Page 55 of Providence

I heard muffled voices on the other end of the line. Someone knocking and Cara’s scared whimper. “Hey, listen to me. Do not open that door. You hear me, Cara? You tell Sammie too. You do not open that door for anyone. Promise me.”

I could hear voices cajoling them from the other side of the state of the art fire resistant door. It was the same kind of door they put on bank vaults. We didn’t fuck around with safety, but fucking Serendipity was meant to be down there with them.

I didn’t let my brain conjure up the images of what might be happening to her right now, as Cain mounted the gutter in the truck, sending people scattering out of the way. “Two minutes, Cara. Stick close to Sammie and Madoc. They need you.”

Her whimpers died down a little, and I was glad they were locked away, because what I was going to do to the trespassers in my home would send them to therapy for decades.

We were only seconds behind Solomon and Judas, but it was enough to see the carnage. The gates were busted wide open, and bodies littered the driveway. Most in black kevlar, but one body made my mouth go dry.

Bear.

Cain swore, jamming the car into park and flying out of the car door right behind me. Fuck, fuck. Solomon slid to a stop in front of our Brother, a man we trusted to protect the things we loved most in the world.

He had a huge bullet hole in his chest, and when bubbles gathered near the entry wound, I was both relieved and fucking terrified. He was alive, but the bullet had obviously hit his lung. Bear’s eyes snapped open and he reached for his gun before our faces registered. “Thank fuck,” he gasped. “I’ll… be… fine. Go. Will shift. Heal everything. Sera needs you,” he wheezed, then passed out.

Judas stood, pointing to Solomon. “Get him in the back of the truck, take him somewhere safe. We don’t leave without him or Goose.” My brain didn’t want to think about Sera and Marco. “Cain, around the back. Get into the basement and get the kids.”

Judas turned to me, and Death shone from his eyes. Unlike when I fucked shit up with Cain and War, when Death rode Judas, I felt nothing but fear. But I’d die a hundred times over to make sure she lived.

“No one leaves alive, G.”

I curled my lip, baring my teeth. “No one touches what's ours.”

Then the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse came to rain down Hell.

30

Judas

Death flowed through my veins. Every step I took across the lawn killed the grass, turning it brown. The trees wilted, the birds fell from the sky and I struggled to reel it in. The kids were in there, Goose was there. Dippy.

Fuck, my heart seized in my chest, crippling flashes of the past overlaying the present. Laura’s lifeless eyes as I held her in my arms. Max’s bloodied chest. My breath stalled in my lungs and burned. I wasn’t too late this time. I could save them all. The Devil had promised me the ability to protect those I loved. I was taking him at his word, or I was going to Hell to make him pay for his lies.

Death streamed out before me, Goliath prowling across the lawn like a fucking horror movie. But I saw the edges of fear there. Flashbacks to the trauma. He’d been right. If she died, we would never pull ourselves back up again. We would die with her. We’d woven our salvation into her heart, and if it stopped beating, the Apocalypse would come.

For the people who had come into my house? It was too late for them. They had been dead before they’d even pulled up to my gates.

I kicked open the front door, my guns raised. Three men stood in my living room, guns pointed at the woman I loved. Goliath burst through the picture window, running across the room inhumanly quickly, his hands around the first soldier's head, tearing it off his shoulders and throwing it at his friend in seconds.

Even the most seasoned soldier balked at a head hitting him in the face, and that was all Goliath needed. He was on him too, putting his fist through the soldiers face. Literally through it. It caved under the force of the blow. The third guy was quicker on his feet. He had his gun to Serendipity’s head in seconds, and I growled.

Goliath panted in front of him, blood dripping from his sharp cheekbones, his eyes wild and completely inhuman.

“Make another fucking move and I’ll put a bullet in her skull.”

My jaw flexed as I took the soldier in. Because that’s what they were. These were not Ferrera’s gangbangers. These were properly military trained soldiers. What the fuck was going on?

Serendipity’s huge violet eyes were wet with relief and fear. She looked past me to Goliath. “They want the baby, Goliath. Go. Fucking get Madoc!” she pleaded, but Conquest was riding him too hard. The soldier had something he wanted, he needed, and he wouldn’t be able to think right until he had her in his arms and the guy was dead.

I smiled, because this asshole thought he had a chance. “Don’t worry, Dippy. No one is leaving here. Madoc is safe.”

The soldier grunted, stuffing his gun further into her face. I was standing in front of my very worst fear, but I couldn’t let that show. I let loose Death, and what looked like black miasma to me but was invisible to everyone else crept along the floor. I struggled to keep it targeted, but even with all my focus and control, it would leech a little life from Dippy and Goliath. They could take it. I knew they could. I watched as the black ooze climbed up the leg of the soldier, who was still making demands though I couldn’t hear them over the blood rushing in my ears. This asshole wouldn’t feel it as death wound its way around his chest, spreading its tendrils up his neck, until it slipped inside his wide open mouth as he shouted demands at me.

I saw the moment it worked its way into his lungs, his words turning to screams. I saw the moment it latched around his heart and began to squeeze, as he dropped his gun and clawed at his Kevlar. I saw the moment it spread to the rest of his body as he fell to his knees, then onto his side, the life leaving his eyes. I watched his soul leave his body and turn black, working its way to hell.

See you soon, fucker.

There was a rumble, and Goliath looked out the window. “Reinforcements. Who are these fucks?”

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