Page 8 of Drop His Mask

“Raven!Please,we have to go!” He didn’t have time to explain to her how dangerous this was, how sorry he was. He tried to readjust his hold of her, but she managed to break free.

She was sprinting away before he could stop her.

Where the fuck did she go?

Since Raven had run off hours ago, he couldn’t find her anywhere. His swift little bunny was always good at hiding.

Too good.

He didn’t have any more time. He could hear the fighting outside and knew it wouldn’t be long before the Facility was overrun.

After searching everywhere inside the Facility, including the hidden spaces, he decided she must have somehow made it to the chaos outside.

He made his way to one of the exits that was usually guarded. It was, but not by who he expected.

“Julian, what the fuck are you doing in here? You need to go out there, something big is about to happen.” If it weren’t for his voice, Julian would have a hard time recognizing his friend, Quinn. There was a black mask that covered the top of his face, his short bronze hair barely visible over the top of it.

“Sorry man, orders from Jayce.” Julian wasn’t exactly sure who he could trust at this point. He grew up with Quinn, but he came up with Anadil too.

Quinn’s lips flattened, his gray eyes hardening. “Jayce is a fucking idiot. Here put this on. Orders from the boss lady she said we’re going to be on TV soon and this will protect us.”

Julian caught the mask in his hands. The material was scratchy, but he didn’t argue–he simply secured it over his face. “Have you seen Raven?”

Quinn tried to school his features, but even with half of it hidden by the mask, Julian could see the evident concern. “I, uh, look I don’t know what Nightingale is planning, but she has Raven with her.”

“What?” This wasn’t right, this wasn’t going to end well. Julian was having a hard time keeping his cool, from going off the rails and screaming in Quinn’s face.

“I don’t know man.” Quinn glanced away. “I can’t get involved, I have too much riding on this. You know my sister is garnering dangerous interest recently.”

Quinn rubbed the tattoo on his wrist that he got with his sister in mind.

A single scarlet rose petal.

Julian had the unique characteristic of nothing to lose. “Where is Nightingale?”

Quinn’s attention flickered back to him, he was swimming in emotion. “I can’t–”

Julian stepped forward grabbing Quinn by the shirt. The promise was already broken, and he hoped the revelation would get through to the man. “Quinn, I won’t involve you, but she’s pregnant. Raven is pregnant and Anadil knows.”

Shock. “Fuck. Jayce’s?” Quinn shut his eyes. “No wonder, it makes sense now.” He didn’t even try to fight to escape Julian’s hold. “Nightingale’s outside, in the training house. She’s surrounded by people and cameras. Raven should be there too.”

Julian dropped his hold on Quinn. “You should get your little sister, Rose, and get out of here. This isn’t going to end well. Nightingale’s going to go too far.” He didn’t wait for a response as he shouldered past Quinn and into the pandemonium outside.

Chapter 5

Jealous Man

Enzo

Present Day

Enzo stared down at Raven. It had been a week.Sevendays since the last game. They didn’t have much more time before the Sponsors decided they were tired of waiting. Especially for the same player,again.

They had already been in here longer than any before.

They had all been in this room, in thisgame,for well over a month now.

How many more matches would they need to win, tosurvive?

---