“Scorpion!” I bellowed.
His body wrenched, jumping awake. He sat up with a sharp inhale, startling the person in the cot on the other side of the room, but it was his hazel irises I concentrated on.
“What’s wrong?” He scrambled out of the bed, sensing my terror.
A gunshot zinged by me, and we were back outside, Scorpion’s eyes growing wide as he looked around, taking in our situation. “Holy shit!” he hissed through his teeth, standing in nothing but his briefs.
“Fasz,” Warwick grumbled, reloading his gun with the last of his ammunition, his eyes flicking to Scorpion before pointing his weapon at the enemy. “I think I liked it better when I couldn’t see your boyfriends, Kovacs.”
“We need help—” A bullet from high above whizzed through Scorpion’s phantom, cutting the link. My eyes darted up to where it came from, up high in the church tower window, the glass long gone.
A cry jerked my head back, seeing the bullet had found a target.
Luk’s body spasmed, his hand going to his stomach before his body collapsed to the ground.
“Luk! No!” The shriek barely left my lips when another shot cracked through the air from the same direction, hitting the person next to Luk. With the precision of a marksman, the bullet went right between her eyes.
A scream howled in my lungs, never making it out as I watched Ava’s body go still, her eyes wide open, her mind and body still not understanding... she was dead. The dark spot in the middle of her forehead barely bled, but it stained my memory as her figure tipped over, thumping to the ground. She stared lifelessly up at the stars, her eyes still wide and in shock.
“No!” Tracker bellowed. He crawled over to her, his pitch high and full of torment. “Ava!”
My head whipped up to where the shots were coming from, my lids narrowing, trying to find the culprit, but I couldn’t make out anything in the window except a dark form. It was clear they had a sniper taking us down one by one. We were easy prey from above. A fishbowl.
“Wake up, Ava!” Tracker roared again, turning my head back to him. “No! Please... no.” He leaned over her, shaking her, not wanting to believe what we all knew.
Crack!
Tracker’s spine jolted. It was only a second, but time was suspended for a moment. Then he slumped over her body, joining her in permanent darkness.
Crack!
“Kek!” I screamed, watching my blue-haired friend go limp against the barrier she was hiding behind. The demon seemed invincible, the one girl who had befriended me in hell. She had stood up for me, had my back.
I didn’t realize I was moving toward her. “Kovacs!” Warwick yanked me back into him. “You want to be shot down too?”
My eyes snapped back up to the tower. Something shifted in the dark shadows, stepping closer to the window.
As if a hand yanked out my lungs, a gasp tore through them, terror wrapping around my ribs, squeezing down. No. It wasn’t possible. He was dead. I killed him. But death had spat him out too, disliking the foul taste of this man.
Kalaraja stood there brazenly, wanting me to see exactly who had killed my friends. His dark eyes burned into mine with sinister smugness, and I knew it was he who I felt watching when we entered Savage Lands hours earlier. How long had he been tracking me? Staying in the shadows, lying in wait?
He was purposefully killing my group off one by one, letting me watch. He would kill them all... except me. He wanted me. Or his master wanted me. The rest were in his way.
“Warwick! It’s Kalaraja in the tower!”
Before he could even look up, more gunfire went off.
Pop! Pop! Pop!
I waited to feel the bullets sink into my flesh. Watch Ash and Warwick being executed right in front of my eyes, but then I saw some of the soldiers who were coming for us drop. Gunfire came from the side alleys.
In a blink, I was with Scorpion, Maddox, and Birdie, slinking through the alleys. I could see the HDF troops scrambling, trying to react to this new threat, coming at them from the side. More of Sarkis’s army approached from all angles toward HDF, coming to help us.
Tears filled my eyes with gratitude.
“Thank you,” I muttered to Scorpion.
He walked right by my spirit with a wink, murmuring so only I could hear. “Had nothing better to do anyway.”
“They’re here.” Back with Warwick and Ash, my chest heaved with relief. “Scorpion’s here.”
“Who the hell is Scorpion?” Ash questioned.
“Her other, other boyfriend,” Warwick muttered, aiming at our enemy, waiting for one to get close enough. We were all running low on bullets. I was down to one; Ash also had just one round left.
“While they are distracted, you two run for the alley.” Warwick’s tone was an order.
“I’m not leaving you,” I snarled, looking up at the tower. It appeared empty, though I knew he was somewhere in the shadows. Waiting. “And what about them?” I motioned over to the rest of our group.
“It’s too late for them,” Warwick replied.
“You don’t know that!” The thought of leaving Kek or Luk was painful. My brain couldn’t even contemplate the fact she could die. Not like this.
“Ash,” Warwick said his name poignantly.
Ash nodded like they could communicate with only a different tone of voice.
“What are you doing?” I looked between the two men, fear rushing in my veins, slamming my heart against my ribs.
Warwick pointed his gun at the troops moving closer. “Go!”
Ash’s hand grabbed my arm, yanking me out from our hiding spot. Warwick covered us as we darted across the lanes. Blasts rang in my ears, skating over my skin, the iron discharge burning the inside of my nose, the fear of knowing any moment this might be my last.
A bullet hit Ash’s shoulder as we dove behind the old crumbling church, the one Kalaraja was shooting from. He was close... hunting me in the dark.
“Faszom!” Pain seethed through Ash’s teeth as we dove behind the wall. Sweat beaded his brow, his expression twisting in anguish. “Fuck, fae bullets hurt.”
Before our time, I guess bullets were mainly made from lead, but since the fae had become known to live among us, humans switched to iron bullets. Iron was a poison to pure fairies like Killian, and to all other fae, iron still caused a severe amount of damage and pain.
He sucked in, cringing through the discomfort as he pointed his gun back toward the army, covering Warwick.
A noise came from down the alley, icing my veins. I twisted, not seeing anything through the murkiness. There might be a chance it was a rat or stray cat, but my gut screamed with warning.
Kalaraja.
Aiming my gun, a single bullet left in the chamber, my feet slowly inched down the path, worried about the murderer sneaking up behind. Kalaraja would kill everyone I cared about for the sole delight of hurting me. He was a fuckin’ sociopath.
As Ash was distracted by the battle in the opposite direction, I crept away, my weapon aimed and ready to kill. A sound came from an adjacent path, twisting me down it. My pulse thumped in my ears, my boots padding silently, feeling like prey stepping into a trap. But I wasn’t the fragile girl he thought I was. His ego was his weakness, thinking no one was better than he was.
Out of a doorway, a leg kicked out, a boot cracking at my arm. My gun flew from my grip, scattering across the cobble. The figure lurched for me.