Inferno (Page 71)

Cassie leapt on her, driving her back to the ground. The woman howled, trying to claw at Cassie, but unable to reach her. There was a time when Cassie’s guilt over killing something, even if it was a monster, would have made her hesitate, may have even cost her her life. But those days were gone. There was no hesitation, there was no remorse anymore. She needed to do what had to be done, she had people to protect, she had Devon to think of now. Without her, he was nothing. Without him, she was nothing. Neither of their lives could be lost. And no matter the fact that this creature had once been a woman, she may have even had a family, Cassie did not hesitate.

She drove the stake into the woman’s back, plunging deep. Bone shattered, the woman screamed an inhuman mewling sound that caused Cassie to recoil slightly. Though there was a tug of pity for the poor creature, she did not regret it. She had done what needed to be done. This may have been a woman at one time, but she wasn’t any longer, and if she was allowed to run free the destruction she would cause to innocents would be on Cassie’s hands.

Cassie jumped to her feet, spinning quickly, knowing that she could not let her defenses down for a moment. Though bodies were strewn about, the battle was still in full swing. She jumped forward as another creature leapt onto Devon. They seemed determined to take him down. They must have sensed his power, must have felt him to be their biggest conquest that they wanted to destroy. Panic tore through her, she could not lose him. She would not lose him.

Arms suddenly wrapped around her. A strangled cry of surprise escaped her as the arms squeezed tight, knocking the breath out of her. Cassie gasped for air as she struggled against the iron hold crushing her against a hard chest. She kicked back, her legs flailing but coming up against nothing as whoever held her braced their legs apart.

“I’m going to enjoy this.”

Terror and hatred tore through her as she recognized Robert’s voice. She kicked back hard and swung her head back, she came up with nothing as he moved swiftly out of her way. She was preparing for a different method of attack, when she felt it. Whatever breath she had left rushed out of her as the stabbing pain tore through the center of her stomach, just beneath her rib cage. She choked hard, trying to get some air into her lungs but receiving none as the fiery pain tore through her.

“Robert no!” Zane bellowed.

Cassie was briefly confused by his command. Didn’t Zane want this? Weren’t they going to turn on them anyway? And just what had Robert done to her?

A rush of something warm and liquid against her skin suddenly punctured through the pain. She glanced down, her mouth gaping, her eyes widening as she stared in horror at exactly what it was that Robert had done. A silver dagger handle jutted out from her belly, the warm rush of liquid she had felt was her own blood pulsating out from the wound.

Terror tore through her, her pain was forgotten as the struggle for her life was renewed. “Such a little fighter,” Robert purred. Then, to her utter disgust and horror, he leaned forward to brush a kiss against her cheek; his tongue flickered lightly over her skin. Though he had just stabbed her, this was a far worse atrocity as she shrank away from his hideous touch. He chuckled softly in her ear, running his tongue over it. “Oh what I would have loved to have done to you, what I would have loved to make my brother watch me do to you. But, just in case I never got that opportunity, I took this one.”

Cassie grasped hold of the handle of the knife, trying to pull it free, but failing miserably as his one hand still remained tightly locked upon it. Her hands clenched tight, trying to keep her blood in, trying to keep her life from pulsating rapidly out of her. Robert spun suddenly with her in his arms. Her legs spun out from under her, and a new wave of fiery pain scorched through her entire body. The pain left her numbed, immobile as it took fierce hold of her.

“Look up!” Robert hissed in her ear. Cassie couldn’t look anywhere but at the hideous knife causing so much agony inside of her. She could not look at anything except for the hated weapon protruding from her skin. “Look up!”

At this command, Robert shook her roughly, causing more pain to rip through her. She gasped, her head snapped up as tears filled her eyes. She would do anything to make the pain stop, anything to make it better. Then she realized exactly what it was that he had wanted her to see, and she knew instantly that she would have taken the pain a thousand times over rather than have listened to him.

Her gaze locked instantly on Devon’s fiery red one. He had frozen amongst the fray, oblivious to the battle that continued to rage around him. Hopelessness, loss, and longing tore through her as she fully realized that she would not be walking away from this. That there would be no escaping this time. That Robert was going to kill her.

Devon’s eyes flickered briefly, their beautiful emerald green shone through as love blazed fiercely from them. Tears, that had nothing to do with her pain, spilled down her face. “Don’t worry; you’ll see my brother again, in hell,” Robert whispered in her ear before kissing her roughly again.

Cassie gasped; her body bucked wildly as Robert ripped the knife upward, breaking into the bones of her ribcage, tearing it through organs and skin, before pulling it roughly free. A gurgled scream of pain ripped from her, her hands clawed at her gouged chest, uselessly trying to close the gaping, spurting wound. Robert shoved her roughly away.

Cassie stumbled before falling to her knees and slipping soundlessly forward. This was it, this was the end, and though she had always known that it would come at a young age, she hadn’t expected it to be this young. All she wanted now was more time with Devon. She wished that she could have been there for him, and her friends, they would not take well to this. Emotional pain swamped her, burying the physical agony beneath the wave of loss that consumed her.

Devon’s roar of fury filled the air. She managed to turn her head enough to see him amongst the creatures. Though he tried to get free enough to reach her, they had taken his hesitation, his moment of inaction, as an excuse to pounce upon him. She caught one more glimpse of him, his eyes were more than on fire they were pure molten lava as rage grasped hold of him, burying him within its tight grip of insanity.

She suddenly understood why Zane had yelled at Robert, why Zane had not wanted her to be killed just yet. They didn’t want her down until they at least had Devon under control in some way.

But now… Well now, he was going to kill them all. Including her friends.

The thought caused her to tremble, but she could not move as weakness seeped into her muscles, as her life poured out of her veins. She could feel her life draining from her, pulsing out in endless waves of her warm, necessary blood.