“We used liquid chemicals which remained inactive inside the cross until the detonation device was activated. Cornelius was no fighter, we had to arm him in the event an opportunity to kill Zeus and Sabrina arose. Liquids are very hard to predict. It’s unfortunate Cornelius had to be the one to lose.”
“He didn’t have to,” Big Country said. “You made that decision. Didn’t even stop to think that youbothcould have left the Shepherd and lived new lives. You burned that boy alive.”
“So what. He’s dead, it makes no sense to concern ourselves over this now. Zeus and Sabrina will die.Shewill die,” Delilah said, glancing at Stormy.
His heart hammered. He inhaled deep, allowed his shoulders to drop.
“Nobody else has to die, Delilah. Me and you, we just walk away, yeah, we just start a new life where we’ll be happy, just us together.”
He took a step forward.
“Don’t. Move.” Delilah addressed him, but her eyes never left Stormy.
Big Country’s fingers twitched. He wouldn’t get to his gun in time. He knew this. He didn’t know how he was going to save Stormy.
Blue flame flickered somewhere on the periphery of his vision.No, he thought. But the cold was spreading, the world fading to mute, his mind’s eye turning inward as it waited for the elusive blue flame to land.
If you lose control now, son, you’ll lose everything. Stop feeling, just think, just breathe and wait for your moment.
“Delilah,” Stormy called out.Shit. He couldn’t warn her, couldn’t convince her Delilah wasn’t to be reasoned with. “Delilah, when we first met I told you there was power in your name, and you’ve proven that it’s true. You’re a warrior, it’s clear. You fight for your God, for your freedom, fight to be loved.”
Armand edged toward Lucas when he should have been edging away. What the hell? Were they all trying to get themselves killed, he wondered, but Delilah’s gun never moved to Armand; she kept it pointed dead center of his chest.
“God showed you Lucas when you were wanting more from life,” Stormy said. “But just as undeniably, She revealed him to me. Had he come into my life even two weeks ago, I wouldn’t have been ready, I still had shit to let go, parts I was struggling to reclaim. You have killed innocent people without a drop of remorse, Delilah, you have alotof shit to work through. Being with Lucas won’t save you from that, you’d know that within an hour of being with him.”
Because Stormy would kill her. Big Country understood her message, even if it escaped Delilah.
“Very noble and insightful words,” Delilah said. “But really, how much credence do you expect me to give a whore, especially one as deceitful as you?”
Stormy’s hand clenched tighter around her cell phone but she didn’t respond.
“I’m gon’ say something here, darlin’ and you can take it however the hell you gonna take it,” Big Country said, angling his body, hoping Delilah couldn’t see Armand’s fingers inching toward the gun holstered at his back. “The living truth is, this woman is my heart, and it ain’t because of that spark of attraction between us when we first met, it’s been everything since. You have no idea who I am or what I need. I’m not saying that as a criticism, I’m just making it clear that if there’s any deceiving going on about who we are to one another, it’s you, deceiving yourself. Now me and you can walk out of here together, we can work to free you from this Shepherd and I promise you on my life, darlin’, I won’t leave your side ’til he’s dead and his order is destroyed.”
“It’s what Mama’s Brood does,” Lynx chimed in. “We make bad people go away.”
Delilah ignored him.
“I believed in you, Lucas. You made me believe I could have something more than killing and servitude,thatwas the deception.” The gun trained on Stormy, the one aimed at him—neither wavered but there was a gleam of vulnerability in Delilah’s eyes. “As tempting as your offer is, it’s no longer the Shepherd’s order alone we would have to fight. The Patron knows of the child because I relayed the information to his people before erasing my presence from the Inn and returning here. The Patron is a determined man and has never-ending resources, he will have the child as well as the blood of his son’s killers.” She sighed. “You’ve defeated me beloved. You are hers, body and soul, I see that, but what do I get, what do I have to hold on to while she’s consuming your soul? Nothing. Nothing but the knowledge that though you denied me God’s blessing, I contented myself with knowing I destroyed your oh-so-precious heart.”
Smoke exploded from both barrels of Delilah’s guns.
Big Country roared, thunder reverberating throughout the room as Armand freed his gun and fired. Bullets ripped through Delilah’s body, but it was too late.
Sienna Red, his Stormy, lay silent and unmoving on the ground, blood pooling and expanding beneath her and Lynx’s fallen bodies.
Armand ran past him, knelt beside the two people he should have given his life to protect.
Armand was shouting at him, and Mama, Mama was calling to him—but that couldn’t be real, Mama wasn’t there.She can’t save you this time, ol’ son, maybe that crazy bitch stole your mind as certainly as she’s taken your heart, he thought.
His heart. He looked at Stormy, at Lynx, and moved to them, the familiar numbness, the pervasive cold, none of it stopped him from recognizing the weighty presence of death stepping into the house.
A terrible force hit her, slamming her into the grimy hardwood floor. Her head bounced against the unyielding surface, rendering her incapable of movement, scrambling her thoughts as an undertow of darkness swept over her. A terrible weight crushed her chest, a fiery pain radiating from her abdomen. She couldn’t breathe, she couldn’t…
The currents of darkness pulled her further and further from her body’s crisis, beckoning her to just let go.
Sleep. A promise of peace lay within the dark entreaty, but a promise of something more compelled her toward the surface of her consciousness. Weight lifted from her chest and she inhaled deeply, filling her lungs. She repeated the process over and over again.
A hand pressed against the side of her face and she opened her eyes. Lucas knelt beside her, and the panic in his gaze nearly stopped her breath again. She reached for him, and the pain burst through the nebula of peace the darkness had provided.
