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I should have known Hiro wasn’t down. He gripped the katana in his hand as he stepped forward, but instead of striking while his attention was on me, he froze. I knew a flashback when I saw one, but I’d diverted attention too long and Vane turned. I had to move fast, and I knew if I didn’t do something, it’d be lost.
“Is it Ivar?” I asked. The name of my personal monster had him turning back, face distorted in a true snarl.
“That demon lost control of his troops and you think he has any power over me?!” he bellowed. “He thinks he is important. Ivar is nothing! Hel doesn’t even want him to know what she’s shared with me. I’m taking his place in Helheim!”
“You’re a human,” I argued. “You wouldn’t survive there. Unless you want me to send you there now?” I teased as I held up my dagger, letting it glint in the harsh lighting of the room.
He chuckled humorlessly at my threat. The man clearly had fallen down a rabbit hole of delusions. Hel was using him and had from the start. If he was truly as powerful and important as he claimed, he wouldn’t be hiding from us specifically.
Hiro’s foot hit something behind him and Vane turned, laughing as Hiro held his katana out with a shaking hand. He was no real threat. Not right now.
But I was.
That was my chance and I took it, striking him right in the back with every bit of strength I had. My memories flooded back, then. His hands on my skin, the monitors, the things he’d done and the harm he’d caused. I pulled the dagger free and struck again and again, not caring blood soaked me, ignoring the pain in my muscles, instead just taking the life this man didn’t deserve.
“Hiro!” My sharp words had him moving, and I stepped back as his blade struck, the honed blade cutting through flesh and muscle, severing part of his neck.
Bile rose in my throat as blood bubbled out of every single wound, but Hiro wasn’t done either.
The pained gurgles of blood had died out the moment he struck his neck, the blade cut straight through the bone, meaning he had no way to survive this. His head was barely connected to his body as he cut over and over again. It was gruesome but Hiro was unaffected by the mess he was creating.
“Fuck you for taking something more from me!” Hiro yelled, voice breaking with emotion. “I was broken already and you pushed me even further with no remorse. Took my body that wasn’t yours to take!” Each word was punctuated by another hack at the man, huge gashes forming in his skin each time.
I didn’t disturb him. We looked like we’d lived through a massacre, both wearing the blood of our biggest enemy.
But I felt free.
Vane was gone.
He couldn’t touch me again. He no longer could throw me into a cell and torture me for days on end.
He knew the wards, now he couldn’t keep any of us out. There was nowhere safe at Dark Haven for his demons.
Hiro was crying now, his sobs and breaths so short I knew he was on the border of a panic attack.
“Hiro!” My sharp words had him letting his arm fall to his side, katana still in his hand and dripping with blood. We were both on the edge of shock, and I had to get us out of here. “Come on. It’s done. Let’s go find the ward and let our men inside.”
He nodded but didn’t speak. At least he followed as I left, not once looking back at the mutilated body we’d left bleeding out on the floor.
Monty could burn it.
There was a light switch inside the door and when I clicked it, the hall filled with light. Above the doorway was the sigil, three in fact.
“Can you reach it with your sword?” I asked Hiro as I paused. He hacked away at the sigils, breaking the barrier completely. At the sound, Drake was there waiting for us, mouth hanging open in horror at the sight of Hiro covered in blood and tissue.
“What the fuck?” Drake’s words were full of worry and both of our weapons clattered to the ground as he called for the others. My mind blanked as I was swept into Kol’s arms, his wings wrapping protectively around me despite Monty’s protests. It was out of character for Kol to show actual affection and not just lust, but it felt amazing enclosed in his arms. It showed just how much he’d already changed. He let me do this mission, knowing I had to be the one to do it, but still worried under the surface. I was understanding him more and more.
The longer he held me, the longer I lost composure. I couldn’t speak to tell them anything as my body shook violently and my teeth clattered too hard to say much.
“They’re in shock,” Drake declared. “We have to warm them up.”
“Give her here,” Monty growled, forcing Kol to give me up. I was too far gone to notice where we were heading.
My vision blacked out, then came back as I was under the hot spray of a shower. I sputtered a little but fell back under the exhaustion again. My body ached and my mind was swimming.
There was no regret.
But there was horror.
