𝐒𝐀𝐋𝐕𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍─𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐦𝐲 𝐛𝐥𝐚𝐤𝐞²

69. revived

I clenched my jaw as pure anger tore through me. I needed to get out of here, I needed to find him.

Abby took a step toward Russell, a tear falling down her cheek as she tilted her chin up at him. "I will kill you for this."

Russell's voice was calm as he spoke. "I once believed that I would never stray from the moral path, and then I killed my family in the first eclipse. I'd have done anything to bring them back. So I believe you."

I took a small step forward, my voice cracking as I spoke. "You know the pain of losing your family, so how could you do this to others?" I demanded, looking between the two of them. "How many innocent families have you torn apart?"

He briefly glanced at me before looking to Jackson. "How many doses of the serum do you have?"

I clenched my fists at my side as I tried to talk myself down from doing anything too drastic. This was not the time or place. 

"Four, including the one your people took to the machine shop for Simone." Jackson answered, his voice tight. 

"Six Primes must be resurrected tonight. That's two more doses."

"Madi can't survive that." I argued. 

Russell looked to all of us. "If it's too difficult for you to continue, my healers will take your place. They're already familiar with the process. It would be no trouble."

I scoffed, shaking my head in disbelief. "You're already murdering six people tonight, what's one more, right?"

"One more word out of you and it'll be eight deaths tonight." Russell threatened, giving me a sidelong look before looking back to Abby. 

The older woman gave me a calming look before she met his eye. "I can do it."

"Good." He succeeded. "Remember, this is the deal that saved you from the pyre. I'd hate for that to change."

All of us wore angry looks as Russell and Josephine turned, grabbing their jackets before making for the door. 

"Toodle-loo." Josephine called, giving us all a pointed look before following after her father. 

The moment the door closed behind them, sobs overtook Abby's body. I felt my chest fill with sadness as I turned, pressing my palms against the counter as I tried to fight back my own tears. 

These people were going to destroy us. They were either going to murder us, or keep us alive long enough to turn us into our own kind of monsters. 

---

"She's too weak for another extraction." Jackson declared as we weighed our options. "How close are you to extracting Sheidheda?"

Raven wheeled the computer over toward Madi. "We're trying, but without Becca's notebook we can't get past the AI."

"She said if you don't stop the child will die." he argued, urgency in his tone. 

"We know." I muttered, arriving at the side of Raven. "But we're doing everything we can. If we stop, she'll die anyway. Getting him out is her best chance."

"So either he kills her or Russell does?" Jackson verified. 

"I'll take care of Russell."

We all turned to see Abby standing with a syringe pressed against her arm. Jackson let out a surprised gasp but no one had a chance to stop her before she inserted the vial of Nightblood into her own arm. 

"What are you doing?" I demanded, my eyes wide as I watched the dark liquid overtake her veins. 

"We'll take the doses from me." She answered, giving us all a sure look as she set the syringe down. "Raven, Avery, keep working."