Page 100 of Dollhouse

That’s when I smell it.

Smoke.

My eyes widen, and fearfully, I look down at the girl in my arms. Her eyes are now shut tight, and I realize that I wasn’t even aware of when they closed. Her chest is faintly rising and falling, but it’s getting slower and slower by the passing second.

The only girl I’ve ever wanted, craved, is dying right here in my arms.

She’s dying in my arms because of me.

Smoke fills the room and burns my eyes. But I can’t leave. I can’t just abandon her here in her final moments of death. Not when there’s still a chance that she could be saved once we make it out of here.

“We have to get the fuck out of here!”

“I’m not leaving without her!” I hold her tighter to my body.

“If we don’t go now, we’re going to die.”

“Then you go! I’m staying here with her!” I am never fucking leaving her here.

Eli drops to his knees in front of me and snatches her from my arms, slowly laying her dying body down on the cold cemented floor. He places two fingers to the side of her neck, just underneath her jaw where her pulse would be.

I watch as he slumps his head, stands upright, and lets out a string of curses, punching the cement wall.

This one’s on us. Both of us.

“I can’t leave her.” She’s gone. And I want to join her. I want to stay here with her and let the smoke kill me like I killed her.

But Eli’s not having it.

“Now isn’t the time to fucking be poetic, King! We will avenge her. We will find the fucker that chained her here and fucking kill him. But I need you with me to do that!” He grabs a hold of the neckline on my hoodie and pulls me to my feet, giving me no choice but to leave the room and leave my girl behind.

My butterfly.

Covering my nose with my sleeve, we run down the hallway, stepping over the two bodies in the hallway to get to the door.

The door. The locked door. Fuck.

This really was a trap. The bastard lured us here and now locked us in the basement to die of smoke inhalation. I didn’t see the flames, but I could see and smell the smoke that was quickly swallowing us whole.

Eli and I work together in perfect sync, kicking and beating at the metal door using a hammer we’d found in the cell Tate’s in. We’re doing everything we can to get it open.

“Fuck!” My eyes widen seeing the flames that are beginning to follow a perfect trail toward us. I lean down, dip my fingers in the liquid on the floor, and bring it to my nose, inhaling deeply. Petrol.

Had that unknown fucking puppet master been down here while we were here to pour petrol and start a fire? How had we not noticed this earlier?

Suddenly, the door bursts open, and on the other side are Rowen and Nico.

“Where’s Tate?” is his first question. I don’t answer. How do I answer that? I just push past him, running up the stairs three at a time.

“She’s gone,” I hear Eli answer before I reach the top. I run out of the house, finding Vlad who’s still outside where we left him keeping cover and staying on the lookout.

“What happened, boss?” Again, I don’t say a word. I stomp down the driveway and down the hill to where we have parked. I still have her blood on my hands. I need to get the fuck out of here and find the fucker who did this to her. Vengeance will be mine. Even if I am the partial cause of it.

Something’s wrong.

It’s quiet. Too quiet.

King and Eli entered the house over ten minutes ago and there’s been no sound or movement from the house since.

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