Chapter 18
Chapter
Eighteen
Sage
Istand in shock as Alexei rushes to his closet. I remember the litany of guns I had seen banking the space and assume he's gone to collect them. When he comes out of the walk-in, he's got a vest on, two guns already strapped over his shoulders and a pistol in his hand.
I can't seem to look away from the lawn. The men are coming in swarms, fires igniting everywhere as they smash their way through our windows. It's that night all over again. The night I opened the gates and ruined my entire life.
I look down at my hands, wondering if I'm hallucinating in my panic.
Blood. Mine? Not mine. I can't tell. I can't see.
"Princess." Alexei grabs my face in both his hands and twists me towards him. On reflex, my hands snap up to grip at his. "It's gonna be okay. Put this on."
I stand there, numb and useless, as he helps me into a bullet-proof vest and my frame drops with the weight. The once dark night gets brighter and brighter as fires spark outside.
"We can't stay here," Alexei says, though more to himself. He can't be talking to me because I am obviously acting embarrassingly pathetic in my shock. I watch him load his guns, clocking the ammunition in place as gunfire sounds on the lower levels.
He swings open his bedroom door and Isla comes bursting through from across the hall.
"What a fucking welcome," she says, shaking her head like she's disappointed and annoyed by the whole situation. "Closet?"
Alexei continues rushing about the room, preparing somehow, but I don't catch the exact nature of the movements.
Because I don't understand what he's doing.
I'm frozen still, listening as the sounds of gunfire intensify.
Isla comes out of the closet wearing her own bullet-proof vest, locked and loaded with a multitude of weapons as well.
She looks incredible. She's not scared. She's not fazed. She's about to do business.
Begrudgingly... I can see it. She's the whole package.
"What's the deal?" she asks Alexei. His eyes shift sideways to me, and I know that they're talking about me though neither of them acknowledges that I'm in the room.
"Help the others. You know what to do," he says.
She doesn't once question him, just gives him a silly salute and then heads out into the hallway with a rifle at the ready.
He just sent her into the line of gunfire? But he loves-
Before I can process that fully, he's back in front of me again. "Okay, princess, we need to move."
I nod but I can feel the tears running down to my chin.
"Jesus, fuck. Don't cry." His voice hardens as he wipes the tears from my face with his thumbs. "Look at me."
Numbly, I do. I'm going to die here. I barely made it through the first ambush on our estate.
Now, with a panic attack looming over me from my previous trauma, I know it's enough weakness to kill me.
Especially standing here in front of this man.
Our families have hated each other since before I was born.
"Show me that siren's face you did when I first got here," he says.
What? I can't think. I can't breathe. I look at him blankly.
"You are the daughter of Dimitri DeMarco.
And you might have all those men out there fooled but I know what you are.
" He presses his palm to my chest. "You're a devil in disguise.
A warrior and a siren. And this heart is made of steel.
Which means no one out there can tell it to stop beating.
Take what you want, and no one stops you. "
I close my eyes and nod, warmth flooding me from within. It's a pep talk I didn't know I needed. Giving me back some of the power that I lost each time Nic tore my heart from my chest. Or perhaps, power that I have never been given before. Perhaps, power is something I have to take.
"Who are you?"
I frown, as it takes me a few moments to clue in to what he's asking me to do. "D-Dimitri DeMarco's daughter?" I stutter.
"What are you?"
"A warrior."
"And who's gonna stop you?"
I pull up short, wondering if it's the right thing to say, but at the same time feeling in my bones like it is. "No one."
"Good girl." He presses a small pistol into my palm. "We're getting out of here. Stay close to me."
I cock the gun and give him my best devil's stare. His lips twitch before he schools them. His attention is promptly stolen by gunfire that echoes on our floor. I follow Alexei to the door but before we get there, a man kicks it open.
He's not expecting us, and Alexei puts a bullet in his face, his head cocking back with the shot before he dies.
Alexei doesn't stop, doesn't think twice as he pushes into the hall. I follow him, keeping alert, but staying behind him as he made me promise. His gun is up and smoking. Two more men who were coming up the stairs are shot dead at Alexei's hand before I can blink.
It feels so hot and so bright for being the middle of the night.
All I can hear is the searing sounds of gunfire and fighting.
More bullets come for us. Alexei backs up and pushes me against the wall, his back to my front as he shields me.
At perfectly timed intervals, he leans forward and opens fire on our attackers until I hear bodies drop and gunfire stop.
Alexei reloads his gun and steps away from me, motioning with his head for me to follow him. We head across the landing and down the hall again. He's taking me to my bedroom.
Suddenly, he stops short and I nearly slam into his back.
I wonder what the hell has got him stopping dead, but then I see a group of men exiting my room. At least six of them by first count.
"She's not there," one of them says to the other.
My eyes widen.
"We can't leave here without her. Boss's orders to get the fucking girl."
One of them notices us then. "There she is!"
"Fuck," Alexei says.
We barely outrun the gunfire, rushing into one of the rooms on the other side of the hall.
Our heads duck low as we run, slamming the door closed behind us.
We're in my father's media room. Rows of plush black theater seats line the untouched space.
There's a movie screen on the far wall and a projector above my head.
Alexei ignores me as he races to the window.
He doesn't see the man about to get the jump on him.
Like me, he's assumed the fact that the space is untouched means that there's no one in here. I can't breathe. I can't make my brain work fast enough to warn him. All I do is scream. Scream and fire my gun.
Alexei hears me, turning just in time to see me shoot the guy in the stomach. He drops like a sack of potatoes and a row of blood spatter slashes onto the previously pristine wall.
"Shit, princess," Alexei curses. The guy on the floor cries out in pain. Alexei presses his foot onto the guy's chest, shooting him.
There's a thud at the door that jolts me from my thoughts. I can't think too long about the fact that I pretty much just killed a guy. My feet carry me toward Alexei as I realize they're trying to kick the door in.
Alexei rushes forward to me too, and grabs my hand, putting me behind his body, holding a gun in both of his hands as he gets ready to defend us.
"Is there another way out of here?"
I stammer, trying to think on my feet. I'm going to need to get harder than I am, because I'm not cut out for this. And I need to be.
"I - there's... there's another door behind the projector screen."
Alexei looks at the screen next to us and nods, bracing as the thuds on the door get louder.
The wood shatters, and I barely suppress a scream as several men push through. I'm livid by the fact we're standing out in the open as they ambush us, but I stay behind Alexei as he told me to. I don't move from where he tells me to stay.
Alexei shoots the first one dead, and then the second, before they get the hint.
I poke my head above Alexei's shoulders and he gives me a warning look before we turn in time to see surrendered hands from either side of the door, but no more brave faces coming in.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa," a voice says. "Calm the hell down, we're not here for you, Rushkoff."
Alexei shoots the guy's hand. "Don't fucking care who you're here for."
"Fuck!" the voice shouts. "You're in the fucking way, man! We're not here to hurt you. Just hand over the girl and have at it."
H-hand over the girl....?
They want me. They want him to give them me.
Oh, shit.
He's going to do it. He has to do it.
Alexei has no reason to defend me. In fact, he actively hates me and wishes away my presence for the safety of his brother. Of course, he's going to hand me over. There's no reason for him to help me.
"Not fucking happening," Alexei grits out, his voice the toughest and angriest I've ever heard it. "You're not getting the girl, fuckers. You'd have to go through me first. And you're not getting through me."
I gasp, shivers overtaking my body as I peer over Alexei's shoulder and look him in the eye. He only spares me a brief glance, but one that feels like it lasts for an eternity, and says so much, before he turns his attention back to the threat.
Alexei... he's going to help me. I can't imagine on what planet this guy would want to help me. Would want to stand in the way of someone trying to take away his biggest problem.
But he's going to.
"Get ready to run," Alexei whispers to me.
I barely even have time to consider the request.
"Come on man just-"
They don't have time to finish their sentence either, as Alexei open fires with a rifle. He grabs my hand and suddenly we're running, diving behind the projector screen and just getting to the next room to get the door barred before we're followed.
The room is tiny, and we've just taken the one entryway into it. It's not meant for anything other than storage for the media room. Sooner or later they're going to find out that we're in here, even with the projector screen acting as cover.
Can Alexei really take down all these men? On his own?
Alexei sees the look on my face. "Yeah, I can take them all down, princess."