Venom
Raider helps me push open the barn door; the damn thing is rickety and heavy as hell.
It’s a good thing I brought him with me; the man knows how to use his abilities to his advantage.
He runs a martial arts gym in town, making him the perfect choice on jobs.
He’s assertive, solid as a damn rock, and has some kick-ass moves.
His lean disposition can be misleading, but that’s also the perfect weapon; he’s underestimated by enemies, and that makes him a force to be reckoned with.
“Fuckin’ place needs condemned,” he groans as the doors screech open and the musty smell from inside hits us.
“Fuck, that stinks.” I grunt. “Needs burned to the goddamn ground, all of it.”
“Tire marks outside. Someone’s been here recently,” I say. The ball of dread low in my stomach feels like it’s amplifying as I scan the empty space.
There’s something here, I can feel it. It feels significant, like it’s calling to me.
“Nothin’ in here,” Raider is quick to add as he spins around the empty space.
“Check the ceiling for a hayloft and the ground for a basement. Barns have that shit, and this one doesn’t appear to have either.” I glance up toward the ceiling. “The ceiling is too low compared to the frame.”
Raider’s eyebrows jump up and his eyes widen. “Never heard you speak more than a sentence in one go.”
I grunt, then grab the handle of the broom leaning against the wall and hit the ceiling with it while Raider stomps on the floor, searching for an entrance beneath the layer of hay.
“Whole fuckin’ place gives me the creeps.” He shudders dramatically.
“Hear ya,” I agree.
I hit the ceiling again and again, listening for a different sound within the boarded space. After about four knocks, I finally hit something hollower than the rest, and when my eyes latch on to a small hook, I realize I’m definitely onto something.
“Gotcha!”
Raider strides toward me. “How the fuck did you find that?”
I give him a shrug. “Get over here. Gonna lift ya up to pull it open.” I point toward the hook. Without giving him a choice, I bend down to hoist him up.
“Got it.”
I slowly ease him down.
The latch opens, and with it comes a small ladder.
Raider surveys me from top to toe. “You gonna fit up there?” A smirk plays on his lips.
Glancing up at the open space, my chest constricts, and I feel an immense draw to the light shining down on us. It’s almost like it’s calling to me personally.
I pull my gun out from behind my back and check the clip as determination seeps into my veins. “I’ll fit.”
I step on the first rung and grimace at the rickety ladder. Raider chuckles, and I throw him a glare that renders him speechless while I continue my ascent.
As soon as my head pops up in the open space, my eyes latch onto a cage, and all-out malice zips up my spine.
Winnie was kept in a cage.
A whimper filters through the dust and daylight, and when I lift myself into the space, my heart skips a beat.
A small emaciated and naked girl is curled up in the corner of a dog cage, shaking uncontrollably.
Her dark-blue eyes are filled with fear, and when our eyes lock, the world stands still, allowing us this moment of silence, this moment of pure clarity, where nothing else matters in the world but her and me.
Me rescuing her.
Protecting her for the rest of our natural lives and beyond.
This small, terrified wisp of a woman locked away is about to become an Unholy.
My unholy.
“Navy,” I rasp the color of her eyes, and they flare into something foreign to me, something I can’t yet pinpoint but will spend the rest of my life willing to relive.
This moment changes everything.