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CHAPTER THIRTY

Ellery

The dagger pierced through my flesh, scraped across my ribs, and embedded itself in my lung. I bit back a scream as my breath caught and, try as I might, I couldn’t draw any more air into me.

Every instinct I had wanted to crawl away and curl into a ball, but I couldn’t evade the blade in my side, and if I didn’t keep fighting, he’d succeed in dragging me through that portal.

“Stay back!” Gaius shouted.

Ianto and Callan froze when Gaius drew the blade upward. It would have humiliated me to scream; he couldn’t know how badly I hurt, but thankfully, I couldn’t scream as thick liquid surged up my throat, choking any sound.

It wasn’t until the liquid hit my tongue and the coppery tang of blood assailed me that I realized I was choking on my blood. Warmth pooled against my lips, but I kept them clamped against the life seeking to spew from me.

The terrified looks on Ianto’s and Callan’s faces kept my mouth closed. If I spewed blood all over the floor, I’d only scare them more, and they already didn’t know what to do.

“Back the tornado off!” Gaius shouted at Scarlet.

Her face remained a stony mask while her brown eyes glittered with malice. She’d much prefer to drop it on his head, but she moved the tornado away from us.

The barn doors continued to crash and bang against the walls. The funnel sucked up a wheelbarrow and swirled it up through the top before smashing off the hayloft and raining debris.

With the others held immobile by the blood spilling down my side and me frozen in agony, Gaius managed to drag me closer to the portal. I’d been so focused on trying not to collapse that I didn’t realize we were nearly there.

Stuffing the pain down, I compelled movement back into my body as I gripped his hands, and my nails tore into his flesh. His arm tightened around me as he twisted the blade in my ribs.

This time, I couldn’t stop the blood from spraying from my lips as the dagger forced a burst of air out of me. He pulled the knife up until I was nearly on my toes to escape it from slicing across my skin and bone.

I tore away more of his flesh in a desperate attempt to make him hurt as badly as I did. I failed.

Then, with a savage yank, he pulled the dagger free. Air didn’t rush back into my brutalized lung as more blood spilled free, but I was finally able to get at least some breath back into me.

Gaius flipped the blade and threw it. The knife spun through the air before slamming into Ianto and knocking the giant back a step.

He’d twisted to avoid the blade but hadn’t been fast enough. Blood spread out from the weapon embedded in his chest. If I could have breathed, I would have screamed as Ianto’s mouth parted and his eyes widened in horror.

His fingers clawed at the blade protruding from his chest, but it was Scarlet who tore it free. With her hand on his waist, she helped him sink to his knees as each beat of his heart pulsed more blood from the hole.

I struggled to wheeze in air as, with the knife free of my ribs, I could move a little more freely again. Every part of me still felt as if someone had lit it on fire, but I managed to kick my foot back and connect with his shin as I swung my head again.

With no weapon to hold him at bay, Callan charged us again. Determination etched his features, but I didn’t know if he’d make it in time as Gaius threw himself backward.

A scream of sorrow reverberated through my head as I fell into the oblivion of Gaius’s portal. My racing heart pumped more blood out of me with every beat as blackness engulfed us.

Desperate to be free before the portal closed, I shoved against Gaius. His hold tightened as weakness seeped through my extremities.

I fumbled to regain control of myself, but blood loss had turned my fingers to ice and my legs to rubber. Breaking free was becoming an impossible dream; once the portal closed, I was doomed.