Chapter 29 #2
“No,” Elise countered. She reached into her bodice and pulled a handful of silver bullets out, holding them up for the gang leader to see.
“I can’t believe you didn’t realize I had switched out your bullets.
” Now Elise wore a smug smile of her own, one that chased Nicoletta’s previous mirth right from her face.
Nicoletta’s mouth gaped. She shakily opened her revolver and poured out the bullets in the chamber.
They dropped into the water and rolled along the deck, regular lead bullets in the ocean pouring itself into the ship.
“No,” she croaked. Her voice, hoarse and quiet, was so unlike her usual commanding tone, Layla could not help but look up at Elise with a spark of awe in her eyes.
Elise met her gaze for a second, mirroring her relief.
The pressure in Layla’s chest lightened, and she knew it was not just because of her wound knitting itself back together.
Though when she pulled her hand away from her chest, where the bullet had lodged itself, she found fresh skin already forming over the new injury.
She swallowed hard, relief crashing into her in waves that rivaled the intensity of the ones rocking the ship around them.
Part of her wondered how much of it truly was the ship versus her own hunger working in tandem with her budding anger.
She stood slowly, letting her nerves settle before she faced Nicoletta.
The gang leader dropped her gun. It sank into the water swirling around her legs, and she kicked it off of the ship before holding her hands up in surrender.
A gentle look had appeared on her face, but the more Layla watched her, the more suspicious she became.
“Fine. You win. Take the compound back. Just let me go.”
Despite her sudden yielding making Layla doubt Nicoletta’s every move, she could not have agreed more with such a bold offer.
At the end of the day, that was what they had confronted her for.
And all Layla really wanted now was to get off this ship with Elise and go back to their regular adversaries.
But Elise had other plans. “No,” she said roughly, moving closer on the upper level.
“No?” Nicoletta asked, bewildered.
“Elise,” Layla warned.
“You knowingly helped run an operation that exploited my baby sister. How dare you,” Elise hissed.
Nicoletta laughed. It was a wicked, cruel sound that had Layla’s muscles bunching with the urge to silence her.
“What can I say? Her asking price was astronomical.” Elise’s gun hand shook, but she let Nicoletta continue.
“Reapers and humans paid a pretty penny for her blood and venom. It would have been the same for your mother if only we had managed to keep her alive. I understand your despair, Elise, I truly do. It must be awful, right? Feeling responsible for the death of a loved one?”
Elise sniffed. Layla watched with horror as the glimmer of fresh tears arose in her eyes.
She did not wait to hear what Elise said in response to Nicoletta’s cruelty.
Layla was already throwing herself into Nicoletta by the time her anger fully registered.
She pinned the gang leader to the floor and relished in the strength her blood fury gave her in assistance with her rage.
All Layla saw was red. Even as she faced Nicoletta, even as she tore into her fresh wounds, rehashing old pains and turning them into worse pits of hell.
She tasted only satisfaction as she sank her fangs into her own wrist and held it over Nicoletta’s mouth, forcing her to swallow mouthfuls of her blood.
Her hunger increased with the loss of blood, but Layla continued, shoving Nicoletta’s mouth closed and then tearing her throat out.
She waited for a moment as the gang leader’s breathing stilled beneath her.
Eventually, her heartbeat stopped, and Layla noticed her blood flow coming to a complete halt.
The gang leader stared up at the night sky with glassy eyes, her face stuck in a permanent state of pure terror.
She had died, gurgling and choking on Layla’s blood.
While it was certainly one of the most vicious displays of violence Layla could claim, it was not her coldest. This had been an act she had imagined for many years, just not being done to Nicoletta.
Her heart stuttered as she stood and blood rushed from her head.
The adrenaline of the night had begun to wear off, leaving Layla a body of sore muscles and aching cravings.
She tried to walk away from Nicoletta, but Elise, having climbed down from the upper deck, appeared, her eyes soft and wild at once on Layla. “Are you okay?”
Layla could barely nod. The world spun around her, and she saw three Elises bend down to pick up the keys from Nicoletta’s belt.
Even as she pulled the chains around Layla’s wrists into her hands to unlock them, Layla still couldn’t focus on her.
While the red haze had left her vision, several black spots danced across it now, and Elise and the sounds of the ships collapsing beneath them sounded impossibly far away.
Once the chains came off and fell into the water that quickly climbed up their legs, Layla leaned heavily against Elise.
Despite the blood of many gangsters filling the water and covering the interior of the ship around them, all Layla could smell and taste was Elise’s.
The pulse of her blood beneath her delicate skin brushed against her lips, and Layla closed her eyes, imagining the sweet sanctity sliding over her tongue and exploding into her mouth.
Elise pulled back to press her hands to Layla’s cheeks. Her mouth moved, but Layla could barely hear her. Every word sounded like glorified static in her rushing ears. “…Layla…”
Layla’s vision slid back to Nicoletta, whose body now floated in the filthy water around them. She turned to Elise once more, her own gaze fixated on the dead gang leader. “She’ll be back,” Layla whispered.
“I know.” A distinct sadness darkened Elise’s eyes.
Layla gripped her wrist hard enough to feel her pulse flutter beneath her fingertips. “How are you? Are you hurt?”
At this, Elise almost laughed. “I’m just fine, Layla.
We need to get you off the ship—” Another explosion interrupted her.
The boat rocked violently, but Elise held Layla steady in her arms. Once their environment slowed to a gentle swaying, Elise loosened her hold on Layla.
She groaned as she looked out over the black water lapping up against the side of the ship. “I told Jamie only one bomb…”
But Layla did not hear the end of her statement. The world went sideways as she pitched over the edge of the ship, her fading vision catching sight of Elise’s panicked expression among the stars before Layla plummeted into the dark water beyond.