Page 82 of Villains and Vengeance
His gait slows and I draw the blade Iron made for me silently. I hover at the opening, coiling my body. He’s stopping too close for this to be a coincidence and that means he can see or smell something through Iron’s magick that the others can’tandthat meanshe has to die.
Not that it’s a hardship. I’ve had enough bad dealings with the vamps over the years not to give killing another one a second thought. That and an unwelcome image of him inevitably feeding from Jules as Dante’s lieutenant seals his fate.
He gets close, pausing a few feet away, but still I wait. I want him closer. He has the superior speed so I need to make sure I’ve got a good grip on him for when he realizes he can’t win against me and he starts trying to run.
Two more steps and he’s near enough to touch. I spring from my hiding spot, holding my knife out.
I grab his slighter frame in a half bear hug, putting my hand over his mouth so he can’t yelland can’t bite me. He struggles and he’s stronger than he looks. He almost throws me off twice, but I get the knife in between the third and fourth ribs and plunge it deep.
He goes still and there’s a pause before he crumbles like an accordion.
I pick him up and practically swagger to the hole, chucking the body through like I’m threading a needle before climbing in after it.
I push the corpse through the shaft, letting it fall to the floor on the other end.
As I climb out, I find Iron stowing Axel behind a group of rocks beside a standing stone.
‘Who’s that?’ he asks.
‘Silas.’
‘He must have been able to sense something through the magick. Interesting.’ Iron looks thoughtful. ‘Good to know.’
I nod. ‘You got a stake by any chance.’
‘Always.’
Iron throws a thick, pointed piece of oak my way and I plunge it into Silas’ heart which had clearly already started to heal from my previous blow because his eyes open and his limbs shake before his body goes limp again – forever this time.
‘We can’t leave him here. Someone’ll smell him and it’ll lead them right to the portal.’
‘Where then?’
‘The river,’ Iron replies. ‘Let the current take him.’
I nod, stuffing the now completely dead vampire into the shaft again. Back through the tunnel we go and, at the end, I pause and listen. When I’m sure the coast is clear, I push him back out into the main passage and throw him over my shoulder. Iron joins me and we start walking back the way we came. There’s an open tunnel somewhere around here that we can get to the river from.
‘Think Dante has her yet?’ I ask.
‘No,’ he says quietly after a moment. ‘I think Maddox will wait for us to get back and we’ll take her together in case there’s a problem.’
‘If he waited, do you really think that’s why?’ I smirk in the darkness.
‘No. The sooner we get out of here, the better.’
We get to the tunnel and turn down it, following the sounds of water. We reach the broken part and I see the river rushing beneath us. It’s deeper here and the water is faster. If I had a raft and we weren’t in a prison, I might try riding it. It looks like some Class IV rapids down there.
I hurl the body down into the water. I don’t hear the splash over the roaring. Done with what we came here to do, I turn to Iron.
‘She getting to you?’ I ask.
Iron doesn’t say anything until we reach the main corridor and start heading back down to the cluster.
‘Even if she is, it isn’t real. Can’t trustanythingin this place. Can’t trustheranywhere.’
‘You don’t think she’s convinced Maddox to bring her along?’
He lets out a snort. ‘She’ll have tried, but Maddox won’t cave to the likes of her. Even if he was tempted, he wouldn’t want her leaving the Mountain with Axel and Jayce both ready to go against clan law for her. She’s signed her own death warrant by making a play for them. Maybe it’ll be Maddox who does it just before we leave, but more likely it’ll be Dante once he gets what he wants out of her.’
