Page 24 of Villains and Vengeance
As soon as it’s in my hand, I don’t hesitate, squirting it directly into his face. He releases me with a yowl, cursing me as he flings himself away, rubbing at his eyes vigorously.
A wolf appears at Dante’s door.
Shifter.
My heart thuds hard in my chest, but I keep it together as Silas continues to swear some feet away, pissed that I got him again.
I glance at the rope and then at the wolf, wondering how sentient this guy is when he’s in animal mode, when he changes back into his human form. I’m terrified as I inch towards my escape route but I’m also oddly curious as I watch him transform. I’ve never seen it in person before. It takes five seconds and it’s smooth. I thought there’d be bones breaking and popping, but there’s none of that and no pain registers on his face. There’s just now a naked dude in front of me. He doesn’t say anything, just watches me, his body coiled. I glance at the rope again and he does too.
‘Don’t,’ he advises.
But I can make it. I have to. I can’t get caught.
I throw my bag at him and I leap for the rope, grabbing it with both hands and hauling myself up in double-time, thanking myself for building this upper-body strength by running drills on Siggy’s web every single day when he tries to catch me and misses because he’s too slow at climbing.
I ascend fast and I’m almost there when I hear a scuffle.
‘No! Dante doesn’t want her dead!’
Something thuds into my back and I stifle my cry of pain out of habit. I’m still on the rope and almost at the top, so I grip tighter and dig deep, reaching the small hole. But as I pull myself into it something catches, drawing a scream through my clenched teeth. I turn my head and I see an arrow protruding from my back. I can’t get through the hole.
I glance down.
There are three of them standing around the rope and staring up. Another shifter is starting to climb after me.Fast.
I wrap my legs and right arm around the rope and reach around. I grab the arrow and take a deep breath. I snap the shaft in half. This time the scream is loud and shrill. The other half doesn’t come off, instead it hangs down, but I can fit through now. I scramble up, pull myself into the tunnel and, fumbling with a pocketknife, I saw through the rope. Just as I see a hand, the rope slips down and I hear a shout as the supe falls. I clamber up the tunnel. I need to get back to Siggy’s before a patrol is sent out and before the adrenaline wears off.
I get to the main passage and stop, listening. My back is throbbing and I can’t be sure because I’ve never been shot with a bow before, but I think there was something on that arrowhead because I’m starting to feel woozy.
I can’t go out in the open and I can’t use the main passage. They won’t have any trouble smelling the blood and tracking me to Siggy’s lair.
Someone’s coming. Multiple footsteps.
I draw back, trying to come up with a plan quickly.
The river.
It’s dangerous, but it’s my only chance.
I leave the hole and continue down the shaft towards the sound of water. I keep going until I can feel the cold wind that the waterfall stirs up and I know I’m close to the end of the tunnel, but I’m still surprised when it drops off and I almost fall. I catch myself just in time and slowly climb out, dropping about six feet to splash into the freezing, shallow water. One of my knees gives out and I go down, breathing heavily, my eyesight a little blurry.
I feel like shit, but I hold onto the notion that Dante doesn’t want me dead and not one of his guys would actually try to kill me because the punishment for that would be severe. Whatever’s on the arrow probably isn’t fatal.
I pull up my big girl panties and stand, walking slowly through the water. Soon, the roaring ebbs and the water slows to a trickle. I don’t know exactly where Siggy’s domain is from here. It’s too dark to see anything and I’m hoping against hope that the other aranias aren’t hanging out by the river right now. It’s still morning, so the odds are good that I’ll make it through though safety is rarely completely assured here.
I get to an area thatsoundslike the one I know, but I’m nowhere near certain. My energy is all but sapped though and I’m dizzy. I can’t keep going like this. I leave the water and sit down on a rock by the bank. It feels likemyrock, the one I always sit on, but maybe I just want it to be.
I hear a noise and scramble up, falling against the wall. The arrow scrapes against the stone and I squeal at the pain that radiates through the area, falling to my knees. The rest of me follows and I’m vaguely aware that I’m on the ground.
I hear an arania close by and freeze, hoping it thinks I’m dead. They don’t tend to scavenge corpses, but something fuzzy brushes against me, prodding me. I stay still, but it does it again.
I recognize the gesture immediately and my hand reaches up to grasp one of Siggy’s pedipalps gently. I made it back.
She winds me up carefully into some silk and picks me up with it. A part of me wonders if this is it. Has she finally decided to devour me?
She carries me into the web easily and the jury is still out as to whether she hangs me in the pantry or not.
But she takes me straight to the bunker. I almost laugh. Does she think Axel will help me? As if he’ll give a shit.
