Page 281 of Vile Boys

I yank it out and groan from the pain.

“Don’t,” Penelope runs to me and rips off a piece of her shirt, then rips up mine to wrap it around my waist. “Gotta stop the bleeding.”

BANG! BANG!

Felix takes down the guards shooting at us one by one, alternating bullets with knives, keeping them at bay, while Penelope takes care of my wound.

“Blaine, are you okay?” I can hear Crystal’s voice before I see her, and the second she runs up to me and wraps her arm around me, I breathe a sigh of relief.

At least she’s still intact.

“Look at what that fucker did,” I groan. “My beautiful body.”

“You’re not any less beautiful, my guy,” Dylan says, snorting.

“Why thank you,” I muse.

Dylan turns around to shoot at one of the guards, then drags his body toward the stack of partially living, groaning guards they’ve been collecting. One of them tries to crawl out, and Dylan promptly grabs his ankle and drags him right back in. “This place is perfect for a fire, don’t you think?” Dylan grabs a few bottles of expensive liquor left on the play tables and chucks them at the pile of guards. Then he fishes out his lighter and sets them on fire. “Burn, bitches, burn!”

“What the …?” Nathan stares at him like Dylan’s completely lost his mind.

And maybe he’s right because I’m thinking the same thing. These Skull & Serpent Society guys are something else, that’s for sure.

Alistair blocks attackers from the side with sneak attacks from behind a pillar, gouging out their eyes and slicing up their Achilles tendons when they run past so they stop running forever.

“Don’t think you’ll get away,” he says as the guards cry in pain.

The cruelty is immeasurable, and I’m loving it.

This is the kind of violence my blade lives for.

So I push Penelope aside as the guards approach and pierce them on my blade one by one, avoiding their bullets with ease. Penelope fires another shot at a guard at our backs, taking one after the other down with a single shot. She’s a very good sniper, a perfect rear for me.

“Fuck, this stab wound hurts,” I hiss, and I take my anger out on the next one who approaches me, slicing through his balls. “There, that feels better.”

“No time to waste on chitchat,” Kai says.

“What about my pretty little bonfire?” Dylan mopes. “Now I’m gonna miss seeing it burn.”

“Plenty of chances to start fires elsewhere,” Felix growls at him.

Dylan sighs out loud. “Fine, fine.”

“You’re still alive,” Milo says in a cheery voice, staring at all of us. “Didn’t think you’d make it out. I’m impressed.”

“Ha ha.” Penelope throws him a glare.

“Where to?” Alistair asks.

Kai points at the back of the hallway. “My father’s office is in there. End of the hallway, to the left. It won’t be easy getting in. Hehas a ton of personal guards.”

Felix cracks his knuckles. “I love a challenge.”

“They won’t stand a chance,” Nathan says.

“What’s your body count?” Caleb asks.

“Twelve,” Dylan muses. “Yours?”

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