Thicker Than Blood (Thicker Than Blood #1)(106)
E stared at me a moment longer, watching me intently through those black eyes of his, eyes that held so much and yet seemed so empty. His features were hard, his lips pressed tightly into a thin line, and suddenly time seemed to stop altogether. No heat from the sun touched on my skin, no breeze moved through my hair, even Leisel’s cries had grown quiet. There was just E, myself, and the soft hum from the electric gates reminding me that that I wouldn’t be leaving this prison, not ever. Trapped forever in Purgatory.
Releasing my face, he turned away, then put his fingers to his mouth and whistled loudly. From a ways off, a man appeared from behind a small platform near the gate. Waving to E, he nodded and once again disappeared from view. All at once, the fence’s humming ceased.
“Put them in the Jeep,” E ordered his men. He turned to Leisel and gave her a sickeningly sweet smile. “You need to hurry on out of here,” he told her. “Before anyone gets wind that the gates have been shut down.”
“Fuck you,” she hissed, struggling against the man dragging her. “I will kill you, I will find a way to kill you, you monster!”
As she was shoved roughly into the driver’s seat and Alex the passenger seat, E only laughed at her, turning away from her shouts with a dismissive, sickening smile. The doors were slammed closed, then a set of keys was tossed over the open roof and into Leisel’s lap.
“Start it!” one of the men demanded, aiming his gun through the window at Leisel’s head. Turning away, she did as she was instructed, and the vehicle roared to life with a healthy rumble.
Slumping back in his seat, Alex attempted picking his head up, his one good eye focusing on me. Placing his hand up against the window, he mouthed the words I’m sorry at me.
Nodding, I squeezed my eyes shut, willing my gathering tears not to fall. I took a deep breath and reopened them only to find E staring down at me, his upper lip raised in angry snarl. Grumbling something incoherent, he spun away from me and stalked toward the Jeep. As he gripped the knife he had strapped to his belt, a flash of steel glinting off the sun as he drew it out, I realized what was happening. Screaming at the top of my lungs, I rushed him.
“No!” I screamed, throwing myself at his back, wrapping my hands around his neck, my legs around his waist, trying to force him to stop.
With an angry grunt, E grabbed my arm, yanking me off of him. He threw me down on the ground, making my head hit painfully against the gravel, then wrapped his hand around my throat, pinning me in place.
“What did I say?” he growled menacingly. “What did I f*cking tell you?”
Nodding to one of his men, he tossed the knife up in the air. It flew, handle over blade, the short distance between the men, and the man caught it easily. Watching as the man headed toward the Jeep, I gasped for air, finding it hard to breathe, let alone speak with how tightly E had a grip on my throat.
“N-no,” I rasped. “Please… He’s not…mine.”
E’s grip on my throat loosened some. “What?” he shouted, his black eyes opening wide. His face was an angry shade of red, his nostrils flaring wildly as his features contorted with fury, and I wondered if I hadn’t just made things that much worse.
“He’s not mine!” I screamed hoarsely, watching as the man yanked open the passenger door, caught Alex before he could tumble to the ground, and shoved him back upright. “We’re not together, E! We never were!”
The man thrust his hand forward, sending the blade into Alex’s side. Howling in pain, blood spraying from the wound as the man pulled the blade free, Alex slumped to his side just as Leisel began to scream.
Using his hold on my throat, E pulled me to my feet and glared down at me. His chest heaving, he brought us nose to nose. “You were never with him?” he whispered darkly. “Never?”
Trembling with rage, I shook my head back and forth quickly. “Never,” I hissed. “He loves Leisel, you disgusting f*ck!”
“Get them out of here!” E bellowed to his men, jerking his chin toward the Jeep. The same man who’d stabbed Alex slammed the passenger door closed, and E turned back to me. “I’ll deal with you later,” he said, his expression promising nothing but pain.
The thought of Leisel out there unprotected, of Alex injured and possibly dying, and me stuck behind this fence with this madman, spurred me into action. I couldn’t stay here, not with him, not without Leisel. Panic and pain driving me, I found myself reaching blindly for the gun holstered at E’s hip. Yanking it free, startling him enough to loosen his grip on me, I scrambled backward, firing instantly, aiming for E’s heart, his head, anything that would hurt him and stop this madness.
The first shot went wide, my panic enabling E to duck and dodge sideways, and he made a run for one of the broken vehicles. I kept shooting, shooting in all directions, causing his men to scatter.
Shouting sounded all around me as bullets cracked through the air, the noise and chaos bound to alert the rest of the camp that something was wrong. Knowing Leisel and I wouldn’t be able to fight off the entire camp, I ducked and ran for the Jeep, throwing open Leisel’s door as she scrambled out of my way and into the backseat. Pulling the door shut behind me, I slammed my foot down on the gas, and in a flurry of spinning tires and flying gravel, we shot off across the parking lot.
“Turn the gates back on!” E’s angry voice bellowed.