Chapter Twenty-Three
“Ramsey!” Dani scrambled to her feet. She had to help him, even if it killed her.
Ramsey pulled the spear from his head and twirled it like a baton. With a wicked smile he turned to Dani. Blood poured from his ear, but there were no extra holes. At least that was a good sign.
Antonio turned in surprise to Angelina. “He has the spear! What should I do?”
“Deal with it and finish him!” Angelina shrieked.
Not if I can help it.
Dani lurched forward to find her path blocked by Angelina. Angelina grabbed Dani’s shoulders, stabbing her nails through Dani’s skin. The sting of pain was paralyzing.
“Let me go! He needs me!”
Angelina’s hair was wild, her eyes red and intent. Her fangs hung from her mouth. “With you out of the way he’ll accept me by his side.”
Dani tried to wrestle away from her, but Angelina was an unmovable object. Angelina gave Dani one hard shake, and it felt as though her head would snap from her neck. The world seemed to spin. Angelina descended on her neck and latched on. Teeth pierced her skin, and Dani cried out. Dani struggled, pushing and kicking. Angelina wouldn’t release her.
Through eyes brimming with tears she watched Ramsey trying to reach her. He swung out. Antonio ducked just in time, and the spear made a noise as it cut through the air less than an inch above his head. When Ramsey started for her Antonio lunged at his feet and Alex jumped on his back and dug into his shoulder with clawed fingernails.
“Vallus!” Ramsey yelled out as blood spewed from wounds. Something was wrong. Ramsey moved sluggishly. He wasn’t the unstoppable fighting machine anymore.
Angelina’s loud slurping brought Dani back to her own problem. Dani cried out as she realized Angelina would drain her dry before Ramsey could help her.
Angelina pulled away from Dani. Blood covered her mouth. Angelina glared at Dani with wide-opened eyes. “What are you?”
Blood spurted down Dani’s neck and shoulder to coat the front of her shirt. She used her hands to apply pressure to the wound. She whimpered as blood pumped fiercely between her fingers. If she couldn’t find a way to stop it she would be dead within minutes.
Angelina wiped her mouth with her forearm. “I had a vision. It was so real!”
Dani staggered back. Dizziness overtook her. She couldn’t focus anymore. Unless there were now two Angelinas, Dani was in trouble. She could not pass out right now. She would be as good as dead.
Angelina grabbed her, clutching her tightly on her arm. “Come with me.”
“No,” Dani wanted to yell, but her voice came out strangled.
Angelina dragged Dani behind her. Dani tried to dig her heels into the ground, but Angelina pulled her like a doll toward the ice tunnel.
A person materialized in front of them.
Vallus.
He waved a finger in front of Angelina. “No, no, she’s not going anywhere with you.”
Angelina pushed Dani away and slammed into Vallus. Dani didn’t stick around for the second fight. She had to get away. There had to be help outside to save Ramsey. Dani stumbled to the tunnel, scrambling inside headfirst. She couldn’t get a grip on the smooth surface, and the blood gushing from her neck made everything slippery. Dani gained three feet before she slid back.
“No. No. No.” She scrambled forward again, trying to find her footing and gain traction. Vallus materialized in the tunnel in front of her.
How the hell does he do that?
“Grab hold of my leg, sweetheart.”
“I’ll figure this out.” She was almost out of breath trying to make her escape. “You go back to help Ramsey.”
“Not my directive. Ramsey wants me to get you to safety.”
She started to slide back again, but reached out and caught his leg.
“Good girl. Hold tight.”
She clasped her other hand around his ankle. “Ready.”
Vallus climbed up the tunnel. His fingers stabbed through the ice, as he clawed his way to freedom. Bits of ice flew past her head as he did. They moved with such speed that Dani couldn’t track how far they’d gotten. Before long Vallus pulled her completely out and helped her to stand in a foot of snow. Dani glanced around. No buildings. No civilization. Nothing but snow. The temperature immediately dropped. It became hard to open her eyes. Ice formed across her eyeballs. Her nose, throat, and lungs burned with each breath she took. The coldness claimed her like a heavy cloak.
Vallus went to her neck and licked her wound. When he finished he spit into the snow, making the white turn red. He scrunched his face and pushed his tongue from his mouth. “Gross.”
Her teeth chattered uncontrollably. “S-s-so I-i-i’ve been t-t-t-told.” She wrapped her shivering arms around herself.
“You’re going to freeze to death. I have to get you out of here.”
She shook her head. “I-i’m s-s-s-safe n-now. G-g-go h-help R-r-r-ramsey.” Cold hurt. Everything hurt. She couldn’t stop the shivering. Her breaths came out in puffs of smoke.
Vallus peered down the hole as if he were thinking about doing as she requested. Then he shook his head. “Ramsey is a big boy. He can take care of himself. He’ll kill me if I leave you out here to die.”
She tried to rub her hands over her skin, but they were too stiff, frozen in place. She wanted to leave. God knew that she did, but Ramsey was down there with three psychopaths, and he hadn’t been winning. “I-I’ll b-be f-fine. I-I’ll g-g-o f-f-find h-h-h-help.” Her jaw began to lock.
The cold didn’t affect Vallus. He wasn’t breaking down like she was. She bent over and tried to make herself as small as possible to contain any heat she had left. The cold still got through, beating her into submission. She let out a small whimper.
“Look around, Dani. You’re in Antarctica. There’s nothing around for hundreds of miles.”
But she couldn’t look around. Her bones were frozen in place.
“R-R-Ramsey?” was all that she could get out.
Vallus watched her with a soft expression. He didn’t know if Ramsey was going to survive either. “He’s made his decision.”
****
Ramsey wanted to rush to Dani, to push Vallus away. But he only trusted one person to keep Dani safe, and it was Vallus. Ramsey tamped down the jealousy that someone was doing what he should’ve been doing—saving Dani—and focused on the problem at hand. Angelina.
Alex mumbled Dani’s name and leaped from Ramsey’s back to make a break for the tunnel. With one swift kick Ramsey dislodged Antonio from his ankles. He was in front of Alex, blocking his path. Alex was fast, but even with the stab wound burning his skin, Ramsey was faster.
Alex crouched low and bared his teeth. Ramsey grabbed a fistful of his hair and swung him to the side. Alex sailed through the air and hit the opposite wall with a crack and fell to the ground with a thud. If Ramsey had used his dominant arm Alex would’ve penetrated the block of ice that made up the cavern walls. But as pain pulsated where the spear had penetrated his shoulder, Ramsey had no other choice but to rely on his left arm. The disabling pain was the thing that made his fight against Angelina and her fledglings a fair fight.
Angelina growled as she watched him from behind one of her chests. Dani’s blood coated her mouth and chin. Her eyes were wild and feral, a direct contrast to the expensive dress she had on. “You’re mine!”
“Is that why you have your fledglings trying to kill me?”
She blinked as if confused, then looked at Antonio, who approached Ramsey with a limping gait. Blood, both his and Ramsey’s, was splattered on Antonio and gushed from a neck wound.
Angelina straightened. Her features softened as she watched Antonio’s valiant attempt to approach Ramsey. “An-Antonio,” she said with concern lacing her voice.
“What about me?” Alex yelled. He turned over to crouch on his hands and knees.
Angelina whipped her head to glare at Alex and growled.
“Angelina, there is no way out of this,” Ramsey told her. “You’ve come after me and mine for the very last time.”
He advanced on her. Every hole in his body made him stagger in pain. It would’ve been nice if Angelina’s weapons were normal, like those of any other respectable psychopath, but the moment he’d glimpsed the spear he’d known that it wasn’t. Ramsey fought past the fire that seemed to grow with each movement he made. He couldn’t have Angelina on the loose. Dani would never be safe from her.
Antonio stepped into Ramsey’s path, looking just as bad as Ramsey felt. He swung wildly through the air with dirty claws. Ramsey dodged out of the way. Antonio stumbled forward into Ramsey’s reach. Ramsey thrust his claws in Antonio’s chest to the sounds of Antonio’s guttural screams. Ramsey twisted his hand, digging out skin and muscle. Antonio pawed at his arm, tearing at him. When Ramsey pulled his hand away, it was filled with pieces of Antonio. With one hard shake of his arm, he dislodged Antonio, who fell to the ground, landing in a sniveling heap. Ramsey flicked his hand, dropping what he held onto Antonio.
“You could make a million fledglings and I would cut through them all to kill you,” Ramsey vowed.
“B-but I love you,” Angelina cried.
Her crocodile tears and pitiful looks meant nothing to him. It was time for her to die. “You don’t know the meaning of love,” he spat. “Even from very beginning, I’d understood your love for me wasn’t genuine. But when you abandoned our girls when they needed you the most, I knew then that you were a monster.”
A low rumble came from her throat. “I do know what love is! I love myself.” She pulled heavy chains from her chest. “I love the life that I have.” She opened her arms, spreading the chains out. It wasn’t one, but many chains intertwined. “And I won’t let your feelings for this human dog get in the way of that.”
Ramsey eyed the weapon that she held. Although the chains looked inconsequential, he knew better. Everything in the chest she guarded would be a weapon.
Alex galloped toward him on all fours. Ramsey turned to kick him in the head. He lifted his foot, and with all the blood covering the ice on the ground, he slipped. He flailed in the air, trying to right himself with muscles that wouldn’t cooperate. He hit the ground with a thump, smacking his head, hard.
Alex was on him, his hands around Ramsey’s neck. “She’s mine! She’s mine!” Nothing but crazy fury was in his eyes. Spittle of blood came from his mouth.
Ramsey fought through the pain that coursed around his shoulder to fist his fingers through Alex’s hair. “She. Is. Mine.” He let his weak arm fall, bringing Alex’s head with it. Ramsey tore into Alex’s neck, again and again, until Alex was ripped from his grip.
Before Ramsey could jump to stand, Angelina threw the chains over him, and immediately the little energy he had slipped away.
Antonio rushed forward to jump on him, but Angelina blocked him with an arm.
“We can kill him while he’s down.”
Angelina tilted her head to the side. “He’s my husband.”
“But he wants to kill you and us!” Antonio tried to push Angelina’s unmoving arm out of the way.
“This?” Angelina giggled. “This is just a fight between lovers.”
Ramsey tried to move the chains. Even though they weren’t heavy he couldn’t get them off his body. “What is this?” he demanded.
Angelina crouched to stare in his eyes. “A reminder,” she whispered. “You live to serve me. You’re just too stubborn to see that.”
Ramsey growled and stuck his fingers through the chains, trying to grab onto her. “Take this off of me so we can talk about this properly.”
Angelina touched the chains as if she was about to comply. Antonio yelped and pushed her hand away. “Don’t listen to him, my love.”
Angelina turned toward Antonio and blinked. Ramsey could see the confusion behind her eyes. Then as if she’d worked the puzzle out in her head, she nodded and stood.
Ramsey roared out, seeing his last chance to get to her slipping away. “Angelina!”
“You almost had me.” She looked at Ramsey and smiled. “See? I’m not the nitwit that you think I am.”
“When I get free from this I will find you and I will kill you.”
Angelina giggled and winked at him. “You’ll come around to seeing things my way. I’m sure of it.”
Alex gurgled somewhere to his right. Angelina turned her attention toward the sound.
Ramsey punched the ice underneath. If he couldn’t toss the chains from his body, then he would dig his way to freedom. Angelina whipped her head to stare at Ramsey. He balled his feet and struck the ice again. This time it cracked. Another punch and he had a nice sized hole.
Angelina gasped. “Y-you shouldn’t be able to do that. The spear should’ve damaged any tissue it touched, and the chains should drain all of your strength.”
Ramsey smiled at her, showing her his fangs. He punched the ice again. More broke away. “This is what love looks like.” He punched. He now had enough room for his head to fit through.
“If you aren’t going to kill him we have to get out of here!” Antonio pulled on her arm.
Angelina staggered back. “But … but…”
Ramsey had enough room to slide the top half of his body inside. The only thought fueling him was killing Angelina and keeping Dani safe. He punched and punched, throwing blocks of ice out of his way as he made his way to freedom. When he emerged on the other side of the chains he wasn’t surprised to find that he was alone in the cavern. The aches and pain in his body made him want to roll over to rest and repair. But his mind screamed for him to keep going. He wouldn’t rest until Dani was safe.
He pushed himself to stand and stumbled to the exit. Just as he’d somehow found the strength to make his way to freedom, Ramsey clawed through the tunnel until he reached topside. He glanced around, turning in a circle. He’d asked Vallus to get her to safety, but a part of him had longed to see her there. Dani’s scent caught his nose. Her blood was evident on the previously pristine snow. He also smelled Vallus in some of it. His friend would’ve stopped the bleeding, in time, Ramsey hoped.
The last thought was what gave him the strength to bend his knees and jump as far as he could into the sky. He headed to New Orleans. To Dani.