I hear gunshots going off. Her four men drop to the floor, while we are all still standing. Sully flings his body at me, and I catch him, squeezing him until I feel his warmth seeping inside me. The pounding I’m feeling isn’t coming from his heaving chest, but mine. I take off my mask. His honey-peach scent invades my lungs, and I breathe it in eagerly.
That’s why I see her knife coming at us too late, and I spin our bodies to protect Sully and take the hit. I hear another gunshot, and then I see Gabriel tossing two knives in quick succession.
Ramiel’s pistol is still fuming; his bullet knocked Nine’s blade off its intended trajectory and is now sliding on the floor.
“Hell of a shot,” I tell him.
“I was aiming for her head,” Ramiel jokes—I think.
I tighten my hold on Sully’s shivering body and push his head against my neck, so fucking relieved he is in my arms again. Safe and mine.
I hear Raguel letting out an enraged, guttural sound and then her shriek of agony. Sully climbs my body, and without letting him go, I turn around.
Nine looks like a bug pinned on a board.
A broken piece of wood is sticking out of her leg, immobilizing it against the wall—that must be Raguel’s work. Gabriel’s knives have impaled her palm and forearm over her head, Raphael’s axe the other hand near her side.
What a fucking sight. She more than fucking deserves this. But it’s not quite enough.
Michael suddenly takes Raphael’s gun and shoots her in the unharmed leg, making her scream with fury.
“For trying to kill my husband and me!” he whispers angrily, passing the weapon to Oliver.
He shoots her shoulder. “For my brother and my husband, you fucking bitch.”
Lori grabs his fiancé’s knife and tosses it at her belly. She gasps and spits blood. “For all the innocent victims of your drug.”
Hunter shakes his head, not accepting the gun next. “I took too many lives today as it is.”
“And that’s why you are my Papa Bear.” Ramiel squeezes his hand.
“You are a nobody. Nobody!” Nine’s body is shaking, still immobilized against the wall, bleeding continuously from the multiple wounds. Her eyes are wide, flickering around us. There’s no fear, just incredulity.
“I’m smarter than you, I’m stronger, you can’t beat me! You can’t!” She sounds desperate.
“Maybe not alone. But together we did,” Gabriel deadpans.
“No. I know you. I know all of you. All your disgusting weaknesses and perverted secrets. You aren’t good enough!” she yells, hitting the back of her head against the wall.
“Your ego is what brought you down,” Raphael says coldly.
Ramiel nods in agreement. “We baited you, and you fell for it. Iletyou hack into Serena, and when you did I hacked into you. You followed a fake signal of our trackers, while we were actually already here.” He sounds very proud of himself, and he should be.
“We got you, bitch,” Oliver grunts.
I keep Sully against me, not letting him see anything. He doesn’t need to add to his nightmares.
She suddenly laughs like a deranged maniac, her face has turned pale. “I made you better. You improved because of me, thanks to me.” Her eyes are looking at us with a crazy light in them. “We were made the same! The same!”
“Wrong,” Linda declares moving inside the room.
“Killing and torturing.” Nine spits blood. It coats her teeth when she smiles. “Without a smidge of remorse, enjoying every single second of it.”
“Maybe. But what they do protects and helps others—even though sometimes they do color outside the lines. While you are just…evil. Fucking. Trash,” Linda hisses.
“Ahhhh! No,” Nine sobs. “We are the same. I can guide you. Can’t you see? I can!” She is thrashing now, pulling at the knives, her lips over her teeth as she screams. She is a fucking lunatic.
“Fuck this!” Uriel suddenly closes the distance, raises his knife in the air and stabs her in the chest before slicing it open. “Your world ends not with a bang, but with a small, tiny whimper,” he whispers darkly before making space for Raguel.
