71. Sienna
SIENNA
Every shadowy shift in the darkness made me jump. My pounding heartbeat was a metronome in my ears, creating a twisted sort of soundtrack to this hellish night. I clenched my teeth to keep them from chattering as I followed Vovk along the side of the house, trusting his eyes over mine.
It was a new moon, so even the sky could not offer me light.
My gun shook in my hand, and I renewed my grip. With each step, I hoped beyond hope that Maxim would pop out of the shadows and yell, “Just kidding! Got ya!”
My phone still had no service. A lifetime of avoiding the police had taught me to never call 911, but maybe now was the time? Unsure if I was doing the right thing, I dialed, but nothing. Even that call wouldn’t go through.
Vovk nudged my leg, and I patted his head. At least I wasn’t on my own. We would do this together. Together we peeked around the next corner. The dark chasm of the backyard and the edge of the forest loomed ahead.
I forced myself to keep going. We slowly crept towards the back deck where Dimi and I had sat just hours before…except now there was a dark form lying at the bottom of the stairs.
My feet stayed glued to the ground. Was that Maxim? Or an enemy?
Fight or flight?
Vovk nudged my leg with a low whine, and that did it.
If he wanted me to keep going, I would. I took a shuddering breath and dug deep.
I would do this because I had to. Just like the Albanian women had fought for their freedom, just like Leona did with her trafficking victims. I drew on their strength now.
Per favore Mamma, proteggimi e il mia bambina. I sent my prayer into the universe, hoping she would hear it. Please Mamma, protect me and my baby.
I neared the dark form, desperately hoping I was mistaking a fallen tree trunk for a body, but as I grew closer, my wish wasn’t to be.
“Maxim,” I choked out as I fell to my knees beside him. “No, no, no.”
I fumbled with my phone until I managed to turn on the flashlight. His eyes were closed and my heart seized at the blood seeping from a wound on his stomach.
Something snatched my wrist, and I barely suppressed a scream.
“Sienna.” Maxim’s voice rattled with pain as he squeezed my arm. “It’s him. The Souleater. Go hide. Call Dimitri.”
“There’s no phone service,” I whispered. “We have to get you to the car.”
His eyes fluttered open. How much did just that movement cost him?
“No. Go hide. I’ll be fine.”
I ignored his slurred words. He would not be fine.
I pulled off my sweatshirt—my favorite of the ones I’d stolen from Dimi—and pressed it to Maxim’s wound. This was so unhygienic, but he couldn’t lose more blood. He just had to make it until we got to the hospital.
“Were you shot?” I whispered.
“Sienna, get away. Hide.”
“It is too late for that now.” A deep, male voice with a heavy Russian accent cut through the darkness.
It took every scrap of my bravery to lift my eyes to the shadowy figure looming ten feet away.
His face and body were shrouded in darkness, making it impossible to discern his features.
My gun was abandoned somewhere in the grass behind me.
We were completely unprepared. My heart sank.
My mistake would cost all of us our lives.
Why hadn’t Vovk warned me of the Souleater’s presence? He hadn’t growled. A quick glance around confirmed he was gone. My breath stuttered. Had something happened to him? Or did he choose to leave me?
“Who are you?” I asked, squinting as I kept pressure on Maxim’s wound.
“Let us not play games. You know who I am. We have been circling each other for months now, Mrs. Ivanova. I admit I have been eager to meet the woman who married my Mitka. Or Dimi, as you call him.”
Mitka. A chill ran down my spine. I recognized that name. I had read it over and over again in this monster’s detailed journals. The realization that Mitka, the Souleater’s favorite victim, was my Dimochka stole the breath from my lungs.
“Yes, I know who you are.” My voice came out with a steadiness that surprised me.
The icy fear that had frozen my body started shifting, burning, until I was consumed by a fire of rage.
This man was responsible for the scars on Dimi’s skin—the ones I’d traced with my fingers and covered with kisses.
And now he was also responsible for Maxim’s hot blood seeping through my fingers, and he wasn’t even brave enough to show his face.
“Congratulations on your bundle of joy,” he continued. “I have always loved children.”
Nausea rocked my body. I bit the inside of my cheek to stay calm. Inside I was screaming, but outside my face stayed impassive.
Please, brain, work. Come up with something.
“Thank you,” I said. “We are very excited. I am sorry I don’t have any tea or cookies to offer you for this happy reunion.”
The Souleater let out a laugh that sounded like metal grinding on metal. “I can see why Mitka likes you.”
“He has good taste.” I shifted on my knees, trying to locate the gun on the ground without the Souleater noticing. “Too bad he’s not here to celebrate. You might want to come back another day.”
A painful twinge in my belly stopped me short. Instinctively, my hand flew to my stomach.
The Souleater hummed and took a step forward. It took all of my strength to resist running away. Maxim needed me, and I would not leave him.
“Oh, do not worry. I just spoke to Mitka. He is on his way to join us.”
Hope and dread swirled inside me. If I had the power of telepathy, I didn’t know if I’d use it to scream at him to get here faster or to stay away.
Dimi and his guys were capable and outnumbered the monster before me, but the Souleater always seemed to be a step ahead of us.
Were they coming back to a trap? Unbidden, a tear slipped down my cheek.
“Tonight, he will finally answer for his crimes.”
“His crimes?” I blurted out. Fuck. I squeezed my eyes shut. Don’t provoke him. Stay calm. Keep him talking. “What crimes would those be?”
“What crimes?” the Souleater snarled. “What crimes?” He started pacing, muttering to himself in unintelligible Russian. “He is the one who convinced Rustik that I would move against him to unseat him as Pakhan. After the years of work I put into Mitka, he betrayed me!”
“But you didn’t die,” I said. Once again, I shifted my weight, trying to sweep my leg across the grass to find my gun, or Maxim’s gun, or anything that could save us from this man.
“As if he could ever kill me,” he snapped.
“Rustik was my puppet. No one knew of the alliance we had from opposite sides of the globe. I trained and broke soldiers for him at the compound and passed him the intel that helped him build his empire. The day I found out he had told Mitka to kill me, I had an hour’s notice to create a plan. ”
I tried to pay attention to his words, but all I cared about right now was Maxim’s blood seeping through my fingers and whether Dimitri was okay. But the longer he talked, the longer we lived.
“God smiled down upon me that day. I had recently been to Albania on my travels where I discovered the women were secretly developing a poison that could mimic death. I left Albania with two stolen vials in my pocket—the poison and the antidote.”
That must have been when he met with Arta’s and Elira’s husbands.
“That night, I told my most trusted men of my plan and took the poison. When Mitka burst into my apartment, he found my prone body with no heartbeat.” Anger flared in his voice.
“My Mitka was the one to bury me. When my men dug me up and gave me the antidote, they barely made it in time. But here I am.”
“Is that why you’re here?” I cleared my voice, trying to keep it strong and stable. “To get revenge against Dimitri?”
“We have unfinished business.” He stepped towards me. “I have waited a long time for this meeting. Mitka was the one boy I never broke.”
Another step forward.
I was stuck to the ground, glued to the grass, unable to take my eyes off the predator before me.
The Souleater crouched down so we were eye-level. His face was still in shadow, but my eyes had adjusted enough to the dark to meet his dark gaze. If this was the end, I would not go down cowering.
He slowly unsheathed a knife from his waist. The long, curved blade glinted in the starlight. “I was going to wait until he got here to begin, but it won’t ruin things to get started early.”
Another sharp wave of pain rippled through my stomach. I let out an involuntary gasp. What the fuck? No. It couldn’t be what I thought it was.
He let out a low chuckle. “Do not worry. I have honed my skills through years of practice.”
He lashed out with the knife. I jolted back on instinct alone and the tip just barely grazed my belly.
I fell back on my ass, heart thudding at his maniacal laugh.
He advanced, and I knew his next cut would meet its mark.
Before I could do anything, a vicious snarl cut through the night.
A white blur leapt through the air. Vovk collided with the Souleater, tackling him to the ground.
A horrible scream filled the air, and it jolted me into action.
I frantically searched through the grass, sobbing as I prayed I’d find the gun.
Just as my fingers closed around something cold and hard, a shot rang out.
Vovk yelped and flew several feet in the air.
“No!” I screamed.
Another sharp pain spasmed through my stomach when I pushed to my feet, but I forged ahead towards Vovk’s shadowy form.
Movement to my left caught my eye. The Souleater struggled to rise.
His throat gushed dark crimson. I changed course without hesitation, lifting the Souleater’s dropped knife.
With all the strength I could muster, I forced the blade down and sliced cleanly through his stomach in the same spot he’d shot Maxim.
Blood spurted onto my skin, hot and metallic. It wasn’t enough. I pulled the knife out and brought it down again.
And again.