Our Vicious Descent, page 26
Bile rose in Layla’s throat. She looked away and clenched her jaw, her throat burning as she fought to keep her disgust down. “What did you do?” Layla managed to grit out once the nausea had finally passed.
Nicoletta shrugged. She stepped farther into the holding room and leaned against the wall opposite Layla. “You put up a decent fight, but in the end, it wasn’t enough.” Nicoletta tapped her chin, as if pondering. “All your allies and your Saint girl and her family…they have suffered worse fates by now. Look at the mess you have caused.” Nicoletta chuckled, and the sound sent a burning fury through Layla’s body.
Her heart pounded at the thought of Elise and everyone she had left behind at the club. While her memories were still piecing themselves back together, she could not help but borrow grief from simply not knowing enough. Whether Elise and Josi were okay. If Layla had left them to die an even worse death than she had narrowly escaped.
A slow smile spread across Nicoletta’s face. “You’re worried about your girl. While I cannot assure you that she’s okay, you should know that she knew you tried to save her. Valiant efforts, truly.”
Layla glared. She wanted to lunge forward, strike her, tear into her throat—anything at all to get her to stop talking. Her words were a far worse torture than the slowly healing wound in her thigh. “I’ll kill you. If you touch her, I’ll kill you and your entire crew just like I killed your brother.”
Her words seemed to hit Nicoletta. The gang leader finally frowned.
The sight of her true self revealed beyond the layers of brute strength made Layla smile. “I enjoyed watching the life leave his eyes and feeling his blood run between my fingers. I’m curious to know if your blood is as bitter as his.”
Nicoletta raised a fist to the door and banged on it. She shouted something at passing workers, but Layla could only focus on the growing knot of hunger in her system. The sound of Nicoletta’s fist against the metal rattled Layla’s head, making her wince and sit back as the severity of her starvation emerged once more. Her ears continued to ring even as the room fell quiet once more, and every time Layla blinked, it spun.
Somehow Nicoletta appeared in front of her and spoke loudly enough to stop Layla’s ravenous desires. “I thought about convincing her to keep you alive, but you’ve lost your chance.” The gang leader left, slamming the door after her, leaving Layla with a never-ending ringing of hell, before she could even ask who Nicoletta was referring to.
Ignoring the searing pain, Layla pulled her knees up to her chest and leaned her head against her thighs, hoping and praying for death to come swiftly.
***
Elise eyed the ship leaving the port. She had arrived just as the departure had been announced and was held back by Jamie before she could execute a hasty decision to chase after it.
“In the short time I have known you, you have had many terrible ideas, Saint, but I believe this might be one of the worst ones. Especially without backup,” Jamie murmured as they crouched behind some shipping crates just beyond the dock.
Rolling her eyes, Elise checked her revolver once more to ensure that she had at least a few rounds of ammunition. After she snapped it shut, she looked up at Jamie with a slight frown. “I actually think it’s a much better idea for me to do this on my own. I’m not sure why Sterling sent you.”
Jamie blinked. “Because he doesn’t want you to die, Elise. Whether it’s to stay in your father’s good graces, or whether it’s because he genuinely cares about you, I don’t know. But now I’ve been dragged into things, and you’re giving me orders like I asked to be here. I will have you know, I never let my men speak to me like this,” he huffed.
Elise studied his exasperated expression. A small fleck of dried blood stained his chin, but beyond a few droplets, she found him to be quite spotless for someone who had witnessed a near massacre. “I find that very hard to believe. I’ve never seen you raise your voice at anyone—”
“You’ve never seen me with my men,” Jamie said. He glanced over his shoulder as if expecting someone’s arrival.
“I guess I will see you in action tonight.” Elise already had half a thought as to what he had planned during their trek to the port. She had a plan of her own, and even though Jamie had insisted on calling his men to assist, she had refused simply because he could not agree with her on one condition.
“I told you not to call your men for help unless you brought a bomb, by the way,” Elise mumbled. She peered out from behind the cartons, and once she noticed that the port’s guards had moved out of her line of sight, she stood, brushing her dress off before starting toward the dock.
Jamie hurried beside her and whispered roughly, “I do not have bombs. No one just has bombs. Grenades maybe. But bombs? You’d have better luck asking your father for some.”
Elise ignored his quip. “Just have your men ready at my signal.”
“Which is?” Jamie asked.
“You will know.” Elise waved as the guards spotted them. She stood calmly despite them pulling their guns on her and Jamie when they approached.
One worked more aggressively, shoving his gun into her sternum, while the other eyed Jamie with suspicion and pointed the gun at him from a distance. “Who the hell are you?” the first man demanded. “What business do you have here?”
“She’s a Saint, you idiot,” the other man whispered.
Elise’s brow furrowed at the ease he made his claim with. Was it that she looked like a Saint, or was it that they had committed her face to memory? Either reasoning made her spine tingle with relative distress. She held her hands up and spoke in a calm voice. “There is no need for any of this. I have a delivery.”
“I don’t see a package,” one guard said, glancing around her and Jamie.
“It’s monetary. One need not walk around with hundreds of dollars in view,” Elise said. “I have business with Nicoletta. I suggest you stop that ship so she can get paid, or it will be hell for everyone involved in keeping her from her money.”
Both guards stared at each other for far longer than Elise thought was necessary. Her jaw ached from the irritated grinding of her teeth before they finally split apart. One ran down the dock to converse with another man in charge, while the other stayed back, still pointing his gun between Jamie and Elise. After what felt like ages, the first man finally returned, winded and breathing hard.
“We will take you to the ship. May I ask what this delivery is for?” he asked.
Elise shared a look with Jamie. He gave her an almost imperceptible shake of his head, and she turned back to the man, sighing. “If I told Nicoletta you inquired about her money, would she be happy? Because I can tell her as soon as I board the ship, and we can all be privy to her thoughts on the matter.”
The man’s mouth gaped. “I…I—well, we would…”
Elise shook her head before he could stutter his way into a trap. “I understand. Why don’t we keep our business affairs private then? You work for the port. I work with her.” She nodded to the ship, which had stopped only a few yards away from the dock they stood near. “Take me to her.”
***
The boat ride to the ship was swift and somewhat unnerving. Elise had asked Jamie to stay on land so that he might keep watch in case anything went awry. Really, she needed him ready with his own arsenal. Elise knew he had much better resources than her. The moment Nicoletta saw her, the ship would erupt into chaos. And that was if she was lucky. There was always a chance Nicoletta could shoot her on sight. After the mess she had left at the Nest Club, Elise had her doubts.
As the small motorboat pulled up to the larger ship, Elise’s body buzzed with anticipation and residual anger. The closer they got to the ship, the more she tuned her surroundings out and only thought of what it would be like to finally confirm that Layla lived. She had to have survived the attack at the Nest Club. There was no other way for things to continue if she had not. Elise was not even sure she could return to her family with Layla alive after the way she had exploded on her own sister. There had been no love in how she had screamed or what she had said. All this time Elise had been missing her sister and assumed all would be right when she reunited with her family, but that could not have been further from the truth. That, she had come to realize, was the most difficult part of all this. Understanding that the truth often caused more grief than it did relief. And that no matter how intensely she planned anything out, life would always take her fate into its own hands. Elise did not want to believe she had been born a tragedy, but the world had taught her that in fewer instances in only eighteen years than most people experienced in their lifetime. When, she wondered, would she ever catch the relief of a normal life that most people complained about?
One of the crew members helped her onto the ship, and she turned away from the waves lapping up against the rusting metal as the smaller boat pulled back toward the docks.
“You can wait here. I will bring Nicoletta to you,” he said before hurrying down the side of the ship.
Already, Elise knew she had walked into a trap. The only thing that kept her upright and calm was the knowledge that she had planned at least half of it. Nicoletta did not intend to let her leave this ship, dead or alive. Not when the boat that brought her was already yards away, halfway to its journey back to land. Not when she knew Layla remained in one of the many rooms that made up this massive ship. Elise would be stuck until she found her or until Nicoletta managed to kill them. Whichever one came first.
She ignored the man’s instructions and made her way down the corridor opposite from the one he had left through. With her gun in hand and her quick steps, she felt comfortable moving through an enemy’s territory. Once she arrived at the first block of rooms, Elise pushed the doors open one by one. The first couple of holding rooms were empty, with chains still littering the floor. A couple of rooms down, she opened the door to find a few reapers slumped against the walls. Bound and starved to the point where their fangs remained out and eyes had gone black, they could barely lift their heads when they saw her, despite the evident shock jumping across their pale expressions.
Elise glanced around the ship’s corridor quickly to make sure no one had spotted her before walking into the holding room. “Were you all captured by Nicoletta?”
“Who?” the reaper closest to her asked.
“The woman leading this ship. She’s tall, dark hair, Italian—”
“She tricked us. I…I was going for a hunt, and she said she had bodies that needed moving. We offered to take care of them for her. But when we arrived at the scene, she attacked us. Then we woke up here.” The reaper looked around at his comrades. One of them leaned to the side so heavily with his eyes closed, Elise thought he might have already been gone.
She shuddered and knelt before the reaper nearby. “What did she do to you?”
He shook his head, sighing while he rested his head against the wall. “I only remember her having a Saint knife and using it to bleed us. Maybe she thought it would be better if we were weak.”
Elise fumbled with her hairpin, trying to figure out how to open it so she could pick the lock holding the chains around his wrists. “But a blood fury—” she began.
“It’s only triggered by fresh blood,” he interrupted. His eyes flashed while they roamed her face. “You look familiar.”
Reminders of the two guards at the port immediately recognizing her Saint heritage made her chest tighten. Elise pushed a stray piece of hair behind her ear and continued working on the lock. “I’m going to free you because I need your help. We’re a little way away from the dock by now, but if you’re a strong enough swimmer, we can make it back—that’s if things go wrong. If they go right, we can figure out how to turn this boat around. I just need you to promise me something first.” She held his gaze, her heart rate kicking up when she noticed the light leaving his eyes.
“What’s that?” the reaper asked.
“Help me find Layla,” Elise whispered.
Shock flickered across his gaze. He lifted his head from the wall and frowned. “You’re a Saint. Here you are, freeing a reaper, asking us to help you.” The reaper shook his head and laughed slightly—or tried to; it came out as a cough.
Elise pulled back, her brows furrowing. “I’m hardly a Saint anymore. And how do you even know?”
“You look just like your father.”
Every muscle in Elise’s body tensed, and her heart sank. Her blood might have gone cold and her surroundings wavered as she processed his words. Elise had never seen herself as a reflection of either of her parents, but now, with her mother’s death still fresh on her mind and every complicated emotion under the sun plaguing each thought of her father, she could not figure out how to embrace having her father’s looks. Her voice came out like a whisper, the words barely clawing their way out of her throat: “Don’t say that.”
The reaper continued, seemingly unfazed by her adverse reaction. “I’ve seen him all over the papers and in town with his buddy Stephen. Or at least I used to. The man is more mad widower than business mogul now…” His eyes grew glassy, and after a long beat of silence, Elise’s shoulders seized with panic, thinking he had died.
She leaned forward and slapped his cheeks until he shuddered awake. “The Saint empire is done. I’m not with him anymore. I’m here for Layla. Do you know where she is? Or do you at least know what’s going on here?”
The faint sound of footsteps and shouting voices arose nearby. Elise looked toward the door, where thankfully no gangsters had yet to pass by. But she knew it was only a matter of time before they discovered her freeing these reapers.
“They’re taking us somewhere,” the reaper breathed.
Elise stuck her hairpin in the lock and began turning it. “Yes, I got that. Where are they taking you?”
“I have heard…some island. For testing.”
There was a sharp click, and then the lock opened. Elise tugged it off the chains and helped the reaper up just as a commotion exploded across the ship. Loud voices emerged even closer than before, this time accompanied with the ship’s alarm. It blared as Elise made her way to the other reapers and freed them as well. Her hairpin grew jagged, the jewels already scraping off as the scratches wore down the true silver. She cursed as the final lock challenged the weakening pin, but she eventually got it free. Once all the reapers had struggled to their feet and looked at Elise for direction, she nodded.
“Find Layla for me.”
She followed them out of the holding room and kept her gun clutched in her hand the whole way down the corridor. Gangsters slammed down nearby hallways, shoving open doors and shouting at prisoners. Elise winced every time their noises got closer and each time they opened a door. All she could do was hope and pray that she got to Layla first. Her confidence waned as they approached the end of the corridor and the last door. She prepared herself for disappointment when the reapers pushed the door open. But the moment they stepped back and looked at her, her heart nearly fell into pieces.
There was Layla, chained and pale inside. Elise ran right to her, dropping her gun on the floor between them. She kneeled before Layla and cupped her cheeks in her hands, her eyes already welling with tears of relief. Layla looked at her and tried to smile, but her head, heavy as it was in Elise’s hands without the proper strength to hold it up on her own, lolled to the side. Still, her eyes seemed to smile and shine as Elise held her and grinned through her tears.
“Lisey? You came,” Layla said in a faint voice.
Elise rubbed her thumbs over her cheeks and nodded. “Of course.” She quickly assessed Layla’s body, noticing the bloody tourniquet on her leg and the chains still holding her down. “I’m going to get you out. Just do me a favor and stay alive. I cannot have come this far just to have you die on me.” When she dropped her hands and moved to take hold of the chains, she felt blood seep into her dress around her knees and slip between her fingers. The wound on Layla’s leg still wept. Surprisingly, the reaper’s face was void of any pain, though she was frightfully pale. Elise knew they had only so much time before either Layla bled out or the gangsters found them all. She looked up at the other reapers she had freed, still standing by the door.
“How do you get a reaper to stop bleeding after suffering a wound from a Saint weapon?” Elise asked. She stuck her hairpin into the lock and began working it against the gears.
The other reapers looked at one another, mumbling.
Layla cleared her throat and nudged Elise with her good leg. “You can’t stop the bleeding. That’s the point of the Saint weaponry.”
Elise hissed as the hairpin snagged on something in the lock and got stuck. “I know, I know. But isn’t there anything that will help? If we move you, you’ll bleed out.”
Layla leaned her head against the wall. “I need more blood.”
The hairpin snapped in Elise’s hands. Half of it remained between her fingers, while the other half sat, still stuck, in the lock. “Fuck,” she muttered. Before Elise could figure something else out, gunfire went off around the ship.
One reaper at the door looked out at the hallway, then back at Elise. “They’re coming. You need to hurry.”
Panic seized Elise’s chest like a fiery fist. Her heart thudded so hard and fast, she thought it might catch on fire or explode. She leaned over Layla, searching for a release, or something to use behind her where the chains were bound to a bar set in the wooden floor.
Layla swallowed and shifted uncomfortably. More blood poured from her wound, her leg trembling as she adjusted her position. Elise felt Layla’s face by her throat and a sharp wince before she turned away. “Don’t do that.”
Elise sat back on her heels. Her brows furrowed at Layla’s twisted expression. Her fangs dug into her lips, but only a thin stream of blood ran from the new cuts in her mouth. “Don’t do what?”
