by Suzie Grant
Racing around to the other side, she knelt and wiggled her shoulder in between Blac and the wall.
Bracing her feet, she used her legs to lift him from the wall onto her shoulder.
She struggled and tears coursed down her cheeks. “Please, stay with me. I can’t live without you. I
don’t want to live without you!” She chanted to him, over and over again how much she loved him, as if
her words alone would wake him. “Please God,” she prayed. “I will do anything. Just please bring him
back to me.”
“Anything, huh?”
Angel collapsed in relief, her hands curled into the fabric of his shirt. He ran a hand over her wet
hair. “Angel love, look at me,” Blac commanded.
Attempting to control her anguish, she peered up at him through watery eyes. He cupped her cheeks.
“I love you too, but my legs are pinned. You must try to lift this beam behind me.”
She nodded and scrambled to her feet and peered around him. Sure enough, a large, fractured wood
beam trapped his feet against the half wall. She choked. “I can’t do this...I don’t think I can do this...”
“Angel.” His tone was harsh to get her attention. “You must. Now try to free my legs.”
Taking a deep breath, she wrapped both arms around the large beam and heaved. It didn’t budge.
Not even an inch. Weak from exhaustion and emotional trauma, she attempted to move it again. But again
nothing happened.
“Try again,” he whispered. “Don’t give up now.”
Angel maneuvered herself, one foot on either side of the beam, and hoisted it in her arms. It moved
slightly but toppled back down. Frustration and anger gave strength to her arms and she tried again. This
time it moved.
But before she could celebrate even that smallest victory a hand in her hair yanked her back. She
collided with a wide chest, and the viscount’s face entered her peripheral vision. “You didn’t think you
really got away, did you?”
Soured breath assaulted her and she cringed. How had he lived? Of all the people in Port Royal
who’d died, why had he been allowed to live? Her hands clawed at his arms as she fought against him.
Blood from a wound on his forehead ran down the side of his face and smeared across her cheek. “Let me
go!”
He laughed. Those dark eyes took on an eerie sheen as if he had lapsed into madness. Angel reared
back and nailed him in the nose with the back of her head. He howled and let her go.
“Run, Angel!” Blac yelled out.
Her feet took flight and she raced through the mire down an alley with half-standing buildings on
either side. She glanced back briefly to see the viscount following her in a steady, unhurried pace.
Horror seized her as she turned the corner because she knew she had nowhere to hide.
Twenty-three
Blac roared his frustration as the viscount strode down the alley after Angel.
He strained against the beam, but his legs were too weak to move the impediment. Helpless, anger
knotted in his gut and gnashed his teeth together. He shouted obscenities at the viscount to get his attention,
but he knew it was useless. Why would the viscount bother with a man who was already on the last legs
of life, when the object of his fascination was scared and running down an alley with nowhere to hide?
Blac gasped and placed a palm over the burning stitch in his side. His hand came away smeared
with blood where the broken slither of wood had embedded within his side during the impact in the
wagon. The wound was close to his most vital organs. He was losing a lot of blood, and it weakened him.
He’d been happy that in Angel’s incoherent state, she hadn’t noticed the entrenched piece of wood
in his side. But he cursed himself now for not having her patch him up while they’d had the chance. Now
he was trapped and bleeding like a stuck pig.
He growled.
The warmth of the liquid coasted down his side to soak into the cool, damp cloth of his breeches. If
he could withdraw the sliver of wood from his flesh, he might be able to staunch the flow. But he wasn’t
sure he could reach it. What made it worse was even if he could, it was too far around his side to
comfortably apply pressure to the wound for long.
He was dying.
Death had never been a fear of his. Until now. He closed his eyes and Angel’s face appeared.
Cursing God and his own inability to protect the one person in his life who’d loved him wholeheartedly,
Blac tried to heave the heavy beam off his calves once again. He couldn’t give up now.
~*~
Washed out remains of half walls and fractured structures were all that remained in this part of the
town. Angel slogged through knee-high water.
The further she went, the higher the flood waters grew. The sky darkened under the cloud of
destruction and dust. It hung over the area like a shroud and settled heavily in her lungs. But it was the
silence that alarmed her. There were no voices, no screams, no sounds of activities, as if every person in
town had simply been wiped away with a brush of nature’s wand. Trepidation settled in her weak
stomach and caused it to churn.
Her heart pounded inside her chest and she glanced around, searching for some place to hide. The
most horrible, sour smell assaulted her as she moved between the half buildings. She kept her back to the
brick wall and slipped inside a half opened door. The building had lost its roof and large sections of the
south wall. Darkness encased her and fear enveloped her in its grasp.
She attempted to shush her breathing and glanced outside the opened door to see if the viscount had
followed her. She strained to hear anything. A steady trickle of water dripped somewhere close by. Its
steady trickle ticked each second by. She held her breath. Ducking back inside the building, she glanced
around.
It was a large brick structure. A warehouse of some kind full of large boxes and crates, many of
them smashed, lying across the ground in large pieces. The stairs in the back had been washed out. She
plodded across the room to a rather large shipping crate where the wave had tossed it against the north
wall. Leaning against it, she pushed with her legs until it moved. The slush of water seemed loud in the
unnatural silence.
Sweat beaded on her brow as she climbed atop it. She jumped and grasped the remaining rail on the
stairs above. She hung there for several seconds but she heard the slosh of water outside and froze.
In mid-air, her heart pattered to a stop before it slowly increased in rhythm until it hammered
against her ribs. Then she heard him call her name.
“I know you’re here somewhere. I’ll find you eventually, my dear. There is nowhere to hide.” There
was something sinister in the calmness of his tone, and it sent a shiver down her spine.
He wasn’t in a hurry to find her. He planned to enjoy the chase before the kill. Her arms began to
tremor as she hung there. Swinging one leg up, her heel clunked on the bottom step and she paused,
praying he hadn’t heard it.
Angel pulled herself up and plopped on the stairs, exhausted. She caught her breath and crawled up
the rest of the way. A shadow passed by the door and she lay down on her stomach, watching the door.
“Angel, dear. Where are you?”
He peeked inside the door. His shadow fell across the water on the floor, each ripple a reminder of
her impending
death. She lay absolutely still in the dark. He waded in, peered into every crevice on the
first floor, and scanned the upper level.
Angel held her breath and closed her eyes. Terror kept her still. Please, let the darkness be enough
to hide her.
Don’t move. Don’t breathe.
Please God, don’t let him see me.
Silence greeted her and she popped open her eyes. He paused in the doorway still and he appeared
to be searching closely in her general direction. Her palms moistened. Fear clawed its way into her chest
and gripped her heart.
Ready to spring at a moment’s notice, her muscles tightened for flight.
But he shrugged and moved back outside the door. The breath whooshed from her chest and she
dropped her head to the damp rug. She’d never been so frightened in her life.
She waited but a moment before she moved to get up. But the shadow refilled the doorway and he
stood there. His laugh echoed inside the nearly bare warehouse, and she froze.
Her gaze swung eased to him as he entered. Fear leapt up and swallowed any sound she may have
made. Her heart pattered to a stop and then sprang from her chest.
His dark eyes pinned her to the spot and he grinned. A sinister smile smoothed across his features
as if he enjoyed her fear. His movements were measured. Precise. Confident. He knew he would catch
her. And he would enjoy it.
“Now Angel, do be a dear and come down from there.” He started across the room. “I can see I’m
going to have come up there.”
Angel burst into action and tore down the hallway. Her pulse pounded in her ears. She glanced into
each room as she past. Nothing, but broken furniture, wood, papers, and debris littered the rooms. Some
of them were completely empty. When she reached the end of the hall she ducked into the last room. It too
was empty.
Panic seized her and a scream spilled from her mouth. The window had shattered and she moved to
it to peer out. Nothing but a narrow ledge. Her heart tripped.
She couldn’t jump. She’d break her legs and be helpless. A sound in the hall made her crawl
outside the window without another thought, and she balanced on the ledge, her back and hands to the
wall.
Oh my God, why am I doing this? I’m going to fall and die!
Another crash sounded as the viscount searched for her. Angel carefully rounded the corner and a
huge pile of mud and silt had piled up against the outside wall. She balanced on the narrow ledge.
If she could make it there, she could slide down the mud and run back toward Blac. Perhaps even
free him this time. But there were several windows between here and there. Uncertain which room the
viscount was in, she hesitated to pass by each window and ducked to peer in each one.
She made it to the last one. Should she peer in to make sure he wasn’t there, or take a leap of faith
and scuttle across the last few feet to the mound of mud?
Drawing a deep breath she started across, but something made her pause. And before she lost her
nerve, she ducked down to peer into the room. The hand broke through the glass and grabbed her by the
neck, yanking her inside.
She landed on the floor with a thud and whacked the back of her head against the floor. Wincing,
Angel gasped. The viscount leaned down into her vision, his dark eyes alight with a strange sheen. “You
didn’t really think you’d get away, did you?”
Angel scrambled to her feet and eyed him warily. “You don’t really believe you can kill us all and
get away with it, do you?”
He appeared to consider her words and then nodded. “Yes, as a matter of fact, I do. I’m going to
enjoy squeezing the life out of you while I am at it. After all, this earthquake has given me the perfect way
out.”
She panted, alarmed at his nearness. She backed away but he followed her, step for step. The white
strands of his hair stood on end atop his head as it had dried. A tiny slip of drool dribbled from the corner
of his mouth, and he licked it up.
The drum of her heart reverberated in her head as she glanced around. Hope leapt inside her chest.
He’d made a mistake. By tossing her on the floor, it had put her closer to the door. Poised for flight, Angel
sprinted for the door just as he stepped toward her. But she wasn’t fast enough and he caught her by the
hair.
Damn her long hair!
She cried out as he reeled her in. The sting brought fresh tears to her eyes and his horrid breath
rushed across her cheek. His arms captured her, one wrapping around her middle and the other seized her
neck.
Angel fought his hold, but he clamped down on her arms hard. His vise-like hold prohibited any
movement.
He chuckled. The warmth of his breath fanned her cheek and chills chased along her spine. He
would kill her now. Panic widened her gaze and withered away all hope. His grasp tightened slowly and
he chuckled as she struggled against him. She clawed, scratched, and screamed until her breath ran out.
Tears of frustration and failure coursed tracks down her cheeks. Oh, Blac I’m so sorry.
And suddenly the choice she should have made became so clear to her as death enveloped her in its
dark grasp. Blac and her life with him should’ve always been her first priority.
She loved her father, but he’d had a wonderful life with her mother. He would have wanted the
same for her, but she’d lost her chance at her happily-ever-after.
~*~
Sweat formed and slid down the side of Blac’s cheek. He strained against the beam trapping his
legs. His vision blurred in and out. He shook his head and concentrated on the task.
He couldn’t give up now. Just another inch and he would be free. Angel had moved it just enough to
allow for some wiggle room. Now he just had to wriggle his way out.
His vision wavered once more and he gulped in air. He couldn’t fail. Not when Angel faced a
madman.
Blood completely soaked the entire left side of his clothes and had begun to pool inside his boot,
creating a sucking noise as he moved. Seconds later, he gave one last heave and his entire foot slipped out
of the boot. The beam tumbled backward with a loud clunk.
Angel!
Discarding the boot, Blac wobbled on his feet toward the back alley. Just keep him busy for me,
Angel. I’ll be right there.
He stumbled forward and his head swam amongst shadows for mere seconds. Shaking his head, he
reached the corner of the building and leaned against the brick wall. He was weakening.
Darkness lingered on the edges of his consciousness and he struggled to push it away. Just a little
longer God. Let me save her and then you can take me. I’ll be happy to go with you as long as I know
she’s safe.
Regaining some strength, determination moved his feet forward. He clumped down the darkened
alley, unbalanced due to the lack of a boot and unsteady due to loss of blood.
A terror-filled howl rent the air.
~*~
A single stomp to the instep loosened the viscount’s hold. Angel reared back and cracked the
viscount’s nose, rending the silence in the room.
The anger-filled roar followed in her wake as she rushed out the door back down the hallway.
She’d had enough playing cat and mouse.
Angel returned to the room littered with debris and looked around. Broken vases and glass
/> scattered across the floor. A damaged desk had been smashed in two pieces, and the matching chair lay in
pieces on the floor. Angel hefted one of the legs like a weapon.
With hushed breath, she moved back to the door and listened. The viscount pounded down the hall
behind her and just as he reached her, she stepped out. Surprise widened his eyes as he skidded to a halt
just before the wood staff whacked him across the temple. He tumbled to the right into the wall.
She swung her make-shift weapon again, cracking his knee. The sound shattered the silence. He
howled in pain and rage.
Sweat trickled down her temple and moistened her hands, and before she could wield her weapon
again, he tackled her to the floor. His weight landed on her, crushing her ribs. She coughed and shrieked
in rage.
But he seized the weapon from her and sent a meaty fist into her face. Pain exploded behind her eye
and cheek. She sobbed and covered the wound. She’d never been hit before. All the times she’d seized a
ship with the crew, she’d never been without a weapon.
The viscount snatched both of her wrists and trapped them to the floor. He leaned down into her
face and his eyes raked over her with pure hatred emanating from them. “You think you can outwit me,
little girl?”He laughed. “You’ve nowhere to run now.”
She struggled against his hold and gasped in pain and outrage. “You bastard!”
He laughed. “No, that was your father, my dear. I’m the true heir, and he always hated that about
me. No one knew that about him except me. How do you think it was so easy to depose him? I just
convinced everyone that I was the real heir. I really didn’t even need to set him up and have him arrested.
But it was fun to watch him run.”
Fury washed over her and she gritted her teeth. “He was your brother!”
He laughed. “I know. That’s what made it so fun.”
Angel leaned up and bit his nose. He howled and the bitter, coppery taste of blood filled her mouth.
Anger for her father clouded her reasoning, and she no longer cared that he could kill her. She only
wanted to wound him as he’d done to her father.
He reared back but she held firm. The viscount howled in pain. A fist to her ear toppled her to the
left and her vision went black. She cried and hated her weakness. She wanted to stand up again but she
