Page 50 of Judas (The Lito Duet #2)

He drags my own gas mask over my face and I suck in a breath of pure oxygen.

He returns his own over his visage and grabs my hand.

Lacing our fingers together, he leads me away from the blazing crosses, burning branches cracking and snapping above us.

Falling down to hit the ground with a shower of sparks and embers that shoot off in all directions when it makes contact with the unforgiving floor.

I wince but he manages to block most of them when he yanks me in front of him.

“Babel.”

“Stupid name.”

With a hearty laugh, he ushers me into the vehicle once we make it over.

It’s the Honda Lucien stole—in the back is a passed out Sadie.

I drop inside, grab hold of her with zero hesitation and pull her to me.

Hugging her limp body so damn hard I swear she wheezes.

She looks so vulnerable. Too skinny, her wrists are angry, I can even see lingering yellow of faded bruises on her face.

I must have missed them in the shadows of the trees earlier.

“Let’s go,” the other man grunts out when he drops into the driver seat.

He reaches back, putting his rifle on the floorboard where Sadie’s legs should go but I’m clinging to her too tightly to let her get that far away.

Not now… not for a while. Holding her head to my chest, I simply nod.

The other door rips open and in lowers Babel.

Not missing a beat, he pulls his mask up and off then turns to look at the both of us.

Leaving the other man to take care of the driving—putting it in reverse and hauling ass out of the area.

“Here, he took them off of her. We have extra clothes where we’re going, err, back to the apartment,” Babel says.

I take the shorts he hands me and maneuver enough to pull them back up her legs. He put her through so much, yet he needed to strip her, too—fucking animal.

“Why?”

“Hmm?”

“Why did he take her shorts off? Please don’t tell me he was going to—“

“No,” the other man snaps, I look over at him finally.

“He didn’t say,” Babel returns.

“Ra?” I ask, tilting my head looking at the other guy.

He’s not near big enough to be Ra; maybe it’s Ez and he’s fucking around.

Thank god he’s not looking back here. I might have to smack him for just reminding me of Lucien.

When he nods, I shrug and look down at Sadie.

Brushing her hair out of her face—she’s such a pretty young woman.

Kace would be a proud father. Hell, I’m proud and I’ve not known her for more than a few moments.

“I left the key to the apartment in my backpack on the hill just north of the cabin. My car is parked by the lake.”

“I know,” Babel replies and says nothing else.

Well, he sure as fuck wasn’t lying. The vehicle I saw pull in after me was him.

He quickly ushered me into the back of the SUV where there’s more water waiting for Sadie and I.

A blanket, too. She’s so cold and still; if I didn’t know any better I would think she’s dead.

Ez gets in my car and drives off before we are situated, leaving the Honda abandoned.

All of us are on our way out of the park when fire trucks start racing down the narrow roads where the blaze has already eaten up a lot of the trees.

I hope to God it’s incinerated the arm that was sticking out of the ground; if that comes back on Sadie, we will be skipping town and leaving the whole damn continent.

There is no fucking way in hell I’ll let her take the fall for something Lucien forced her into.

Speaking of, where is that lousy mother fucker?

“Babel, where’s Lucien?”

“Havok has him in the trunk of your car. Thought it was fitting since he threw your daughter in his. Taste of his own medicine.”

“Havok?”

“Yeah, the cantankerous asshole that took off in your car. Friend of mine, old and grumpy. Think he’s mad he had to walk away from his Werther’s Original’s and Seinfeld.”

Hmm, not Ez then. He’s young. Whoever Babel is, I guess this Havok came with him. But his interference is fueling a whole lot of questions I don’t have the energy to dig into.

“He did seem rather cross. You make sure he brought his Breath Right strips and Tiger Balm?”

“Oh, she’s got jokes. I dig it.”

Chuckling, I look down at Sadie while she sleeps. “Said the same thing to a friend of mine and he told me about some Urban Dictionary shit. They have everything on there, plus things I’ve never heard of before.”

“I’ve heard of it. I’m not too big on slang but it serves its purpose sometimes. Especially when it comes to lightening the conversation,” he replies.

“You mentioned Lucien putting Sadie in the trunk, how do you know that?”

His silence is telling, I’m not fond of having secrets held back.

Least not the ones that have to deal with her abduction and torture.

She’s going to have so much trauma to work through, on top of being medicated again.

I’m sure Lucien didn’t think to grab any of her necessities before snatching her out of the home I left her to grow up in.

“I was sent to follow both of them and wait for you. She’s a job, and you’re the affiliation I wasn’t allowed to interfere with. We have a long drive back to the apartment. Havok grabbed your backpack before we came into contact, so whatever you have in there is safe. Get you some sleep.”

“Hmm, alright. Thank you, Babel.”

I settle in with Sadie and do my damnedest to get comfortable enough to slip into slumber but it never comes.

People talk about a second wind, another burst of energy that you get when you least expect it.

While it would have been nice to have later on, I think it’s hitting because I was so close to dying.

There were so many times, while struggling with my depression, when I thought letting go would be the best option for me.

If tonight showed me anything, it’s that I was a fucking idiot.

Thinking it was okay to leave this girl behind, with Lucien still breathing.

He would have come for her whether I was alive or not; there’s no telling what all sorts of bullshit he might have subjected her to.

Being in his grasp for a few weeks is long enough.

There were times at Darkwater when mere minutes with him were enough to last a lifetime.

Sadie starts to shift and twitch in my hold, but I keep her firmly against me—a weighted blanket made out of the same stardust she’s built from. When she settles with her head against my chest, she stills all over and relaxes, listening to my slow deep breaths and mimicking them.

I’ve longed for this, to hold my baby. I’m so late to the game and have everything to learn about her—all the things I’ve missed.

First steps, sharp little baby teeth coming in; the first time she got her haircut.

I wonder if she said ‘momma’ or ‘dada’ first. What song did she fall asleep to?

When she came off the bottle, did she take to bananas or avocado first?

How was she on her first day of school? Did she love Halloween like I used to?

Which Loony-Toon is her favorite? I hope she likes kittens, or fast cars like Kace did.

I have only sixteen years worth of firsts to catch up on, but I’ll spend every waking moment of the rest of my life learning everything about Sadie Aurora Patton.

Though I wasn’t going to get a lick of sleep on the drive back to the apartment, I finally managed to get around ten minutes at the end of the ride.

Babel gently rouses me and it took an act of congress to get me to let Sadie go, but I let him carry her—as long as I got to hold her hand as we shuffled up the stairs.

Hearing the harsh snaps of skin against skin, my spine straightens and I go rigid. Stalling before we make it to the top. There the sound is again, followed by a spluttering laughter that sends unbridled fear through me.

No… no no no. He’s up there.

“Relax, Nadia. Havok is up there with him, just getting information. He’s restrained and if he gets too loud or mouthy, we will gag him. You just worry about getting inside and getting to bed. We will take care of the rest.”

My throat feels like the cable is winding around it again, squeezing until the air in my lungs can’t expel or let anything else in.

He stops and waits, looking at me now. In the much brighter light, I can see the age in his face.

He’s mostly salt with some pepper. A darkness lingers in his green eyes; like he’s seen entirely too much pain in his life but he would choose to shoulder more if it meant better for other people.

If it wasn’t for the crow’s feet he has on both sides of his face, I wouldn’t have noticed the faint lines framing his mouth—he must not smile too often since they’re not so pronounced.

Being around this man, I feel safe. Safer than I did earlier tonight, safer that I’ve felt in a long time.

The invisible noose around my neck loosens and I take the next stair up, ready to get inside of the apartment.

I’ll find a pair of headphones somewhere inside, I’m sure Ra has them laying around somewhere, and tone everything out other than the feel of my girl in my arms. We make it to the top of the stairs, and Babel opens the door, right as Havok cracks Lucien across the face.

He spits his loathsome lifeforce all over the grey hardwood flooring and laughs a full bodied chuckle.

Head tilted back and everything. I can see his arms bound to the chair he’s in, his legs chained at the ankles, too.

Havok isn’t taking any chances, and I’m grateful for that.

“Working him over good?” Babel asks, corralling me through the living space, attempting to keep himself between me and Lucien.

“Yeah. Promised him I’d rip his fucking throat out. Just following up.”

Those words bring me to a halt and I fight against Babel when he tries to get me to go into the bedroom.

Stepping to the left, I move around him and look into the dimly lit living room.

Havok standing there, placing my brass knuckles down on a card table when he reaches up and wipes his forehead.

The movement tousles his platinum hair and my world stops.

“K— Kace?”