Heart of Venom

by Jennifer Estep

  The muddy bank was only about fifty feet away, but it took me much longer than it should have to flounder in that direction. At this point, I didn’t even have the strength left to use my arms to pull myself through the water. All I could do was weakly kick, like a puppy that was in way over its head.

  Eventually, though, I made it over to the bank. I tried to get to my feet, but they kept slipping and going out from under me. So I sank onto my knees and slopped forward through the mud, sending sprays of it in every direction. I got free of most of the water, although it still lapped at my ankles, bringing a bit of fresh misery with every slow, cold surge.

  The sun beat down on my head, frying my scalp, but even that warmth seemed distant and far away. Finally, I couldn’t go any farther. No matter how hard I tried, my arms and legs wouldn’t cooperate, and I just lay there, panting for breath amid the mud, rocks, and dead limbs that formed a sort of driftwood fence on the bank.

  I made sure that my face was out of the water as best I could. Then the blackness rose in my mind again, and this time, I didn’t try to fight it as it blotted out everything else.

  * * *

  Sophia was in trouble.

  That was the thought that hummed through my mind as I ran toward the storage room, grabbed a paring knife lying on a table there, and hurried back to the double doors that led into the front of the restaurant. I peered out through one of the windows, but the two giants had their heads down, counting the cash from the register. I opened one of the doors just wide enough for me to slip into the storefront, then tiptoed over to the end of the counter and hunkered down there, out of sight of our attackers.

  I crept up to the corner of the counter and peered around it. The blond kid was still lying in front of the counter where Mason had dumped him, his thin arms and legs sprawled out at awkward angles. So was Sophia. I hadn’t realized it before, but she’d cut her head when it had slammed against the counter, and blood had dripped down the side of her face and pooled on the floor. For a moment, I thought that she was dead, that I was too late to save her, that I’d failed her.

  But I made myself keep staring at her, and I saw that her chest rose and fell in a steady rhythm. Some of the tightness in my own chest eased. As long as she was still breathing, Jo-Jo could fix the rest. That was what Fletcher always said whenever he came home with a knife, a gunshot, or some other wound he’d gotten as the Tin Man.

  The giants finished counting the cash, split the bills between them, and walked around the counter so that they were looming over Sophia and the boy again. I thought that they might pick up Sophia and carry her into the back of the restaurant. That’s what they’d been talking about before—taking her back there so they could kill her. The kid too.

  But instead of trying to move her, the other giant, Zeke, got down on his knees on the floor. He leered at Sophia, even though she couldn’t see him, then started unbuckling his belt.

  “C’mon,” the other man, Mason, growled. “Quit fooling around. There’s no time for that. Besides, someone could always walk by and look in the windows at any second.”

  Not likely, given the late hour. Besides, the restaurant wasn’t too far away from Southtown. Some nights, the vampire hookers and their pimps wandered over in this direction, so the street outside wasn’t exactly a great place to linger after dark. Still, I held my breath, hoping that the possibility would be enough to get the giant to leave Sophia alone.

  “Let ’em look.” Zeke sneered. “I don’t care.”

  “Well, I do,” Mason snapped back. “So let’s get them in the back out of sight before someone sees us. We got a nice little score from the cash register. Let’s see if there’s a safe in the back, then kill them and leave.”

  Zeke snorted. “No way. I say we have a little fun with this bitch before we off her.”

  “And I say that I don’t plan on getting pinched by the cops over this . . .”

  While the men continued to argue, I left the corner of the counter and darted forward, ducking down behind a table and some chairs. At this point, I was about fifteen feet away from the men. I could cross the restaurant in a few steps and be on top of them before they realized what was happening.

  My hand trembled a bit, but I made myself clench my fingers around the hilt of the paring knife even tighter. The feel of the smooth steel handle digging into my cold skin steadied me. I drew in a breath. I could do this. I would do this. This was what Fletcher was training me for, so I could protect myself and the people I cared about. I didn’t know if that included some random kid, much less Sophia, but Fletcher and Jo-Jo loved her, and I loved them. And that was all that really mattered to me.

  “All right, all right,” Zeke muttered. “Look at her. She ain’t no great beauty. I’d rather have the cash from the register than her, anyway.”

  “C’mon, then,” Mason repeated. “Quit whining, and help me carry her. She looks heavy.”

  Zeke rolled his eyes, but he rebuckled his belt and got back to his feet. Then both of the men leaned over. Mason grabbed Sophia’s ankles, while Zeke took hold of her shoulders.

  “On three,” Mason said. “One, two—”

  I didn’t wait for three. Instead, I rose from behind the table and raced across the restaurant. The giants were so focused on Sophia that they never even saw me coming.

  I rammed my knife into Mason’s right side. He screamed with pain and surprise, but there was nothing that I could do to keep him quiet, so I yanked the knife out and stabbed it into his other side. The paring knife wasn’t quite as strong as I’d thought it would be, but I kept twisting and twisting it into his muscles, sawing through his ligaments and tendons. Blood spattered all over the blue and pink pig tracks on the floor, turning them a rusty red.

  Mason pitched face-first onto the floor and started crawling forward, trying to get away from me. This time, I plunged the knife square into his back. I used my weight to drive the blade in as deep as it would go. I must have hit something vital, because he let out a choked scream that quickly died down into a raspy gurgle. He arched his back once, then slumped forward onto the floor, dead.

  “You little bitch!” Zeke roared. “You’ll pay for that!”

  Before I could crawl off the dead guy, Zeke stepped forward, dug his hand into my hair, and yanked me up. This time, I yelped in pain and surprise. He held me out in front of him and gave me a vicious shake. Then he started hitting me.

  Once, twice, three times, the giant backhanded me. My head snapped from side to side to side, and my world spun around and around and around from the blows. As a finishing touch, he rammed his fist into my stomach. He let go of my hair, and I dropped like a stone to the ground.

  Zeke was strong, even for a giant, and the blows had hurt so much that I was having trouble fighting the black spots swimming at the edge of my vision. But I made myself focus and stay awake. Because if he knocked me out, he’d probably rape and kill me on the spot—if he didn’t decide to go ahead and simply beat me to death.

  So I pushed back at the black spots and focused on breathing. It took me a moment to realize that I’d managed to hang on to the knife while he’d been hitting me, and I tightened my grip on the bright, shiny silver handle, ready to use it on him the second that I got a chance.

  But Zeke didn’t give me one. He was in a rage now, and he drew back his boot to kick me in the ribs. I barely managed to reach for my Stone magic in time to keep him from caving in my chest with the vicious blow. And he didn’t stop. Again and again, he lashed out at me.

  I lay there and let him hit me, cradling the knife in my hand and trying to hide it as much as possible. I didn’t really have another option. I needed the knife to kill him, and if he realized that I still had it, he’d kick it out of my hand and keep on beating me until I ran out of magic. Then he’d do the same to Sophia and the kid, and I couldn’t let that happen.

  Finally, after about three minutes of whaling on me, Zeke ran out of steam. He gave me one more vicious kick to the side. />
  “That’ll teach you, you little bitch,” he growled again.

  I lay limp and still on the floor, as though he’d long ago knocked me out with his attack.

  Zeke finally snapped back around to Sophia, who hadn’t stirred the whole time. He focused his angry glare on her for a moment before turning to the boy.

  “As for you two,” he snarled, “you’re both turning out to be more trouble than you’re worth. And now I have to carry you all by myself.”

  Zeke kept grumbling as he leaned down and grabbed Sophia’s shoulders again. Then he started dragging her around the counter and down the aisle. But he wasn’t taking her anywhere. Not if I could help it.

  I waited until he had reached the end of the counter and was trying to figure out some way to keep the double doors open long enough to shove Sophia through to the other side. Then I climbed to my feet and staggered after him. Every movement, every breath, hurt, but I put my hand against my ribs, gripped my knife even tighter, and hurried after Zeke as fast as I could. Lucky for me, he was having a hard time with Sophia’s dead weight and the doors, so he was moving slowly.

  He’d just managed to prop her up against the side of the counter when I crept up on his blind side and stabbed my knife into his back. But he was even bigger and stronger than his partner, and his punches had weakened me. So the knife didn’t sink all that deeply into his muscles. I pulled it out, but before I could stab him again, he turned and punched me in the chest.

  This time, I went down on the ground, and I didn’t get back up. It hurt too much to do that.

  Zeke loomed over me. “You are one determined little bitch, aren’t you? Seems to me like someone should teach you some manners.”

  He reached for me, and this time, I knew that he wouldn’t stop hitting me until I was dead. But the thought didn’t fill me with dread. If anything, I got a sense of peace. At least, this time, I’d tried to do something. At least, this time, I’d tried to help, instead of cowering at the top of the stairs and watching Mom and Annabella disappear into balls of elemental Fire. That was something, I supposed—

  A hand clamped around Zeke’s ankle and yanked him down. I blinked, and it took me a moment to figure out what had happened. Sophia had finally woken up.

  Zeke put his forearms out in front of him, breaking his fall, but he still went down on his hands and knees. Sophia scrambled to her feet, then threw herself onto his back, driving him into the floor. He arched back, trying to throw her off him, but she slapped his hands away, grabbed his head, and slammed it into the door on one of the stoves. The giant kept fighting, but Sophia kept her grip on his head and beat it into the oven—again and again and again—until the metal dented.

  Thwack. Thwack. Thwack.

  She kept up a steady, furious rhythm, dashing his head against the oven door, as though she wanted to shove it right through the metal, each blow seeming a little harder and more brutal than the last.

  Finally, after about the sixth or seventh time, something crunched, and the coppery stink of blood filled the restaurant. The giant quit struggling, and his muffled cries vanished altogether, although his arms and legs kept twitching with small, disjointed spasms.

  Sophia leaned back and rolled off him, breathing hard. She swiped her black hair out of her eyes, leaving behind a dark stain on her face—blood.

  By this point, I’d managed to get back up onto my knees, although I had the knife speared into the floor as I used it to help hold myself up. Sophia noticed me watching her, grimaced, and dropped her hand, as if that would hide the fact that she’d just caved in a man’s skull with her bare hands. Against Fletcher’s favorite stove, no less. Then her black eyes flicked over me, and she noticed the knife that I was still clutching and the blood that covered me too.

  Sophia turned her head, looking for the other giant. Her eyes widened, then narrowed when he didn’t appear, and she realized that I’d killed him.

  “Not soft,” I said, my voice coming out in a hoarse wheeze that didn’t sound all that different from hers.

  Sophia looked at me, her dark eyes almost sad. “No,” she rasped. “Not soft anymore.”

  A low moan sounded in front of the counter. It took me a second to realize that it was the kid. Sounded like he was waking up.

  Sophia got to her feet. It took her a moment to find her balance, but once she did, she leaned down and held her hand out to me. I took it, and she gently pulled me up. I wrapped an arm around my bruised, aching ribs. Sophia gently put her arm around my thin shoulder. Together, leaning on each other, we staggered around the counter and over to the kid—

  The rest of the memory abruptly faded away. At first, I wondered why, but then I realized what had woken me out of my dream.

  Someone was dragging me through the mud.

  24

  Apparently, I’d managed to pull myself far enough up onto the bank to keep from drowning. And now someone had put his hands under my shoulders and was pulling me the rest of the way up and out of the water.

  I lashed out with my fists and legs, trying to get him to let go of me. But instead of being dropped, I felt a body slide down next to mine in the mud, and a pair of arms wrapped around me, holding me close. I kept fighting, kept struggling, but I was weak, and he was stronger than I was.

  After a moment, I realized that I wasn’t being hurt, that whoever this was held me close and let me beat at him with my hands. I breathed in, and a rich, familiar scent filled my nose, penetrating the last fragments of the dream and my disjointed ride through the rapids.

  I let out a breath. “Owen?” I asked in a low, tentative voice.

  He drew me even closer, and I felt his hand gently slide through my tangled hair. “It’s me,” he whispered. “It’s me, Gin.”

  I finally managed to open my eyes, and I found myself staring into his bright, beautiful, violet eyes. I reached out and traced my fingers over his face, once again trying to smooth out the worry lines that marred his rugged features. He didn’t wince, and he didn’t pull away, despite the fact that my fingers were as cold as bony icicles, and I left smears of blood and mud all over him. Instead, he caught my hand in his and pressed a soft kiss to my palm, right in the middle of my spider-rune scar.

  “I’ve got you, Gin,” Owen said. “Just rest, baby. I’ve got you now. Nothing’s going to happen to you. I swear.”

  I nodded and relaxed that much more. I knew that Owen would keep his promise, just as I’d managed to keep mine to him, despite all the odds. But before I could speak, before I could thank him for coming after me, the blackness rose again in my mind, swallowing up everything else.

  * * *

  Things were disjointed after that.

  Every time I opened my eyes, I got a flash of something different. Owen picking me up and carrying me through the woods. Taking me to some sort of sheltered, rocky outcropping. Laying me down on a sleeping bag. Making me drink some water. Taking off my vest. Carefully pulling my clothes away from where they’d stuck to my arms and legs.

  He cursed. At first, I wondered why, but then I realized that he must have seen the gunshot wound in my shoulder, the burns on my body, and all the other injuries that I’d gotten. I wanted to tell him that it was okay, that they didn’t hurt too much, that I’d been through worse, but I drifted off once again.

  The only things I remembered after that were the soft, soothing scent of vanilla and a few needles pricking here and there at my shoulder, arms, back, and legs. Owen must have brought some of Jo-Jo’s healing ointment with him. That was the only reason I could think of why the pain of my injuries slowly lessened . . .

  I don’t know how much time passed before I woke up again. For a long while, I was drifting along in that peaceful blackness. Then I suddenly snapped awake.

  I was lying on my side on top of a sleeping bag. A small fire crackled in front of me, the smoke drifting above the shelf of rocks and then disappearing into the night sky. Owen sat in front of the fire, idling poking a stick into the flames
. I lay there and watched the play of light and shadow on his face. He’d actually done it. He’d actually come back for me just like he said that he would. I couldn’t quite believe it, but it meant the world to me.

  If it had been Finn or even Bria, I wouldn’t have been so surprised. But Owen and I had been on such shaky ground lately. Still, despite everything that had happened between us, he’d come back for me. Even though it had been dangerous. Even though it would have been easier not to. Even though he could have been captured, tortured, and killed by Grimes and his men.

  Despite all that, he’d still come back for me.

  Owen must have sensed me staring at him, because he turned in my direction and smiled—a big, broad, beautiful smile that told me how happy he was that I was finally awake.

  He started to get up and come over to me, but I waved him off.

  “How are you feeling?” he asked.

  I sat up and winced, as a hundred dull aches and pains shot through my body. “Like I’m a very small rabbit that’s been shaken to within an inch of its life by a very large, very angry dog. Remind me never to go white-water rafting. At least, not without an actual raft.”

  He laughed, and the sound wrapped around me like a warm, welcoming hug.

  I stared up into the sky; it was dark, except for a smattering of stars twinkling far, far away. “What time is it?”

  Owen held his watch up to the fire. “Just after midnight.”

  I’d gone over the cliff sometime in the afternoon. I wondered if Grimes and his men were looking for me or if they’d assumed that I’d been dashed against the rocks and drowned in the rapids. Either way, there was nothing that I could do about it tonight.

  I glanced around the camp he’d made, but I didn’t see any sign of anyone else’s gear.

  “I came back alone,” Owen said, noticing my curious gaze. “Finn hadn’t made it back from his trip yet, and Bria wanted to come with me. Phillip too. But I didn’t give them the chance. I slipped away while they were tending to the others. I didn’t want to waste a second getting back to you.”