Page 81 of Saint of the Shadows

Though the Bloodsucker had taken a huge number of tranquilizers, he was still faster and stronger. A flying punch from him cracked Tobias’s cattle prod in half.

Tobias slung the pieces of the cattle prod into the holster on his back and raised his fists. With the Bloodsucker occupied, Marisol jumped down to Vincent, laying on the ground. She pulled him by the sleeves, gaining six inches with every burst of leg muscle. Just like her training taught her—kneel, pull, kneel, pull. A foot. More. She needed to gain more distance.

She looked at Tobias. The Bloodsucker punched him over and over again. Each time, he staggered and raised his fists for more. Kneel, pull, kneel, pull. Her lungs burned. A punch cracked into Tobias’s flank. He stumbled, appearing to fight the urge to cradle it. Another few drags, and Marisol and Vincent reached the chute. She elbowed a button, and the door to the chute opened, revealing the SUV waiting at bottom with its trunk open. All she had to do was slide down it to get him to safety.

“The virus,” said Vincent. “Get the virus.”

What was Vincent talking about? In the corner of her eye, Tobias’s arms weakened to jelly. He was on the ropes. He needed to keep his fists up.

Back at the lab, she couldn’t save Annie. Could she stomach losing one more friend? “Stay here.” She leaned Vincent against the base of the chute and kissed his temple. “Time for a new plan.” Marisol tapped the commlink at her wrist. The SUV’s trunk closed, and it sped away. She pressed another button on the controls. The old conveyor belt shook, squealed, and moved. She rode it, nearing Tobias and the Bloodsucker.

From the conveyor belt, she pounced onto the Bloodsucker’s back and jammed a syringe of tranquilizer into his neck. He flipped her over his shoulders. As she tumbled, she pulled the stupid plastic and cloth mask with her.

On the ground with the wind knocked out of her, she strained for air but saw him—Skeleton Man! Or Stone Ruthven, the man who cornered Annie at the ball. She recognized his pale pock-marked skin, thin lips, and patchy black hair slicked back into gelled chunks. This was the Bloodsucker, the scourge of Shadowhaven? He was just a man, a pathetic man! The fear so easily paralyzed her before now flowed out of her, washing away into the drains where all Shadowhaven’s shit seemed to gather.

Bring it! She could do this. She could save everyone.

Ruthven punched Tobias in the chest. “Why can’t I kill you?” he asked. Tobias, wobbling, spat a mouthful of blood into Ruthven’s face and laughed.

Marisol reached for her utility belt to prepare another dose. Standing up, she aimed, but Ruthven spun around and knocked the drug from her grasp. She countered with a hook, leaving her wide open. Ruthven snatched her by the throat. “I should snap your neck! What have you done to me?”

His grip was weak, but still able to squeeze against her throat. Her heartbeat drummed ever louder in her ears. Tobias attempted to reach forthe tranquilizers rolling on the floor, and Ruthven kicked him in his ribs while Marisol dangled.

Black spots dotted the corners of Marisol’s eyes. She saw Annie smiling, appearing like record scratches in her sight. Ruthven. Scratch. Annie. Scratch. Ruthven. Scratch. Annie. She could see the dead? Was she dying? This couldn’t be how it ended. She had victory in her grasp, but it sifted through her hands.

“Annie,” she whispered.

“What?” Ruthven asked, but he stumbled, drool pouring out of the corner of his mouth. He slumped, dropping Marisol.

The SUV backed into the kill floor from the storage room, wheeling around injured mobsters and Shadows, and smashed into Ruthven, sprawling him on the floor, out cold.

A syringe protruded from his ankle. Who got Ruthven with a final shot?

Something heavy slapped against the ground. Vincent drug himself to Marisol’s feet. His wrists were raw from bending back the rebar, and blood soaked the sweatshirt tied around his back. An empty vial rolled from his hand.

Vincent was her hero, magnificent yet fragile. Panic set in. Did she lose him? She knelt next to Vincent. Her shaking hands wrapped his wound tighter with her utility belt. She dragged him to the SUV, but she could barely lift his limp weight. She held her hand below her throat. God, please don’t leave him like this. Again, she pulled him to thetrunk. The tendons in her neck bulged from the strain as she tried. She collapsed. “I need help!” came out in an exhausted wail.

Izzy whistled. The Shadows raced to Marisol. Faces behind masks, they turned to her for guidance, Izzy, Mijo Ray, enforcers all. They counted to three and lifted Vincent over their heads, holding him under each of his limbs. They laid him in the back of the SUV. Marisol crouched by his side, trying to make sense of how to fix him.

Izzy lifted his mask and shouted, “The Teeth Man’s moving. We got to go!” The Shadows scrambled out of the entrance.

Ruthven stirred, even with the inordinate amount of tranquilizer in his system. Tobias gripped Ruthven by the back of his shirt and dragged him into the old freezer locker room. He threw Ruthven into the room, shut the latched door behind him, and jammed it with the empty tranquilizing rifle. He staggered back to the SUV and stumbled into the passenger seat.

The hatch of the SUV slammed shut.

“Hit it!” Tobias wheezed out.

“Destination determined,” Staci answered.

The driverless SUV sped out of the slaughterhouse, leaving a trail of dust among the blood in the abandoned industrial park.

Marisol and Tobias removed their masks. Marisol’s cheeks cooled when air met her tears. She held Vincent, his back leaning against her chest. Asshe bent her head forward, she breathed in his scent of smoke and blood. “C’mon Vincent. You gotta pull through.”

“We should get him to a hospital.” Tobias grunted as he held the swollen side of his face.

“Destination determined,” Staci repeated, and they slowed down, entering traffic.

Against Vincent’s ear she whispered, “You gotta because I love you.”

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