Page 179 of Blood and Fire
Terror exploded inside him. Frantic gabbling voices, his blocked survival instincts telling him not to be a fucking idiot,killhim already—
No. He just couldn’t. Not his brother. His mamma’s son.
Julian was braced to die. Bruno slammed the younger man’s face to the floor and sat on him, keeping the gun jabbed.
“Before you kill him, Bruno, consider this.”
King’s voice jerked Bruno’s gaze up. King held Lily in front of him at the top of the stairs, head jerked back, arms twisted behind her.
The guy they’d called Hobart descended the stairs, holding a gun on Bruno. He was herding the last two teenagers in front of him, shoving them on. The two young people gave himself and Julian a wide berth as they fled out the main door.
“Look what’s around her neck,” King said. “Remember the fight at the cabin? The operatives’ cell phones, wired to their vital signs?”
“The ones that exploded when they croaked,” Bruno said.
“Only my own personal operatives carried them. Those who serve me directly. A small amount of explosives, to destroy the mechanism after the information is erased. But enough to kill, at close range.”
“Yeah, I know,” Bruno said. “I was there.”
“I learned from that experience,” King mused. “You see, before you, I considered my own operatives invulnerable. But pride goeth before a fall. Or an explosion, if you will.” A strange, shrill giggle burst out of him. “Today, I re-activated Julian’s and Hobart’s old cell phones, with the explosives wired to their vital signs again. On impulse.” He indicated Lily’s neck, where the phones dangled on duct tape. “If you should kill either one of them, the explosion would blow her head…well, if not off, then almost off. It would hang by a thread. Picture it.”
Bruno stared at the guy, his mind blank. What thefuck?
Lily stared down, unbending dignity radiating from her body. Her face, her eyes, had that hard, glassy look he had seen in the video. Now he sensed, in a rush, what that look actually was.
It was endurance.
“Go down, Hobart,” King ordered. “Have no fear. He’s neutralized.” He studied Bruno’s face, his gaze fixed on Lily. “You may well ask, eh? Is she, or isn’t she? Is she the Lily you know and love? Or is shemyLily?” His voice dropped to an oily croon. “My lovely, perfect, dirty Lily.” He let go of her neck, slid his hand down, grabbed her breast.
Lily jerked. “Don’t touch me,” she hissed.
King cackled. The sound bounced off the walls, blurring like spooky canned laughter. “You know what’s funny, Bruno?”
“I’m sure you’ll tell me.” He didn’t take his eyes off Lily.
“Yes, I will. The funny thing is, this dilemma of yours…it doesn’t even matter! You’re still bound, either way! Even if she were holding a gun to your head, you wouldn’t be able to hurt her.”
Bruno stared into Lily’s eyes. “Lily?” he asked, quietly.
Her face was like marble. “If you have to ask, then there’s no point in answering you.”
King guffawed. “Oh, so it’s like that? Oh, Lily, that’s harsh. No mercy, eh? Let him dangle and twist, you heartless bitch.”
Lily did not respond, in look or word. She just stood there, proud and cold. And pure. Like nothing could touch her.
And Julian, vibrating underneath him, like a volcano about to explode. It was like standing on the pin of a grenade. Had King been fucking with him all along? Hope made him almost giddy.
But hope was a luxury he could not afford. Hobart was moving cautiously down the stairs, his face wary, in spite of King’s assurances. King shoved at Lily, forcing her ahead of him.
There was a pattering sound. A pungent smell. Gasoline.
They looked up. Zoe hung over the railing. If she’d been a death’s head before, she was a horror now. Blood flooded from both ears, streaming down her neck. Her face was grayish, shiny. Veins pulsed in her forehead. Her bloodied teeth showed, in a mad grin.
“I’ll save you, sir!” she yelled, in the unnaturally loud tones of a person wearing headphones. “Don’t trust them! They’ll betray you!”
“Zoe!” King howled. “Whatever you are doing, stop it!” He thundered out one of those phrases, but Zoe did not turn her head.
She sloshed more gasoline, and lurched towards the staircase.