No Peace for the Damned

temptation.
No. I won’t do it. I won’t
.
    Banks’s eye shifted to the doorframe. The moment he glanced away, I clutched his heavy head between my clawed hands and twisted. His neck snapped. A shiver swept along my spine. I closed my eyes and shuddered. It was done. I placed his body gently on the floor.
    I didn’t look into Thirteen’s face. Not even when I wrapped my arm around his waist and started across the loft for the stairs. Something told me I really didn’t want to see his expression right now.

Gunshots and violent cries echoed through the barn. The guards on site had reacted quickly when the others were revealed. At the top of the stairs, I listened to find out how many more were on their way, but no alarms sounded in the distance. Markus had disarmed all the barn’s monitors.
Why would he do that?
The thunderstorm raged outside. We were nearly a mile from the main grounds, and no one else at the estate had noticed us. At least not yet.
    I stretched out my power until Thirteen and I were invisible. We headed down from the loft. Thirteen gained strength with each step, but I still forced him to the inside of the stairs. Halfway down, the stairs whined in protest. I hoisted Thirteen and raced us to the floor. Behind the partition, the three hostages were seated on the floor, propped up in front of the door. One had Jon’s extra gun, another swayed in his fight to stay conscious,and between them both was a lump. Hair and clothes bloody, the unconscious third hostage.
    A fight was underway across the barn. Six men still battled. One of them was Markus. The rest were dead. A part of me ached to confirm our men among the living, but I refused to listen. I needed to get Thirteen away from this place. Now. If I let myself think for even a second that something had happened to Theo…
    I shook my head. We were at the back door. I could hear the rain pelting outside. I tightened my grip on Thirteen.
Time to get the hell out of Dodge
.
    “Magnolia, stop,” Thirteen ordered. “Release our cover.”
    I shifted us behind the partition and pulled back my power until we were visible. “What?” I snapped. We
so
did not have time for a powwow right now.
    The hostages gasped. Thirteen stepped in front of me, blocking me from the door.
    “What are you doing?” he asked.
    “I’m getting you out of here,” I said. “Hopefully without any of my family realizing I still exist.”
    I reached around him to open the door. The handle slipped from my grip. Banks’s blood coated my fingers—normal fingers now. I hadn’t even felt them shift back. Thirteen moved in front of me again. His legs shook under his weight. Bullets bounced around the room. Several cut into the partition in front of us. We needed to get out of here. Now.
    The intensity of Thirteen’s frown made me pause. Blood seeped into the creases of his skin. The endearing crinkles were now hard and frightening lines.
    “I will not leave my men, Magnolia,” he said. “If you wish to save yourself from exposure, no one will stop you. But I will not leave without all my people with me.”
    My chest clenched. He wasn’t really choosing the others over me. But it sure as hell felt that way.
    “But I came for
you
! To get you out of here. I can’t leave you here.”
    His gaze softened. “Then stay. And help me fight.”
    One of the hostages shifted, his body bruised and broken. Thirteen knelt at his side.
    “But I’m just another Kelch to them,” I whispered. A sob choked in my throat. A bullet embedded itself in the wall next to my head. The two conscious hostages gasped. I didn’t move. Slowly Thirteen rose and rested his hands on my shoulders.
    “I promised you that your family would never hurt you again. But I can’t protect you from the hurt you may receive from others. You need to decide how many of these new experiences you can handle. But for right now,” he dropped his hands and stepped back, “I have a fight to join.”
    He turned and vanished around the partition.
    “Motherfuckinggoddamnpieceofshit!”
    The cries and blasts of the fight drowned out my tantrum. The two hostages looked up at me with wide, swollen eyes. The one with Jon’s gun adjusted his grip. Now what was I supposed to do?
    I rubbed both hands over my face.
Fuck!
Finally, I took a deep breath and listened. Theo and Shane were still on their feet, fighting the one remaining guard. Relief flooded me, but only for a moment. Then I focused again. All the other