"Are you ready to leave, miss—"
A sucker punch to the mouth shut him up. As he lurched back, I hit him again, this time across the temple, and he went limp. I grabbed onto him before he hit the ground and gave us away, hoping I’d hit him hard enough to buy me at least half an hour.
Dragging him back inside, I turned him on his side so he didn't choke on vomit or anything. Sometimes the knockout blow would mess with them in other ways. As an after-thought, though, I tied his hands and feet in case he woke up early.
When I was done, I gave myself a few seconds to check I had everything in place, removed the weapon from the driver—it was only a baton, but I could do some damage with that—and then left the place, hopefully never to see it again. Screw waiting around like a damsel in distress. I saw my opportunity for escape and I was taking it.
Just as I stepped onto the main street, where the black town car idled at the curb, a distant explosion lit up the sky and echoed a boom. I wasn't close enough to feel any effects, but on instinct I hit the ground, just in case anything came flying this way.
Chaos ensued. Screams, sirens, shouts, gunfire, helicopters. You name the fucking noise, and it was happening in a cacophony of stimuli. No one seemed to notice me standing near the front entrance to my building, and since this was clearly the event Rafe had been talking about, it was time to act now.
Only problem was I had no idea where to go. Rafe knew full well I wouldn’t stay put like a princess in a tower, so he should have given me a better plan. One day soon my prickly prince and I would have a long conversation about his attitude, and hopefully, things would change after that.
We just all had to survive to have that chat.
Deciding that getting away from my apartment was step one—if Uriel survived, he would come straight for me there. Sure, it’d make it harder for Rafe to find me, but that was preferable to Uriel finding me. Logically, I should have just gotten into the idling car and waited for Rafe there. But a reckless, impulsive part of me was itching to get to Jordan. So, I moved along the path, keeping my head down. The baton I'd stolen was in a loop on my belt, not hidden but also not in my hands.
A decision I greatly regretted when someone slammed into me, knocking me off my feet and into a shop front. It was glass, and the way it cracked under my shoulder told me I was about to go through it. I dropped to the sidewalk and rolled, ignoring the small scrapes from the rough ground below, needing to get away from my assailant.
Heavy hands lifted me, and Brandon's face came into view. No mask this time, so his hatred was on display clear as anything. "Told you I'd see you again, you piece of shit."
Not even remotely distracted by his threat, I allowed my mind to sink into robot mode, and in two hard strikes, I had crushed both of his hands, forcing him to drop me. I landed gracefully while he snarled and bellowed.
"If you think I'm leaving you alive this time, you're mistaken," I said, striking him again, this time right in the sternum.
He gasped, his face going red, and in desperation he charged at me. I sidestepped, but he threw an arm out, sending us both through the glass window I'd been hoping to avoid.
Thankfully, I managed to turn enough that he went down first. I didn’t escape unharmed, the glass slicing my clothing in several places, but I was pretty sure it missed all the important parts—everything still moved as I lifted my body to swing my elbow into Brandon's face. His jaw cracked under my hit, and he howled in pain, even as his hands were scrambling on the ground trying to find some glass to cut me with.
"Violet!"
Rafe's shout distracted me, and I nearly ended up with a cut carotid. Luckily, I was still eighty percent focused, and that was enough to avoid Brandon's strike. I rolled off him, getting plenty more cuts in the process. Rafe stormed over the threshold, his boots crunching in all the glass, but I didn't give him the chance to play hero this time.
In one quick movement, I slammed my boot into Brandon's temple, and when he stopped moving, I snapped his neck with a sharp kick. It took me about three seconds to end the life of someone who had tormented and almost killed me.
Rafe remained where he was, glittering eyes staring into my soul. "Stop it," I said roughly, trying to compartmentalize the fact that I'd just killed someone. Even if he’d deserved it.
Some days, I was exactly the person Uriel had trained me to be.
A fact that should scare everyone.
"Come on," he said, dismissing the lifeless body of Brandon Shithead Morgan at our feet, "we need to get out of here before things get violent."
I arched a brow at him, and he gave a one-shoulder shrug.
"More violent," he amended. "The core Society wants to clean house. This camp will run red before the day is over."
"We need to get Jordan out," I told him, already racing in the direction of the prison cells. I had to just cross my fingers and hope that he'd still be there. Rafe didn't argue, following close behind me and ruthlessly helping me dispatch the guards we found on the cell block.
I was no slouch on my own, but with Rafe at my side, we were unstoppable. Moments later, we had taken out all the guards in the area and I'd lifted the access cards and keys from one of the unconscious men.
Unconscious or dead. I didn't stop to check his pulse.
"This way," I told Rafe, leading him back through the corridors to where I'd found Jordan previously. The other prisoners were in an uproar, banging on their doors and hollering at us to let them out. I wanted to unlock every single door in there, but Jordan was my priority. I'd never forgive myself if we lost him because we wasted time letting strangers out of their cells.
Jordan's cell was silent, and a chill of dread ran through me, making my hands shake as I tried to find the right key.
"I've got it," Rafe said in a quiet voice, taking the keys from my trembling fingers and quickly cycling through them until the door gave a satisfying click as the lock disengaged. He held out a hand to stop me when I tried to rush past him, but I just shoved him aside and ducked through the doorway.
