Chapter 28 #3
There was Layla, chained and pale inside.
Elise ran right to her, dropping her gun on the floor between them.
She kneeled before Layla and cupped her cheeks in her hands, her eyes already welling with tears of relief.
Layla looked at her and tried to smile, but her head, heavy as it was in Elise’s hands without the proper strength to hold it up on her own, lolled to the side.
Still, her eyes seemed to smile and shine as Elise held her and grinned through her tears.
“Lisey? You came,” Layla said in a faint voice.
Elise rubbed her thumbs over her cheeks and nodded.
“Of course.” She quickly assessed Layla’s body, noticing the bloody tourniquet on her leg and the chains still holding her down.
“I’m going to get you out. Just do me a favor and stay alive.
I cannot have come this far just to have you die on me.
” When she dropped her hands and moved to take hold of the chains, she felt blood seep into her dress around her knees and slip between her fingers.
The wound on Layla’s leg still wept. Surprisingly, the reaper’s face was void of any pain, though she was frightfully pale.
Elise knew they had only so much time before either Layla bled out or the gangsters found them all.
She looked up at the other reapers she had freed, still standing by the door.
“How do you get a reaper to stop bleeding after suffering a wound from a Saint weapon?” Elise asked. She stuck her hairpin into the lock and began working it against the gears.
The other reapers looked at one another, mumbling.
Layla cleared her throat and nudged Elise with her good leg. “You can’t stop the bleeding. That’s the point of the Saint weaponry.”
Elise hissed as the hairpin snagged on something in the lock and got stuck. “I know, I know. But isn’t there anything that will help? If we move you, you’ll bleed out.”
Layla leaned her head against the wall. “I need more blood.”
The hairpin snapped in Elise’s hands. Half of it remained between her fingers, while the other half sat, still stuck, in the lock. “Fuck,” she muttered. Before Elise could figure something else out, gunfire went off around the ship.
One reaper at the door looked out at the hallway, then back at Elise. “They’re coming. You need to hurry.”
Panic seized Elise’s chest like a fiery fist. Her heart thudded so hard and fast, she thought it might catch on fire or explode. She leaned over Layla, searching for a release, or something to use behind her where the chains were bound to a bar set in the wooden floor.
Layla swallowed and shifted uncomfortably. More blood poured from her wound, her leg trembling as she adjusted her position. Elise felt Layla’s face by her throat and a sharp wince before she turned away. “Don’t do that.”
Elise sat back on her heels. Her brows furrowed at Layla’s twisted expression. Her fangs dug into her lips, but only a thin stream of blood ran from the new cuts in her mouth. “Don’t do what?”
“You can’t be this close to me right now.
I’m…” Layla swallowed, and her pupils dilated while her chest heaved with a deep breath.
“I’ll kill you.” She watched Elise with a gaze that went beyond hunger.
She had moved past ravenous and now regarded Elise like a downright predator eyeing their prey.
Her eyes, black and glassy, no longer had a trace of her familiar gold.
Elise’s throat tightened and went dry at the sight.
She took a deep breath, pulling herself back while her hand closed over her gun.
If Layla noticed her defensive retreat, she did not say anything.
She continued to watch Elise with those eyes, her muscles straining while her arms fought against the restraints.
“Now!” one of the reapers at the door called.
Elise gripped the gun hard and pulled herself back to her original position by Layla. She ignored her desperate gaze and nodded to the open floor nearby. “Get as far away as you can. I’m going to shoot this thing off.”
“Just shoot. I trust you,” Layla rasped.
Elise could only roll her eyes. “You really have a death wish, don’t you?
” She aimed for the wood around the metal bar on which Layla was chained and fired.
A gunshot would no doubt draw more crew members and gangsters toward them, but the only thing Elise cared about in this moment was Layla and getting her free.
Once the wood splintered into pieces and part of the floor fell away, Elise reached down to pull the metal bar up.
She slipped the chain off it and helped Layla into a standing position after the reaper managed to pull her bound wrists in front of herself.
Dried blood crusted around deep burns on her wrists where the cuffs dug in.
Still, the reaper made no complaints and only breathed heavily while Elise tried to move them forward.
Layla swung an arm around her shoulder and leaned heavily on Elise, her injured leg dragging between them. “You need to go. I’m only slowing you down.” Layla.
Elise rolled her eyes again. “Say something like that again and I will make Hendricks sleep in your room tonight.” Layla’s head shake and faint smile made her heart slow to a calmer rhythm.
If only for a moment. Elise crouched to tear a piece of her dress off and wrap it haphazardly around Layla’s leg.
The bleeding seemed to weaken under the applied pressure, though Layla still struggled to stand on it.
When they faced the door, however, all the reapers had disappeared.
Instead, a seething young woman stared down at them.
“What have you done?” Nicoletta growled.
Despite the chaos erupting around the boat, from the gunshots to shouting gangsters, Elise still heard the rush of water increasing beneath their shoes.
Her gunfire had no doubt gone all the way through the ship, no matter how unintentionally.
Elise was glad for it, seeing the panic and true ire on Nicoletta’s face.
She opened her revolver and saw the final bullet in its chamber.
Then Elise met Nicoletta’s eye and smiled sweetly. “We’re sinking your operation.”
Nicoletta barked out a humorless laugh. “You will drown. We all will.”
Elise shook her head. “No. You’ll die before you can touch the water.” Before Nicoletta could properly react to her threat, Elise lifted her gun and fired off her last round.
The bullet barely grazed Nicoletta’s arm. It skimmed right over her, leaving her bare shoulder red with a line of blood and burnt flesh. Her sinister smile widened on Elise, and she reached for her own gun, stepping forward. “You missed me, you fool.”
Though the gang leader seethed, Elise did not have to respond to her anger.
Layla had already stepped away from her.
The reaper’s eyes, sharp and black, honed in on the crimson leaking down Nicoletta’s arm, and her fangs dripped her own blood as her lips parted.
She inhaled, more blood spilling from her mouth.
Nicoletta’s expression fell into fear. She backed up and tried to lift her gun, but Layla was already charging forward.