Page 51 of Our Vicious Descent
More tears spilled from Josi’s eyes. “It’s been so long. And I’m… I didn’t think you would remember me because things have changed. Everything is different—I’m different now.” She hiccupped as she cried, and Elise saw the little girl begging her not to leave all over again. More than anything, she wanted to take Josi into her arms and remove her from this world and all the hurt that came with it. If she had been kept away by Karine for this time, Elise could not even begin to imagine the horrors she had seen. All that work Elise had done to keep her safe might have been for nothing.
“You’re still my dove. You’re my sister, Josi, and nothing will everchange that. No matter how much time has passed, no matter how much distance there is between us. I’m so sorry for letting you go. I never should have left you. But I’m back now, and I promise it won’t happen again,” Elise said fiercely.
A creak sounded behind them, and they both looked over Elise’s shoulder to find Layla standing at the edge of the dock. Sterling and Jamie stood farther back, though each man wore a look of awe and relief. Josi’s face scrunched into an overwhelming mix of anger and betrayal. She backed away from Elise, her eyes darkening until the brown turned nearly bloodred. To Elise’s dismay, black veins spread beneath her eyes and along her throat. Josi pulled a knife from the makeshift ribbon belt around her waist and held it up, her arm steady. “Why are they here? You said it would always be me and you,” she demanded.
Layla stopped, her body tense and muscles bunched in a prepared stance.
Elise turned back to Josi and held her hand up. “We’re friends now, Josi. She’s not here to hurt you. No one is.”
“She’s still infected, Elise,” Layla warned behind her.
“She’sfine,” Elise shouted back.
But Josi’s eyes found Sterling and Jamie, and she took more steps away from Elise. “No…this is some sort of trick. You’re not really here for me—you just want to turn me in,” Josi snarled.
“No, Josi. I’m here for you and only you. I promise.” Elise touched her arm, and Josi visibly relaxed. “I’m not going to let anyone hurt you.”
Josi’s eyes softened, and she looked like she wanted to respond,but a soft wailing sounded nearby.
Elise tried to pull Josi behind her, but the little girl showed surprising strength and stepped forward, out of her reach. Waves crashed over the edge of the dock as a storm picked up overhead. In the time they had been standing together, the sun had vanished from the sky. Darkness pillaged the once-blue expanse, and wind swept between them, driving them farther apart. The dock wavered beneath their feet, and when Elise looked over to the edge of the walkway, she saw a massive gray hand, slimy and scaly, emerging from the foamy black depths of the water.
“Josi…” Elise’s voice came out in a breathy whisper, too horrified to find any strength.
The hand clamped down on the dock so hard, the wood creaked and cracked beneath the pressure. A head slowly rose next as the rest of the body hauled onto the dock. Water ran off of the emaciated yet lithe body of the beast, plastering its long dark hair to its head. Striking green eyes glared up at her like lights from a beacon through a storm. Though the thing crouched and contained more inhuman traits than human, Elise found a startling familiarity in its haunted face. But it wasn’t until it opened its mouth to speak, revealing bloody fangs poking out past its black lips, that Elise realized why.
“Valeriya.” Layla gave voice to Elise’s thoughts before she could.
Elise pitched forward for Josi, but the ancient reaper shot forward, faster than a bullet. Her taloned hand swiped out and caught Elise in the chest, sending her flying over the edge of thedock. The last thing she heard before she hit the water was Josi’s and Layla’s screams echoing over the frothy waves.
Icy water crashed over her, the frigid temperature cutting her right to the bone. Elise kicked her way through the pain toward the surface. Her lungs, burning and empty, spurred on the brutal blow of her pounding heart against her chest. She reached her hand out as she neared the surface, seeing blood bloom like a flower over the reflection of the stormy sky above.
Something clamped over her ankle, and a scream erupted from her throat in a flurry of bubbles as it dragged her down. In all the darkness, she could make out only a flash of black talons and fangs, but several other shadows swarmed the water around her.
Elise kicked at the hand dragging her down, to no avail. Its talons sank deeper into her flesh, and her blood poured out in rivulets while they continued their descent. In a last desperate effort, Elise smeared her hand over the blood flowing from her and shoved it into the waiting mouth of the reaper. It released her almost instantly, her blood a drop of bitter poison on its tongue. The more the scarlet substance spread around her, the farther the other reapers strayed.
Finally, Elise broke the surface, gasping for air. She hauled herself back onto the dock just in time to see Josi pounce on a Saint member. Several members had the dock surrounded and aimed their guns at her and Valeriya. Their vehicles continued to run in their rushed attempt at quelling the chaos. Elise had no time to wonder why or how her father’s men had come. Other reapers crawled from the water, clashing with Layla, Sterling, and Jamie, but Elise saw only herlittle sister attacking the Saint associate. Josi clung to the man’s back and held his head with both hands and was twisting it until his flesh tore from his neck. She sprang from his shoulders, taking his head with her. Blood coated her mouth and the front of her dress, but she paid it no mind, only tossing the head into the water and turning to block a blow from another Saint member. No longer the fearful little girl Elise had left behind, Josephine took on men more than twice her size, leaving them in a pile of flesh and blood that even a reaper would not want to touch.
A few Saint members aimed for Valeriya, who had remained still, watching from the end of the dock until she locked eyes on Layla. The evolved ancient reaper lunged forward while Layla had her hands full with another reaper. Elise reached for her gun and fired at the beast right as she made contact with Layla.
She jerked back but kept her taloned hand around Layla’s throat. Blood leaked from the fresh bullet wound in her shoulder, trailing all the way down her arms and into Layla’s face. Her nails dug trenches in the wood beneath Layla, and the younger reaper coughed, spraying blood from her mouth as the pressure from above increased.
Josi let out a pained cry, and Elise searched for her through the chaos. She found her sister with her hand clamped over her shoulder and gritting her teeth in agony. Josi threw a frustrated look at Valeriya, who had yet to release Layla. The interaction gave Elise pause, and she lowered her gun as Valeriya lifted her talons, aiming them for Layla’s head.
One Saint member nearby locked in on the scene and pointedhis gun at Valeriya’s chest.
Elise screamed as his finger readied the trigger. She threw herself into him as the gun went off. Blood sprayed over the dock, and Valeriya let out a shriek of pain. Looking up from her tangled position with the Saint, Elise found the beast stumbling back with blood pouring from a wound in her side. Josi crashed into Valeriya, nursing a matching wound in her stomach. She cried out, and Elise felt her heart crack as her voice broke under her pain.
Several reapers dropped to the ground while Valeriya retreated, still bleeding heavily. She dragged Josi away with her into the fog. Even after they had disappeared among the misty air, Elise swore she still heard Josi’s agonized screams.
Nearby, Layla tried to drag herself to her feet, but something cracked in her chest, and more blood poured from her nose and mouth. She collapsed, and Elise crawled to her, placing a hand on her arm to get her to stay down. Shadows surrounded them as figures approached. Elise looked up, expecting to see Jamie and Sterling, but her heart dropped when she came face-to-face with none other than Tobias Saint.
25
Four of my men dead, three buildings destroyed, and now my name—my nameis being destroyed. You are making a mess of our city,” Tobias Saint nearly shouted. He swiped a stack of newspapers from his desk, sending them fluttering to the floor in a messy pile. A few contained wanted ads with photos that stared up at Layla from the floor.
If someone had told her a few years ago that she would once again find herself in front of Tobias at the Saint residence, Layla would have called them a dirty liar. Now she sat in the Saint patriarch’s study with her hands bound behind her by Saint chains. This new house she did not recognize from her childhood, but the threatening nature of this man’s anger and all the sinister things he got up to in his office remained. Layla tried to concentrate on her battered body healing instead of Elise’s pained tone while she spoke to her father.
“Don’t you understand that the city is no longer ours? It was never ours to begin with. There are reapers with lives and people who deserve to live without the fear of what the government, or whatever self-proclaimed powerful man with money, is doing to poison them—” Elise tried to press on, but her father waved a dismissive hand at her.
