Page 84 of Sweet Violence
I staggered back with a gasp of dust, adrenaline making me tremble.
Scanning the billowing dust frantically, I searched for Ikea's eel-covered head, frantic to find Joseph and X. I barely managed to stay upright when the building shook with another quake, like a giant was hammering his hand on the room.
Fuck, please be Dev,I pleaded to whatever higher power existed. Maybe there wasn't one, and I had to take matters into my own hands.
In the chaos, I lost sight of Izan, but that meant he'd probably lost me, too. Good. I flexed my fingers, forging a long dagger of crimson fire, and dragged myself through the dust and debris to Drill Bastard. My shoulder pulsed with every movement I made, definitely not healing, but that didn't stop me plunging the dagger into the mean fucker's throat.
"Rest in misery, asswipe," I said, surprised to find my voice croaky.
I tore the dagger free. He bled out quickly, giving me a nice shot of power, but I couldn't use it against Ikea and the others without knowing if they still had my mates.
Fuck, what if debris landed on them, too? X was on the floor with an axe in his gut, vulnerable as fuck. Joseph wasn't even conscious!
I tried to reach through the knot of pain in my chest to find them, like Dev suggested I could do, but all I felt was a deep throb of agony. That had to mean they were alive, right? Or … or did it mean I lost them and the bond would forever be a mess of pain?
"What the fuck?" someone howled, their voice cutting off with a gurgle, making me jump and twist around, searching the fog for hidden adversaries.
"I'll find our circle," a cool voice said, confident and even, and my bottom lip started to shake like a possessed maraca. "You kill as many as possible."
"I can't see shit in this smoke," someone else replied, familiar and snarling.
Arkan. Taj.
I stumbled blindly through the ashen fog towards the sounds, my throat closed up so badly I couldn't even choke out their names. My whole body shook, my breath hitching with sobs I didn't have the energy to fight back.
I hit something with my foot and stumbled, collapsing to the floor. While I was down there, I searched the body for familiar features, but this demon had giant tusks coming from his mouth. He was surely dead, but at least he wasn't my mate.
They're okay, everything's gonna be okay, the rest of the circle are here...
I tested the space in front of me with my boot as I walked, avoiding obstacles when I encountered them, checking they weren't my mates. I kept going, choking on ragged cries, until I slammed into someone that smelled heavily of blood and dog.
I threw my shaking arms around him, digging my fingers into the rough scales of the leather armour he wore, and shook with the brutal force of my emotions.
"Get the fuck—Lina?" Taj breathed, his voice going from furious to soft in a split second. One arm came around my waist, holding me close, while the other moved in quick, slashing gestures.
I sucked in air until I could breathe, dragging my tongue off the roof of my dry mouth.
"Joseph's hurt," I managed to rasp, but I coughed. The dust was a serious bitch on my throat, my old nemesis returned at last. "Beaten, stabbed. X … axe in his … stomach."
Taj's hand flexed on my back, a snarl in the back of his throat. "They'll be fine. I've tried killing those bastards so many times; it never works."
I told myself to let go, to find my injured mates, but I couldn't make myself move.
"Search the floor, Ark," Taj shouted over my head, nudging me a few steps backward, walking with me plastered to his body.
Around us, wet gurgling sounds filled the air, and the tell-tale thuds of bodies crashing to the floor, but Taj didn't let go of me even as he killed. I was reminded of that strange, fever dream of softness when he snuck into my bed.
"Got Joseph," Arkan reported, so calm that my eyes burned with tears. Why did I feel like everything would be okay now they were here?
"Coming to you," Taj barked. "I'd advise everyone else to get the fuck out of my way, and reassess your shitty life choices. Or you can die; your choice."
A smile tugged on my mouth. Taj walked us across the room, knowing where to go by magic or some strange homing beacon that circles shared.
Where was Izan? I killed Drill Bastard, but where was the big bad, and why did I have a cold, prickly feeling about all of this?
He's probably just knocked out by debris,I told myself, a sweet delusion I wanted badly to believe.
"Here," Arkan said, making me jump at his closeness. "He's not breathing, but his heart is beating."
