Page 64 of Vows of Ruin

The second floor is smoke and rubble. The air tastes like ash and blood, and every breath burns. We keep moving. I spot Liam through the haze, Torque at his side, both of them watching the staircase like it might sprout an enemy.

“We’ve got movement!” Torque yells.

Girls pour toward us, coughing, clutching one another, their eyes wild with disbelief. The men who kept them here are running the other way like rats from a sinking ship.

One girl, barefoot, barely clothed, grabs my arm as she passes. “There’s more in the basement,” she gasps. “You can’t leave them. It’s the boys. They’re still down there!”

My stomach drops.

Liam’s already looking at me. “There are men down here, too?”

I nod. “We’re not leaving them.”

“Max!” Liam calls, turning to where he’s helping one of the girls to the stairs. “Get them out. We’re heading down.”

Max curses, but his eyes land on me, soft and fierce. “Make it quick. This place is going to shit fast.”

We sprint. The hallway is heavy with smoke and shadows. As we pass a blown-out door, something flickers at the edge of my vision. Instinct takes over. I twist, bring my arm up, and swing my smaller dagger in a clean, practiced arc.

It slices across a man’s face. He reels back, blood dripping from a fresh line across his cheek, and that’s when I see him.

Sebastian.

His smile is full of madness. Red drips from his chin, his eyes alight like fire licking gasoline. He’s holding something, but the smoke curls around it like a curtain.

“Sweet little Wrenley,” he purrs, voice laced with static and venom. “You’re quicker than you used to be.”

Reaper raises his gun. “Try it,” he growls.

Sebastian laughs, stepping back. “You’re ruining everything, baby sister. All I wanted was to show you the world you belong in. With me. But fine, if I can’t have it now…” he flicks the object in his hand. “We’ll play again soon.”

He throws it.

“Grenade!” I scream.

Liam lunges, grabbing me and throwing us both to the ground as the blast detonates, light swallowing sound, sound drowning out light. The air implodes with a hollow roar. My ears ring. My head spins. Liam is over me, shielding me as smoke presses in from every angle.

“Little warrior, you good?” His voice cuts through the chaos.

“I’m fine,” I lie.

Blood trickles from my brow. My dagger’s gone. My breath’s a wheeze. But I’m on my feet. We find the basement door half off its hinges. Inside, a dozen men, some barely more than boys, are crumpled against the walls, half-conscious and glassy-eyed.

“Shit,” Liam mutters. “They’ve been drugged.”

He raises his comm. “We need backup in the basement now. Twelve males, all compromised. We need evac, fast.”

I move down the rows, checking pulses. They’re alive. Barely.

“Whoever’s got an empty van,” I bark, “Get it to the back entrance. NOW! They’re not walking out of here.”

Static crackles. “Copy that. Rolling up now.”

The Serpents move like a machine. Riots suddenly beside us. Hunter shouts from upstairs that all thirty girls are loaded and headed to Doc.

Torque bursts into the room, helping Liam with one of the larger men. I take the smallest and start the climb back up. The smoke’s thicker now. We clear the back door just as a van screeches to a halt. Hunter jumps out, counting heads, relaying numbers.

“Thirty girls. Twelve males. No enemy resistance left.”