Page 260 of Like Grim Death: Part One
But we don’t live by a fucking code.
Our enemies have even less of one.
The frustration mounts inside of me, the questions too, and I flex my finger against the trigger, just fucking waiting.
But in the silence, a single sound slices through all of my thoughts.
A baby’s cry, a high-pitched shriek.
A wail.
Chills explode along the back of my neck, an ache in all of my limbs for not runningtoRain.
There’s a soft, wicked laughter after that.
A strangled sob, and if I had to guess, on the sound alone, I think it’s Sid.
My heart feels as if it’s being cleaved in two.
Ella whimpers at my side.
I hear her heaving, then vomiting, and the acrid scent fills my nose, a reminder of her injuries.
Pressure builds behind my eyes, but I swallow the knot in my throat, keeping my arm around her and pressing my lips to her temple. I want to tell her without words I’ll save her. I want to tell her I’m sorry.
I’m so fucking sorry.
But I don’t speak, and footsteps sound on the hardwoods, creaking closer toward the entranceway into the hall.
“Yes, keep going.” The familiar voice chills my entire body as I go perfectly still and even Ella tenses beneath me. “A few more steps; let us gather the family together.” Mikhail Malikov,Boaz,issues light commands as the footfalls grow closer and I see shadows in the darkness, entering the hallway. Dark shapes retreating toward me, towardus,and that’s what it looks like. A retreat. My finger taps the trigger, but I don’t aim my weapon, because I’m pretty fucking sure it’s Lucifer’s tall, lean shadow I’m looking at, a familiar, shorter one beside him.
I’m gulping down air, waiting seconds in silence as my brother and his wife come closer, and other bodies enter the corridor, filling it. When Lucifer is so close I catch the scent of him, the lights flicker back on, blinding after the contrast of darkness.
I lift my head higher, blinking and clearing my vision, and the first thing that forms a full shape and details is Lucifer’s back. He has a gun in his hand, by his side, and Sid is next to him, her shoulder brushing his arm.
In her hand dangles a Glock too.
He’s wearing the all black clothing he was when he left my room, and Sid is in black shorts and a baggy shirt, trailing down to her hips. She’s barefoot.
I can’t see their facial expressions, the way they’re turned away from me, but I see both of their fingers on their respective triggers, and I watch a muscle in Sid’s calf jump, like she’s tensing. She’s close enough I could reach out and grab her. I can see her shoulders move as she breathes rapidly, but I don’t lift a hand toward her.
Beside me, Ezra’s shoulder brushes mine, and I know Cain and Atlas are at my back, behind Ella.
Swallowing down air, I cut my gaze above Sid’s head as I slowly rise to my feet, stepping in front of Ella, my arm bumping Ezra’s as he moves with me and I’m close enough to Lucifer, I can see each individual dark curl grazing his lean neck.
But it’s not him I stare at it. Instead, Mikhail Malikov’s blue eyes pierce mine. He is facing us, standing beside the entranceway to the living room, a few feet from Lucifer and Sid.
There’s a pounding sensation in my ears, and not only at his presence.
But at what’s in his arms.
His torso covered with a green leather jacket.
He has a gun in his hand, the barrel pressed to Rain’s little mouth. My nephew is sucking on the tip of it, like he would a bottle or a pacifier, his tiny fingers sliding along the matte black of the barrel.
I feel as if I’ve been sucker punched. I take a step back, careful not to disturb Ella, who is silent on the floor.
There are two men behind Mikhail, dressed head-to-toe in black, their faces covered, guns in hand, wrists crossed at their waist.
