Iniquitous (The Marked #3)(31)

Screams broke out behind us as the human girls ran for cover. Feet and furniture scurried and screeched as Engel’s men moved in on Dominic. All of it barely registered though. All I could focus on was drawing as much blood from Arianna’s face as possible. Someone had to pay for this and it might as well have been her.

Arms came around me from behind, yanking me back from my target. Spinning in a haze of vengeance, I turned my attack on Anita, knocking her several feet back from me. She smacked her butt onto the floor and bounced, her red locks falling in messy piles in front of her eyes.

She was back on her feet in a blink, and I dove at her again, knocking her head back as I wailed on her face. There was no way I was ever going to get out of this place now, but I was going to take as many of them down with me as I could.

“Rusum versum,” said Anita, and suddenly, without her touching me, I was flying backwards through the air.

I landed on the floor with a thud, cracking my head back against the hard tile.

“Ortum flammae,” shouted Annabelle from the other side of the room.

Flames shot up around me, flexing and stretching towards the ceiling, licking at my skin and caging me in like a wild animal. Covering my face, I tried to jump through the flames, but the flaming prison moved right along with me. After several failed attempts, I stopped, forced to give up at the sickening smell of my own burning flesh.

My eyes scanned the room for Dominic, praying he had fared better than I had. My heart seized as I spotted him on the other side of the room—on the ground, covering his face as a stampede of Rev’s kicked his motionless body.

“Dominic!”

Engel stood up calmly as though all hell hadn’t just broken loose in his great hall. “That’s enough,” he said to his men.

One by one, they stepped back from Dominic, though they didn’t move very far. They were ready to give him another round if he dared move an inch.

“On your feet,” ordered Engel as he walked by Arianna who was having her wounds checked by Anita and Annabelle.

Baldy leaned down and grabbed Dominic’s arm, pulling him up to his feet. Engel was closing in on him and I knew what was coming. I’d already watched him decapitate Damon with no more effort that an arm swipe for a lot less than what Dominic had done.

“Any last words?”

“I can explain,” said Dominic, holding his hand out to halt him.

“This should be good.” His lips were pressed in a thin, white line. “You have ten seconds.”

I swallowed the vomit rising at the back of my throat.

“I did it to help you, boss,” said Dominic, shaking his other arm loose from Baldy. “As a backup.”

“A backup?”

“My Anakim bloodlines are stronger than yours. When I saw the bond wasn’t working, I thought it best to give it a try myself. For you.” It was a lie meant to save our asses.

Engel paused for a moment, thinking it over. “I don’t believe you. Kill him,” he said, ticking his chin at Baldy.

“No!” I screamed and immediately tried fighting my way through the flames. As painful as moving was, I managed to get close enough to one of the sisters to pull her into the flaming pit with me.

“I swear to God, I will burn her alive,” I said, squeezing the back of Arianna’s neck as I bobbed her head in and out of the fire.

“Flammae descensum,” said Annabelle, and the flames immediately died down around me.

“Well done, child,” smiled Engel, calmly walking towards me as four of his men surrounded me and my hostage. “You have a lot more grit than I’ve given you credit for.”

“Let him go, or I’ll snap her neck right here.”

There was a beat of silence that seemed to go on for an eternity.

“All this to protect him?” asked Engel, visibly perplexed by it. “A vampire?”

I didn’t answer. He was trying to dig out information, to unravel my insides and use them against me.

“Let him go.”

“And if I do?” he asked, standing dangerously close to me. “What will I get in return?”

“I’m not giving you the Amulet. I’ll die before I ever hand it over to you.”

“Yes, it certainly looks as though it’s going to be that way, doesn’t it?” He glanced back at the red-head.

“We don’t need it,” said Anita, her green eyes glowering at me. “We can do the ritual with the Amulet around her neck. There’s a chance she might burn alive, but I think that’s a win-win for everyone.”

Shit.

Shit!

“Venite, sorore!” shouted Annabelle, her palms face up and splayed in the air.

Arianna’s body yanked free from my grip and skidded across the room to her waiting sisters. As much as I hated them, as much as I wanted to gouge their eyes out of their heads, I was impressed. They had some serious magic in them.

Glancing left, I grabbed the Rev beside me by his larynx and spun him into me to take her place.

“Go right ahead,” said Engel. “He’s replaceable.”

Stupid dime-a-dozen Revs!

I snapped the Rev’s neck and let him fall to the ground at my feet. There was no point in carrying around a hostage that no one cared to save. Snapping his neck wouldn’t kill him, but he’d be out for a while and that was better than nothing.