Page 34 of Villains and Vengeance
‘Did you think I’d just let my guard down, Axel? Not have a backup plan?’
She walks to me slowly and takes the probes off.
‘I didn’twantto hurt you if that’s any consolation. I had to,’ she says, gesturing to the tunnel entrance that’s only a few feet away.
I was so fucking close!
But as I look, the arania melts out of wall.
‘What the fuck?’ I breathe.
‘You’re quick, Axel, but at the end of the day eight legs is better than two.’ She kneels down and pats my shoulder. ‘If the taser hadn’t got you, she would have and I don’t think she or her nature would have let you survive after the chase to be honest. You’re welcome.’
She nods at the arania who comes forward and wraps my stunned body up deftly in silk.
I seethe as I’m picked up in her jaws and taken back to the bunker.
Siggy practically yeets me through the doorway, clearly annoyed that she had to come after me and her friend won’t let her eat me for the trouble.
As I lay there face-down in the soft web, my limbs feeling like Jell-o, and I realize that the taser has had a consequence that Jules didn’t intend. It’s made my body go into healing mode and that requires energy. The last of my reserves are going to be used up within the day.
I’ll need to feed as soon as my body recovers enough, and I won’t be able to stop myself.
CHAPTER9
JULES
Istay out of the bunker, watching with a grimace as Siggy throws Axel inside. She ispissed. I’m just freaking out.
I turn away, leaning against a boulder and trying to get my panic under control. That was close! Two more steps and he would have been out … or dead. What would my plan have been if he’d escaped? There’s still over a week before I can leave. Where would I have gone if they’d found out where I’ve been hiding? And what about Siggy? Yeah, she’s big and scary, but if Maddox knew where I was he’d let the demon king know and Dante, I have no doubt, wouldn’t spare even one of his guys. If all of them stormed Siggy’s nest at once, she wouldn’t stand a chance. I frown. Having someone other than myself to care about is new for me even if she’s not technically asomeone.
My arania buddy is above me on the web, looking down at me. I’m not meant to have friends. I already knew that before I even got here. Trying to have my cake and eat it too has likely put a target on Siggy that won’t disappear when I leave if anyone finds out she was helping me. Dante holds grudges like a teenage girl.
‘I’m sorry,’ I say. ‘I’ve put you in danger.’
And, now that Axel knows the truth, I’ll need to figure out what I’m going to do about that.
Siggy comes down to the ground and pushes me towards the bunker with her pedipalps.
‘No, I’m going to leave him to cool off for a little while. He’s probably pissed that his escape failed.’
He also says nasty things when he’s mad and I don’t have it in me to listen right now, but, with her being such a solitary creature, I don’t think she’d understand that if I try to explain. Instead, I regard my friend. I don’t doubt for a second that that’s what she is after the past few days and she deserves the truth from me.
‘I wasn’t sent here for crimes like the supes,’ I tell her. ‘I mean, I’ve committed crimes, but I wasn’t caught and sentenced. I came here on my own to hide out because … well, I needed a place to lay low. But it’s too dangerous here now too. I’m going to leave soon, but if anyone finds out where I am and that you helped me, Dante will send every supe that’s loyal to him in here. They’ll kill you. You’re my friend and I care about you. I don’t want that to happen.’
I wonder if I can take her with me. I have no idea what I’d do with a giant arachnid in a world of humans but maybe there’s a place she could go and live a happy spider life.
Siggy stares back at me for a while. A naysayer might believe she hasn’t understood a single word of what I just said, but I know she has. I just hope she has a plan to get away if her nestisoverrun without warning.
She leaves me, going back into her web and I lean back on the boulder. My tummy rumbles and hunger gnaws at me, but at the same time, my lower abdomen is cramping. It’s been doing that on and off for a couple of days. Probably coming up to that time of the month, but it’s not like I’m tracking it properly down here. I brought enough special lady products for six months though, and they’re the kind that are meant for humans who work in supe circles; they subdue the scent of the blood. I’m already keeping my distance from the supes that might smell me, but I’m totally belt and braces when it comes to their keen senses.
I flex my bad shoulder. I can’t use it hardly at all, but it’s not too painful if I keep it still. I glance at my watch. Two in the morning. Daytime hours are recognized in here, so a lot of the inmates will be asleep. It’s a pretty good time to sneak around the passages by foot since I can’t go climbing into the shafts and we need food.
I grab a backpack from by the wall and leave Siggy’s tunnel quickly when I’m sure the coast is clear. I go down the passage, passing the holes that lead to the shafts. Instead, I make my way to the worn steps that lead down to the main levels. I pause and then float down them, keeping my steps light and my eyes trained in front of me so that I can turn and disappear back the other way if I do see anyone. But all is quiet as I make my way through the lower corridors silently.
I find myself in the Cluster where Maddox and the others are being housed, but before I can wonder what I’m doing at the front door of the enemy, I’m already wandering inside. I’m asking myself what’s happening, but the voice is so faint. It feels right to do this, like I’m safe.
A light flickers on and I freeze.
