Page 3 of Vile Boys

“Fine.”

The guy pulls out his weapon.

BANG!

He shoots off the lock with his silenced gun, and the three boys jump back to avoid the shot.

“Motherfucker,” Caleb yells, enraged. “You shot at us!”

The gunman kicks open the doors straight into the boys.

“Move!” one of them shouts as they barge right through the boys like they don’t exist.

I should run.

As fast as I can, far away from here, before anyone sees me standing here.

But when the middle one of the three boys turns around, I feel frozen to the ground. Eyes gray and devoid of life, a face with features so sharp it could split mountains, and soulless pupils burning into the men’s backs as they run toward me. Pure, unfiltered rage hides deep inside, fueled by something far greater than just the intrusion into his domain. And it makes my heart pick up in fear.

Ares.

“Over my dead body,” he growls, his voice low and just as deadly as the gun he pulls out of nowhere.

BANG! BANG!

Two silenced shots. One blink.

My hand immediately slams into my mouth.

Just one blink between me and the one guy who lived a sliver of a second longer than the other. They both sink to the ground, bulletholes in their heads.

Oh my God.

“I guess they got it coming for them,” Caleb says, biting the piercing in his lip.

“Did you have to do that?” Blaine says as he stares down at the bodies.

“When you send a message, you send a clear one,” Ares says, his voice still void of any emotion.

But then he raises his head.

Piercing, haunting gray eyes stare straight into mine.

I swiftly turn and run as fast as I can.

I don’t know where I’m going. I just know I need to get out of here.

I go through the rose bushes and into the maze. But panic seeps into my veins the second I come across the courtyard. Any of these guys could be from Tartarus. If they realize what I saw …

I can’t risk it.

Bypassing the courtyard, I head straight into the other side of the maze up ahead, my heart racing in my throat. I keep running, despite the fear creeping further and further into my veins, crippling my muscles.

An overgrown path up ahead narrows quite a bit, but I still push through, desperate to get as far away from the scene as I can. But when I misstep, I fall sideways into the prickly roses.

“Ow!” I groan, retracting my arm covered in cuts from the thorns.

I rub my arm and face, smearing some of the blood on my dress before I continue. But the second I make a left turn, I come to an abrupt halt in front of a crossing.

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