Page 48 of Regal Queen

I suddenly realized it didn’t matter.

If we found Dimitri, we weren't going to wait for anyone else. We were going to put a bullet through his head.

I stayed close to Knight, determined to see this to the end.

We came to a room far within the back reaches of of the ship and Knight stilled outside it. I pulled up next to him, my heart pounding so loud in my ears that I wished I could make it stop. The combination of fear and need for revenge inside me was driving me crazy.

Knight didn't speak, just took in the shadows around us. There was a strange stillness in this area of the ship compared to the rest.

Knight was holding his breath, melting in to the darkness around us. I tried to be patient, even though I was so jittery with nerves that I felt the need to jump up and down.

Finally, he spoke. "I know he's in here. I can feel it."

His voice was void of all emotion and a frightening chill skated down my back.

"How do you know?" I whispered in return, trying not to give us away.

"Because," he stated simply. "I just know. I have experience with these things. Someone important is in here.”

I nodded, accepting it.

Knight took in a deep breath and stepped in front of the door, shooting the lock. The sound ricocheted in my ears, slamming into my senses. Knight didn’t seem bothered. He slammed the door open with his booted foot. The door snapped back against the wall. He immediately fired in the room, not waiting to see what was waiting for us inside.

Responding shots rang out and pieces of the door blasted through the air. Knight staggered but the bullets hit his body armor.

Peeking inside the room, I aimed straight for the man inside. Both Daniel and I shot him at the same time, and the man fell to the floor in a shower of bullets.

We both paused, and I had to force myself not to keep on firing. Adrenaline rushing through my veins made it hard to stop.

Doing a room check first, Knight rushed inside, with me on his heels. He grabbed the man we’d just shot and yanked him off the floor. He roughly shoved him into the only chair in the room.

I smelled blood. The man was pretty torn up, and not wearing a vest like us.

There was another man in the room. But he was on the ground, his body still in death.

I closed my eyes, shuttering out the sight and turned to focus on Knight, who had gripped the man by his shirt.

Knight shook him, “Looks like the tables have turned, asshole.”

The man, with dark eyes and a mop of brown hair on his head, grinned. His teeth were tinged with a soft red, his own blood.

"Not for long." He laughed, and a soft foam slid down his lip and dribbled onto his chin.

"You fucker!" Knight shook him again, then smashed his fist into his face. Once, twice, then three times, until all he was doing was punching the man over and over.

The man slouched over, taking it, his bullet ridden body making it impossible to defend himself.

After a while, I placed my hand on Knight's shoulder, griping it tighter than necessary to get his attention. He slacked, heaving as he let go of the man, who fell to the ground in a crumbled heap.

I leaned over, pushing the man onto his back. He was near death and yet, I couldn't find it in myself to care all that much. He’d probably tortured Knight as much as the dead man in this room.

He began to choke and more foam dribbled down his mouth. I shook him harshly, then slapped his face. “Wake up!”

His eyelids flew open and, after a few moments of trying to focus, finally met my gaze.

"Yo--you," he choked, his arm lazily coming up to pat at my thigh. "it's you."

"Where is he," I growled, growing more pissed off by the second. I had a sneaking suspicion that he wasn't here. I shook him again. "Where's Dimitri?"

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