60
Custer
Mikael
I can’t tear my eyes away from her. The swelling, bruising, and blood. Her hair dangling over her face to hide it all from us.
She’s so small. Delicate and plush in the most perfect ways.
They want to take her away from us.
I begin to spiral, flashing back to a time when I was tied to a chair, much like she is now. The feeling of helplessness and crushing defeat followed by agony.
I can see the man’s mouth moving as he threatens her. My pulse is so loud in my ears I can’t understand him. All I can see is how her eyes move down to her foot and how pale she gets.
“Amanda, breathe. Just breathe, rakas ,” I beg her. I can’t recognize my own voice. It’s so weak and shaky.
We’re all stuck staring. Gabe is frozen up, his eyes reflecting the shattering of his control inside while his body refuses to move. Cade is muttering curses under his breath, panicking.
Owen leans forward, mouth open to add a comment. Cade shuts it down with a fist to the side of his head. Teeth bared in a feral snarl.
“I’m going to fucking destroy you,” he mutters and shoves Owen back into his seat.
“Hey,” a man’s voice says warily from the other side of the connection.
Amanda moves.
The sure movement as she stands, along with her menacing determination, jolts me into action.
I’m across the awkward space separating me from Owen in a blink. My left hand wraps just above Owen’s knee, the other cupping his heel. Then, I bend until the satisfying crack of bones can be heard.
Owen’s scream pierces the air, covering up the noise coming from the screen. Cade is yelling at Amanda to run. I crush Owen’s ankle, practically ripping his foot off. It sags as if I did. The only thing holding him together is his skin.
I catch a flash of red hair on the monitor and roar at her to keep fighting. Cade insists that she run.
They won’t let her go. There might be hundreds of places to hide, but they won’t stop until they have her. I know it as well as anyone else here.
I want her to kill them all without any hesitation.
Owen tries to punch me, a weak hit muffled by my adrenaline. My face slowly turns to take him in. The undivided attention makes him piss himself.
A hand reaches past me and grips Owen’s throat in a tight hold.
Silence falls in the car as Gabe leans closer to the agonized face of the man.
“Where is she?”
His voice is so blank and frigid that a chill runs down my spine.
“Fuck. You,” Owen spits back as tears trail down his cheeks.
I grab the feeble hand that punched me and squeeze until things begin to pop. Owen watches, his mouth open in a silent scream.
“Try again,” Gabe leans closer.
Owen’s mouth opens and closes, gasping in air, before he screams, “The mansion!”
“Thank you,” Gabe gives him a polite, businessman nod and jams a dagger through his right eye.
I blink at the sight, my eyes moving from Gabe’s steady hand to his blank face. He moves back, settling into the seat to buckle his seat belt.
Cade does the same, his phone at his ear already.
“Run us off the road, kill the driver, and get us out. They have Amanda, and she’s at the mansion.”
I hear Ace losing his mind as I buckle up. Just in time.
Gravity reasserts its dominance without mercy as metal slams into metal. The limo goes into a spin while we brace as well as we can. The back end hits something solid, jerking us to a sudden stop.
Our seat belts come off as a muffled shout rings from the front of the limo. A gunshot cuts it off beautifully. The back door opens to reveal Jake’s grim face. He glances around at us with a phone to his ear.
“She got free, but the last fucker has her phone. We didn’t see where she went,” Cade tells him in a tight voice, shoving his way out.
Ace is back in the front seat of the SUV, barking for us to move it.
“You’re a go on the first level, Heretic,” Jake says grimly.
“Copy,” I hear a dead voice reply before he hangs up.
Tera
“Take that, pencil dick,” I mutter with relish and strike the enter key with gusto.
The virus-lobbing jerk disappears from my screen, leaving me with a smile of satisfaction.
No time for that!
I hurry to pull up my phone and send Southie a message.
“What are you doing, angel?”
My eyes slowly roll up to see Asher standing in the open doorway with his arms crossed. He has his set-in-stone face on.
“Um,” I mutter as my cheeks go red. I’m in so much trouble.
South
I take in the text, thankful I brought the phone with me. Now, I have a clear target to play with.
No one heard the chime but Shade, which amuses me. His sudden head-turning paranoia will pass soon enough. I let him read it over my shoulder, eager for him to see who our target is.
“What the fuck,” he whispers in disgust. “Textbook.”
I send Tera a one word reply, accepting her ban, and tuck the phone away. My statue is very hesitant as I walk up the front steps of the manor, holding his hand.
“Baby,” he whispers cautiously.
I turn toward him and press a finger to my ferally grinning lips.
He blinks at the expression and draws a gun. Not my preferred method, but whatever makes my monster comfortable.
The door is unlocked. It doesn’t surprise me. Neither do the rich snobs mingling in a dining room off to our left. The room is filled with cigar smoke and the smell of liquor.
Not worthy prey. For that, we’ll have to go deeper.
I pull Shade along behind me as he tries to resist. When we enter the room, his feet stop moving. I pause to let him get his bearings.
Finding out that I can make someone invisible with me has been a highlight in a momentous year.
I take in Shade’s disbelieving stare as he looks around. Not a single person turns our way.
His eyes dart to mine as I grin.
I tug his hand, and he begins to follow again.
We pass through a few empty rooms on a meandering path to take in the sights. The opulence here is rather dull. So much waste along with zero taste in decor. I head for the carpeted stairs and trail my hand over the banister.
A figure passes by us stealthily, heading in the opposite direction.
The man has long black hair and black eyes, his mouth covered by a mask. He’s dressed in an outfit similar to Shade’s but with several more weapons. He stalks by us without a glance, a gun ready in each hand.
Shade watches him disappear into the empty room behind us with a frown.
“Get ready, monster,” I let him go, dropping his hand to pull my razor.
“What’s the plan?” His wide grin gives me goosebumps.
“Bottleneck,” I smirk and position myself at one side of the stairwell.
He shakes his head, holstering his gun to pull out a hatchet.
“Much better,” I sigh with an adoring look.
His eyes trail down my body, and he licks his lips. I’m just leaning forward to kiss him when the first gunshot goes off.
I suppose I can wait.
The shots continue, interspersed with the sound of running feet. Heading this way through the rooms we haven’t inspected yet.
The door next to me jerks open. A gun waves near my temple, and a man in a hurry, ready to shoot, tries to pass.
I grab his wrist and spin him toward me, the razor arcing up his neck in a slice that severs the artery. I let him drop at my feet to bleed out and glance at Shade.
While I was busy, he grabbed his own enemy. His arm descends with vigor, the hatchet finding a home in the man’s face.
I gape as blood gushes, splattering over Shade with abandon. He’s mindless with some emotion I can only hope to feel. Pure power and control with dark pleasure combined. Shade raises his foot, kicking the man to pull his hatchet out.
Our eyes meet, his with fierce concentration and mine giddy with pleasure.
“Play with me, monster,” I mutter in a daze.
The spine-shaking smile I get in return makes me sigh.
We each take a side of the hallway, hacking our way through until our prey arrives.
Heretic
“Damn it!” Blue shouts in my ear.
My aim stays steady. No matter who passes into my sight, I keep firing. While I’m facing death, he’s facing the loss of his computer.
Gunfire, shouts, and an enraged hacker are all I can hear. They eliminate the constant need to hear a click around me. My reminder that my heart might be dead, but it’s still beating.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck. My hard drive overheated!”
That sounds bad.
The entrance to the manor explodes, the wooden door flying off its hinges. My aim moves to it. I didn’t feel an aftershock, and the door was the only thing affected.
A snarling man marches in, weapon ready and teeth gnashing. I recognize Ace Miller. Anger issues. Blackout rage. A hazard.
I backtrack quickly even though there are several people still alive in front of me. They won’t be soon enough. I manage to catch the rest of Matthias Jr’s team coming in one by one and ready for war before I move to the back of the mansion.
There’s a set of stairs back there that lead down. Something not on any of the blueprints.
“I’m blind!” Blue rages in my ear. “My computer is fucking toast, Tic. Matthias Sr has a clean-up on the way to your location. Get the girl and get the fuck out of there.”
“Copy,” I mutter, uninterested.
“Don’t you fucking give up on me,” Blue’s tone drops helplessly. The sudden sound of defeat makes me pause. Never a good thing in the middle of a fight.
The man I consider my brother, my best friend, keeps going in a ragged tone.
“We’re almost out. After that we can pick ourselves back up. It will happen, Tic.”
“Copy,” I say with more grim determination.
Jake
No more empty rooms. Cade promised. He even rubbed his ear when he said it. It’s a done deal. It has to be.
Ace and Mikael separate in front of me, going in opposite directions and roaring Amanda’s name. Cade follows Gabriel straight ahead. It leaves me with the winding stairs.
A body bounces down to land at my feet.
Throat cut. How familiar.
I mount a few steps to see what’s happening with a little cover.
Shade and South dance together as if they rehearsed their movements. Death flows all around them, painting the walls red. The dance doesn’t stop until someone stumbles onto them and turns to run. Both Shade and South race to catch up.
I backtrack and follow after Cade, killing anyone who gets in my way. It doesn’t matter if it’s a man or woman. They’re all here for one reason, and it’s in that basement. They’re all guilty.
“ Manda! ”
The sound of Ace’s agony has my chest caving in.
When I get her back, I’m putting a tracker in her ass. It’s decided.
I need her. Where is she?
My steps stop as I enter another doorway. I duck back quickly as a shot gets fired in my direction.
We found some of Matthias’ traitors.
A quick peek shows me Cade crouched behind a red velvet couch with Gabe next to him. Both have their guns at the ready. It’s a proud moment for Gabe despite how pale he is.
My eyes move, taking in the three men left standing.
They don’t matter. I want meine Seele .
I move through the doorway and spray bullets without concern. I catch them all in a clean sweep as I pace forward. I don’t stop moving until the gun clicks empty.
Cade and Gabriel spring up, ready to fire. A man peeks from a hatch in the floor, taking aim.
Heretic slides out from behind the curtains farther in the room and fires, striking the man in the head. He calmly continues forward, checking the body by pulling it out of the way. Before he can move, Gabriel runs past him, descending the steps like a madman.