The Isle Of Sin And Shadows - Keri Lake Page 0,183

arch.

The crowd beyond shifts, as if restless. My view blurs and widens, dizziness sweeping over me, and I shake my head.

I aim my gun just to the left of them and shoot out the mid-section of the post.

One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six. Seven. Eight bullets fired in rapid succession. I empty the cartridge and toss the weapon aside, swapping to the second gun to fire two more shots. The crowd backs further into the room, not seeming to realize what I’ve done until the beam finally buckles, cracking like a bent twig. Screams echo around the sound of wood and rubble collapsing, trapping them behind a mound of fallen debris.

It’s almost incredulous, the way the archway comes down, the walls at either side crumbling along with it, up to the next archway that, somehow, holds steady. Solid. Defying calculations of physics that I can’t begin to understand.

Deux ex fucking machina.

The three other archways keep the chamber from caving in on top of the three of us standing in the middle of it. A cloud of dust floats on the air, and when the last splinter of wood falls to the pile of debris, I notice half of Jo’s legs, from the knees down, sticking out from amid the mess.

“Looks like it’s just the two of us. And her.” Adolph presses his cheek to Céleste’s, his forehead too damn close to hers.

It’s then I catch the twitch of her hand that’s hidden from him, where it rests against the table.

In my stupor, I watch her stir out of her drugged haze. Her eyes flutter open to a half-lidded gaze that slices to the side, where his arm comes around her neck, holding the blade loosely at her throat. Pressing her lips together, she breathes through flared nostrils, as if trying to keep from rousing Adolph’s attention.

When I raise my arm, the trembling of my left hand has me clenching my teeth in frustration. Their two heads become four, and I double blink to focus. The shock and blood loss from my bullet wounds must be settling over me. As if sensing my struggle, Adolph chuckles, and a long, almost serpentine tongue slips from between his lips and licks Céleste’s cheek.

Lips curled in disgust, she clamps her eyes, but when she opens them again, they’re wider than before, as if lucidity is settling over her. Through a blur, I watch as the realization dawns on her face.

“I have a joke for you,” I say, stumbling back a step, willing a steady hand.

The smile on the crafty prick’s face skates down my nerves, urging me to end him. Now.

“Shoot. Don’t even think. Just shoot,” my father’s voice echoes inside my head.

“I never told you,” he says, in a taunting voice. “Your mother tasted delicious, too. I think of that night fondly.”

Rage explodes inside of me. I aim my gun at his forehead. “What do you call a priest with a hole in his head?”

Not a breath later, Céleste weakly throws up her arms. She knocks the blade out of his hand, and falls to the side, tumbling over the edge of the table.

Without hesitation, I fire a bullet through his cheek. “A dead man,” I say, finishing the joke.

A hoarse moan echoes through the chamber, as I hobble toward him and drop to my knees at his side. Mouth gaping in shock, he holds a trembling hand to his cheek, where blood oozes from the hole I put there.

I slam my palm against his throat and squeeze. Hard. So hard, the pressure affects the blood in his cheek, spilling out in angry pulses.

He flails his limbs in a poor effort to fight me. Takes hold of my arm to push me away. It’s no use. All I see is red. Choking and gasping, he claws at my arm.

I draw back a fist and hammer a punch to his wounded cheek. Over and over. Blood coats my knuckles and splashes up onto my face. Punch after punch, all the rage inside of me goads every violent drive of my fist until his face swells.

He stills beneath me.

A flicker pulls my gaze toward a candle he must’ve knocked over on the way to the floor, its flame quickly catching on the book beside it and lighting the old parchment like kindling. The flame catches on other nearby books and the robe of the now dead priest.

I push off Adolph and reach for Céleste with my good arm, just now noticing the blood on her