Page 85 of Roses & Ruin

I spill out into the night, the snow blissful and cutthroat in the temperature difference, so much colder out here than inside the hell of the mansion.

I claw my way on all threes into the snow. I don’t stop until I can’t move another inch. I collapse onto my back, gasping and choking, spittle spilling out of the corner of my mouth.

Winston goes rigid against me, his yellow eyes flying open. He hisses at something above me, launches out of my sweater, and disappears into the snow. I sit up, tears springing to my eyes.

“Winst—” Someone grabs my hair, yanking back painfully. I scream, kicking hard, but the pain only sharpens into something cruel as I’m dragged backward by the roots of my hair. I look up at my attacker and freeze.

“Bianca?” I wheeze, my throat in shreds. Bianca doesn’t respond. Her face is calm, her eyes nearly all black. Determined. I thrash wildly, clawing against the dirt, fighting to break free from her grip on my hair, but she’s strong. Too strong. I stand no chance to break her hold.

“Why?” I gasp, tears blinding me. “Please, please let me go!”

Suddenly, Bianca does. She drops me on my back. I’m blinking up at the sky, confused, when an upside-down face appears in my field of vision.

“Happy birthday, Rose.” Julian grins, and his teeth and fangs are red. I choke in horror and try and scramble backward from him, clumsy and slow. Julian’s handsome face is sharp and cruel in the flickering orange of the burning manor behind me. His eyes slide lazily from me to Bianca, who joins his side. “You did so good, gorgeous,” he murmurs into her hair, and I see a spark of yearning in her dark eyes.

“If you’re trying to torture me, congrats. Goal accomplished,” I spit, looking away.

“Aw, sweetheart, don’t be jealous.” In a visible blur, he rushes over to me and crouches until we’re eye level. “My condolences, by the way. I’ve got Chris waiting at the tunnel exit. Just in case Hayden survives. Which he won’t. Made sure of that.”

I kick his face as hard as I can. He’s not expecting it, so I land a blow on his cheek. Rage erupts on his features. He snarls and catches my foot when I go in for another kick.

“And here I thought you were so sweet.” Julian jabs a thumb at Bianca behind him, who drops her eyes to the ground. “This one was too easy. Thought you would be too. Sweet little Rose, so uncertain, so helpless in class. So easy to get worked up with a single touch.”

“You’re pathetic,” I spit. Keep him talking, I think desperately. Keep him talking until Hayden makes it through the tunnels, fights Chris, gets here.

“All talk, darling.” Julian’s smile gets strained, though. “Call me pathetic all you want, but look what I did.” He eyes the fire over my shoulder. “Look what I can do.”

Julian makes a sharp, deliberate movement with his arm. There’s a roaring sound from the manor, and I look over my shoulder. A bolt of fire leaps from the conflagration, following the arc of Julian’s arm to the giant hemlock at his side. The missile of flame lands on the huge trunk and explodes the tree.

Swords of branches rain down all around us. Bianca dodges one in the nick of time, looking horrified. Julian sinks to his knees in front of me and grips my chin so hard I know he’ll leave bruises.

“Careful, now.” His voice is deadly quiet. His eyes have no humanity left in them. “I’d hate to sentence you to eternal damnation.”

The fight in me is swallowed by cold fear. My heartbeat skyrockets, and Julian’s stare ignites with hunger, going to my neck.

“Why?” I whisper. “You owe me an explanation.”

Julian’s expression goes flat. Soulless. He drags a finger down my cheek. “The butcher doesn’t owe anything to the pig.” His mouth goes to my neck.

I feel the scrape of his teeth and brace myself for the sharp bite of his fangs when he suddenly disappears in a blur. I scramble to my feet, hope coursing through me as I watch Julian land thirty feet away.

Gentle hands turn my face. Hayden, gorgeous, perfect Hayden, whose face is smeared with ash and hollow with exhaustion and smoke, tracks terrified eyes over my entire body.

“I love you,” he rasps, now that he can see my face.

“Thank god, thank god,” I gasp, throwing my arms around him.

Hayden tenses against me. “More later,” he grunts, shoving me out of the way just in time to dodge Bianca’s snarling attack. She pins him to the ground. Hayden looks more annoyed than anything else, a lion dealing with a Chihuahua.

“Where’s Chris?” Bianca snarls, scrabbling fruitlessly at Hayden’s chest.

“That’s it, my love,” Julian says, back on his feet now.

“Can’t get your hands dirty yourself?” Hayden sneers at Julian, flinging Bianca off him with a single finger. Julian scowls, slices the air with his arm, and Hayden leaps away just in time to dodge another missile of fire.

Hayden lands in a predatory crouch, his fangs bared, his eyes darting between both Bianca and Julian. There’s nothing about Hayden that looks human. Every feature is razor edged, the shadows slicing beneath his eyes, into the hollows of his cheeks.

But he’s up against two of them, and they didn’t have to fight their way out of a burning manor. The smoke and threat of fire has left Hayden weakened. I can see it in the drag of his feet, the gray pallor of his skin.