35. Gavin

35

GAVIN

" L ena!" I'm shouting as I storm down the hallway.

We all heard the screams. We all know what they mean.

Violence.

And the stabbing alarm in my gut tells me my love is in danger. My gun is clenched in my fist, raised to take Rachelle in the head at my first chance as soon as I reach the doorway.

"Gav, hold!" Tell clips from right behind me, catching up with Ora and a slowly recovering Alaya hot on our heels.

But I can't.

My tactical skills assess the scene as soon as I spot Evan. Rachelle. Hellena clutched in her hand, a knife pressed to her jugular.

"Drop it!" I roar, and Rachelle at least has the wherewithal to look up, to show some sense of self-preservation.

Tugging Hellena up by her hair, she positions her as a shield.

Dammit.

The five of us fan out in the entry, Alaya leaning on Ora for support. Tell is at my side, looking just as worried as I am, Sing standing sidelong, keeping an eye on the way behind us. He's always right on point. Something I can appreciate.

Not that there's much danger from what we left behind.

The Block rolled in with us hard and fast.

We subdued most of the Ghosts without too much bloodshed, carted the bulk of them off to holding cells for the time being. Others weren't so lucky, but the sick bastards took their own lives in the face of defeat.

Fucked up.

But that's how fanatics act.

Like Rachelle is acting now.

"Game over, Tyson. Let her go," I growl, low and frosty.

"It is game over. There's nothing! After all these years, nothing! There was supposed to be cash, bonds, gold. There were supposed to be maps to the uranium mines, bargaining chips to trade for power. To fund the war machine."

We all glance at one another.

Hard to say whether she's ranting or not, if any of this has any substance to it at all.

What is clear is that she's losing it. Fast.

And whatever she thought she would find down here, she didn't.

And Hellena is about to pay the price.

"I will punish each and every one of you for this," she gurgles, practically foaming at the mouth.

"Aunt Rachelle, please…" Hell grits out, tensed against the pull of her hair, the bead of blood trickling down and soaking into her shirt. "Let me help you."

"Or hurt her, and you get a bullet between the eyes."

"My children?—"

"Are all but through," Tell snaps. "Your coup flew the coop."

"That was awful ," Ora huffs, her eyes never leaving Hellena. Just like the rest of us. Looking for any opening…

"Not my best work…" I feel him move beside me, vying for a better angle.

‘Enough!" Rachelle screams, shaking Hellena viciously, frantically scanning the array of opposition in front of her, weighing the odds.

"I agree."

The blow comes out of nowhere, taking Rachelle in the side of the head as a hand snatches the knife from her grasp, tossing it away before Rachelle even hits the ground.

Where Evan stands over her, his eyes wide. His chest heaving.

He glares down at her, clarity returning to his eyes, pure, uninhibited rage coursing through his entire body, pounding at his neck and temples.

I know that feeling well.

"You can't do this to me! I am the Sinful, I am the Seven, I am?—"

"Done with you," Evan forces out, his body quivering. He's still struggling, fighting.

"H–How…?" Rachelle asks, but it's rhetorical, incoherent. She begins to babble, sputtering and falling to pieces before our eyes. In seconds, she's gone.

Aside from the twitching, lip-fluttering tremors.

Seeing the break, even from an enemy, makes my stomach turn. It's hard to watch.

But not that hard.

Not when she's falling forward, free and safe and in my arms. Held tight to my chest. Pressed between Tell and me.

"It worked!" Hellena gasps, looking up at Tyler with wonder in her gaze.

"Uh, well, thing is…" He looks around a bit awkwardly. "I didn't actually get the chance to use it on him."

Everyone stops, watching Evan as he turns back toward us.

"So it was all…?"

"Him." Tell nods.

"Hey," Evan grunts, his eyes sunken, his expression pained.

Hellena rushes him, throwing herself into his arms. Evan catches her, wrapping her so tightly in his embrace, swinging her around. Kissing her cheek.

She's crying.

Ora's crying.

I'm not. Definitely not even a little bit.

Tell is, though.

Clearing our throats, we glance at one another, and I can't help breaking, laughing as I nudge his shoulder with mine, wiping at my completely dry eyes with the back of my hand.

Evan sets her down, looking more than exhausted.

"Um, maybe I should still give him the cure, just to make sure it's all out of his system?"

"Good idea."