Page 143 of Crescendo

I don’t have the chance to question him before the truck comes to a stop in a narrow alley and both men climb out. Drawing a gun from his pocket, Gino waits near the truck while Dante drags me forward, toward a battered metal door that opens into a small building. It’s dark inside, and the stench of rust tickles my nose. I have to feel along the wall with one hand until the moment Dante comes to a stop. He inclines his head toward a single flickering light bulb dangling from the ceiling. There, on his knees, is a man stuffed inside an ill-fitting suit, his hands bound behind his back. In a second, I can place a name to the kneeling figure.Donahugh.

“You want to get rid of the bastards who run the city?” Dante questions, watching the man before us with those hellfire eyes. “Then make a choice right now. Either you wait around for monsters like Stacatto to die off or...youbeatthe fucking peace in, blow by blow.”

I swallow hard as his words resonate through my skin and settle deep into the remains of my soul. Donahugh spots us and a bead of sweat trickles down his forehead while his eyes widen.

“What...what do you mean?” I rasp.

“Someone gave this fucker a new kind of leverage to barter with Stacatto,” Dante says.

“Who?”

He shakes his head. “That bastard ismine. But him...”

He reaches into his pocket and shoves something into my hand. I know what it is even before my fingers seek out the familiar shape. My trusty little knife. The weapon is more symbolic, however, compared to what he gives me next. I stiffen. He hasn’t taught me how to wield this item yet.

“Like this,” he prompts, nudging my fingers into what I assume are the proper positions. Regardless, the weapon still feels heavy and awkward in my grip, not that I let it go.

Instead, I start toward Donahugh. At this moment, I’m not Lynn anymore—but I’m not Daniela, either. I’m not quite sure who this new creature is as she eyes the figure before her, who’s muttering curses behind a strip of duct tape sealing his mouth shut.

The bastard doesn’t even seem human...

Just a liability. Another potential Vinny. Another danger to some other helpless girl too stupid to know a man from a monster.

Does hedeserveto die?

Maybe not. After all, the devil taught me that you can’t hate an animal. You can only fear it...or “put it out of its fucking misery.”

Knowing that, I easily raise my arm and position my fingers over the trigger. A warm hand grazes the small of my back, reinforcing the devil’s latest advice.“Make a choice.”

With him beside me, I find it easier to aim the barrel of the gun straight at the man’s head.

Wrapped beneath the shadow of Lucifer’s fallen wings, I even find it easy to squeeze the trigger, snuffing out one more monster’s life.

But there are plenty more awaiting their turn, and with hell at my back...

They only need to be patient.

The story continues in…