2 1
f i g h t
THE FEAR WAS paralysing.
Azazel had become no different from a stranger, a terrifying one who didn't seem to be swayed by any pleading on my part. I bit down on my tongue to suppress the instinctive urge to beg him for my life, and Jed's, and instead met his gaze as bravely as I could, my fingers tightening around the pendant and in my palm and keeping the silver edge out of his sight.
"Well?" The smirk on Azazel's face widened when he saw how truly terrified I was. No amount of facades I put on could get past him. "Cat got your tongue?"
"Azazel – Adrian," My throat felt like sandpaper but somehow, I managed to force the words out of my lips. Delay time. Wait for someone, anyone, to arrive and change the tides. That was all I could think off as I sat there, my back pressed against the wall of the cupboard. "Why're you doing this?"
His grin faded and his lips tightened in a grim line. "Jed was never supposed to become Alpha. Claudius didn't want to hand the mantle of Alpha over, and for years, I had my eye on the seat. Then that bastard had to kill Claudius and ruin everything," He snarled, sounding well and truly angered by the thought. "Turns out that selling out Titan to another pack gets you far more money than expected. And you destroy what you can't have."
"You wanted to be Alpha?" I couldn't help but ask, watching him warily and bracing myself for any potential movement on his part. "What about Malthus? Wasn't he next in line?"
"Malthus?" Azazel's eyebrows shot up sardonically. "That fucker couldn't give a shit about being Alpha. All he ever wanted was revenge on Jed for Claudius's death." He shook his head in mocking pity and smirked. "Daddy issues."
"And Spike? Did you have a hand in his death?"
For a split second, he hesitated.
I didn't.
Bracing one hand on the pile of clothes beside me, I launched a swift kick right in the centre of his chest. But his reflexes were far quicker than mine, and he snuck a hand up, wrapping his fingers tightly around my ankle and yanking me to the edge of the closet. I yelped in pain, thrown off balance with the sudden shift in position, the corner of the closet digging into my spine. I pushed myself up, jerking my foot away from his grasp and swiping my knife right across, catching him by the skin on his other arm. The sharp edge drew a thin line across his arm and I felt the sudden splatter of blood across my fingers as he flinched and yanked away.
Adrian swore furiously under his breath and grabbed my wrist before I could do anything else. "I knew you'd pull something like that," He hissed, as I futilely struggled against his grip. With his other hand, he yanked me closer to him by the collar of my jumper and pressed his knees against my legs to prevent me from escaping. "But you made the wrong move. And this is going to be so painful."
My heart leapt to my throat at the glint in his eyes, the coldness in them reminding me so much of Malthus's that I felt myself panicking, my breath coming in shallow gasps. "What're you going to do to me?"
He detected the underlying message in my words almost immediately and smirked. "You think too lowly of me," He remarked and shook his head. "I'm nothing like the Neanderthal tribe of Trevinos who get off on their sexual fetishes. Besides, I have a goddess of my own to do with however I please," He added, before his gaze sharpened and his fingers inched towards my throat. "I'm just going to enjoy killing you."
I was a prey and he was a python slowly but surely squeezing the life out of me. One second, I was paralysed with fear; the next, I was gasping, my fingers futilely reaching up to pry him away. When I twisted my other hand to stab him with my knife, he jerked my wrist aside, slamming it against the side of the closet, the sharp sting shooting through my veins forcing me to drop the knife with a clatter. My vision began to blur with black spots and I felt my throat beginning to collapse with the sheer pressure, heart pounding in my chest in an unsteady beat as I tried but failed to drag in a desperate breath that simply wouldn't come –
Then, suddenly, he was gone.
Something jerked him away and a sharp, pained yell echoed through the room that wasn't from me, but from him. He stumbled onto the ground, gasping as he yanked out a knife that had been buried into his shoulder blade with jerky, agonised movements. And as my vision slowly but steadily aligned, I caught a glimpse of a dark but familiar figure swiftly stride into the room.
"I've got plenty more where that came from." Dimitri's voice was a smooth, almost bored drawl. In the dark, I could see several silver shards that he was gripping in between his fingers. He spun one casually in his other hand and raised it threateningly when Azazel immediately gripped the chain hanging around his neck. "And if you're going to use that fucking ring against me, do remember that I've got one too."
Azazel pushed himself to his feet, half-snarling in some sort of inhuman tone. "Fucking traitor," He hissed, but his eyes were wary, guarded as his gaze swept the room for some form of escape.
"Loyal to no one, remember?" Dimitri smirked, even as his fingers tensed around the knife in his hand. "And you're one to talk."
Without warning, he sent the knife flying towards Azazel. The latter barely had the opportunity to shift, just in time for the knife to lodge itself into the wall. The sounds of bones cracking were all I could hear for a moment as Azazel shifted into his wolf form, but Dimitri didn't let up, sending another knife zipping across the room, this time lodging itself into one of Azazel's hind legs.
Azazel let out a painful howl as crimson blood gushed from the fresh wound, but swiftly threw himself against the window, the sheer force of it making the glass shatter under his weight. Glass splintered everywhere as he leapt from the window on the third floor, but I had no doubt that he could survive the fall. Regenerative healing, fast reflexes, near immortality. This had probably been his escape route all along.
Dimitri had his hand raised to throw another knife, but once he realised that Azazel was probably on the run by now, he lowered his arm and spun around, holding out a hand for me to take.
"Thanks," I said gratefully, because truly, I was. Several seconds more and my trachea would've closed up. Dimitri had impeccable timing. He shrugged at my gratitude, as though having someone say these words to him was unnerving, and my smile almost widened at that.
But the moment I glanced around the room, the smile on my face vanished. There was nothing but chaos within the room, like a hurricane had swept right through and left nothing but devastation in its wake. It wasn't until then that I noticed four wolf bodies lying on the other side of the room, pools of blood surrounding them. I had no doubt that these were rogues from Prometheus, and Jed had killed them in his fight earlier.
Dimitri ignored them and simply went to retrieve his knives. "They're dead," He said nonchalantly, as if he'd seen so many deaths before that another one no longer mattered. It probably didn't.
I swallowed and forced myself to look away. "They took Jed," I whispered.
"And several others," added Dimitri, after a careful glance my way.
His unexpected words made me look up, a chill racing down my spine when I suddenly realised that the situation was more severe than I'd ever expected. My throat was dry and my heart pounded in my chest. "What?"
"That's what I heard the rest of them say." He shrugged. "Some screams about how the diner was under attack. Could hear it all the way from my room."
"But you chose to come here?"
"Had a feeling it was really Trevino they were after. Turns out I was right."
He was. My mind was swiftly processing his words. Earlier on, Jed had mind-linked the rest of the pack, but none of them had come and now I knew why – because they were more caught up in whatever was happening down at the diner to realise what was happening to their Alpha. It took a rogue, one who was not linked to Titan at all, to figure out where the real fight was.
And now we were without a leader.
Back when Spike was alive, he had once told me that a Luna was automatically made the head of the pack when there wasn't an Alpha. She had a Beta to back her up, of course, but Titan was now without a Beta too.
I was all on my own.
Shutting my eyes, I took a deep breath and felt. Everything – all the dull throb of pain in my chest, anxiety tug on my every nerve and that strong longing slowly but surely ripping at the fissures of my heart. All of it wasn't me, but Jed. I could feel his emotions even though miles separated us; and the fact that he was still alive, still in pain and still thinking about me was enough to send courage surging through me once again as I opened my eyes.
Quinn. Queen.
Now was the time to attach a meaning to my name.
"The attack on the diner had to be a deterrent," I said at last, my voice steadier than I felt. I pulled Jed's files and laptop from beneath the pile of clothes. Once I had them stacked into a neat pile under my arm, I shut the door and averted my eyes from the dead bodies, making a mental note to get someone to remove the bodies later. Picking up my necklace from the floor, I slipped it over my head again and nodded at Dimitri. "Come on, let's go."
Apart from an odd look he shot my way, along with a discreet eye-roll, Dimitri followed me without a word. I picked up what I could along the way – my bag, along with the knife I usually carried around with me in addition to the one I had on my pendant. We made our way to the diner through a different, more obscure route that Jed had once showed me.
But if Jed's room back at the house was filled with nothing but the musk of death and devastation, the diner was the exact opposite – plain pandemonium and a babble of noise that bordered on hysteria. I barely had the time to get my bearings before several people stepped up to me, a plethora of concerned questions and desperate demands to know what had happened.
I'd almost given in to anxiety and plain nerves, when I felt someone slip their hand through the crook of my elbow. "Give her some space to breathe." Lorraine's voice was firm as she levelled an even gaze at the others. "How's she going to answer anything if you keep bombarding her with questions?"
Everyone else backed away, some reluctantly and others with dissenting murmurs as they threw sideway glances at Lorraine.
"Take a seat," I told them, offering them the bravest smile I could possibly muster at a time like this. "We'll figure this out together." To my greatest relief, the crowd dispersed, some to the booths, others to the counter and the remaining few just standing around. I turned to Lorraine gratefully. "Thank you."
She nodded. "I lost Spike. Then Lance and Giles. And now Brutus, Jade, Katya, Alpha." She swallowed down a wave of emotion and met my gaze evenly. "I cannot lose anyone else."
I squeezed Lorraine's hand fleetingly before telling her to make some coffee for everyone, along with some food if we could spare any. Then I turned to Bianca, who was standing nearby, examining her blood red nails like she had all the time in the world. "They took Jade and Katya?"
Her head snapped up and her eyes met mine steadily. "Yes."
I felt a chill race down my spine. Bianca had kept her face impassive, but I could see it all – the fear, memories of the past flooding back in and horror at the prospect of Katya and Jade suffering the same fate she had under Malthus's deviant methods. Now the stakes were so much higher with Katya and Jade in his hands, and I knew that we had no time to loose.
Taking a deep breath, I tightened my grip on my bag that carried Jed's files and made a snap decision. "We're going to war with Prometheus," I said, my voice far louder and clearer than I'd expected, far steadier and calmer than I felt, and I wondered whether any of them could sense how truly terrified I was.
There were murmurs of approval at this, several queries of what I needed them to do, what my game plan was, but I tuned them out and considered the situation. No, we were not going to dive straight into battle the way Jed had led them to do the previous time. He was about confrontation, brave and stalwart and true. But I was human and we were so fallible that self-preservation was always a priority.
I turned to Dimitri, who was standing a good way behind and leaning against the glass doors with a bored expression on his face. "I need you to draw out a plan of Prometheus's headquarters," I told him. "In full. I need to know every exit they have, every means of escape, every secret pathway there is. The dungeons, where the prisoners are held, where Malthus's office is. Show us how to get in and out without having to cross paths with Surtur or Kalyke or any of the other packs that are associated with them."
He raised an eyebrow challengingly. "You want me to sell out all of Prometheus's secrets?"
"Is that a problem?"
One corner of his lips twitched up in a smirk. "Not at all."
"Good," I said and smiled, before turning to Bianca, lowering my voice this time so that the contents of our conversation wouldn't be heard by the rest of the pack. "I need supplies. Medicine, especially, and you know who it's going to be for," I added, giving her a meaningful look that she caught immediately. "Do you think you'll be able to go back into that room when we get there?"
Her jaw clenched as she nodded. "I'll get everyone out, dead or alive," She promised, her voice a deathly quiet that I barely heard. "Then I'll raze that room to the ground."
"You do that," I agreed.
Bianca left immediately and, after glaring at some of the older werewolves long enough that they felt uncomfortable and vacated the nearest booth, Dimitri took post in there and began drafting out a basic floor plan of Prometheus. I left him there, heading to the counter where Lorraine was and showing the rest of the pack several of Jed's files.
It wasn't until then that I realised how much Jed had planned ahead, not just for me but for the whole pack in his absence. Each clause under the contracts he'd made with the other packs had a call-in during emergency. Most of the packs he'd signed with would willingly lend their troops to Titan should the pack require it.
"Contact Io, Phobos and Deimos," I said at last, after Vaughn had showed me the similar clauses under those files. "They're the closest to us, they can get here in good time. Does anyone have the file for Callisto?"
"Over here." Rowle held up the black file in his hand and pushed his way to the counter to lay the contents out in front of me. "But Callisto's always been neutral in any war."
I bit my lip and scanned the contents of the contract. Callisto was always a tricky one. It was the second biggest pack after Ganymede, but legend had it that the Alpha of Ganymede was a vicious one, and Jed's mother had proven it. Raum, she'd called him, if Raum was still the current Alpha there.
But Callisto was different. It was a pack known for maintaining peace, not just within but throughout the rest of the packs. Jed had once told me that ever since taking over as Alpha, he'd been trying to push Titan in that direction. The fact that Callisto had been single-handedly managed by a Luna all this while made the pack even more formidable. Its resources were vast, security top-notch and, most of all, was just past the intersection as a neighbour to Titan.
"Look at this," I said to Rowle, pointing out the last section of the contract. "Callisto will provide shelter should Titan require it," I read out, before nodding at him. "Contact Callisto. Ask them if it's possible for us to send our old and young over to their side for the time being – basically anyone else who chooses not to or is incapable of going to Prometheus can wait there. And the prisoners we captured from Prometheus – ask if we could bring them over there for the time being. Tell Callisto that Titan is in a state of emergency without an Alpha, and that we would appreciate if they could offer us supplies in any form, as well as security to seal up our perimeters while the rest of us are gone."
Rowle agreed and grabbed the file to dial Callisto's headquarters. Minutes later, Vaughn returned and the expression on his face was far less grim this time. "The other three packs are on their way, Luna."
"Good."
I smiled at him and instinctively reached for the pendant on my neck as I gazed round at the others. Worried faces, hopeful ones, terrified for the remaining few. It was all a blend that made me feel like Armageddon was round the corner and the only person whose hand I wanted to hold through it all was gone. Still alive, though. His emotions felt like a pulse, like I could feel his heart beating despite all those miles that separated us.
"Don't give up yet," I said to them quietly, taking the cup of hot chocolate that Lorraine held out to me and dragging in a deep breath like it was going to be my last. "It's going to be a long night."
▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
Prometheus was nothing but sinister shadows.
It cut an eerie sight in the dark, its towers tall like a wrecked castle that loomed ahead, blocking out all the stars in the night sky. Some distance away, I could hear the crashing of torrid waves against the rocks. The back tower had been built on the edge of a cliff, where an abyss of dark water and jagged boulders lay many feet below. I remembered seeing it when I was previously locked up in the headquarters. Remembered wanting to hurl myself off the balcony as a desperate means of escape but realising that it wasn't escape that awaited me below, but death.
"Luna." Vaughn's voice was quiet as he sidled up to me, not making a sound despite the fact that we were standing on the forest floor, dried leaves scattered about and the sandy grass beneath our feet. "The packs have secured the other exits. We're ready on your count."
"Alright," I returned quietly. "When I give the signal, we get in as discreetly as we can. Take out the guards first. And Harvie," I added, to the boy who was standing several feet away, looking far more anxious than he let on. He and his friends and insisted on coming along, despite my attempts to persuade them to stay at Callisto. And I figured – if Spike and Jed trusted them enough to teach them how to fight, maybe I needed to trust them enough to do this too. "Take Dion and Terence with you, and disconnect the siren along the main door. I don't want Prometheus finding out that we're here before we can even attack."
Harvie nodded and offered me a bright smile that seemed to mask his nerves, if only for a few seconds. Everyone else seemed just as nervous. Only the few who'd been fighting more battles than they could count – like Vaughn and Dimitri, were waiting calmly with impassive looks on their faces. And Bianca was actually chewing gum, blowing it into a bright pink bubble and swallowing it before it could pop.
I would've laughed at the ridiculous nature of her actions had I not been so terrified myself.
I shut my eyes and let out a quiet breath. The air was still and the place was as silent as a grave. All I could think about was how I was this close to Jed and I couldn't lose him. My knife was in my hands and if you gave me a choice between losing Jed and killing someone to save Jed, I would've picked the latter option without a second thought.
And now I finally understood. Understood the thin line that Jed had been treading upon this whole time, the reason why Jed did the things he did, over and over and over again, more times than he could ever count.
Maybe, in order to rid the world of monsters, you had to become one of the monsters yourself.
Opening my eyes, I took a deep breath and nodded.
The sound of the rowdy waves in the distance drowned out everything else – the discreet sounds of bones cracking and fur sifting as the rest of the pack shifted, except for the few who remained by my side in their human form. Vaughn was communicating my orders quietly with the other packs, and when he was done, he led Titan towards the closest door. The two guards had already sensed that something was amiss, but they could barely shift before Vaughn clipped them neatly on the back of their heads before tossing them aside as though they weighed nothing at all.
He was the first one to unlock the door and, after he shifted, was the first one in, with the rest of the pack following him. A moment later, I heard the distant sound of growls and howls echoing through the silence of the night, but thankfully, the alarm didn't go off. I lingered behind with Dimitri, Lorraine and Bianca; and slowly, and we made our way to the wooden doors quietly.
Bianca picked the lock, her deft fingers shoving a strip of metal through the metal case until she heard a click, before twisting the lock and opening the door with a flourish. "Voilà."
She was still smirking, and Lorraine and I were still looking impressed when Dimitri suddenly sent two knives whizzing past us. The silver shards buried themselves by the hilt into the limbs of two guards who'd been charging at us, and we hadn't even noticed them heading our way when the door opened.
Dimitri gave her a flat look. "Remember when you called yourself Luna of Prometheus?" He deadpanned, as he retrieved his knives from the fallen guards. "What made you think that was an apt title?"
Bianca shot him a frosty glare before tugging the strap of her bag further up her shoulder. "Come on," She said to Lorraine, jerking her head in the direction of the east wing. "Let's go visit Malthus's playroom."
Lorraine rolled her eyes but followed all the same, and I watched until the two of them had disappeared out of sight before turning to Dimitri. "Are the prisoners usually kept around there?" I asked, pointing towards the west wing, where there seemed to be no doors in sight.
Dimitri frowned. "Usually over there." He gestured to the spiral staircase straight ahead that would lead us up to the upper floors and I recognised it immediately. It was the same stairs that led up to my room when I was held here.
I took two steps that way before pausing in my tracks. Something was pulling me back. Like gravity, an intangible force that made me want to backtrack instead of moving forward, threw that metaphorical compass off its bearings until all the needle was pointed towards was –
– Jed.
"Let's try that way," I said instead, pointing to the west wing. The walkway was narrow, with only a faint, flickering light positioned along one of the pillars. "Where's the secret passageway you drew on the floor plan?"
Dimitri paused for a moment, his eyes darting between the stairwell he'd pointed me towards in clear hesitation, before turning back to the empty corridor. "Over there," He said at last, striding ahead until he'd reached a patch of wall that seemed to have no visible signs of a door. But he stretched out a hand, seeming to know exactly where it was, placing three strategic fingers along the edge.
Neither of us were prepared for the siren that immediately wailed throughout the grounds.
"Fuck," Dimitri swore, flinching away from the wall, even as a digital print crept to the edges of concrete, outlining the distinct shape of the door before the patch of wall slid open to let us in. Inside, a spiralled staircase wound up, the pathway dark and dusty. "They must've keyed me out of the system."
"No backtracking," I said firmly. The alarm was all but screaming at such a terrifying decibel, but it had already been triggered and we couldn't waste any more time. "We're going in."
Dimitri nodded and stepped in with me, letting the door slide shut behind us. We scaled the small flight of stairs, only to come by a landing that led up to still another flight of stairs. Dimitri simply gestured me up, and we continued climbing, until I knew we'd reached somewhere near the top of the tower.
But it wasn't all for nothing, because when we rounded that final corner, I saw a familiar figure hunched over in the corner.
"Jed!"
I immediately rushed over, sinking down to my knees on the gravelly floor in front of him. He was dressed in nothing but a ragged pair of jeans, cuts and bruises scattered all over his body, open wounds that didn't seem to heal as quickly as they should have, and I knew at once that silver had been used on him.
Reaching for him, I cradled his face gently between my palms and choked back a sob. "Jed," I whispered, shaking him lightly when he kept his eyes shut, lashes fanning out against his bruised cheekbones. "Jed, wake up."
Slowly, as though it took a tremendous effort just for that single action alone, Jed peeled open his eyelids and his tired green eyes latched onto me. "Quinn?"
"Hey." I smiled, blinking back tears as I pressed my lips gently to his forehead. He smelled of blood, sweat, and another scent that was uniquely him, and it was all so fitting at a time like this. "I'm here now," I said softly, "And I'll get you out of here, I promise. Just stay with me."
He nodded weakly and I shifted to the side, holding him up with one arm. It wasn't until then that I realised what had kept him trapped there – a set of chains that gleamed silver latched to the wall, and the cuffs wrapped around his wrist required a key to unlock. Silver spikes lined the inner side of the handcuffs, so that if he so much as tugged, the sharp edges would dig into his flesh. There wasn't even a glimmer of a chance for him to pull himself out, and he'd tried, if the lacerations across his wrist were any indication.
"We've got company," Dimitri called, from his post by the stairwell. He'd been standing there quietly, throwing glances our way every so often but his eyes and ears were sharp, peeled for any intruders. "Get him out of there."
"I can't." My heart began to race in my chest as I realised that our situation had suddenly taken a turn for the worse. "Silver cuffs. We need a key to unlock them."
Dimitri threw us another glance, his eyes zeroing in first on the cuffs locked around Jed's wrists and ankles, and then to Jed's beaten, exhausted face. His jaw tightened and he dragged out a knife from the inner lining of his leather jacket and flipped it twice in his hand. "Fine," He said evenly. "I'll get the keys. You get him out of here."
I wanted to argue, but then thought the better of it. Dimitri was well-equipped to be in a fight. I was not, and Jed – I didn't know how long he could last. Giving Dimitri a quick nod, I tightened my grip around Jed and waited, heart hammering in my chest as I heard the slow but steadily approaching shuffle of footsteps. Jed heard it too, and he quickly stilled, dragging up a heavy arm to pull me closer to his side, half shielding me with his body.
It was impossible to miss that familiar face when the person finally came up the stairwell.
I caught a glimpse of Azazel's smirking face, slight amusement in his expression as he threw a quick glance our way. But it was over in a second, because Dimitri was never one for niceties or greetings of any kind, and sent his knife whizzing in Azazel's direction.
Azazel ducked just in time, recovered swiftly, and drew out a weapon that made Dimitri still. It was a gun, but one look at it and I knew it wasn't just any kind of gun. "Knives are always so slow," He mused, lips curving up in a wicked grin when Dimitri faltered, his knife wavering in his hand. "Some bullets, on the other hand, can travel faster than the speed of sound. And silver bullets, well – let's see if the assassin can defend just as well as he can kill, shall we?"
He tugged on the trigger the moment he finished speaking, and I heard the first gunshot of many. The bullet zipped past Dimitri as he ducked, and he swept out a leg to knock Azazel off balance when the latter directed the gun towards us. The sudden pressure of Jed's hand on my shoulder lowered me just in time too, because the bullet shot right past, barely missing us by several inches and lodging itself into the wall behind.
"Would take a lot more than a fucking gun to kill me, you shit," Dimitri hissed, jerking Azazel's hand away as he fired another shot. This one lodged onto the ceiling above, but Dimitri ignored that and went straight for the keys hooked on Azazel's belt. With one sharp tug, he yanked the keys out and chucked it across the room to me. "Get him out!"
I caught it swiftly and didn't waste a moment in unlocking the cuffs around Jed's wrist. It took several tries to figure out which key was the right one, but once I did, I heard that affirmative click, and the first lock was undone. Jed's fingers tightened around my arm and I went for the other lock, only to freeze when I heard three distinct gunshots, followed by a muffled cursing that was in Dimitri's voice.
Spinning around quickly, I felt cold clamp down in my throat when I saw Dimitri hunched up over the floor, one hand curled protectively around his left shoulder as he gritted his teeth to rein in the pain. Azazel already had the barrel pointed at him, ready to take the next shot.
I didn't even think. Reaching for Jed's arm and giving him a fleeting squeeze, I chucked the keys at him before reaching for my own knife that I'd placed beside me. When I flung it at Azazel, my aim was far off and barely grazed him.
But it did catch him by surprise and with a snarl, he twisted aside to turn the gun on me.
The next bullet sped past us when Jed snuck out a hand and pushed me aside just in time. And the next was intercepted by Dimitri, who'd dragged himself up and plunged a knife into Azazel's thigh. Azazel let out a pained yell and launched a swift kick with his other good leg at Dimitri, sending him crashing against the glass windows and out onto the balcony ahead.
In the time elapsed, Azazel quickly strode towards us, gun in hand. It wasn't until he reached for my hair and dragged me to my feet that I realised he wasn't aiming for Jed at all. "Should've killed you when I had the chance," He spat, and I let out a wrangled cry of pain when he pulled me towards the balcony.
Behind us, I could hear Jed struggling against the chains that still shackled him in, a look of utter terror on his face when he realised that we'd been separated once again. He reached for the keys and tried to undo the rest of the locks on his own, but with only one hand and blood still trickling from his fresh wounds, I quickly realised that I was all alone in this.
"Let go of me!" I jabbed an elbow against his chest, but he easily evaded my attack.
Azazel ignored me and shoved me towards the edge until my back hit the railing, his hand closing around my throat as he smirked, the blood trickling from the corner of his lips. "Any last words?"
But those words were barely out of his mouth when Dimitri unexpectedly rammed right at him, knocking the both of them sideways and off course. Azazel reacted quickly, sweeping Dimitri's legs from out under him and pushing him backwards over the railing, and right off the building.
"Dimitri!" I gasped in horror and flung out a hand, reaching out and grabbing him by the wrist just in time.
The sudden weight almost toppled me over and I felt myself flung to the edge of the balcony, the joint in my shoulder almost tearing with the force, but I gritted my teeth and held on to him. Then I felt the cool barrel of a gun against the side of my forehead.
"This is too easy. Almost like killing two birds with one stone," Azazel mused, a sickening smile on his bloodied face and an evil glint in his eye as he kept the gun pressed to my skin.
I was terrified, my breath coming in rapid gasps and my hand searing with the sheer effort of latching onto Dimitri. Azazel shifted a finger to tug on the trigger, but just before he could, a hand snuck around his and jerked the gun away from his grasp. A gunshot rang into the night, sharp and loud amidst the sound of the crashing waves below. The gun was twisted out of Azazel's grasp, and he screamed in agony as two shots were fired straight into his right shoulder. And before he retreat away, he found the barrel pointed to his forehead.
There was nothing but death in Jed's eyes as he looked at the man who was once his best friend.
But Azazel simply smirked. "Before you kill me," He rasped, his voice laced with pain as he clutched at his shoulder, even as the glint in his eyes sharpened, "save them first."
And then he moved in a way that none of us saw coming – an unexpected sweep of his hand that pushed me right off the balcony. Dimitri was already hauling himself up, but the sudden momentum pushed the both of us off the edge again, a horrified scream wrenching itself from my throat when I suddenly found myself grasping nothing but air.
But then Jed caught me just in time, latching a hand around my wrist, an abrupt jerk that made the muscles in my shoulder tighten with pain. Dimitri's hand latched around my ankle before he too could fall, and I gritted my teeth when I felt my knee burn, the joint in my shoulder tear with both our weights. It felt like someone had flayed my skin alive and I was in sheer, sheer agony, until I couldn't think about anything else but how painful it all was.
Jed's jaw was clenched as he stared down at us, fear lacing his eyes when he realised how close we were to death. Twisting aside, he fired several more shots at an escaping Azazel, who was running away before Jed could properly finish him. Once Azazel was out of sight, he tightened his grip around my wrist and tried to pull me up.
"Jed," I whispered, biting back a terrified whimper as I felt myself slip. Our combined weights were slowly but surely dragging us down, and the muscles cording Jed's neck strained as he tried to maintain a firm grasp on my hand.
Then, all of a sudden, he paused, his hand stilling around mine as his gaze locked on something. Or someone. Not on me.
But on Dimitri.
A sudden dread seized me and I followed his gaze down to where Dimitri was, my eyes widening in horror when I realised that he was looking down. Down at the deep, deep abyss, the dark waves crashing against the jagged rocks where nothing lay below but death.
When Dimitri looked back up, the expression on his face was unreadable, but I could see it all on his face – the sinking knowledge that Jed could only pull one of us up before he lost his grip on the both of us; and I knew at once that the decision Dimitri was about to make was irrevocable, one that would change everything, end everything.
Panic bubbled to the surface and I reached out my other hand to him. "Give me your hand!" I shouted, when he glanced down again, then back up at me. Tears streaked blindly down my face as I continued to hold out a shaking hand to him, fingers grasping for a solid warmth that he refused to give. "Don't you dare let go, Dimitri, just give me your hand!"
Dimitri looked first at Jed, whose eyes were wide as he furiously shook his head. Then he looked at me, his dark eyes meeting mine, so dark they were clearly obsidian like the first time that I had met him. Only this time, they held a sliver of apology in them. And when he spoke, his voice was barely audible amidst the sounds of the deafening waves below.
"It was an honour serving you, Luna."
His fingers released their grip around my ankle before Jed or I could even react. I felt the shift of weight suddenly leave me, the aching in my leg dull to a steady throb, but all I could focus on was that final glimpse of him as he fell.
"Dimitri!" I cried, my eyes scanning the black waters below, and Jed was doing the same – the both of us looking, finding, searching for a glimpse of Dimitri that could prove to us that he was still there, still alive.
But there was nothing and all we could hear was the thunderous roar of the waves that drowned out everything else.