“Do you think they’re here? Who do you think they’re coming for?” Kenna’s voice was a whisper, and I could barely make it out under all the noise.
“Some sorry ass that wronged them, their business, or someone that has paid them…handsomely.” Kenna’s hand found mine again and squeezed against the metal covering mine. “It’ll be fine, Kenna. They aren’t coming for us.” I turned back to her, stopping next to the stairs. “Unless you have some sort of underground drug cartel you’re part of that I don’t know about?”
She gave me a quick shove, and I laughed but kept us moving through the house. Everyone was either pushing past us to get out of the way or crowding around what used to be the dance floor just a few moments ago. I walked up to the first guy in the crowd that I saw and tapped him on the back.
“Help a girl out?” I asked, gesturing for him to give me a boost. He gave me a stupid crooked grin.
“Anything for you, baby.”
I smiled, holding back my gag reflex. I hated being called baby. I was not a child. He held his hands out in a little cup shape, and I thanked whatever gods there were that I used to be a cheerleader and knew how to hoist myself up. My heavy boot landed in his hands, and I swung my other leg up and over his shoulder.
Next to me, Kenna got in a similar position on another guy. The room had completely cleared out except for them. The Triad. There they were in all their muscled, tattooed glory, stalking around, waiting for someone to turn the music off. Their leader—I didn’t know any of their names—sat against a windowsill, twisting the rings on his fingers. His hair was bleach blond, almost white. One bulky East Asian with his long, silky hair pulled into a knot on his head stood next to Blondie with his arms crossed. The brunet with the nose ring paced in a circle like he had better places to be, his heavy boots clumping across the wooden floor.
“Fuck me, they’re beautiful,” Kenna whispered over to me. I rolled my eyes. She wasn’t wrong. But I had grown up with this brand of asshole.
“Don’t drool on that poor man’s head, Ken.” I winked at her, and the guy below her looked up like he was actually worried she was drooling over these idiots.
The music cut off, and the entire house went quiet. The guy that was pacing came to a stop, and all attention landed on Blondie as he stood up and made his way to the center of the circle we had all formed.
“We’re looking for someone we think is here tonight. If anyone knows them, we expect you to give us information. We’ll pay you handsomely.” God, his voice was rough as gravel. I was sucked in against my will. I couldn’t take my eyes off of the way his muscles moved under the idiotically tight black tee he was wearing. “If you’re here, princess,” he said, pausing to look around the room, “we would appreciate you coming forward without any trouble.”
Kenna and I looked at each other.
“They’re here for a girl?” she mouthed at me. My stomach dropped. It couldn’t be.
“But we do like a good chase,” Man Bun mumbled under his breath. My own breath was coming in and out too quickly. I could feel the color draining from my face.
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
“Miss Scarlet,” he started to say. But before my name was out of his mouth, I had pulled myself free from dude’s shoulders and fallen straight onto the floor. The wind was knocked out of my lungs, but I knew I had to go. Kenna jumped onto the ground.
“Are you okay?” she asked just a little too loudly.
“There she is,” I heard one of the guys singsong. I grabbed Kenna’s hand.
“Fucking run, Kenna,” I said and pulled her along behind me. I felt the sea of people behind us part, but I was already out the door. I pulled the knife out of my back pocket and flicked it open. Running with sharp objects wasn’t smart. But when you had three reapers trailing you, and quickly, it was a risk one had to take.
We made it out onto the front lawn, and I pulled her to the right and aimed for the woods. If we could just get far enough in, we could lose them.
“What the fucking fuck, Scarlet! Do you have a bounty on your head or something?” Kenna whispered through gritted teeth. Our breaths were coming fast and short. The boots I had chosen were not great for running. I was essentially running with cinder blocks on.
“Long story. Tell you once we get out of this alive, yeah?” She nodded in agreement.
I could feel them gaining on us. Not surprising seeing as I was all of five feet on a good day and they were all well over six feet and trained killing machines.
“No sense in running, precious!” one of them said way too close to my ear. He wasn’t even out of breath. Adrenaline kicked in, and I pushed with all my might. I swung my arm out, trying to slice him with the knife to slow him down. “That wasn’t very nice!” I laughed, but he wasn’t deterred. He reached out and grabbed my arm, twisting it painfully until I dropped the knife and went down with it. “Got ya!”
He grabbed the back of my flimsy tank, and I felt it rip on the way down. Fuck, that was one of my favorite tops.
Piercing guy was readily on top of me, my arms behind my back. I looked up and saw Man Bun on top of Kenna and heard her whimpering. I fought against the hold on me.
“Let her go. She has nothing to do with this.”
I heard leaves crunching, and then suddenly Blondie was crouching down in front of me. He grabbed my jaw, much harder than was necessary. That was definitely going to bruise.
“Yeah, you look like her alright. Scar and everything.”
“Because I am her, asshole. Let my friend go. She has nothing to do with my family.”
He shrugged and looked behind himself at Man Bun. He nodded towards him, and he got off Kenna. Relief flooded my system.
“Kenna, go,” I grunted. “O sa fiu bine.” I had taught her some Romanian. It made it easier to talk when we were in public seeing as no one ever understood it.
“But—” she started to protest, but Blondie cut her off.
“Pleaca sau vei fi ucisa, Kenna.” I could almost feel him smile as he said it. My stomach dropped. They were most definitely sent by my family if he could speak and understand Romanian.
She looked at me briefly, tears filling up her eyes. But I nodded my head once, and she took off back towards the house.
“Alright, fuckers,” I said now that it was just the four of us. “What’s next?”