Page 68 of Our Vicious Descent
Elise shook her head. “Last time was a disaster. Besides, I don’t want them to know we’re here.”
“I think this is just a distraction to you. You don’t want to be around your sister, do you?”
Her hands trembled on the gun, but Elise kept it raised, her gaze sharp through the scope. “That’s not why I’m here. We have to keep tabs on Nicoletta in case she seeks vengeance. I know she’s still alive. Someone like that doesn’t just die,” Elise muttered bitterly.
Jamie pulled his sleeve back to check his watch. “We have about an hour until sundown, so if you were going to find something, you would have already. Also, my explosives last night were top of the shelf. There is no way she survived those. Layla barely survived.”
Elise hated being reminded of the fact. A muscle tensed in her jaw, and she swallowed back a sharp response. Right as she was preparing to ignore him for the rest of the evening, a few gangsters appeared in the windows, moving frantically while they covered the glass with various blockades. With anything from wood scraps to metal pieces, each window was covered—protected—from some outside force. As the guarding gangster disappeared inside, Elise finally caught a glimpse of Nicoletta beyond the doorway. The woman looked darker than the approaching night, her eyes downcast and lips pulled into a seemingly permanent frown. Reaperhood was devastating on her. Elise lowered her gun as the door shut behind them. She looked at Jamie, who wore a bored expression beside her.
“I think they’re preparing for Sena,” Elise breathed.
Jamie raised his brows. “Did you want to help them, or—”
“No, but Josi might be impacted by this. If they have a connection, she will react.” Elise tucked the gun beneath her arm and stood. “We have to go back.”
***
Layla fought back a gag as Sterling dumped canned tuna into a bowl. The scent filled the apartment so thoroughly, Layla could not have escaped it if she tried. Even Josi dropped her crayon on top of her coloring page and covered her nose.
“Gross,” she groaned.
Sterling paid her no mind. He scooped Hendricks into his arms off the counter and carried him to the food bowl. The cat rubbed his body against Sterling’s legs once he was back on the floor—never in her life had Layla seen this feline delay his meal for human affection. It was truly a spectacle to watch. For a brief moment, Layla felt almost normal. Like a girl watching her friend feed his cat in his apartment on a regular weekend afternoon. But like all good things did, the peace had to end.
The smell of blood tainted the air. Layla’s spine straightened as she sensed it, her fangs sliding out on instinct.
Sterling cursed and moved back to the kitchen. A thin stream of crimson trailed down his arm, dripping along the counter as he ran it under the water in the sink.
Layla snapped her focus to Josi, who now stood. “Josi—”
The little girl shuddered. “I feel her.”
Before Layla could even rise to her feet, the smaller Saint was tearing through the living room and barreling outside. Sterling yanked his gun from his holster and ran after her, Layla hot on his heels.
******
“You’rerunning. I don’t understand why you’re running—the sun is still up,” Jamie shouted. He trailed few steps behind Elise as she sprinted down the streets of Harlem back to his apartment.
The moment they arrived at the building, Elise knew something was wrong. Spotting a familiar figure nearby, she stopped, her heart sinking. “Sterling?”
He turned to her with panic darkening his features. “She’s gone. I don’t know what happened. She’s just gone—”
Elise looked around, noting the quickly darkening sky and the empty streets around them. She again faced Sterling, whose throat bobbed as he held back a barrage of emotions. “And Layla?”
“She’s so much faster than me—she chased Josi down, but they’re long gone,” Sterling said quietly.
All Elise could do was pull the revolver from her coat while she made her way into the apartment. “Go find Celie,” she ordered. Then Elise was tearing back down the street, toward where she could only hope death did not wait for her.
***
Layla had been in a state of frantic searching for the better part of an hour now. The sun sank dangerously low in the sky, and she knew by the time it set, there would be more blood soaking the streets if she did not find Josi. Tracking her grew harder the later it got and the more her scent faded. The little girl had run like she was possessed and outpaced Layla soon into their chase. Now all Laylacould do was stick to her scent as she rushed through the outskirts of Harlem.
The one path that seemed ripe with her scent carried with it the distinct sourness of rot. Layla followed it with no hesitation, knowing there were things worse than demons in the city that would swallow a little girl alive, new reaper abilities or not. The thought of any more gangsters or evolved reapers getting their hands on Josi made Layla sprint faster. Caring for other people had not been her specialty the past few years. But Josi…there were people who would cease to live if anything happened to her, and Layla refused to let their worst nightmares come to life.
Eventually, she came up on the old Saint training compound. The little Saint stood in front of the building. Her head was tipped back, and she let out the most guttural, piercing screams Layla had ever heard. “HELP. PLEASE HELP ME.”
Layla watched for movement inside. The gangsters knew of Josi’s inhuman state. Whatever kind of messed-up trap this might have been, Layla did not want to be blamed for it again, however it affected the Diamantes. She ran forward just as the entrance cracked open. Layla threw herself into Josi, shoving her out of the way.
The massive beast that they had all come to know as Sena crashed down from the roof of the Saint compound, landing right where Josi had been standing. The gangster who’d opened the door screamed and tried to shut it, but Sena reached a taloned hand in, dragging him back out. From where she crouched with Josi, just out of sight around the corner of the building, Layla watched Sena tearinto the man. She flayed his flesh until his organs spilled out, and even then, she continued, mincing him into no more than a bloody pulp. Layla kept a firm grip on Josi, who squirmed and hissed in her arms. Several other gangsters emerged from inside and fired rounds at Sena. The ones who stayed back passed around what appeared to be a vial of venom, taking turns drinking from it before joining the fight.
