Page 59 of Deathless
The sight of Rori was terrifying. She was every bit an evil apparition from a horror movie. The white slip dress covered in blood. Those empty black eyes. I felt the evil from her like the weight of a boot on my chest. She was pure hatred, not the scared woman who ran to me because she wanted to sacrifice herself.
Torr and Santos closed in on her while the circle of women jumped up and tried to scatter.
I fell back on my weapons training and my orders from Torr. A cluster of women darted to the left, and I raised my gun to fire warning shots a few feet ahead of them. They stopped short, lifting their arms to cover their faces as they shrieked.
“Come quietly and you won’t be harmed!” Devin called out.
The women slowly lowered themselves to all fours, hands splayed on the ground in a clear picture of surrender. I relaxed, allowing my aim to lower, and that was when they struck.
One was faster than the others, pulling a gun out of seemingly nowhere and firing off a shot before Devin or I realized what happened. By the second shot, our brains hadcaught up and we went diving for cover, flattening ourselves against a tree trunk.
“Well, so much for that,” Devin hissed. He had two knives in each hand, slotted into the space between his fingers like claws. “You alright?”
“Yeah, you?”
“Fan-fucking-tastic. I love it when guns are just hidden in the leaf litter on the ground.”
My breath came hard out of my chest and I tried to quiet it, listening for footsteps, voices, any clues about where our enemy was located.
“Shoot to kill,” Devin reminded me. “And don’t let any get away. Pretty sure they’re all armed at this point.”
“I know.”
A month ago, that would have thrilled me. How many times over the years had I fantasized about killing these people?
Now, there was no pleasure, no surging satisfaction at the prospect of taking lives from those who had taken so much from me. I only wanted to see this through, to do what was necessary to get through another day. And maybe see a future where this cult didn’t exist.
“Hey.” Devin was distracted, peeking around the tree, and didn’t answer me. As he pulled back to cover himself, I made sure he paid attention.
The kiss was short, but I made it count. I took my fill of his lips, swiping my tongue against his, and pulled away before he could react.
He stared at me, surprised and a little breathless, before he smirked. “What was that for?”
I shrugged, re-checking the ammo in my weapon under his heavy stare. “Just good luck, I guess.”
He slid a hand around my neck, squeezing my nape as he leaned his forehead on mine. “We’ll celebrate properly when thisis over.” It was a promise of delicious things, of touch that felt good. Orgasms for pleasure, not as a means to procreate.
Devin was exactly what I needed, when I needed it. He was both a friend and a welcome reset of my sexual hardwiring. I never thought I’d be into men. And maybe I wasn’t, generally. Maybe it was just him.
I thought back to the conversation I had with Santos before riding out here. The swirling mess of my thoughts over the last few days had culminated into that conclusion the moment I voiced it. The guy I was sleeping with also had a thing for Rori.
And...maybe I did too.
That conversation would have to come much later though, if Rori or any of us even survived to that point.
Devin and I took turns covering each other, shooting at our attackers. He was decent with a gun, though I was better. He wanted to save his knives for guaranteed kills, so they stayed in his spare hand while he shot with the other.
I was damn lucky to be with an ambidextrous man.
After exchanging fire for several minutes, a flurry of movement caught my eye on the far side of the house.
“They’re up to something over there,” I said to Devin once we back-flatted against the tree again.
“Gonna have to be a lot more specific.” He peeked around and let a knife fly, dropping one of our attackers in an instant.
“Don’t know, I just saw movement around a corner.”
“Well, shit. We’re pinned down here for a minute.” He returned to our cover and glanced at me. “How do you think Torr and Santos are doing?”
