10. Von
A blast of heat rolled over my skin as I was flung to the ground. My ears rang as the world around me went fuzzy. I tried to push up on my elbows, but a body dove out of nowhere and slammed me back down as their body covered mine. The ground shook as another blast went off, and I realized whoever was on top of me had protected me. While my body had been protected, my ears throbbed at being assaulted again so quickly. This only added to the pain and pressure building in my head.
The person slowly shifted to the side, making it easier for me to breathe, but still kept me mostly covered. Soft hands I wasn’t familiar with stroked my face, brushing what I expected to be dirt off my skin. Someone was talking, or maybe shouting, close by. It was hard to tell since everything sounded like I was underwater. Slowly, as the thundering in my head lessened, I heard a little more clearly.
“Treasure,” the muffled voice called urgently. “Come on, treasure, open your eyes.”
My eyes weren’t open? It would appear my brain was a little scrambled trying to deal with the fact I couldn’t hear. Although it probably didn’t help that I'd just recovered from a brain-rattling explosion a few weeks ago.
“Please, my treasure, I’ll tell you anything you want to know, even if it means you’ll kill me sooner. I need to know you’re all right.” I could now tell it was Apollo who was talking and the person who’d protected me.
Wait a goddamn minute, had Apollo Accardi seriously used his own body to shield me? What the hell was he thinking? Didn’t he understand I was going to kill him?
“Move,” Erik snapped as I felt someone kneel beside me.
“No, I’m not budging from this fucking spot,” Apollo shot back in a cold, deadly tone. “I won’t interfere with your work, but the only way I’m moving is if you drag my dead body away.”
“Fine, but if you go back on your word, I’ll have Bear remove your corpse,” Erik warned as his hands gingerly felt around the back of my head. “Shit, when she got knocked down her head hit this fucking rock. Let’s shift her to the side so she’s not still lying on it.”
I groaned as they moved me, my whole body felt like I’d been put through a meat grinder. On the plus side, I managed to get my eyes open and found both Apollo and Erik staring at me with worried expressions.
“What the fuck happened?” I asked, reaching a hand up to my head. “And where’s Bear, is he okay?”
“Bear’s fine, but I’ll be real with you, little siren. I don’t have a goddamn clue what happened,” Erik shared as he continued to feel along my neck, shoulders, and arms. “That being said, I can confirm something caused the car to explode… twice.”
I tried to pull out of his hands to see what he was talking about, but Erik wasn’t having it.
“Are you sure you’re not a cat instead of a wolf? Because you, little siren, seem to have nine lives. I can’t find any broken bones, and other than the giant bump on the back of your head, you’re gonna be fine. Before I let you up, I need to be sure there’s no damage to your neck or spine,” Erik said as he sat back on his heels. “All right, slowly, turn your head to the right. Good, now to the left, and finally touch your chin to your chest.”
While I was able to do as he asked, nausea rolled through me. Thankfully, Erik noticed and helped to roll me to the side so I didn’t puke on myself. A bottle of water appeared, held in a familiar tattooed hand. I didn’t bother looking up and risking another round of puking when I knew it was Bear. Thank fuck he was all right.
“Apollo, kneel behind Von so she can lean against you. I don’t want her to sit all the way up just yet,” Erik instructed.
To my utter shock and amazement, the man did as he was asked without question or snarky comment. I hissed as my muscles protested and my head throbbed, but I didn’t lose the rest of my lunch so that was progress. Erik offered me the water, which I swished around and spat out, then used the sleeve of my sweatshirt to wipe my mouth.
“I really fucking hate puking,” I grumbled, then took another sip of water to ease the burning sensation at the back of my throat.
When Erik stood and moved out of the way, I saw the wreckage of what had been our ride. The only things intact were the windows and the armored inner shell, meaning everything inside was safe. Which was exactly why we went with this company. Sure, the car was destroyed and unusable, but if we’d still been in the thing we’d have survived. And people say I don’t look on the bright side of things.
“Bear, remind me when we get back to headquarters, we need to order at least ten more of those. I’m gonna leave them the best review the Internet’s ever seen. Oh, and we should probably buy stock in the company, too, while we’re at it. I have a ton of clients who’ll want these after my testimonial,” I rambled, then paused to guzzle down the rest of the water. “Do you think I should put a review on their website? Something like, ‘Was blown the hell up, but thanks to this car we survived to hunt down the prick who tried to kill us’.”
Erik looked at me like I’d lost my mind, then rested the back of his hand on my forehead.
I batted him away and scowled. “I’m fine, Big Red. This isn’t the first concussion I’ve had and probably won’t be the last. Trust me, you’ll know when I’ve lost my damn marbles.”
“All right, little siren, I’ll back off, but you need to tell me if you start feeling dizzy or like you’re gonna black out,” Erik instructed.
“Sure thing, doc,” I said, offering him a thumbs up. “Now moving onto more important matters. Do we have any idea how this happened? I mean, we’re out here in the middle of fucking nowhere, so it was clearly a targeted attack.”
“They used a drone,” Apollo said off-handedly as he combed his fingers through my snarled hair.
“The hell?” I swore as I struggled to sit up to see the man’s face. “How the fuck do you know that?”
“Simple, I’ve been watching the drone for the past hour and a half as it followed us,” Apollo answered, assisting me upright when I almost toppled back onto his lap.
Everything in me wanted to punch or strangle him. However, the throbbing heartbeat that pulsed in my head from moving too fast kept me from acting on my impulse. Rubbing my forehead with my palm hoping it would help, I released an exasperated sigh and dropped my hand. “Why the fuck didn’t you say something, Apollo?”
His hands cupped my face gently, and I met Apollo’s gaze as it bored into mine. Then his thumbs massaged my temples, adding more pressure little by little until I was groaning at how good it felt.
“Tell me, treasure, would you or the others have believed me?” Apollo challenged. “You don’t trust a word that comes out of my mouth, which I understand, but makes it much harder to keep you safe than I realized.”
It was hard to think objectively about what he was saying while his touch felt so good on my aching skull. “Even I believe when I’m able to see the truth of your words,” I countered. “I’m not so arrogant or bullheaded to dismiss proof when it’s dropped in my lap.”
“I see, well, I’ll keep that in mind for next time. As for showing you proof, whoever controls the drone or drones did a remarkable job keeping out of sight,” Apollo explained. “I could only catch a glimpse here and there once I knew what to look for. Hence why I was climbing all over the car and causing your beloved Bear to grind his teeth in irritation.”
My gaze flicked up to Bear, standing at the ready behind Apollo, just in case the bastard did something stupid. “You’re gonna have to vouch for that, I was asleep. Did you see the drone or this idiot acting like a caged animal?”
“ I didn’t see any drone, but he’s right, I was about to tie the bastard up because he was climbing all around the car and pissing me off, ” Bear answered. “ As much as I hate to agree with the snake, I know for damn sure it was a drone that bombed us. It might have been two of them, it’s hard to tell since they look identical. ”
Hearing Bear confirm we’d been hit by some spineless fuck, hiding behind a controller, caused my rage to bubble over. I had officially reached the max capacity of bullshit I could handle at one time. I grabbed Apollo’s wrists and shoved him away as I reached for Bear. Without needing any explanation, Bear hoisted me to my feet, which knocked Apollo back to the dirt as he tried to stand.
“Fucking beast, can’t you manage the simplest of manners?” Apollo grumbled as he stood and dusted himself off. “I’d hoped the altercation we found ourselves in before being blown up would prove I could kill you if I wanted to, but won’t.”
My rage quickly ignited into fury as Apollo reminded me of their fight. Anger licked across my skin, like flames, setting me on fire. The image of Apollo’s knife mere inches away from a killing blow was etched into my memory. This time he’d gone too far, and I wasn’t about to let it slide. While Apollo might be useful in the short term, Bear was one person I couldn’t live without.
If only I’d taken a second to listen to Bear. The man had been trying to get me to see how Apollo was manipulating me. Astin had given me a mission, and that was to kill the Accardi twins. Now, because I hadn’t dealt with Apollo right away, I’d risked Bear’s life, which was unacceptable.
Aware of what I had to do, I stepped forward until Apollo and I were mere inches apart. He reached out to me, his expression confused by the sudden change in my demeanor. I’d allowed myself to sink into that all too familiar state, which helped keep me alive while under my Master’s care. In this space, I didn’t feel any pain, so I could think clearly. Quick as a striking snake, I grabbed Apollo’s wrist, and before he could react, I broke his pinky finger.
Shocked, Apollo stared at me with wide eyes as a strangled cry of pain escaped him. I moved to the next finger, but Apollo went boneless and dropped to the ground. Unprepared for this tactic, I tumbled forward but managed to tuck and roll, avoiding any further damage to my body. I got to my feet, whirling to face the enemy who would surely be hell-bent on retaliating. However, that wasn’t what happened. Apollo simply lay there curled up on the ground, looking betrayed.
Out of all the things I expected to see on his face, betrayal hadn’t been one of them, and it was throwing me for a loop.
“Treasure, I don’t understand, why are you doing this?” Apollo questioned as he slowly sat up.
A chaos of emotions warred within me as I pulled my gun. Without a word, I knelt beside him and yanked his wounded hand from where he’d been shielding it so I could get a better look. His pinky finger was swelling and turning purple as it veered off slightly in an unnatural direction.
“Damn, here I was hoping to snap the damn thing off,” I grumbled, then pressed the muzzle of the gun to the back of his hand. “I think a single bullet should take the finger off, right? Hmm, you know I’m not sure that’s gonna be enough.”
Tilting my head, I considered my choices, not wanting to be wasteful with bullets. We were stranded off the highway and didn’t have much in the way of protection, so every bullet counted.
“You know, I could put a round or two through the middle of your hand. Doing that would make it nearly impossible for you to ever draw a knife or gun on any of my people ever again,” I explained as I dug the muzzle of the gun into his skin.
“Von.” Apollo gasped, his voice shaky with pain or maybe fear. “You have to understand, Bear was going to kill me. I saw it in his eyes. What was I supposed to do, not defend myself? Besides, I already told you, no one but you is allowed to take my life.”
I let out a bark of laughter and sat back on my heels. “So what you’re really telling me is you lied about being some badass fighter who never loses?”
“No, my treasure, I have learned many deadly skills over the years. However, that isn’t what you should be focusing on. I distinctly remember warning you I was someone who would win at any cost. I fight low down and dirty, no trick is off-limits as long as I come out the winner,” Apollo explained as if his logic would mean fuck all to me. “I’ve come to discover Bear might be one of the only people who could kill me in a fair fight. So, to ensure the ability to live another day, Bear had to see I was willing to kill him regardless of the fallout it would cause between us. Please, my treasure, tell me you understand why I did what I did. It’s not personal, it’s survival in this dark world we exist in.”
I tapped my chin with my gun as if I was considering his point of view, then shrugged. “Yup, it's official. I don’t give one flying fuck as to why. All I know or give a shit about, is the fact Bear could have died today, all because you’re still breathing,” I stated and aimed right between his eyes. “Do say hello to your father when you join him in hell.”