None of us moved, our weapons still raised and I fought the tremor running through my limbs, stopping my hands from shaking. The barrel of my gun was directed right at Mortez’s head. One well-aimed bullet could destroy the man who hounded my father. Who had caused this entire mess. Who’d set him up, made the whole world think he was a monster.
“You make me sick,” I snarled, my finger resting on the trigger. But I couldn’t pull it. If I took the shot, we were all dead.
“Come on now, you hardly know me, darlin’,” Mortez said innocently, his voice holding a southern twang. “I can be real nice.”
“Get your filthy fucking eyes off of her,” Monroe warned, his muscles bunching as he pointed his gun at him too.
“And you must be the boyfriend,” Mortez moved his attention to him and a fierce protectiveness filled me.
“He has nothing to do with this,” I snarled.
“His eyes says he wants me dead, darlin’, so I can’t say I believe you,” Mortez said with a mock pitying expression. “But I’m willing to give ya’ll a free pass if you hand over Daddy dearest.”
“No,” I snapped as Dad tensed beside me.
“You’ll let them go before we talk,” Dad said evenly, ignoring me, the tension in the air making my ears ring.
There were more shouts outside and my brain ping-ponged at the sound of pained cries. What’s happening out there?
“Your little friends are causing us quite the ordeal,” Mortez explained, his chin jerking towards the window.
“What friends?” I breathed, but I knew in the depths of my heart who it had to be. The only people who would come chasing after me in the middle of the night, who would hunt me to the ends of the earth. But if the Night Keepers were here, that meant there was a chance. I’d seen the way they’d fought the looters and hope blossomed in my chest as another pained wail sounded outside which definitely didn’t belong to any of my men.
“Don’t play dumb with me, sweet thing,” Mortez warned, a real threat in his voice. “Call them off.”
“I could more easily harness the wind,” I said, a hollow smirk on my face.
“Who’s he talking about?” Dad muttered.
“My tribe is here,” I said, my eyes never leaving Mortez’s face.
The window suddenly exploded in a shower of bullets and two of Mortez’s men fell under the onslaught. Chaos descended as we dove for cover, my heart leaping into my throat. Monroe pressed me down as we hit the floor beside the king sized bed but I pushed him back, desperate to get to my dad.
I aimed my gun over the bed as he shifted aside and Monroe did the same, firing at our enemies as I spotted Dad fighting Mortez hand to hand. They were evenly matched, meeting each other blow for blow, the two of them struggling to get the advantage.
“Dad!” I screamed, trying to get up, but the bullets kept flying this way and Monroe yanked me back.
“You can’t,” Monroe snapped and my heart juddered. I had to get to Dad. I had to help.
I aimed my gun at Mortez, but he and Dad were fighting so closely, throwing punches and wrestling with one another, I couldn’t risk shooting my father by accident.
A blur of movement to my right said someone else had joined the fight and as I whirled towards them in a panic, their fist slammed into my face. My gun went skittering under the bed as I fell backwards, pain splintering up my cheek and my head spinning.
Monroe released a roar of rage, bringing up his gun and shooting again and again until it rang empty, sending blood spraying as the man crashed to the ground. Monroe leapt past me as another man sped into the room, grabbing his wrist as he tried to wrestle the gun from his grip.
Someone caught a fistful of my hair, yanking me across the bed and I screamed, twisting around and kicking them with all my might. They didn’t let go and I hit the ground on the other side of the bed, fighting for my life as they tried to wrestle me into submission.
I heard Monroe fighting close by, trying to get to me as my assailant pressed his weight down on my body. But I wasn’t going to panic this time. I knew what to do.
I bit into his arm until I tasted blood then reared up and threw my fist into the side of his head. He fell sideways with a grunt of pain and I rolled, pressing my advantage as I threw my fists into his face over and over with a shriek of defiance. I was a wild creature, lost to the need to survive and blood spattered me as he fell prey to my attack, finally falling still beneath my heavy punches. My knuckles were bruised and sore, my mind sharpening as I tasted the metallic tang of blood in my mouth.
A heavy weight slammed to the floor beside me and I gasped as I realised it was Dad, his face bloody as he looked to me, his eyes full of fear, loss, love. He reared up, pushing me aside and a gunshot split the air apart. Dad’s head smacked back against the floorboards as a bullet carved a hole between his eyes.
No no no no no!
Horror took root in me as my entire world fell to pieces.
I stared and stared, my ears buzzing, my skull pounding as I tried to deny the truth right before me. Blood was pooling out around him, soaking into my jeans. It was on my hands, red, so vividly, horribly red.
