Page 33 of Martyr (Sterling Falls Rogues #3)

Bow & Arrow is different. It might be that the overhead light’s on, and the glamour that Tem managed to craft in this building has been peeled away. But it seems like more than that. There’s a darkness here that seeps up from Terror. It’s the shadow that tracks us down the hallways.

I feel it in the stiffness of Tem’s shoulders. She’s in front of us now, her body tense. I want to go up and shield her from this, because this club…

We pass her office, and Kade and I peer inside.

I wince. Poor Tem . I imagine discovering Starlight, my tattoo shop, destroyed like this, and can sympathize with the emotions she must be grappling with.

Kade nudges me onward.

We sweep through the kitchen, and Jace motions for two of us to go check the large, rooftop restaurant space. Apollo and Kade go. We wait for a long moment, handfuls of seconds, before they return with a quick, muttered, “Clear.”

The rest of us follow them back out, cutting through the restaurant to get to the staircase that will lead us down into the club.

This is arguably the riskiest part. The staircase is against the wall, but one side is made of glass. It allows patrons an unfiltered look into the club below, especially for the late-night dining guests passing through on their way up.

I move forward, to where Artemis stands next to her brother, and catch her wrist.

She jumps.

“Let us go first,” I say.

“Us?”

“Us,” Kade replies at my shoulder. “Or, at the very least, me. They won’t react when they see me. They’ll expect me here. I can take them out.”

Gabriel cracks his neck. “Sounds juicy. Can I come, too?”

I had forgotten that twisted fucker was here.

He holds out his cuffed hands. “I don’t need a gun. A knife will suffice.”

“So you can stab Kade in the back?” Jace snaps.

Gabriel eyes him. “No, Hades. I got in the car with them, didn’t I? I’m on your side.”

For now .

Also, he’s leaving out the part where he kind of made a scene after agreeing to come with us and we forcibly put him in the trunk. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Artemis madder than when he tried to run. She tackled him.

It was probably cathartic.

They wrestled on the ground, and she managed to pin his arms at his sides, straddling his body.

Hot.

Too hot.

Don’t-think-about-it-right-now hot.

Then she said she had zip ties in the trunk, and her expression turned sly. It was easy enough to know where she was going with that. Gabriel, meet trunk. He took it pretty well, and I thought he’d come out a bit more vicious. If anything, Tem’s insane driving on the way back settled him.

Jace squints at Gabriel, perhaps trying to take his stock, but the dude is unstable. There’s no telling if this offer will end up being a double-cross… or worse.

“I’m fine with it,” Kade says. “We’re on the same side, Gabe and I.”

“Don’t call me that.” He runs his fingers through his hair. “How do I look? Dashing? Heroic?”

“Sure,” Kade agrees.

Apollo shakes his head and slowly removes the knife from his boot. He hands it to Gabriel, and Jace gives Kade a handgun.

“Don’t fuck us over,” Reese mutters.

Kade looks at him, his brows pinching together. “We’re done with that.”

Reese doesn’t seem convinced, but he doesn’t say anything else.

“Oh!” Gabriel brightens. “I think someone you know is here.”

We all stop and stare at him.

“Who?” Tem finally asks.

Gabriel makes some vague motion. “Terrible man. He was most unforthcoming. Surprising survival instinct, though. The boss didn’t want me to kill him. Had a doctor out, even, once they dragged him in.”

“ Who? ”

“The Hell Hounds’ leader.” He sighs. “Don’t make me remember his name. I only recall the way he wheezed after his lungs were punctured.”

Ah, for fuck’s sake.

I grab Artemis when she’s mid-lunge. Her feet leave the floor, her weight suddenly fully in my grasp.

Momentum carries her forward. Her fingers come within an inch of his face.

Kade shoves Gabriel back. I swing her around, too aware of the feel of her body on mine.

She struggles against me. Her face reddens.

“Easy.” I put my hand on her face.

Why am I touching her face?

“Calm down.”

Her gaze darts to mine. “Calm down ? You must have learned better than to say that?—”

“We are in a precarious situation, and you freaking the fuck out will not help.” I band my free arm tighter around her, but my palm on her cheek is unbearably gentle. “So, yeah, calm down and deal with the emotions on the other side of this.”

“Go,” Jace says to Kade and Gabriel.

I keep Tem’s attention on me. I want her eyes. I want her focus.

I want her scowling, smiling, insulting…

We’ve been in this position before. Locked together. Angry.

Except this time, it’s not me who’s furious.

“He could’ve told us before,” she says. “We could’ve made a plan to get Malik out?—”

“ If he’s here,” I reason. “They could’ve brought him to the hospital. He doesn’t sound sure.”

Pain flashes across her face, and she finally goes still. She grasps my wrist and squeezes. “I just can’t watch anyone else…”

I shake my head fast. I’ve been dreaming a lot about blood lately… and I think it’s Elora’s. I think I’m beginning to remember pieces of her death. The agony of watching her die… No, I don’t want to live through something like that again. I care about everyone here, minus one torturing lunatic.

How would we survive another loss?

A gunshot cracks in the distance. We reflexively drop into crouches.

There’s another, followed by a shout. I eye my brother, who shifts ever so slightly in front of me. I can’t find it in me to be mad—he’s always had a protective streak.

The overhead lights flicker, then go out. We’re doused in darkness for a long moment, still and silent, before we click on our flashlights again. With a twist on the top, we switch them over to a red-light mode.

“Shit,” Jace mutters. “Okay, we’re splitting up. Saint and Reese, come with me. Apollo and Artemis, go back the way we came and clear us an exit in case things get dicey.”

We all nod, our faces barely visible in the collective red glow. I don’t particularly want to leave Artemis—a weird gut reaction—but she turns and follows her brother back the way we came, sticking to the wall and moving fast. She doesn’t look back.

Reese elbows me, and I adjust my grip on my weapon. There’s another volley of gunshots, these higher-pitched. A different caliber of gun, the pop-pop-pop familiar and alarming at the same time.

I grimace. Reese opens the door for Jace and me. We move fast, and I take a little comfort in the idea that Reese has professional training. Not that I love the idea of him going to war, but he seems unbothered that we’re in the middle of another one.

We hurry down and pause on a landing that splits into the upper, VIP level of the club. Jace glances down it, frowning, then points to Reese.

I swallow when Reese moves silently down the hall on his own.

Jace points at me and then down the stairs.

Onward.

We descend into the belly of the club. Kade and Gabriel are probably ahead of us somewhere, but the club was made to hold shadows and secrets. Part of its charm, Tem would say. With the low strobe lights and wall sconces, the whole vibe is dark luxury.

Right now, it’s just plain dark.

The hallways twist. There are semi-private rooms and areas all over the place. Balconies with glass walls look down onto the main dance floor, the VIP sections Reese is clearing and spaces for the average client.

There are suspended platforms for dancers, too, meant to hover out in the open.

I glance up, aware that anyone could be hiding in those upper rooms and spot us. The platforms aren’t visible. Everything is… black.

Pop-pop-pop

I catch up to Jace and put my hand on his shoulder. We continue, and it isn’t until we reach one of the bars that we find our first body. My chest tightens until Jace’s light sweeps over the face.

Not Kade.

It’s not Gabriel either, but the clean bullet hole in the center of the guy’s forehead suggests it’s Kade’s kill.

Someone emerges ahead of us, and Jace registers that it’s a Cyclops before I can raise my gun. He fires twice. The man jerks as he falls, his gun going off and putting bullets into the wall to our left.

Jace moves forward and finishes the kill, and I shake off my nerves. We find more bodies along the way, then come to a fork.

“Take the right,” he says. “Shoot first, ask questions later.”

Right. Minus the whole not-shooting-one-of-us thing.

We separate, and the corridor I’m in leads back to the dance floor. I come out near the silent, barren DJ platform. There’s a bang to my left, and I spin around, my red light arcing across the empty space.

Nothing.

I’m fucking jumpy. I’m not built for this.

Something hums—electricity, maybe—and then the lights overhead flicker back to life. I squint and quickly scan the area, but it’s empty.

“Hey!” someone shouts.

I whirl, just in time to catch a glimpse of Gabriel rushing at me with something over his head. He swings it, his handcuffs glinting, and nails me in the side of the head.

I see stars, then nothing at all.