Treacherous

Bounty on Your Head

I pushed open the door, wearily entering the entryway of the house. My stomach dropped when I looked around and saw that there was no one there. Blaise pushed me forward and shut the door behind him with a chuckle. I spun around to face him, burning with anger.

"Where are they?" I demanded. He shook his head and took me by the arm, dragging me towards the door. I planted my feet firmly on the ground. "Where. Are. They?"

He shoved open the door and pulled me out onto the stoop. "You ask a lot of questions. They're fine, if that's what you're wondering."

I yanked my arm from his grasp. He spun around. His face was filled with nothing but anger. I swallowed my fear and squared up my shoulders. "I do not care if they are fine. I want to know where they are."

He ran a hand through his hair. His hand rested on his hip as he bit his lip. There had to be a part of him that wasn't a monster. He couldn't be all bad and that was what I was trying to get access to. The human part. The part that actually cared about hurting people.

"I don't actually know," he replied finally. When he spoke, it sounded like every word took all the energy he had, like he had stayed up all night and it was finally catching up with him. "I'm sure that they are fine, though. Just so long as they don't do something stupid."

I stared at him. How could he tell me that they were fine if he didn't actually know that they were fine? The better question was why did he still need to take me with him if my family had already been detained so he could make a safe escape? Why all of the theatrics in the basement if he could just walk out the door as though nothing had happened?

"You can let me go, now, then," I whispered. "If my family is safe and you are able to leave without interference from them, then I can stay. There's no reason for me to go with you."

He barked out a laugh. "Hardly." He grabbed my arm again, pulling me down the street at a quick pace.

"Let go!" I demanded, pulling at his gasp, but he only tightened his grip. "Why do you need me, then?"

"Shut up!" he hissed, spinning me around so I was in front of him. "If you don't shut up, you're going to get both of us killed and I do not feel like dying tonight, do you?" I shook my head, staring at him wide eyed. "You're our bargaining chip. I escaped and if your family tries to come after any of us, then we have you to threaten them with."

Threaten them with. By killing me or torturing me or killing me and then sending parts of my body back to them. They had done it to Uncle Jarred after his son had been taken hostage while we'd been on a food run. Uncle Jarred killed himself two days later. I couldn't imagine what it would do to my mom or Jasper or Megan, assuming that she's still alive.

I swallowed hard and allowed Blaise to lead me through the streets of New York. Through the streets I had once played hopscotch on, learned how to drive, and wreaked havoc with my friends on. The streets that I had once considered to be home. My home was gone. My city, my friends, they were all gone. Dead or on the run.

Blaise led me through alleyways, over garden walls, and through abandoned buildings. I didn't know where he was taking me. Honestly, I didn't really care anymore. What would the gang have done if I somehow managed to escape him? Would they take it out on my family? Kill all of them just because I got away? Or, would they take it out on Blaise? Kill him and let my family be?

An old office building was the first building that Blaise took me up a flight of stairs instead of down. I stayed quiet as we went up another set of stairs. The building wasn't in as bad of shape as I expected it to be. Someone was clearly taking care of it. The windows were boarded up and any broken glass had been swept into a corner. I glanced in some of the rooms we passed and saw that even though some of the office materials remained, everything was pushed up against the wall and neatly made mattresses lay on the floor instead.