Page 128 of Boys Who Taint

Suddenly, knives fly all around inside the building, and I duck for cover as one of them nearly hits the banister beneath my fingers.

“Fuck!” I scream.

What the fuck is going on?

I peer through the banister, watching the onslaught down below.

Guys I recognize from the Skull and Serpent Society bust through the hallways, throwing knives left and right at well-known Phantom members.

Silas brought a whole damn army of Serpents.

“Heath, Max!” Ivy screams from the sidelines, and they immediately rush to her and secure her in a different room.

Silas is still laser-focused on someone exiting the dance floor with the crowd, and the Skull and Serpent Society members are quickly blocking off every exit until there’s no way out.

But Apollo finds one of them, grabs him by the head—his actual head—and grinds it into a hard wooden table where all the food was, shattering it on impact. “Now we’re talking!” he barks out loud as bits of brain splatter onto the food. “Come at me, then!” He grins like a maniac.

Blood splatters all around, and while some other Skull and Serpent Society member jumps on his back, he grips the guy’s shirt from behind him and throws him over his head like he’s just a tiny bug crawling on his back.

“Join your fucking friend!” Apollo laughs out loud.

And all I can do is stare in abject horror as the two houses begin to fight each other with fists and weapons and all the frenzied rage they’ve kept boiled up inside. Knives are thrown back and forth, while I’m trying to find Grey in the midst of it all.

Instead, my eyes find the scorpion tattoo and immediately home in on Levi. He’s in the opening leading to the hallway, where five Skull and Serpent guys have him surrounded. His dark hair falls over his face as he turns around, pulls a gun from his pocket, and aims it right at one of them.

“Touch me and I’ll erase you.”

Levi

Snakes surroundme at a party in my own goddamn house. Silas has apparently found his limit, and now he’s come to claim my life.

Fine.

He wants a fight? He can have one.

I keep my gun aimed at one Serpent while I throw off my mask, and I pull out a knife with my other hand and throw it at the nearest Serpent I can find. It lodges into his knee, and another one comes at me from behind, so I pull it out and ram it into his gut.

People all around us are running for their lives, but I ignore them, focusing solely on the uninvited Skull and Serpentmembers who have infiltrated this party. But from the corner of my eye, I can see Silas coming right at me.

Apollo suddenly storms at him from the left side, and Heath actually steps into the fray to protect Silas, whose house he belongs to.

“Don’t get in my way, brother,” Apollo warns.

“I can’t let you touch Silas,” Heath says.

“He came intomyhouse and wrecked the place!” Apollo growls.

Heath pulls out a knife. “Don’t make me use this.”

Apollo grins. “Fine. You want to have a go, brother?” He holds up his fists and steadies himself. “Come on, then. See if you can take me on and keep that pretty face of yours intact.”

They start fighting right in front of me, throwing fists left and right, barely avoiding each other’s knives, which are thrown in between. But another one of those fucking snakes attacks me from behind, and I can barely dodge the knife plunged into the air.

“Heath! Please stop!” Max yells from the sidelines, but no one is listening.

Silas shoves one of his own guys aside and finally comes to face me, and I raise my gun at the same time he does.

“You kidnapped my sister. This is the end of you,” Silas growls, pushing the barrel into my forehead while I push mine into his chest.