Chapter Thirty-Three
It's just past midnight and we've gathered at a warehouse hard by the Thames. I've done as Ryland told me, keeping the location a secret until the last minute, in case Dham or Cat is the leak, however unlikely I think that is. Trick stays close to me, but Dham and Cat have gone off in a corner to wait away from the rest.
Ryland has brought a few stragglers as well. While he and Kevin give them instructions, Peter makes a beeline for Dham. Cat looks none too pleased by the interruption. At least she and I have that in common: neither of us likes Peter. I wonder if she can put her finger on why not any better than I can.
A few others that I recognize but don't know personally are also with Ryland. These people weren't in the tunnels at all that night from what Ryland has said. All told we have a little more than what we can count on both hands. And this is supposed to take on the Inquisition?
Trick scoots closer to me. "Now what?"
"We wait for the truck." I look over at him and see that his eyes have taken on a strange glitter in the dim light. "What's with the eyes?"
He blinks, then grins at me. It is an animal grin, with too many teeth. "Helps me see in the dark."
"That's handy."
"You'll find I'm full of surprises." His voice is low, as is his throaty chuckle. It makes the hairs on my arms stand on end.
"No doubt." I turn my attention to Peter, Dham and Cat. From Cat's mammoth scowl, I can tell she's not liking what Peter is currently saying. Dham is also frowning and shaking his head. I creep forward so I can listen better. It looks as though Peter is growing more insistent about whatever he's saying to Dham.
"Keep your eye on that one," Trick breathes into my ear. I flinch at his closeness.
"Peter?" The demon nods. "Why?" This should be good.
Trick inhales. "Can't you smell it? The fear on him?" He looks at me pityingly. "He's terrified." His nostrils flare and light flashes in the dark, glittering eyes. "And the faintest whiff of betrayal. Very nice." He stares at me with a benign smile.
"Betrayal…" I stare at Peter. I can barely make out what he's saying to Dham. He's trying to convince Dham to come with him, to leave before the truck arrives. "No," I whisper.
I search for Ryland, to tell him we've been compromised, that we all need to get out of here now. There won't be any truck coming, unless it is from the Inquisition. I can see him across the warehouse, now talking with Kevin.
I hear a high pitched whistling and duck instinctively, pulling Trick down as I go. I squeeze my eyes shut, expecting oblivion. There's the smashing of glass and then a loud bang and I can see the explosion of blinding light even behind my closed eyelids. It's a flash bomb.
Chaos erupts. I can hear screams and shouts. There's battering that sounds like it is coming from both front and back bay doors. I crack an eye open, shielding it from the afterglow of the flash bomb with my hand. I can just make out Ryland, not far from me now.
"Stay down," I hiss at Trick and sprint over to Ryland. He's shouting out orders, half-blinded by the blast. "I think it's Peter—he's the mole. What do we do?"
He glances down at me and his expression goes quiet. We both look up toward the door and see Peter moving towards it, leading Dham and Cat. They're stumbling over their feet, balance completely off. I feel Ry grip my upper arm.
"He's going to hand them over to them." My voice sounds hollow to my ears.
Ryland flings me forward. "Get them!" he yells at me as he launches himself at the trio. I pull my blades from their sheaths and sprint after him.
Ry crashes into the door ahead of Peter, effectively blocking his path. I smash into Dham, breaking Peter's hold on him. He and Cat topple to the floor. Cat yells, "What the hell is going on?"
"Stay down," I shriek back, putting myself between them and Peter. I put his hand in Cat's and then put his other hand on the waistband of my jeans. "Hold on to me. And don't go anywhere with Peter no matter what happens!"
"What?" Dham yells, but I ignore his question. I can explain everything later, assuming we make it out alive.
I try to lead us farther back into the warehouse. I can see Kevin gesturing me over to him, but smoke is beginning to obscure everything. The Inquisition outside must have chucked in a smoke canister. I can see a shape breaking through the wisps of smoke and take on a fighting stance, but it is just Trick. He looms out of the murky air at my shoulder.
"I take it this is not part of the plan?" he says in an amused voice, clearly unbothered by the screaming and mania.
"Not our plan, no." I turn back to get a look at how Ryland is faring against Peter and feel my breath freeze in my throat. Peter has a gun.
I take Dham's hand from my jeans and thrust it at Trick. "Stay with them!" He opens his mouth to make some smart ass comment, I'm sure. "PLEASE!"
I take off, not listening to Cat's protests or Dham's questions. I can see Peter holding the gun on Ryland, clearly trying to get him to move out of the way. Ryland's not budging though. I race through the smoke and cacophony of shouts and breaking wood and glass as fast as my legs can carry me. But I fear I won't be fast enough.
When the shot comes, I almost feel like it's me that the bullet hits. I rock from the imagined impact, but manage to keep moving, watching as Ryland crumples around himself. I scream and push myself harder; then I'm on top of Peter as he wrenches the lock off the door and tries to fling it open. I'm still screaming as I plunge my blade into his back, even as he's sliding through the door.
There's no flare of inner lightning, no flash from blessed blade meeting demonic flesh. Peter's human. Solely and completely human. And he's sold us all out.
He cries out, slipping off of my blade. I see arms reaching out to him and let him go. I slam the door shut once more and hit the lock. Then I drop to my knees beside Ryland. He's slumped against the floor, holding his stomach. I can see the red staining his hands, his clothes, the floor. I don't even realize I'm crying until I can't see through eyes blurry with tears.
"Ry. Ry!" I'm grabbing at him, desperate to see how bad it is and terrified at the same time.
The door shakes from the force the Inquisition is bringing to bear to get it open. I know we don't have much time. "Come on," I whisper at him, trying to pull him to his feet.
"Amaranth," he grunts out. He puts a bloodied hand over mine. His eyes are bloodshot when they meet mine and I can read his future in them. I put my head down so I don't have to see it. "Get them out. You know what to do."
"But I can't just leave…." I can feel the sobs coming and I try to gulp them back. I sound like I did seven years ago when I first saw the ruin of my mother.
I see his gaze shift to somewhere behind me and I slew around on my knees. Kevin and the rest have come closer. Dham and Cat can see now so Trick doesn't need to lead them around, although he does stay close to them.
"Go with Kevin," Ryland orders, a bit more strength in his voice.
"No!" I shake my head. "I'm not leaving you!"
"Many. Few," he manages to grit out. Then his eyes lock with Kevin. "Get her out of here."
"NO!" I feel hands grab me and I'm bodily pulled away from him. The door splinters and I can see a riot of lights and people and movement through the holes that grow bigger as I watch. "Ryland!" I see Kevin lean down to him and hand him a gun and then I'm dragged away.
I fight anyway, anger giving me strength I didn't know I had. "Let. Me. GO!" I'm flailing wildly, desperate to get back to him, to the only father I've really ever known.
Strong arms circle me from behind, lifting me up and pinning my arms against my sides. "He's done, A," Dham says softly in my ear. "Let him go."
I shriek, sounding like a demented animal. Kevin is back with us and he leads us to the back end of the warehouse where the sounds of battering are still going on. Shots ring out behind us and I scream again, redoubling my efforts to get free.
Suddenly, a very small but hard fist connects with my cheek, snapping my head around. I s
top my struggling in shock, staring around for the source of the blow. Cat walks beside us, her face a mask of anger. "Stop being such a weakling and get your bloody ass moving!" Anger flares inside me then goes cold, so I can practically feel the ice forming along my limbs. Even my blood seems to slow, turning sluggish and blue as it freezes my insides. "Dham can't cart you all over the place and I'm tired of listening to your wailings. So MOVE!"
I glare at her, that hatred inside me growing and growing, until I'm nothing more than a pillar of ice. She glares right back, returning my burning gaze with an unruffled one of her own. I push away from Dham and wipe the tears from my cheeks.
"Amaranth," Dham begins, but I shut him down with a sharp slash of my arm.
I get right up in Cat's face. "One day," I spit, "I pray you will learn what this feels like." Then I spin on my heel and follow after Kevin and Trick.
I sense rather than see a blot of darkness zip through one of the broken skylights high above us. It strafes through the smoke, trailing streamers of grey in its wake. I can barely track it, but I know it is near. I close my eyes and use my other senses to figure out where it will come from.
A gentle current of air rustles my hair. My eyes snap open. I can see the black shape arrowing right at Trick, talons extended. I lunge at Trick, knocking him to the floor in a tangled collection of limbs. I feel a slice on my arm, but ignore the momentary spike of pain. I'm back on my feet, blades appearing in my hands again like magic.
"Stay down," I snarl. I close my eyes again, relying on my other senses to tell me where to strike. I duck as the air currents tell me how close the demon is. My blade flashes out and up and I feel it sink into flesh. I open my eyes. My blade has impaled it, bringing it down. A quick yank and black ichor flies as I loose my blade from the body. It thumps to the ground somewhere to my left.
I run to the trapdoor that's set in the center of floor and try to pull up on the iron handle embedded in the steel. Trick and Kevin are right behind me. "Quick save back there," Trick says in a surprised voice.
"Shut up and pull," I demand. We don't have time for him to be sarcastic and weird about me saving him from damage. The door yawns open.
"I'll go first," I say, not looking at anyone. I grip the top of the ladder and swing myself over, keeping one of my blades free. I climb down into the dark. I can smell water and hear it lapping against stone. I try not to think of what's going on upstairs now that the shooting has stopped.
My feet touch down on damp stone. I look around and in the dimness I can just make out the shape of a boat. I pick my way carefully over to it. Our packs are inside, along with what look like provisions. A getaway boat. We weren't going by truck at all; it was all a decoy to draw out the traitor. Damn Ryland for not telling me. I hold back a sob.
In moments, everyone is huddled along the small space of stone dock. I hear a huge boom from above and feel the foundations shake as Kevin hurries down the ladder, sliding down the last few rungs. "What was that?" Dham asks.
"Molotov cocktail?" Trick looks questioningly over at Kevin, who nods. "Ingenious."
"Just get in the boat." I step into the boat, swaying as it rocks. "Congratulate yourselves later." I head into the steering area and try to make myself as small as possible. I feel like my heart has been wrenched from my chest. I hadn't thought to ever feel this way again.
Kevin joins me and starts the engine, piloting the boat like he was born to it. "Amaranth, I'm sorry."
"Get us out of here," I say, tucking my head against my knees. My eyes are dry and I mean for them to stay that way. I'll cry when they're all dead, when the Inquisition is shattered and the gate is broken. Then I will cry until I run out of tears.
"Ryland," I whisper once as Kevin steers the boat out onto the night-dark water. I stare out, watching as the flames from the burning wreck that was once the warehouse paint the river a painful red. Ryland's pyre reaches high into the night sky. I watch it burn until it is nothing but a glowing speck on the horizon.
Then I turn my face to where we are going and I vow not to look back. We are on our way now. To Rome.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jeanette Battista graduated with an English degree with a concentration in medieval literature which explains her possibly unhealthy fixation on edged weapons and cathedral architecture. She spent a summer in England and Scotland studying the historical King Arthur, which did nothing to curb her obsession. To satisfy her adrenaline cravings--since sword fighting is not widely accepted in these modern times--she rode a motorcycle at ridiculously high speeds, got some tattoos, and took kickboxing and boxing classes. She gave up the bike when her daughter came along, although she still gets pummeled at the gym on a regular basis.
When she’s not writing or working, Jeanette spends time with family, hikes, reads, makes decadent brownies, buys killer boots, and plays Pocket Frogs. She wishes there were more hours in the day so she could actually do more of these things. She lives with her daughter and their two psychotic cats in North Carolina.
You can read more about her and her books at https://www.jeanettebattista.com.
Twitter: @Battista_j
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The Iron Bells Page 43
