CHAPTER 23
BLOOD IN THE WATER
❝ Let me die first or I will die twice ❞
Her head still spun when she trudged into the main chapel, her back hurting from a tattoo turned scar, her lips tingling from a kiss ended too soon.
"Rose, I'm so sorry." Arwen hurried to her, taking hold of her arm while the Kissers behind them reloaded guns and talked strategy. The corners of her eyes were smudged with black tears. Some belonged to her husband; others to Élodie. "I should have known..."
"Don't blame yourself." Rose wobbled and clung to a pew. On the far side of the church, Christopher and Jules dragged bodies out the door with lips set into a grim line. "I'm sorry about your husband."
"He always said I should go to church more often." Arwen tried to smile, but it came out a grimace. "Ironic that he'd die in one."
Rose reached for her arm, but the sudden sound of a side door opening startled them both. A small sigh escaped her swollen lips when Raphael, Finn and Isaiah walked in, whispering to each other, like old friends in the back of a classroom.
"Did you find anything?" Nicolas asked from behind the altar. Rose looked up at him, and a knife twisted between her ribs. Trust my love. The late afternoon sun glimmered down his walnut locks. He met her gaze, eyes landing on her lips. Maybe he could see Thomas in them. Or maybe he still saw Steaphan. Never himself. The knife twisted deeper when he looked away.
"No, we checked all the rooms, she's nowhere to be found." Raphael scrubbed a hand over his jaw, the skin over his knuckles open.
Rose glanced at the floor, to where drops of blood smeared the colored shards of the stained glass. What would the nuns she had worked with think of such sacrilege? How could there be a heaven when she had spent a life steeped in hell?
"Have you checked the bell tower?"
"Fuck," Raphael said, the bones in his back cracking when he turned around. Finn and Isaiah scurried to follow him, and Nicolas and Rose ran after them, her breath coming in gasps as her wounds throbbed.
They stepped into the early scraps of sunset and into the tower, racing up the stairs, their steps echoing on the eerie silence. Raphael and Finn reached the top first, and not a second after, two shots shattered the quiet. Biting hard on her tongue, Rose dashed after Nicolas, almost bumping into him when he halted.
Two Saurets lay dead, white shirts sprinkled with a vermilion stream that dripped down their foreheads. Rose passed them without a second look. Beneath the bell, hunched over her knees, Andrea rocked back and forth with closed eyes.
"Andrea!" Raphael rushed to her, kneeling down beside her. She whimpered and backed away, tangled knots of golden hair falling over her delicate face. Carefully, with a tenderness he only ever had with her, he wrapped his arms around her, the tears he had been holding in sliding down his chiseled face. "Je suis désolé... je suis désolé..."
She sobbed again, buried her face in his chest. Then she looked over his shoulder, blue eyes finding Finn's. He stood there, helpless, fingers itching for a cap he wasn't clutching.
"Finn..." she muttered. He took a step towards her, and she turned her head away. The sinking feeling on Rose's stomach hardened. Then Raphael leaned back, and Andrea's pink blouse shifted, exposing her cleavage.
"What the—"
Finn gasped, and Rose clenched her fists, nails digging into her palms, threatening to tear her skin. Nicolas reached for her wrist, firm fingers uncurling hers.
Rose couldn't stop looking. An S burned on Andrea's chest, the skin around it red and blotched.
"Bloody bastards!" Finn dropped down in front of her, hand hovering over the living flesh, before he straightened her blouse to hide it. He grasped her hand, entwining their fingers as he kissed her head with lips too gentle for a gangster. "They..."
"Did they do anything else to you?" Raphael cut, the gelid tones of his voice sending wintry shivers up Rose's spine.
"N-non..." Andrea mumbled, shimmering tears welling in the dark circles below her eyes. "Élodie... if that's even her name... she forbade them. I don't... I don't know how I'll explain this to maman."
"We'll tell her it's a thing in London. A new trend or something." Raphael sneaked a hand around her arm. His jaw was set ever since seeing the S. "Come on. We need to go."
With the two boys' help, Andrea stood up. Rose stepped towards her, scrambling for the right words, if there even were any, but Andrea passed by her without so much as a glance.
Her heart sank as she watched her go down the stairs. She knew Raphael would take her to safety. But the skin on her chest would never be completely healed, completely hers again. Rose could not give back what Andrea had lost.
"She'll get through this." With a start, Rose realized Nicolas was still there, holding her hand, his voice softening the jagged edges of her heart that promised to cut her from inside. "She needs time."
"They branded her, Nicolas. Like some fucking animal. And it's my fault. The workers, Evelyn, this... everything... it's my fault. It's my fault and I—" A cry broke out from her throat, and then another, until she couldn't stop them. Nicolas' grip on her wrist tightened as he pulled her into a hug. He smelled of sun rays over cornfields, ripe oranges and the very best of France. He let her wet his shirt with her tears. She let him keep the parts of his heart that were still hers, even if she knew sooner or later she would break them.
They were still locked in an embrace when the first shots rang out.
***
Outside, the sky gave birth to the night when the Kissers aligned on the edge of the bridge. Tavish and the other Saurets stood on the other side, the sound of hammers being cocked rising in the air like a deadly symphony.
"Found her?" Tavish asked through half-closed eyes, his mouth curved into the same crescent moon that lit the sky. Not even the swollen eyelids and the bruised lips were enough to wipe the sneer from his face. Élodie stood beside him, head held high. "I must say I'm rather proud of the work I did on her. Her skin was too... flawless."
"The men guarding her are dead," Rose said, her voice rising above the whistle of the wind around them, the rush of the water below. The bitter taste of bile turned sour in her mouth upon the thought of Tavish burning the iron through Andrea's skin. "Soon you will be too."
"Those are some pretty last words." Tavish snickered, jabbing his gun at her. "I'll be sure to put them in your grave."
He lifted his arm and aimed, but before the bullet could cross the distance between them, there was a shift of air around her, and Rose was being dragged down to the ground, rolling over the stoned path over and over. Arms wrapped around her, shielding her from the shootout that burst in the stifling night. It could have been Nicolas, but this scent was not sweet; it was smoky and piquant and pungent, the very best part of England.
When they stopped, her eyes landed on the torn fabric of his coat first, where a bullet had grazed it. Then her stare collapsed under his as gunfire rang above them. She felt each thump in her heart.
"You save me," Thomas whispered, brushing a strand of her hair away. "I save you."
She nodded. Over the broad arch of his shoulders, she saw a Sauret running in their direction, pistol firmly pointed at Thomas' back.
"Get down!" Grasping every ounce of strength she had left, she pushed him aside and fired at the Scot. The bullet sliced the air and pierced his chest with deadly precision. She glanced back at Thomas, the moon changing phases in his eyes. "Deal."
They got up, clinging to the bridge walls for balance. Near them, Nicolas struggled against a man twice his size, trying to strangle him as the Scot prodded a revolver at his chin. Even before Rose could, Thomas had raised his gun and fired. The man fell back with a thud, eyelids fluttering as blood sprouted from the back of his head.
Nicolas' gaze met Thomas' between shadows and cracks of silvery light. He nodded once. Thomas nodded back.
They were swept into the fight, and soon enough the bridge was covered in powder, the hustle of the river replaced by the clanging of shot after shot. Rose's grasp on her Luger thinned as the numbing of her right arm and the stinging on her back increased. Beside her, Kaya had guns on both hands. Raphael and Finn had gone with Andrea, but Isaiah seemed bent on sending to hell as many Saurets as he could.
Between blows and shouts, Thomas cursed. Someone had punched him hard on the jaw, sending him almost toppling over the bridge. Nicolas caught him in time, pulling him back by his lapel and shooting the Scottish on the head without blinking. They understood each other, Rose realized. The thoughts of one were the actions of the other.
Somewhere ahead of her, Callan shouted orders around. Rose spun on her heels, the ground below her feet swaying. Angeline and Audrey were in front of him, their backs turned as they fought two other men.
Rose pushed through the crowd, heels treading the arms and legs of Saurets lying on the stone.
"Shoot her!" Saliva leaped out of Callan's mouth as he glared at Angeline, the insult at the café not yet forgotten. "Fucking shoot her!"
The man beside him didn't hesitate. He pulled the trigger, and the bullet hit Audrey in the back, piercing her torso.
"Non!" Rose shouted, but she was pulled back by the fight. Miles stretched between her and her sisters; time slowed down, then sped all at once.
"Ye fuckin' eejit, it wasn't that one!" Callan spat. Audrey stumbled into Angeline's arms. Under the bridge the waters churned. The wind blew stronger. At some point the world would stop breathing. At some point it would bleed like her sister was.
"How the hell was I supposed to know, they all look the same to me!" The Scot shouted back.
"Whatever." Callan sniggered. "It'll be more fun doing it myself."
His arm swung down, but then Jules and Sienna were on him, flanking him from both sides.
Rose struck the Scottish in front of her with the barrel of her gun and raced towards Audrey. But she had fallen where she shouldn't have. Right into the wolf's lair. Right into his claws.
Tavish was grabbing Audrey with strong hands, the stain of red spreading in her torso like poison as she struggled against his grip. Mouth shaped in a scream that never came, she stared at Rose, an owl of nocturnal eyes who doesn't know what dawn holds for her.
Tavish waited for Rose to see them. Then he smiled and pushed Audrey off the bridge.
Rose screamed. She rushed to the edge, watching as her sister cut the air and fell with a clank on the cold water below, the impact sending ripples down the river. She was injured, and the current was strong. She was dragged under in seconds, the only trace of her the blood left in the water.
All around her, people shouted, guns sputtering in the dark. Angeline scurried towards the edge, ready to jump, but Jules pulled her back down and kept her in her arms, no matter how hard she slammed her hands against his chest. Christopher kept a firm hand on Renée's waist, fingers spread over her belly.
But Rose had no one to stop her. She turned around and darted down the bridge, dodging Saurets and Kissers alike, until she was sliding down the riverbank, shoes slipping in the damp grass and sinking into the mud. She ran down the canal, squinting to spot Audrey's golden hair in the darkness.
Between yells of her name, Rose saw her. Audrey's head broke the surface, struggling to keep afloat, struggling to breathe, to grab onto something to hold. She hit a rock and submerged again.
Trying not to see the River Styx in the vitreous surface of the water, Rose jumped inside.
***
At the head of the bridge, Thomas saw Rose skimming down the grass. He rushed after her, but she was water running through his fingers. The more he tried to hold her, the more she drained away. She jumped, and the night inside his mind turned darker.
Two Saurets blocked his way; without stopping, Thomas fired twice. He sprinted along the bank with his demons for company, shouting for a woman he hadn't wanted to care for, shouting for a woman he hadn't wanted to love. When he didn't see her in the water, he felt oxygen knocked out of his owns lungs, as if he were drowning too.
The others followed on his trail as he raced down the channel and across the first lamplights, the familiar sound of fear coming from a dozen mouths.
His throat ached with her name on it. His eyes hurt from peering in the dark. Something much more dangerous bruised him from within; the beginnings of a feeling he knew far too well but never learned how to deal with. Love in its purest form turned to grief.
Then Rose broke the surface, gasping for air, honeyed curls spread on the water around her like a liquid halo. Kicking his coat and shoes off, Thomas dove in, the gelid water constraining his lungs immediately and twining around his limbs like cuffs wrought from death.
The more he swam towards her, the more the current took her away. She tried fighting it, tried staying afloat, but he could see the chains of exhaustion threatening to bring her under. She'd drown. He'd lose her. And no light would ever reach the narrowed tunnels of his mind again. No sun or day. Just a long, endless night.
You save me. I save you. Deal.
Gritting his teeth, he pushed past the soreness washing over his muscles, past the freezing water and the vicious grip of the river, not stopping until his hand sneaked around her waist and pulled her up. She clung onto his chest, teeth chattering, and let him drag her towards the riverside.
Nicolas had plunged in as well, slogging through the water towards them and clutching onto Rose's other side. She wavered and trembled, but still she managed to escape their grasp to fall down against her sisters.
They dropped onto the grass with her, rubbing her back to give her some warmth. Thomas heard Audrey's name thrown around. Rose shook her head, bringing her knees to her chest. She coughed, and his fists curled when he noticed most of the droplets on her cheeks were tears.
He would have waged war on the entire world if that bought her a second of peace.
"Can you tell us what happened?" Sienna asked, taking her hand. With tears brimming in her eyes, Kaya covered Rose's shoulders with a heavy coat. She hesitated, then looked back, to Thomas, and marched towards him.
For a second he thought she might slap him. Then she stripped down her own coat and handed it to him.
"Thank you," she said. "For not letting her be taken away from me."
Thomas nodded. Their heads snapped in unison at the sound of Rose's voice.
"She's gone," she said, tone steady as her body shook and shuddered. Her lips were fading from blue to purple. "She's gone."
A heavy silence hung over them, pressing down as forcefully as enemy fire on the trenches. A muscle in Thomas' jaw ticked. Audrey was made of curious eyes, witty words, and cheerful giggles. Not of water on her lungs and mud on her throat.
"No, she can't..." Kaya stopped. Thomas studied her. She was shivering the same way she had when he'd told her Greta had died. "She can't be."
"She is." Rose's voice didn't break. She glanced up, and her eyes met Thomas'. Some part of his heart untwisted. "I saw her drown. I tried to save her, I... I couldn't. I never can."
"You did all you could," Sienna said, her voice soft like the rustle of a summer breeze, her cheeks wet like the rumble of a winter storm. Renée cried in her husband's arms. Angeline had pushed Jules away and sobbed into the shadows. When he went after her, she hung onto him and hugged him the same way Thomas wished he could hug Rose. The same way he would have if he was another man. "You tried."
Rose fisted her hands around the turf. "I should have tried harder."
"You're injured," Arwen spoke up, her voice cracking. Her mascara ran down her face in dark lines. "You can't blame yourself."
Rose shook her head and gestured towards the bridge. The moonlight gleamed off the empty stone.
"Where are they?"
"Gone," Nicolas said. His voice sounded close to Thomas' ears. It used to sound farther away. "Said something about unleashing hell upon London. Rose—"
"Merde." She got up abruptly, stumbling on the grass. Even feet away, Thomas leaned over to steady her. Nicolas did the same. "They're going to set off the bombs. We need to go."
Her coat dropped to the ground as her shoulders squared. She turned around, then halted. Finn and Raphael had returned; Andrea stood between them. She glanced around, to the pale faces silhouetted against the dim sky.
Rose gulped. Then Andrea crossed the distance between them and engulfed her in an embrace. Another series of sobs broke from her throat as she hugged her back, then inched away and held her at an arm's distance.
"Andrea, Renée, you need to hide."
"What?" Andrea shook her head, her chin jutting. "No way."
"This is not debatable."
"They did this to me!" Andrea pulled down her blouse slightly, exposing the S engraved on her skin. Thomas's eyes widened before settling on Finn. He had his cap on one hand and Andrea's fingers on the other. "This is my fight too."
"Audrey is dead!" Her voice echoed off the pebbles, into the hollows of their chests, hanging around their necks like a noose. "I can't do anything about the others, but Andrea, I'm responsible for you in this country and I will not be sending you to your parents in a coffin. And Renée, I don't want you anywhere near death when you're carrying life inside you. You need to stay in the safehouse."
"Okay," Renée said, tone low and broken. Rose's eyebrows rose. She'd expected more resistance. "We will."
She gave her sister one last glance, then pulled a reluctant Andrea back with her. Rose sighed when they entered the car.
"If anyone else wants to go with them, now is the time."
No one moved.
"Angeline," Rose called. "You should hide as well, Callan won't rest until you're dead."
Angeline didn't turn her head from Jules' chest. "And I won't rest until he is."
Rose huffed. "Angeline—"
"No, Rose." She cut, stomping towards her. Finn and Isaiah stepped back. Rose held her sister's glare. "I once accused you of making us your tin soldiers, and you said we're our own people with choices to make, that every time you asked something of us, we could say no. So I'm saying no. There's no way I'm going to let you walk into another war and leave me behind. Not again."
"I had you to come back to the last time." Rose grasped her cheek, delicate fingers skimming over her porcelain skin. "Who am I going to come back to if you all die?"
Angeline rolled her eyes. "We're not dying."
"How can you be so sure?"
Angeline jutted her chin towards Thomas. "We have the devil on our side now. And hell happens to be his specialty."
"Aye." He nodded, sharing a glance with Nicolas. "Indeed it is."
author's note.
about Audrey... I'm sorry but it had to happen :((
I apologize if this chapter wasn't the best, but stay tuned for the next ones as lots of exciting things will happen ;)