Chapter 41 Ransom

Chapter 41 Ransom

Ransom caught Seraphine before she hit the cobblestones. She flopped like a doll in his arms, her cheeks still pink from the rush of her climax, her full lips swollen from his kiss. The sight of the angry welt blooming on her temple kindled in him a quick and terrible rage. He rolled to his feet, cradling her against his chest.

Lark dropped the rock he had used to knock her out. ‘Is this what you call handling it?' he demanded. ‘You were supposed to get rid of her, not screw her in Dufort's front garden.'

Ransom rounded on him. ‘Have you been following me?'

‘Obviously,' said Lark, with a rare burst of anger. ‘And a good thing, too. Otherwise I might not have noticed that giant army of monsters your murderous little girlfriend just dragged over here to kill us all. They're all standing frozen out in the damn street, like they're waiting for her next order. It's beyond terrifying.'

There was a distant flutter as Nadia swung down from the next rooftop, landing neatly between them. ‘You have a lot of explaining to do,' she said, by way of greeting. She smoothed her dark hair back, her silver eyes flaring as she peered down at Seraphine. ‘Is she dead?'

‘Not yet,' said Lark, flexing his fingers. Shadows darted across his knuckles, but he kept his eyes on Ransom. ‘But after she dragged all those monsters into our quarter, I don't see any way around it.'

Ransom stiffened as Lark stepped forward. It took every ounce of self-control not to maul him right there, to act like the sight of his oldest friend looming over the girl that had just obliterated every last shred of pain in his body and soul didn't make him want to rip the fucking walls down to bury him. But he was no fool. He was outnumbered, two to one, without an ounce of Shade to protect him. To protect her.

All they had left between them was that cloak, which so far, Lark had failed to question.

But when he curled his fingers around her throat, his Shade melted away. ‘What the hell?' he hissed, stumbling backwards.

‘It's that cloak.' Nadia stepped back. ‘Get it off her.'

Ransom jerked away from Lark. ‘If you touch her, I will fucking kill you.'

‘Calm down, lover boy,' said Nadia, with a sigh. ‘We're trying to help you.' She struck his shoulder with a whip of shadow. It was just enough to knock him off kilter, allowing Lark to dart in and rip the cloak off. It fluttered to the floor between them.

‘Please don't make us hurt you to get to her,' she said, as more shadows gathered at her fingertips. ‘Just… let me finish it. For all our sakes.'

Ransom met Nadia's glare with his own and knew she would go through him to get to Seraphine. She clearly thought she was doing the right thing, saving him from himself, from the thrall of the siren who had dragged a swarm of monsters into Old Haven with her.

With Shade at her fingertips, he couldn't fight Nadia off.

It was words, or nothing.

‘If we kill her in this alley, her monsters will revolt,' he said quickly. ‘And in case you haven't noticed, there are over a hundred of them less than twenty feet away from us, and I'm not looking to die tonight. With that Shade in your system, you can get back up on that roof but who says they can't climb up there after you? And if they go after either one of us, Lark and I are shit out of luck.'

Lark and Nadia exchanged a glance. In the loaded silence, a monster growled. Another pawed at the ground, its hackles raised. They were growing impatient. Whatever spell Seraphine had cast would not hold them much longer. Without her cloak, her command was wearing off.

‘He's right,' said Lark, plucking the cloak off the ground. ‘It's not worth the risk.'

‘Let's go somewhere safe,' said Ransom. ‘We can talk. I'll explain everything.'

‘Fine,' said Nadia, her eyes darting back to where the creatures were waiting just beyond the alley mouth.

Ransom took off before they could reconsider, but the second they left the alleyway, the monsters began to lurch around. A ragged howl cut through the night, followed quickly by another.

‘Do you hear that?' Nadia jerked her head at the growing thunder of footsteps.

‘Hell's teeth,' hissed Lark, whirling on his heel. ‘They're coming right at us!'

‘Head for the catacombs!' yelled Nadia.

They broke into a run. Ransom glanced over his shoulder and released a litany of swears. He doubled his pace, his gaze darting. There was nowhere to hide here, nowhere to run but down into the darkness. And he had no choice but to take Seraphine with him.

Up ahead, the statue of Saint Lucille loomed through the mist.

Monsters spilled out across Old Haven, flooding the graveyards.

‘Faster!' yelled Lark, but Nadia was already ahead of them, yanking a shadow off a streetlamp and making a lasso of it. She tossed it over Lucille's head and tugged. The entrance to Hugo's Passage groaned open and they raced down the stone steps.

Behind them, cobbles cracked under the stampede of monsters. Old Haven was trembling at its foundations, the force of their pursuit making skulls fall and shatter from the entryway. Ransom leaped across the threshold, twisting the skull to bring the door down as Lark and Nadia slid underneath it.

As the first monster reached the stairwell, the door thundered to a close, cutting off a gnarled hand wreathed in shadow. It flopped about on the ground before going still.

Nadia winced as she kicked it away. It hit the wall as the rest of the monsters pounded against the door. Bones fell from the ceiling, sending a shower of dust cascading over them.

‘They're still after us,' said Nadia.

‘Not us,' said Ransom, just now noticing the cloak glowing in Lark's hand. ‘They're after that .'

Lark looked down at it. ‘Well, shit.'

As the pounding worsened, the walls trembled. Daggers spilled out into the hallways to investigate the commotion. Nadia shoved Ransom headlong down the north passage, Lark coming round to his other side so he couldn't run away. ‘Take your mark to the Cavern before tonight gets any worse,' said Nadia.

‘It's already a horror show,' muttered Lark.

But as Ransom made his way to the Cavern, with Seraphine curled tightly in his arms, he had a terrible sinking feeling that the horror of this night had only just begun.

Down in the Cavern, Dufort was on his feet with the rest of the Daggers, trying to make sense of the dust falling from the ceiling. When he spotted Ransom, he went rigid. His silver gaze swept over the body in his arms. There was no smile. No pat on the back.

‘Is she dead?' he said, in a strained voice.

Ransom went to a nearby table and laid Seraphine down. Then he stood over her like an avenging angel.

‘No,' said Lark from behind him.

Dufort removed a vial of Shade from his pocket and tossed it to Ransom. ‘Then kill her.'

Ransom batted it away, letting it shatter on the stone. ‘Kill her yourself.'

There was a collective intake of breath. The other Daggers moved away, afraid to get caught in the crossfire.

Dufort's nostrils flared. ‘I said, kill her .'

Ransom raised his chin. ‘And I said no.'

Dufort stalked towards him. ‘What the fuck did you just say?'

‘ Ransom, ' hissed Nadia.

‘I'll do it!' said Lisette, leaping up from her chair by the fireplace.

Dufort's hand shot out and shadows darted from the walls, shoving her back. He didn't take his eyes off Ransom. ‘Ransom will do it.'

Lark stepped up. ‘I can—'

‘ No, ' growled Dufort.

Ransom was too revolted by Dufort to be afraid of him any more. The Dagger wasn't even looking at Seraphine – that was how little he cared about the life of his own daughter. This wasn't about her. It wasn't even about monsters or Lightfire. It was about ego and power, and control.

Dufort flexed his fingers. Shadows crawled towards Ransom.

‘Look at her,' said Ransom.

‘No.'

‘ Look at her.'

‘ No, ' he hissed.

‘What are you so afraid of, Dufort?' challenged Ransom.

Dufort's eyes darkened. But whatever he was about to say was lost to a distant bloodcurdling scream. It echoed all the way down the north passage, filling the cavern like a terrible aria.

It was followed by a warning cry. ‘MONSTER IN THE PASSAGE!'

And then, an earth-shattering roar.