Page 172 of You Only Love Twice
Obsidian hauled himself after him, the muscles in his thighs aching and his heels ringing on the steel steps. He could hear Gemma on his heels, but all his attention was focused on thedhampirin front of him.
You are not going to escape me.
Below them, explosions rocketed the factory, Herbert making judicious use of his shoulder cannon. Heat seared the air, making it hard to breathe. They had to move fast.
Ghost reached the mesh walkway that bisected the factory, and yanked himself around the handrail onto the bridge, half-vanishing into the smoke.
Obsidian followed. He was halfway across the bridge when something blurred out of the shadows above them. An enormous cylinder dropped out of the rafters, and Ghost skidded to a halt ahead of him as it slammed through the other end of the bridge, taking half the walkway with it.
The mesh shuddered. Obsidian's feet nearly went out from under him, and he clung to the rail as the bridge shook and shivered.
Then they were standing there, staring at each other through a falling rain of dripping fire.
This man had stolen his memories.
His will.
His mind.
He'd fucking laughed in Obsidian's face when he sent Gemma to murder the queen.
But now it ended.
"No escape," Obsidian said, twirling his knives in his hands, the well-worn leather of the hilts settling against the calluses there like old friends.
Ghost turned to face him. He stripped his coat off and flung it into the abyss below before drawing his own steel again. "Are you sure you want to do this?"
"I've never been more certain of anything in my life."
"You traitor."
"That seems somewhat hypocritical, coming from your mouth."
Ghost's lip curled. "That cursed bitch ruined you—"
"Gemma only opened my eyes to the truth. I mean nothing to you. Thisbrotherhoodyou preach to us is nothing more than a mockery. You care little for any of us. We are tools to you, nothing more. She set me free."
"As lovely as this little get-together has been," Gemma called behind him, "it's getting a little hot under the collar in here."
Obsidian advanced, and Ghost glanced behind him at the gap in the bridge as if gauging his chances of making it. Smoke billowed around them, stinging his eyes. Ghost smiled at Obsidian and edged closer to give himself room to get a run-up.
Oh no, you don't.
A bullet whizzed past him as Gemma shot at Ghost. The otherdhampirsnarled and threw his hands over his head.
"I'll cut him off," Gemma said, holstering her pistol and swinging under the mesh, so she was hanging above the inferno. He could barely see her through the smoke. "You keep his attention."
"Gemma." One slip, and she'd plunge into the flames below. "We're running out of time."
The entire factory was afire now.
X on the loose.
A thousand tons of water pressing down atop the burning building.
"Well, bloody hurry up and kill him, then we can get the hell out of here," she snapped, crawling along the mesh underneath.
"Apologies," he drawled. "Did you think I wasn't trying?"
