35. Seraphina
35
SERAPHINA
“SOMETHING DEADLY APPROACHES”
I snuggle deeper into Orion’s chest, breathing in his earthy scent as he steps into the clearing around the cabin. We’re halfway to the steps when his muscles tense, and he stops walking. I look up at him, surprised to find his expression closed off. Severe.
Without a word, he places me on the ground, his eyes locked on the front door. “Something’s wrong. Wait here.”
He makes it about two paces away before I run after him, my throat constricting as I watch him pull out a long silver dagger from his backpack. Hearing me behind him, he stops, his eyes narrowed in a glare. “I told you to wait.”
“Yeah. Fuck that.” I raise my brows in a challenge. “Give me a dagger. I can help you if something is wrong.”
Orion sighs, reaching into his backpack and tossing me a considerably smaller dagger. I scrunch my brows at what is essentially a paring knife, disgust curling my lip. “What am I supposed to do with this? Peel potatoes?”
Orion rolls his eyes. “God, you’re impossible. Switch with me.” I grin as he hands over the daddy dagger, trying out the weight of the blade in my palm before delivering two swift strikes to the air. “Yeah. This will do perfectly.”
Orion makes a choked noise as he takes off toward the front door, the paring knife absolutely ridiculous in his bear paw of a hand. However, it doesn’t take anything away from the menacing sight that is his expression as he shoves open the front door.
Immediately, my eyes lock onto two men in gold-plated bird masks standing in the middle of the living room. They seem just as surprised to see us as we are them, and it takes them a few seconds before they reach for the daggers strapped to their waists.
But by then, it’s too late.
In tandem, Orion and I launch our blades across the room. Mine slams right through the eye slit in the first man’s mask, penetrating deep into his brain tissue. His body slumps to the floor as Orion’s victim lets out a bellowing scream, clutching the mini dagger sticking out of his eye socket.
I turn to Orion, a haughty smirk tipping my lips. “I told you that dagger was useless.”
He rolls his eyes, striding to the screaming man in two lumbering steps. He holds him in place while I walk to the fallen man, yanking the dagger from his eye. I scrunch my nose at the disgusting squelching sound that accompanies the movement, wiping the blood on the dead man’s suit jacket before straightening.
The second man struggles in Orion’s hold, but it’s useless. I take slow steps toward him, a devious smile lighting my face as I raise the dagger to his other eye. Never blinking, I shove the blade through his eye, only satisfied when his body slumps lifelessly in Orion’s arms.
With a disgusted noise, Orion drops the body, giving it a kick for good measure. “You know these guys?”
I stare at the golden bird masks strapped to their faces, a pit of unease swirling in my gut as I stoop to remove the daggers. “I think so…”
With my free hand, I pull the mask from the man's face, but I don’t recognize him. So he’s a new recruit of the Sanctum.
The thought fills me with unease. Just how much have they been able to rebuild? It’s been a decade, but I thought it would take much longer before they posed a threat to this city again…
Orion drags the bodies outside, leaving me with my thoughts. How did they find me? Why did they? It doesn’t make any sense ? —
I snap upright, my eyes going wide as I think back to that night at the Neon Flamingo. Ivan… he escaped, didn’t he? And if he’s alive and searching for me…
“Oh God, he didn’t…” I clutch my chest as the reality of the situation becomes clear. Ivan was one of the only people who knew of my connection to the Sanctum—he’d found out shortly after I started seeing him and has been holding it over my head since. Promising if I ever made him angry, he would tell them where I was. Would lead them directly to me. I always thought he was bluffing. That he just used it as a tactic to keep me coming back to him. Never in a million years did I think he would contact them.
When Orion returns, he finds me huddled in a corner, rocking back and forth with a glazed expression. He rushes over, crouching in front of me and cupping my face in his bloodied palms, but I can’t bring myself to care.
“Little dove… what’s the matter?”
He looks so broken, so confused, but every time I try, I can’t make the words come out of my mouth.
“It’s okay, Seraphina.” He tugs me into his chest. “It’s okay… I got you.”
I shake my head, surprised to find tears streaming down my face. “They… they found me.”
“Who, little dove?” He reels back, his eyes searching my face desperately. “Who found you?”
My body shudders, and suddenly, I can’t look at him anymore. “You should leave,” I whisper, hanging my head. “They’ll kill you if they find you with me.”
“Who, Seraphina?” He shakes my shoulders, his voice rising. “Whoever it is, I’ll fucking kill them. No one will get to you while I’m around. No one. ”
I reach up, placing a hand against his racing heart. “You can’t make that promise, Orion.”
As I think about all the things the Sanctum are capable of, a horrifying thought comes to mind. Vee and Maggie. Oh God, what if they were somehow able to find the mountain hideout or the apartment?
I rise to a stand, my mind racing. I never told Ivan about my apartment in the city—wanting to keep Maggie’s safe place a secret—but I’m positive I mentioned my hideout in the mountains to him. And if that’s the case, then Vee is in terrible danger.
“I have to go.”
I take a step toward the door, but Orion is faster. He jumps in front of the doorway, his arms spread wide and a furious expression on his face. “You’re not leaving,” he growls. “I won’t let you.”
I tilt my head, a sad little smile tipping my lips. “You won’t let me?” I shake my head, tightening my grip around the daggers in my palm. “You seem to have forgotten who I am. ”
Before he can blink, I lunge forward with the paring knife, shoving it deep into his gut. Orion folds forward on instinct, and I use his moment of disorientation to crouch low, dragging the blade of the daddy dagger across the backs of his heels.
Orion’s body crashes to the floor at the same time I jump back, barely missing his arms as he reaches out to grab me.
“Fuck!” His eyes squint against the jarring pain as he attempts to right himself. “Fuck!”
Before he can push off the floor, I rush toward him, ripping the paring knife from his gut and plunging it through the top of his hand braced against the floorboards. He lets out a furious howl as he tries to yank the blade from the wood, but his free hand is too slicked with blood to get a firm purchase on the handle.
His bright blue eyes gleam with hatred as I step forward, flipping the daddy dagger around in my hand so I’m gripping the bladed portion. Chest heaving, I bring the handle under his chin, raising it so he’s looking me directly in the eyes.
“You can’t keep someone like me,” I whisper. “You had me this long because I let you. If I really cared to leave—if I really wanted to…” I don’t finish the rest of the sentence. Because it’s true, and I’m just realizing it at this moment. All the things that Orion did to me—I could have escaped any time I wanted. I could have stopped him any time I wanted. But I never did. And I don’t have the time to unpack the why just now.
“Seraphina…” His throat bobs, and his eyes— God, they’re so, so sad. So hurt.
“I’m sorry,” I whisper. I thrust the butt of the handle to the side of his temple, and he falls to the floor, unconscious.
As I watch the gentle rise and fall of his chest, I expect to be filled with some kind of resolve. Something that will tell me I made the right choice.
Instead, the only thing I feel is remorse.