punched Jackson square in the jaw. "You don't have the nerve."
Jackson grunted, still trying to fight but growing weaker by the second. He'd lost too much blood, that much was obvious.
Alfeo hit him again, giving him a second where he finally looked up at me, his red eyes crazy.
He lunged forward, and I didn't think. I just pulled the trigger. The recoil shocked my arms, vibrating up to my shoulders.
The shot echoed as he dropped.
Right between the eyes.
Ivy gasped behind me. "Holy shit, Elena," she whispered.
I couldn't breathe. My knees buckled. The gun felt impossibly heavy now, like it was made of lead instead of metal.
Jackson rolled over, grunting as he dragged himself to me and pulled himself up to sit.
"It's okay, Elena." His voice was soft as I sucked in ragged breaths. He took the gun from my hands like it was made of glass. "You did what you had to," he said gently. "It was the right thing. This isn't your fault." His eyes held mine, steady despite the pain etched in the lines of his face.
I broke.
The sobs came fast and ugly. I couldn't stop them. I didn't even try. My whole body shook as the reality of what I'd just done crashed over me. I killed someone. I took a life.
My mother's daughter had just become a killer.
Jackson turned to Ivy. "Start the van."
We were in the middle of nowhere. A rundown house loomed behind us like a ghost, its windows dark and accusing. Ivy nodded before hesitantly approaching Alfie and checking his pockets.
I just sat there, still shaking as I did everything to not look at the man I'd just put down.
"It's okay, Elena, you're safe," Jackson murmured as he wrapped an arm around my shoulders. He struggled to his feet, grunting as he guided me up from the ground as well. I should've been the one helping him, but I couldn't get my mind or body to obey.
I could just see Alfeo's eyes as I pulled the trigger.
Ivy was able to find the keys, since she was now in the van, trying the ignition.
Jackson and I stumbled to the passenger side of the van, where he yanked the door open.
The engine sputtered, coughed, then died. Nothing. "Shit," Ivy muttered, trying again. "Shit, shit, shit."
"Sit, Elena." Jackson guided me into the passenger seat, wincing as he did so.
He was still bleeding. Still trying to protect us. The leather seat was cold against my back, and I shivered, shock setting in now that the adrenaline had faded.
Jackson moved around to the front of the van and checked under the hood.
"Elena, you're okay. You did the right thing. He would've killed us," Ivy said. She took my hand, squeezing it and forcing me to finally meet her gaze. "We're okay, Lena. He was a bad man. You saved us. You saved me."
"You pepper sprayed him first." I was surprised the words came out, but she'd always been the one to pull me out of dark places.
A small smile touched her lips. "Yeah, well, I hid that thing in my bra when we were behind the couch. Wasn't sure if I'd need it. I guess he forgot I had it after he shot that guy."
I nodded, glancing out the windshield, glad that the raised hood was blocking my view of Alfeo.
"Radiator's shot. Alfeo hit it. Tire's going flat too." Jackson appeared by my still open door. His face was ashen in the dim light from the van's interior, sweat beading on his forehead despite the chill in the air.
"Can you fix it?" I asked quietly, shivering as another gust of wind blew through.
He shook his head. "Not without supplies."
Ivy let out a strangled laugh as she slapped the steering wheel. "Great. We're stranded in murder cabin territory with a corpse and no cell service. This is literally how every horror movie starts."
"Looks like a storm is brewing, we'd probably be better off checking out the house," Jackson stated as another gust tore through the van.
How he wasn't freezing in just his briefs was beyond me. Then again, I had no idea how he was still even standing with his wounded leg.
"Okay." I had no fight left in me, and Ivy sighed as we both slid out of the van and moved around to the front. I couldn't help it as I glanced at Alfeo's body, blood having stained the earth around his head.
"Try not to look at him," Jackson said as he limped over to me, the gun still in his hand by his side.
"Hard not to," I muttered, pulling my dressing gown around me tighter. My feet were cold now, and I wanted desperately to get some clothes for Jackson.
Ivy glanced around, hugging herself against the cold. "How far do you think we are from a main road?"
"Didn't hear a single car for the last half hour. We're pretty far out from civilization." Jackson's breath fogged in the cold air, coming in short, controlled bursts that told me he was fighting pain.
I looked at the bloodied dish cloth on his leg and the streaks of dried blood.
"You need to get that sorted, Jackson." My voice sounded distant, like it belonged to someone else.
He shrugged, winced. "Flesh wound. I'll be fine. But we should probably do something about it if I'm to help you two get away from here tomorrow."
But I saw the tightness in his jaw. The way he was holding himself. The slight tremor in his hands that hadn't been there before.