Sailor Ray and the Dark Descent (The Pact Book 2)

by Alex Villavasso

“Hey! Leave her alone! If you’re going to kill someone, take me instead.” This time it’s a male; another prisoner. “Hey, you piece of shit! Did you hear me? She didn’t do anything. Let her go!” In the distance, I hear the thump of his hands beating against the wall of his cell.

  “Quit your yapping, you’ll get your turn soon enough. And you…quit moving or else I’ll break your arm.”

  “Let her go! She didn’t do anything to deserve this! Take me! Take me!”

  “Please, stop, Mr. Adams, he’ll kill you too!” Ignoring the woman’s plea, the man continues to raise hell. Sadly, it’s the only thing he can do. In between all of the chaos, I hear a door creak—presumably the one to his cell.

  “This is getting bad. Cover me.”

  “Sailor, wait!” Blaze tries to reach for me, but it’s too late. That lady—she reminds me of Morgan. It’s reckless, I know, but I just can’t let her die.

  There’s no telling how many are on the other side of the hall, but I push my fear to the back of my mind as I sprint to the opening of the east wing.

  “Hey…wait…no…what are you do—”

  I dive horizontally across the opening and a series of gunshots rapidly echo throughout the building. The woman’s screams intensify, but at least she and the man are alive. I’d managed to shoot the demon holding the girl in the shoulder and a second demon at the cell door at least twice. Unfortunately, none of my shots are enough to kill, but they allow for the young woman to slip away unharmed.

  “Ah!” I hit the ground on my side, body slammed by my own inertia, the wind knocked from my lungs. A bullet skits across my thigh and I wince. Before I can catch my breath, another streak of pain ignites from a bullet that grazes the side of my bicep. Damn it, I’m still exposed—my dive didn’t carry me to the other side.

  In a fit of desperation, I line one of the demons up in my sight, but before I can pull the trigger, a series of bullets wiz over my head and find their marks in the demons in front me, killing them, before they can finish me off.

  I silently exhale as I overlook the fallen bodies that lay lifeless on the floor, thankful to be alive.

  “Come on, Sailor, can you move?” Abby asks while she hoists me to my feet.

  “Yeah. Just grazes, nothing major,” I answer as I watch Blaze rush over to the victims of Desmond’s twisted pass-time. I place my hand on my side and realize that it’s tender to touch. Slightly damp, too. I fucked up big just now, but I couldn’t let those two die without doing anything.

  “Good. We have to go. They know we’re here now.” Abby breaks away from me and walks towards Blaze who’s further down the hall tending to the young woman we saved. I check my side once more before taking the time to reload and catch up with the group.

  “Take this.” I make it just in time to see Blaze reach into his jacket and pull out one of his guns. Her right eye is swollen shut and bruises are all over her body, peeking through her tattered clothes. Her blonde hair is a muddy strawberry-blonde in the regions where her own blood leaked into her locks.

  How long has she been here? The question teases me, but I don’t dare to speculate.

  A faint smile appears on the young woman’s face when the weight of the gun hits her hand, but I can tell that she’s still terrified. I would be, too. “Aim for the head,” Blaze says before he starts to work at her chains. The young woman thanks us and her shackles fall. “In here.” Wasting no time, Blaze directs her into the cell that was opened by one of the demons that was killed. Inside, an older man is standing against the back wall, bound by chains. His condition isn’t much better than hers.

  “Mr. Adams!” she gasps. The older man averts his eyes from her, almost in shame; they must have either known each other before they got here. He probably feels responsible for their capture, somehow. Blaze ignores their moment and begins to work on the older man’s restraints using the keys he confiscated from the guard.

  “Blaze, we don’t have much time,” Abby reminds Blaze as he continues to work. “Like, a minute, tops.” I watch her while she glances down the hall from the cover of the cell door.

  “We’re here to save you, but it’s not safe. Stay here and keep a low profile. After we clear this place out, we’ll come back for you and anyone else.”

  “That gunfire came from over here! Secure the area!” Demons—and they’re getting close.

  “Guys…”

  “Shit.”

  Blaze turns his face towards the entrance of the cell with a scowl while Abby and I pop out into the hallway in synch, getting the jump on the infernal beings. Before they can react, we fire our rounds their way. Abby and I manage to kill them, but they manage to fire a few shots on the way down. Thankfully, none of them connect. “There’ll be more soon,” I say succinctly while I reload.

  “Okay…done.”

  “Oh, thank God!” the old man rejoices as the last of his bindings fall away from his body.

  “Abby, get in contact with our backup, ASAP,” Blaze says as he stands to his feet. “I’m going to get us out of here.” Blaze rushes out into the hall works to unlock a door in front of the cell. Another wave of demons turn the corner from the west wing and open fire on us while Blaze fiddles with his set of keys.

  “The hunter! She’s here with friends! East wing! Don’t let her escape!”

  “More demons!” Abby and I open fire to buy Blaze more time.

  “Crap, it isn’t this one either!” I glance at Blaze and realize that the keys are stuck in the door. Instead of working at it, he grabs his pistol and shoots at the approaching demons, adding to our group’s firepower.

  “Any day now,” Abby protests as she keeps her eyes on the bloodied corridor riddled with bodies. “We’re on their turf.”

  “Ah…got it!” He twists it open and reveals a storage closet filled with torture devices. “Damn it, useless. I thought…gah, it must be on the other side.” Blaze shakes his head in frustration. “Come on, we have to keep moving,” Blaze commands. “You guys go ahead. I’ll catch up. With no time to argue, Abby and I run deeper into the hallway but stop after a few steps to check up on Blaze, who’s now locking the door to the prisoner’s cell. “Try to stay out of sight,” he stresses before he slams the door shut. “Keep a low profile and shoot anyone who tries to get in. We’ll come back for you. I swear.”

  Chapter 12: The Dark Descent

  “Did we get him?” I ask.

  “They went this way, come on!” a demon yells.

  “Guess not.”

  Blaze turns around mid-run and fires three shots before his gun draws a blank. “Shit! I’m out,” he yells over scattered gunfire as he makes the corner. “In here!” Key in hand, Blaze rushes towards a door deeper in the hall while Abby bends the corner we’d just turned. “Ah, this place is like a maze.”

  “I’ll hold!” Abby yells as she fires towards the opposite end of the corridor. A bullet ricochets off the edge of the wall and she quickly retracts her head. “That assault rifle is really starting to piss me off. I can’t outgun him as long as he has that thing,” she says as she reloads. “I didn’t expect them to have that kind of firepower here…I should have brought my shotgun.” I take her spot and crouch against the corroded wall with both of my Berettas ready to go. Hit-and-run tactics seem to be the only thing going for us. They have us beat across the board.

  “Don’t let them get away!”

  And we’re on their turf.

  I take a deep breath and wait about five seconds before popping my torso out, allowing me to get the jump on the demons as they continue their pursuit. My hands rattle from the recoil as I fire down the hall. They fire back but only after being hit multiple times. The two demons fall to ground and I shift my body back out of sight before their reinforcements arrive.

  “All right guys, in here!” I follow Blaze and Abby through a door that leads to small room with an exit point directly in front of it. “This should give us some breathing room,” he says after he locks the door behind him and pu
shes a desk in front of it. Immediately, Blaze presses his back against the wall and slides his body to the floor, his face showing signs of discomfort. Abby posts against another wall and draws her phone.

  “Blaze?” I ask.

  He puts a finger over his lips while a series of feet shuffle through the hall; his eyes interlocked with mine as we listen together. “I think we lost them,” Blaze huffs. “We should wait a bit to catch our breath while they’re still confused; get your ammo right and get ready to roll out.” I can tell something isn’t right. I glance at him warily while using the downtime to cycle through my weapons, but he doesn’t give anything away, well, at least not until he goes to lift the ridge of his jacket—that’s when I notice. Beneath his jacket, there’s a hole in his shirt near his waist, dribbling blood.

  I knew something was off.

  “Blaze…you’re hit.” Abby beats me to the punch.

  “It’s nothing. Just a flesh wound,” he assures us while he reloads. “They nicked me right above my hip, but didn’t get any bone or anything major—seriously, I’m fine. It hurts like a bitch, but the bullet went through clean…see?” He exposes a piece of his unzipped jacket, revealing the tear in the fabric that he’d previous hid with his arm.

  “When did you get tagged?” I ask soberly as I analyze the wound. Initial shock aside, it doesn’t look too bad, but it’s still a bullet wound. Instead of the bullet going through the bulk of his midsection, it penetrated right above his pelvis where there isn’t as much mass to rip through.

  “I’m not sure…it’s hard to tell. Somewhere between when we rescued that guy and girl and when we made a run for it. I didn’t even realize I was bleeding until I felt a damp spot on my shirt. It wasn’t bad enough to stop, so I kept going,” he huffs.

  “Is it manageable?” Abby asks.

  “I’ll live.” Another pair of footsteps race down the hall, prompting us to sit in silence until the demon passes. “We have more important things to worry about,” he says, his voice barely above a whisper. “Like making it out of here with everyone in once piece—and getting in contact with our backup.”

  “I reached out to them again as soon as we found this spot,” Abby responds while servicing her guns. “It’ll probably be another half-hour at the most…we might have to clear this place out ourselves before they arrive.”

  “Great,” Blaze scoffs. “I figured as much. It wouldn’t be fun if it were easy.” He grunts as he stands to his feet. “Did you manage to get anything new on the layout?”

  “Yeah, I have an idea of where we are, but it doesn’t really mean anything if we don’t know where to find the other prisoners. I think they keep them spaced out on purpose so they can’t collaborate. That or different wings serve different purposes. I don’t know.”

  “It would make sense,” Blaze adds.

  “When we saved those two people, you’d think you’d hear something from the others if they were nearby.” Abby shakes her head. “It’s strange, but at least the building is symmetrical.”

  “Which means?” Blaze winces as he adjusts his balance.

  “Which means I can take an educated guess on where the others would be since the layout is the same,” she responds, unfazed by the blood stemming from Blaze’s injury.

  Oddly enough, seeing them talk it out puts me somewhat at ease despite the circumstances. Somehow I keep forgetting that they’re both competent hunters.

  “So, where to next?” I ask. “We can’t wait here forever.”

  “Once we leave here we can swing over to the south wing. We can flank them from there.”

  “Cool, sounds like a plan,” I say, standing to my feet.

  “Gareth said there’d be about ten demons here. I think we took out about half of that. A good flank would thin them out even more.”

  “Yeah, I wouldn’t buy into the hype, Abby,” I growl. “Expect at least ten more.”

  Ten more? A voice echoes in my head. You’re becoming quite the pessimist. Hearing his voice again makes my stomach curl. He’s back. Missed me? He would be the one to show in the middle of a crisis.

  “You okay, Sailor? Abby asks as she monitors my expression. “Do you need more time?” Apparently it’s harder than I thought to mask a demon speaking to you telepathically. Who would have thought?

  “I’m good,” I announce after fixing my face. “I didn’t realize how bad that dive earlier tweaked my side, but I’m all right now.”

  Altars, in case you’re wondering. Multiple altars throughout this facility, each of them contributing to the demonic atmosphere in this place. Alfonse chuckles in my ear. Although it isn’t enough to fully guarantee your safety, the energy that I’m able to absorb will allow me to communicate with you at the very least.

  “We should go,” I say, resuming my train of thought. “We couldn’t have fooled them for long; it’s only a matter of time before they double back.” Without their consent, I turn the handle to the back door and burst into the hall, guns loaded; Blaze and Abby trailing behind.

  “Wait, what?”

  You’re a smart girl, so you know what this means, he sinisterly whispers as I scan my surroundings.

  “Abby, Blaze, come on. We can’t afford to sit still any longer.” In the distance I pick up on the faint tapping pattern of footsteps. “Where to, next, Abs? We need to get out of here before they close in on us. We need to be proactive.”

  You’re on their radar, darling. I can barely hear him over the sound of my thumping heart. They’re hunting you and they won’t stop until they have you and your friends at their mercy. There is one way to save everyone, of course. Give yourself to me. I can protect your friends and everyone else better than you can, and you know it. If you don’t relinquish your body, everyone will die and their blood will be on your hands.

  “This way!” We sprint through the interior and make a sharp right at Abby’s command.

  Can you really fathom another loss? There are bound to be more, Miss Ray. If you keep this up, bodies are sure to follow you wherever you go. It must be hard living life as you do.

  With my position revealed, the demons are quick to gain ground on us. As we run, we take turns firing our weapons behind us, hoping to slow them down.

  I was with you when you lost your father, Alfonse reminds me, his voice more real to me than the bullets flying back and forth through the halls. That anguish, that guilt—that remorse, it’s still with you to this day. I can feel. Do you really want to add to your pain? Has your suffering merely become a part of your mundane life?

  “This door, over here!” Abby points and Blaze charges his shoulder into the door, bursting it open just as another wave of demons rush towards us from the hall.

  If you allow me, I can free you from your misery. You know I can. You’ve felt my touch.

  “They’re trying to box us in!” Blaze yells as he peeks the corner and fires off into the hall. “Ah!” His gun tumbles to the ground and he recoils away from the wall, hunched over in pain, while grabbing the base of his forearm. He’s bleeding. “A-Abby!” Ignoring his pain, he manages to fling the set of confiscated keys her way while I take his spot on the wall. “Do they have cameras? How do they keep finding us?” Blaze asks as he grunts in pain. “We can’t shake them.”

  Your friend, the male, he’s injured.

  I poke my body out and fire back at the demons that shot at Blaze. I manage to get one but the other ducks away before I can finish him off. At least it buys us some time.

  How long do you think he has until that blood loss of his becomes a problem?

  “Blaze, how bad is it?” I ask while reloading. I take a glance at his arm while I service my gun. Part of his jacket is ripped from the bullet and his face looks raw with pain. They managed to get him right over the top of his forearm and again on the bicep of the same arm. I shouldn’t have even asked. That arm of his is useless now.

  In the life of Sailor Ray, have you honestly helped more people than you’ve hurt?

  �
�I’m fine. Arm’s pretty messed up. Thank God I have two,” he responds succinctly through gnashed teeth.

  I pop back out from the corner and catch the other demon with one of my rounds, killing him. “How’s that door coming, Abs?” I ask as more come our way.

  “It’s the third key from the center,” Blaze huffs, his voice strained. “Yeah, that one.”

  I go on the offensive again, firing down the hall to keep the demons at bay, but I’m quickly forced back into hiding.

  This curse—this life you live—is of your own choosing. Shouldn’t your friends get the same privilege of choice? I admire them for saving you, but I can tell you haven’t told them the truth. If you really cared for them, you would have left them as soon as you were able. You’re just as twisted as I am.

  I wanted to tell them…I just…couldn’t. What was I supposed to say? ‘Hey, thanks for saving me, by the way, there’s a demon latched onto my soul?’

  A bullet scrapes against the doorframe I’m posted against, whizzing past my face and breaking me from my train of thought. Focus Sailor, that could have easily been your head. Tune him out. He’s just fucking with you.

  “Got it!”

  “Go! I’ll hold them off.” Abby looks back at me, confused, but our time is cut short by the sound of more demons storming our way. “Blaze is hurt and you know the layout the best. I’ll only be a few steps behind. Go!” I cut away and pop out from the corner and fire into the fray. “Abby!” I yell, beckoning her to leave. “GO!”

  Do you really think separating at this point will do them any good? They’ll be sure to surround you wherever you go. If you try to face them all, I’m afraid you’ll die.

  “It’s almost like you want me to die,” I say with clenched teeth as I extend my arm out and fire blindly from around the corner.

  Die? No. I just hate to see my vessel wasting her precious life living in a fairytale.

  The sound of bullets firing echo behind me and my mind immediately jumps to Abby and Blaze.

  Better hurry. Alfonse chuckles smugly. I finish off the demons on my side of the hall as quickly as I can before passing through the door Abby had unlocked only moments before.