And she was.
She had slit two throats before the other two noticed her.
They turned, and she fell with her most recent victim, her arm wrapped around his throat, using him as a shield as they raised their weapons and fired. My heart caught as they fired on her, but they only hit the dead man, Ember dropping her knife and grabbing the gun from her ‘shield’ that he had dropped, quickly firing twice, one bullet for each of their heads.
They fell, and she dropped the shield, pushing him away and grabbing guns on the floor, turning her back to the wall next to the door. Even though she was still in shadow, I could see the guns in both of her hands as she stopped, her chest heaving. Her cover was blown. If anyone were downstairs, they would know that someone had fired inside this room, because both men had fallen backward, outside the door.
The silence extended for so long, my ears stopped ringing, and I watched Ember slide down the wall and pick up a dead man’s arm, waving it out into the light, just barely. A single shot fired, and the man’s hand blew off. Ember grunted deep and loud, sounding pretty fucking manly, and slamming a foot against the wall, making a hard thumping sound before twirling away from the spot.
I didn’t understand for a moment as she darted across the room, hiding behind the desk opposite us. But I finally got it. She was luring the—evidently—lone man left into the room.
He came to his own execution.
He dove inside, his body automatically turning to where she had made the racket, and Ember fired, her shot as true as before, half his head gone.
Again, silence.
Patiently, she waited.
Time passed, and I began to seriously doubt there was anyone left. Nothing was moving outside those doors. It sounded like the tomb it now was. My eyes darted to where Ember was hiding. She was one scary motherfucker. I had known that before, but this was a different side of her. The physical, lethal one, she rarely ever showed anyone but Grigori.
Abruptly, the sound of two cars pulled up.
Jesus. Could it seriously get any fucking worse?
The sound of slamming doors could be heard outside since the front doors had to still be open, then there was nothing for a few minutes as we waited in silence.
“Ember?” Zane shouted into the quiet from what sounded like outside. “Stash called. Don’t shoot.”
Ember slowly stood from the deep shadows she had been hiding in, gun aimed at the door. Still, I could only make out her silhouette as she stated loudly, “Be careful. I’m not positive I got all of them. One at a time in through the front door. Turn to the right.”
Unexpectedly, a man popped around the doorframe, and Ember shot him immediately in the head, but he had also fired simultaneously. Ember’s body slammed back against shelves, a shout erupted from her. Her arms dropped, and she slid down the shelving back into the shadows.
“Fuck!” Zane shouted from outside.
I didn’t hear anything for a second, my gaze darting back and forth between the door and the shadows, wishing Ember would pop the fuck back up. But she didn’t. Not even when Zane raced into the dark room, his hands fumbling for the light switch, but he kept stumbling over the dead bodies. I visibly saw him shiver before stopping in his tracks and breathe deeply, going slower until he found the button on the wall without falling.
Light slammed into my eyes, and I blinked at him, that movement even hurting, seeing his startled face as he saw all of us just sitting there peacefully and silently, as he stood in a mass of dead bodies. Instinct had him raising his weapon. He muttered, “What the fuck?” He yanked his gun up as other members of Lion Security entered the room. He shouted, “Ember?” His gaze was confused as hell, his eyes scanning everywhere.
None of us could tell him that Ember had fallen behind the desk. I couldn’t see her from here, and I doubted anyone else could either. Zane ordered Cole, who stopped next to him, “Start searching for her.” Then he ran over to Daniil. “What the fuck’s going on?”
Daniil stared up at him, managing to say, “Ember…desk.”
Zane stilled, staring down at him. He had to be confused as fuck.
Daniil gasped, “Desk!”
“Okay. Okay.” Zane holstered his weapon and turned toward Cole who had ordered everyone back out of the room to search the house. “Check the desk.”
He blinked at him before nodding, staring wide-eyed at the people sitting calmly on the couches, more than a little dazed before he moved over to the desk, stopping in his tracks. “Jesus fucking Christ. Oh, shit. Oh, shit. Oh, shit.” He was shaking his head, staring behind the desk, stepping back from it, tripping over the assassin’s corpse on the floor.
My heart plummeted.
No. She couldn’t be dead.
No. No fucking way. Not Ember.
I felt tears well in my eyes, and I made myself blink them away, so I could fucking see.
