Chapter 43: Alluring Darkness: Chapter 43

Pain shoots up my elbow and ricochets through my arm as I’m thrown face first down on the hard stone floor of the cave. I barely had time to raise my arms to stop myself from smacking my head into it, which is why my elbow took the hit instead. I grit my teeth as my forearm and fingers tingle from the lingering pain of it.

I fought the entire way here, but my captor didn’t budge. He kept his hand firmly across my mouth and his arm around my body as he ran through the forest until he reached this cave. I couldn’t even turn my head to look at the bastard’s face. But now, it appears as though we have reached our final destination. I can feel him looming over me behind my back.

Pushing myself into a sitting position, I rub my elbow in an effort to make that prickling sensation in my arm stop. With my back still to him, I try to decide how to play this. I only have a few seconds at best before my captor no doubt loses patience. So I make a snap decision.

One second, I’m sitting there rubbing my elbow. The next, I’m whirling around, jumping to my feet, and darting in the direction we came. All at the same time.

Air explodes from my lungs as a fist crashes into my stomach.

The force of the punch is strong enough to send me flying backwards, and more pain flares through my body as I smack back first into the cave wall before crumpling to the ground. Wrapping an arm around my stomach, I curl in on myself while trying desperately to suck air back into my lungs.

A contented sigh sounds from above me. “I’ve been wanting to do that for weeks.”

The voice is familiar. But for a second, I can’t place it. After forcing a few breaths into my lungs, I blink to clear my vision from the haze of pain that is clouding it. Then I raise my head to at last face my captor.

For a few seconds, it’s as if my mind can’t comprehend what I’m seeing.

“Gabriel?” I blurt out.

My classmate Gabriel towers over me where I’m still lying on the ground, and he is staring at me with such hatred, such contempt, that I lose all sense of what the hell is going on.

His easy smiles are gone, and his all-American boy-next-door look has been twisted almost behind recognition by the rage now pulsing across his features.

“Raina Smith,” he replies, his voice laced with venom.

“What’s—”

Pain erupts in my side, cutting off my words, as Gabriel slams his boot into the side of my ribs. The kick is hard enough to make my body slide the short distance to the wall before crashing into it. I gasp again, feeling as though fire is licking my side.

“Did I give you permission to speak?” Gabriel demands above me.

Since I still haven’t been able to catch my breath, I just lie there, sucking air into my lungs instead of replying. When I’m able to breathe somewhat normally again, I start pushing myself up on my knees and then climb to my feet.

My knees have barely left the ground before Gabriel rams his fist into the left side of my face. More pain pulses through my jaw and cheekbone, and my head snaps to the side as I collapse back to the ground.

“Stay on your knees,” Gabriel orders.

Black spots swim in my vision. I blink hard and work my jaw for a few seconds. Then I drag furious eyes up to the bastard above me. “Would you stop hitting me and just tell me what the fuck is going on?”

In hindsight, I should probably have worded that better. Or better yet, not said it at all. But I was already running dangerously low on fucks to give before this damn asshole decided to drag me into this cave, and now I simply cannot muster a single fuck anymore.

The moment the words are out of my mouth, Gabriel’s blue eyes turn colder than the arctic ocean in the middle of winter. I see the hit coming, but it doesn’t matter because there is nothing I can do to stop it.

My cheek smacks into the stone as the punch to my jaw sends my entire body crashing to the ground as if I’m nothing but a puppet with my strings cut.

Then he starts up a merciless assault.

I try to disassociate from the pain as much as possible, but I can’t block it all out as he continues to punch and kick me.

When Gabriel is at last satisfied, he steps back again. Agony blooms all over my body. I drag in a rattling breath.

Gabriel releases another contented sigh. “Ahh, that felt good.”

Fucking asshole. I am going to poison him and watch him die screaming if it’s the last thing I do.

My limbs tremble as I force myself to push my body off the ground again. But I’m not sure if my bones can handle another beating like that, so I stay on my knees this time. After drawing in a deep breath, I tilt my head back and meet Gabriel’s eyes again.

The fury is still there, but he looks smug now too.

Holding my gaze, he pulls out a gun and levels it at my forehead. The muzzle is cold as the metal meets my skin.

I just continue looking back at him.

He narrows his eyes. “You should be terrified right now. Staring at me with wide eyes and begging me not to shoot you in the head.” He presses the gun harder against my forehead. “Why aren’t you?”

Because I’m messed-up in the head in ways that you will never understand.

But I don’t tell him that. Instead, I reply, “Because the safety is on.”

To my absolute shock, he actually turns the gun slightly and looks down at the safety. Which is of course off.

A genuine laugh, full of bafflement and smug satisfaction, rips from my chest. I can’t believe he fell for that.

The laugh is abruptly cut off as he hits me with the butt of the gun hard enough to snap my head downwards. Blood trickles down from where the strike must have broken the skin. It runs down my forehead and slides down my temple.

Raising my head, I lock eyes with him again and flash him a mocking grin. “Worth it.”

He draws back his hand as if to hit me again, but right then, noise comes from the mouth of the cave.

I turn towards it.

And dread washes through my body like ice water.

Two people walk into the cave. Or rather, a woman holds a gun to the back of a handcuffed man’s head while she marches him into the cave.

“How do you think you’re going to win if you waste your time abducting me like this? It makes no sense. And how did you even get my own team to betray me like that. It shouldn’t even be possible if…” Connor trails off as his eyes meet mine. “Raina.”

“Con,” I breathe.

“Took you long enough,” Gabriel says.

The woman behind my brother scoffs. I drag my stunned gaze to her.

Shelley.

It’s Shelley. The girl I poisoned in the cafeteria earlier this week.

“Can someone tell me what the fuck is going on here?” I snap, all of my restraint now completely gone.

Gabriel hits me with the butt of the gun again.

“Touch her again and I’ll—” Connor growls while he moves as if to take a step towards us, but he’s cut off before he can complete the sentence.

“Finish that step and I will shoot you in the head,” Shelley declares.

Connor pauses, his foot still hovering in the air. His worried gray eyes meet mine. I shake my head.

Gritting his teeth, he slowly returns his foot to the ground where it was before.

“Good,” Gabriel says. And there is a vicious glint in his eyes as he looks between me and Connor. “We’ll get to the shooting part later.” He locks his gaze on me. “Get up.”

Before I can so much as begin to push myself up, he buries his free hand in my shirt and forcibly hauls me to my feet. Pain pulses through my battered body when I move, and I have to clench my jaw to stop a gasp from escaping my throat.

With his fist still gripping my shirt, Gabriel moves us across the cave floor until we’re standing right opposite Connor and Shelley. After shifting so that he is standing behind me, he releases me and instead puts his gun firmly to the back of my head.

“Now that we’re all here,” Gabriel begins. “Let’s get down to business, shall we?”

“What the hell is going on here?” Connor demands, his voice becoming sharper and his gray eyes hard as stone. “You’re a first-year, aren’t you? Do you have any idea about the consequences your actions will have?”

“Ironic. You lecturing me about consequences. And I know exactly what I’m doing. The question is, do you? Do you even know who I am?”

“Should I?”

A snarl rips from Gabriel’s throat. And I have to admit, I am impressed by the utter disdain and nonchalance in Connor’s voice when he said that. As if he can somehow read those thoughts in my mind, Gabriel pushes the muzzle of his gun harder against the back of my head.

“Ah, I really wish that crazy fucker Eli Hunter had tortured you to death,” Gabriel says. “That would have been so entertaining to watch.”

Realization crackles through my body.

It’s mirrored in Connor’s eyes too as he says, “You. You’re the one who messed with my rifle that day.”

His words are half statement, half question. But Gabriel answers anyway. “Yes. I had hoped I could get the Hunters to take care of you for me. It would’ve been poetic, in a way. But since you have somehow managed to get him off your back, I guess I have no choice but to get my hands dirty. If you want something done, you have to do it yourself. Isn’t that what people always say?”

“Why?” I demand, completely befuddled. “Why are you doing this? I hadn’t even met you until a few weeks ago. And I’m sure Connor hadn’t either. What could we possibly have done to make you hate us this much?”

“You’re Harvey Smith’s children.”

Stunned silence pulses through the cave.

I blink. In my position, I can’t see Gabriel’s face, but I could hear the venom that dripped from his voice when he spoke our father’s name.

“What does that have to do with anything?” Connor eventually asks, sounding as confused as I feel.

“Everything!” Gabriel screams. “It has everything to do with this! Fuck, you really are his children in every way. Never caring about anyone other than you and your own fucking family.” He grips the back of my neck while shoving the muzzle against my head over and over again. “Did you really think that your father’s failure only affected him?”

Connor, who was staring daggers at Gabriel for how he’s manhandling me, blinks in surprise. I do too.

“If this is about the inconvenience to the Morelli family,” Connor begins. “I hate to break it to you, but we’ve already paid—”

“This is not about the fucking Morelli family,” Gabriel snarls, jabbing the gun so hard into my skull that I have to bow my head forward slightly. “My father is dead because of you!”

Ringing silence descends on the cave. It’s so potent that I can almost feel it pressing against my skin.

Behind me, Gabriel is breathing hard. But he has pulled back his gun a fraction, allowing me to raise my head fully again.

“My father was sent on the same mission as yours,” Gabriel grinds out. “And because your dad fucked everything up, my father died too.”

From across the cave, Connor and I stare at each other. I hadn’t known that. And based on the surprise flickering in Connor’s eyes, he hadn’t either.

“But Harvey Smith also got himself killed,” Gabriel continues. “So I can’t make him pay for my father’s death, which means that you have inherited his blood debt. And now, it’s time to pay it.”

For the first time since I was dragged into this cave, true terror pulses through my body. Not for my own life. But for Connor’s. Licking my lips, I cast frantic glances around the cave in an effort to find something that can somehow get us out of this.

“What about you then?” I ask, stalling for time, as I meet Shelley’s gaze. “You’re not Gabriel’s sister or something, are you?”

“No.” A cold smile stretches her lips as she locks eyes with me. “But you made an enemy of me when you poisoned me in that cafeteria. And I always settle my scores, which is why I was more than happy to provide my assistance in this little revenge plot when Gabriel approached me about it.”

Fuck. Maybe poisoning her in front of everyone like that had been a bit too ballsy. Even for me. Oh well, too late for regrets now.

“Enough talking,” Gabriel snaps before I can reply. “Give him a gun.”

Confusion and disbelief wash through me as Shelley keeps her gun to Connor’s head while pressing another one into his handcuffed hands. But before I can open my mouth to ask about it, Gabriel shoves a gun into my hands as well.

My first instinct is to raise it and shoot Shelley in the head. But even if my aim wasn’t terrible enough that I would never hit her, even from this distance, the problem is also that she’s standing right behind Connor. To hit her, I would need to shoot through my brother.

Connor flicks a glance between me, Gabriel, and the gun in his hands. And I know that he is considering the same thing. Connor has perfect aim and would definitely hit his target from this distance, but the main problem remains. Gabriel is standing right behind me, which means that my body is blocking the shot.

As if he realizes that too, Connor simply shifts the gun so that he is holding it properly, but makes no move to raise it.

“You’re not going to try to shoot me?” Gabriel taunts.

“No,” Connor grinds out.

“Good. Because if you shoot me, I shoot your sister.” He once more pushes his gun harder against the back of my head as if to truly drive the point home. Then he tells me, “And if you try to shoot Shelley, she shoots Connor.”

My brother grits his teeth. “What do you want?”

“I want you to feel what I feel.” There is a savageness in Gabriel’s voice that cuts through the air like a blade. “I want you to feel the pain I’ve felt every fucking day since that night when your dad killed my father. He was my best friend. My family.”

“What. Do you. Want?” Connor forces out between gritted teeth again.

“I want you to choose who gets to live.”

“What?”

My heart drops into my stomach and ice sweeps through my chest because I already know where he is going with this. Inside my skull, my mind is screaming. I don’t want to hear the next words that I know will come out of his mouth. But he speaks them anyway.

“One of you will shoot your precious sibling. The one who shoots first and kills the other gets to live. If you refuse to shoot, I will kill you both.”