Page 14 of Villains and Vengeance
‘Becausewehave a deal with Dante.Weare going to find the female!’
‘So this is an ambush, huh?’ Axel chuckles, looking at each orc in turn. ‘What the fuck are you waiting for then?’ he growls.
The first one charges with a yell, brandishing a sword made in the prison by one of their blacksmiths.
Axel roars, catching the orc and ripping the sword out of his hand before slicing him through the stomach with it and throwing him into the nearest arania tunnel. He falls into the webbing alive, clutching his wound, eyes widening in terror when he realizes where he’s landed a split second before the arania waiting in the tunnel seizes him and drags him into the dark. His scream echoes before it’s suddenly cut off.
Everyone in the tunnel stares in horror before they come back to themselves and the other two orcs attack. Axel fights them.Easily.He doesn’t even break a sweat. I stay back in the darkness, not able to look away let alone run even though I know I should. I can’t take my eyes off him.
A minute later, the two orcs are dead on the floor and I’m gaping at how quickly Axel annihilated them. I think that he got through unscathed until he falls to one knee with a grunt, turning back into his human form.
I draw closer and see his blood on the floor. His pant leg is soaked in it. He falls to the side.
What am I supposed to do now?
Shit. Shit. Shit.
I can’t leave him here to bleed out or become an arania snack.
I approach cautiously.
His eyes open and narrow. I put my hand over the gash on his leg and apply pressure. His jaw ticks and his hand grabs my wrist hard.
‘Got you,’ he whispers.
Then his eyes roll back in his head and his grip on me goes lax.
I take off his belt and use it to make a tourniquet, trying to staunch the flow. I begin to drag him down the passage, using strength I didn’t know I had because he’s a big guy even in human form. I finally get to Siggy’s tunnel, panting and about to keel over when I hear voices.
Someone’s coming.
Probably drawn into the area by the noise from the fight.
I pull the still unconscious Axel into the tunnel as far as I can, disturbing the web on purpose to hopefully get Siggy’s attention.
I just get his shoes out of sight when a large patrol comes into view. Ten supes at least. I swallow my fear and wait for them to pass before I turn to Axel.
He’s awake and regarding me. I can’t see his expression properly, but there’s definitely a sneer on his face. He lurches forward so fast that I can’t jump back quickly enough and he grabs me.
I struggle and he starts to crush me. ‘End of the line, Victoria.’
* * *
Axel
She fightsme and I resist the urge to finish this here and now. But I want to. I want to squeeze her until her bones break. It’s so hard to reign in my temper, but I just about manage it.
‘Stop struggling,’ I growl. ‘You aren’t getting away from me.’
She continues to thrash around so I begin to compress her body like I wanted to until she lets out a pained cry. She stops moving and I stop squeezing. But I keep a good grip on her because she’s a slippery con woman.
My leg is pulsing and aching dully. I shift to feel it with my hand, finding my belt wrapped tightly around my thigh.
The last thing I remember is one of those orcs getting a lucky strike in. I glance around and notice the white gauze all over the place.
I’m a little puzzled. She clearly tried to stop the bleeding from my leg but brought me into one of the tunnels for one of the arania to kill me. Why?
‘I’ve killed an arania before,’ I tell her, ‘and I will again if I have to. You aren’t going to get rid of me that easily.’
