Violence (Antihero Inferno #3) - Lily White Page 0,102
chase. And when they catch her, she won’t return to this cabin the same person.
Ivy can take care of herself. She’s a strong girl. But not even she is strong enough to endure whatever it is they do to people in the woods.
“Ivy, seriously, turn around and come with me.”
“I can’t do that,” she argues, and I’m about two seconds away from hitting her over the head, knocking her out, and dragging her inside since I’m the only rational person standing on this porch.
Only a crazy person would attempt to run. It’s the same thing as being faced down by a pack of wild dogs. You run, they chase, because you’re making it fun for them.
“Why?”
Glancing around at the men still standing with their torches and devil masks, Ivy blinks at me once before saying, “Because I’m running.”
She takes off before I can grab her, all of the Inferno turning their heads in some coordinated, creepy ass slow motion, to follow the direction she takes. My pulse becomes a staccato rhythm in my throat, my palms sweaty and my legs weak.
One of them lifts that damn horn they always have that’s like something out of the Viking era, and when the haunting sound of it fills the air, I tremble in place.
Where do you even get a horn like that? This entire thing is bullshit.
I know what’s next. After the horn blows, they take off, and I turn to face them, waiting for that exact thing.
Except...they’re not running. Not one of them so much as twitches to take off in Ivy’s direction.
Instead, all those creepy masks turn back my direction, and I damn near collapse right in front of them.
Noooooooo…
This isn’t happening.
There’s no possible way they’ll come after me instead of Ivy.
Unless...that’s exactly what they were planning all this time.
Nope.
Fuck this shit.
I am not playing this game.
Not today, Satan.
I lunge for the door as they all run my direction, dirt kicking up around their legs when I glance back and turn the knob, practically falling into the house before I shut the door and throw the lock.
A heavy body slams against the wood right at that second, hard enough to rattle the frame before I see his shadow run off the side of the porch, while the rest -
Where the hell are the rest of them?
I press my back against the door and fight to swallow.
They’re surrounding the cabin, and I have no clue if they’ll find a way to get in.
Okay. I need to take a breath and think rationally.
We’ve kept this place locked up, and I’m sure if any of them still manage to get in, I’ll hear them coming.
Lights.
I need to turn on lights.
But then again, that’ll show them exactly where I am.
No lights.
Fuck!
I’m back to rationalizing.
I have never asked the Inferno for a favor, which means I have never failed to pay a price. They have no reason to run a gauntlet on me.
Unless you count what I did to the twins at the end of high school that led to both of them going to jail and me to the hospital.
The Inferno does, in fact, have a bone to pick with me, and for that reason, I need to hide.
I haul ass into the living room with every intention of reaching the stairs to run up to my bedroom.
It doesn’t happen, not when I’m grabbed around my waist by a pair of arms that lift me off my feet and slam my back against what feels like a brick wall.
Kicking doesn’t help free me, and the only thing the scream tearing from my throat manages to do is make Ezra laugh.
And yes, without seeing him, without hearing him - without anything - I know it’s Ezra.
My body reacts to him, my heart stuttering as both misery and relief flood my veins.
The mix is toxic, it’s wrong, it’s tearing me in half as he flips me around to toss over his shoulder and runs me upstairs.
Still, I fight, my feet kicking and my fists banging on his back. He gains control of my legs by wrapping an arm over the backs of my thighs, my body bouncing over his shoulder with every powerful step.
I’m not even sure how he can see where he’s going because it’s pure darkness in the hall, but eventually he shoves through the door to one of the guest rooms and slams it closed behind us.
“Let me go,” I demand, but that’s only met with more laughter.