Page 116 of Fanged Embrace
I took off, gun clenched tight, and sprinted the final stairs, bursting through the door at the top and staggering out onto the rooftop. Wind whistled past my ears and whipped my hair across my face, lashing strands stinging my eyes as I zeroed in on the helicopter pad.
“Marcus!” My furious scream was snatched by the wind but Marcus turned his head.
He stood across the rooftop, behind the rest of the board members filtering into the white helicopter. From the distance I saw a look of surprise ripple across his face, before concerncreased his features. He yelled something to the rest of them and they all got moving, jostling each other as they clambered into the cabin. Marcus brought up the rear, but I wasn’t about to let him go.
I was running now, raising the gun in my hands. There was no time to think things through, no time to formulate a better plan than a full-tilt sprint to the end. Because this was the end. No matter the outcome of this confrontation, whether I managed to take Marcus down or not, this was where everything ended. This was my final attempt. My very last chance to avenge Dandelion, myself, and every innocent victim of the organization’s wicked games.
I fired wildly, and Marcus stumbled back from the rest of the group as three bullets whizzed past his head. They ricocheted off the helicopter's frame with a thundering clang. I aimed again. If I could just keep him grounded, keep him away from the cabin door, I’d have him cornered. He’d have to face me alone. If I could blow his head off from this distance that would be a bonus—but highly unlikely. I had to get closer if I wanted a clear shot.
I squeezed the trigger and fired again, and Marcus retreated further from the helipad, shrieking at his associates in the cabin to “Do something!”
They did do something. They left him to his fate. The helicopter blades were spinning now, whirling in a blur as the pronged legs began to lift from the helipad—and one of Marcus’s precious board members reached out and slid the cabin door shut.
I heard his outraged cry across the rooftop, stark indignation at the obvious betrayal.
I kept running, speeding toward my target while my lungs burned and my heart thumped fast and frantic in my chest. The wind nipped at my jacket, tugged at my hair, trying to slow me down, urging me to stop—but I couldn’t, not now. EverythingI’d been through, every terrible moment of desperate struggling culminated in this very moment. When it would all be worth it.
It would all, finally, mean something.
The sky was threatening rain overhead, tumultuous clouds curling in a maelstrom of black and gray swirls. My boots skidded on the concrete, momentum pitching me forward as I ground to a halt across the helipad, gun pointed directly at Marcus who looked back with unbridled fury in his eyes.
I fired again, but he dodged the bullet. Figures—he had speed on his side. I was more of a nuisance to him than an actual threat. Marcus put his vampiric nature to work, sidestepping my wild firing, all the while snapping a desperate gaze to the helicopter—and his associates who were all too happy to leave without him.
The helicopter began to rise. It hovered above the ground, and the wind from the turbines sent both of us stumbling backward. I went to my knees, bracing against the blast of wind while Marcus’s face twisted to monstrous proportions, disbelief etched into his features—fangs elongating as he was overcome with a venomous rage.
“Traitors! You'd be nothing without me!Nothing!” he screamed, spittle flying from his lips as he roared loud enough to leave my ears ringing.
It was a haunting, inhuman shriek that shot adrenaline through my veins. He wasn’t human, and he had no humanity left in him. Not after everything he’d done. I had to remember that. I had to be careful. Any shred of doubt or hesitation would leave me dead by his hands before I could blink.
Above us, the helicopter buzzed in the air, wind relenting in increments as it moved along. Marcus watched as his trusted associates left him behind without fanfare. Maybe now he’d see how little he meant to them. Maybe now he’d know he was nothing more than a pawn in their games. I scrambled to myfeet, gun still trained on him, adrenaline racing through my veins as Marcus regained his footing too, his anger now directed entirely at me.
“You were stupid to trust them,” I spat. “They never needed you—they just wanted your power, your connections. And you played right into their hands.”
Marcus’s eyes glittered with malicious intent, but he scoffed at my statement. “You think I didn't know they'd betray me eventually? You think I didn’t expect this?” He gestured at the helicopter growing smaller on the horizon. “Getting along with those parasites hasn’t been easy—I was planning on cutting them loose anyway. You and your meddling only made me speed up my plans. They'll regret crossing me, I promise you that.”
I took a cautious step forward, never lowering my weapon. “What do you mean? What did you do?”
Marcus only laughed, manic and unhinged. The sound skittered down my spine and the hair of my forearms stood at attention. He was losing it a little, looking far more bedraggled and unkempt than he had been when we met downstairs. His hair was disheveled and windswept, and he’d dropped the human qualities entirely. He no longer looked friendly, or harmless. He looked like a monster, flashing fangs in a wide, terrifying grin.
In the past twenty-four hours he’d had his facilities attacked, his perfect order unraveled by a group of unruly vamps, and to top it all off, he’d been betrayed by his own people. They’d left him behind the moment shit hit the fan. Maybe he’d anticipated it, but like he said, me and the Leyore coven had messed with his schedule. Now he had nothing left to lose, and he was looking at me like he knew that.
Then he lunged for me, speeding across the empty helipad in a blur of motion.
I had seconds to react. I squeezed the trigger reflexively, butthe shot went wide, zipping over his shoulder as he closed the distance in an instant. I swung the muzzle and tried to aim again, but by then it was already too late—Marcus slammed right into me, shoulder connecting with my sternum, and the impact sent me flying backward.
I hit the concrete and kept moving, skidding on my back and hissing at the burn in my knuckles as the skin was fleeced raw. But I didn’t let go of the gun. It was all I had, the only weapon that could actually hurt this motherfucker.
I rolled to my knees as Marcus approached again—casually this time like this wasn’t some grand final stand. It made sense, really. I was just some human with a chip on her shoulder, and Marcus was a vampire with a god complex. To him, this was child’s play, and he was happy to toy with me a little longer, to punish me for the headache I’d caused him.
If I ever had any doubt about his true nature, that thrilled little glint in his eye banished it. He was a monster on a power trip, veiling his narcissistic intentions under the guise of compassion. And I was in danger. Marcus was stronger than me, faster than me, and furious. I raised the gun again, but he batted it aside, outstretched hand snaking out to clamp around my throat.
I clawed at his forearm, wheezing around the pressure, but it didn’t do any good. I felt the prick of nails embedded in my skin, the searing burn as blood trickled from the punctures. I remembered River’s bite, back when I’d wordlessly handed her my heart. That pain was sacred. This pain could never compare. All it did was make me angry that he would dare to leave a mark on me, like he hadn’t done enough harm already.
I fixed burning eyes on Marcus, scowling despite the crushing weight on my throat and the black spots crowding my vision. I choked, gagged, and struggled for breath as he lifted me off the ground. My fingers grazed the gun where he’d knocked it from my hand, and I barely managed to grip thehandle before Marcus had lifted me higher, gripping me by the throat, and held me dangling over the edge of the rooftop.
My legs kicked uselessly beneath me, my breath came strangled and my vision faded to patchy static. Panic surged through my every nerve as I tried to claw at his hand, desperately fighting for air. My limbs were unresponsive, jerky like an animatronic as my body spasmed and my lungs begged for air. But I didn’t let go of the gun.
“Drop it,” Marcus snarled, fangs gleaming as he hauled my face horrifyingly close to his. “If you kill me, we both go down.”
