Chapter 119 Monster Girl
Dante's POV
I narrowed my eyes at him, but didn't argue.
I followed him carefully as he led me towards a deeper part of the woods.
I slowed a bit as we stepped through somewhere a lot darker. He paused and turned to me, urging me on.
I stepped forward and he gestured towards a space far off.
I squinted my eyes as it had grown pretty dark, but I could barely see
“What am I looking at?” I asked as I struggled to get hold of anything with my eyes.
“Far off,” Nico muttered from beside me.
“I'm not—”
I was about to complain again, but I swallowed the words as a blinking red light entered my eyes.
There, right through the trees, beyond the large branches stood a tall finger-like structure cutting into the sky.
The tower.
My tower. A private transmission mast I planted near the safe house for safe communications between our terminals.
I turned my eyes to Nico beside me, and for a second, I just smiled and looked between him and the tower.
He smiled back as I was amazed at how he'd seen that, or even had the presence of mind to remember it.
“How?” I asked in shock. “How did you?” I trailed as I couldn't complete it.
“I just, felt it,” he muttered with a shrug and a smile.
I shook my head, it was unbelievable how helpful he could be.
“Now, if we can get to the tower, we'll easily find a way out,” Nico muttered.
“And get Serena back,” I added and Nico nodded in response.
He led the way as we walked through the woods carefully, keeping our eyes on the blinking red light.
We had barely gone anyway before I felt my leg muscles pulling together as the exhaustion from earlier tugged at me.
And the more we walked, the farther the tower grew. This was no good.
“We can't do this, Luca would have her head before we get there,” I cut through as I stopped walking.
Nico stopped and turned towards me, shaking his head. “I get it, I feel it too. But we need to keep going, Serena's life depends on us,” he added and I pulled a brow up at him.
I let it go again, turning back towards the space we'd left, where our ride had crashed.
“We need the car,” I said aloud.
Nico snorted lightly. “That thing’s tootled,” he said firmly.
“Yeah, but we only need five miles more,” I replied.
He stared at me without saying a word again, like he was calculating the possibility, but he nodded still.
We walked back to the wreck and I hated to admit it, but up close, it was way worse. The front was crushed and it looked to be missing a few good tools.
The driver's dead body still lay flat and oozing blood from his head. I stepped forward and pulled him a bit far.
“Engine block looks intact,” Nico muttered as he popped the hood open, and steam filled the air. “Radiator’s gone, and fan’s dead.”
“Disconnect them,” I replied as I walked closer to take a look.
He nodded without much hesitation and got to work. He ripped off the broken plastic parts and forced some pieces back where they should be.
At some point, he even took off his jacket and wrapped it around his hands to avoid the heat.
I moved to the passenger side, reached under the dash, and pulled out the hidden gun before sliding it into my waistband.
“Battery’s still alive,” Nico called out from the front. “But transmission might hold.”
“Start it,” I said confidently.
He pulled the driver door open and slid in while I took the passenger seat.
He gave it a start and the engine groaned loudly at first.
He then tried it again, and again before it finally kicked. Smoke spilled out from the hood but the engine remained active.
“Move,” I tell him.
He reversed a bit, turned and forced the SUV forward. It rattled like it was at the brink of collapsing but it kept moving.
That would have to do.
We drove, following the red dot far off that shone brighter with the growing darkness around us.
We moved through trees and shrubs, avoiding another crash that would end everything.
It wasn't long before we were close enough to see the structure itself. We approached the main structure, passed it and went by the messed up safe house again.
But as we approached the bend, everything seemed to blur around.
I stared over as my men laid around in their numbers, dead. The cars had been shot through with one flipped over and another burned.
My jaw locked so tight I felt Nico slow the SUV, and I stepped out before it fully stopped.
I walked through the dead bodies, bodies I had trained, men who swore loyalty.
Someone sold this route out, someone knew the precise timing.
I crouched beside one of my captains who had two bullets in his chest. The attack was clean, properly organized, and certainly not random.
“Nico,” I called quietly, and looked up to find him already scanning tire marks on the road.
“The van went north,” he replied.
I followed him further into the brush and the image grew clearer.
I crouched low close to the tracks, assessing it. They couldn't have gone far.
I straightened slowly, and for a moment, I felt only rage.
Serena, hold on, I'll find you.
And those men? I fear for them, cause when I find them, there won’t be enough graves.
Serena's POV
I was lost having the weirdest thought. Bored, scared and at this moment, in pain.
But not from the capture or the drive, but fairly to something that sounded worse. Their singing.
It was terribly off-key, loud and fairly drunk.
I sat on the cold metal bench of the van with my wrists cuffed in front of me and my shoulders aching.
They didn't stop for a second since we left Dante, just driving deeper into somewhere I couldn't recognize.
I didn’t ask where we're going. I didn't want to hear the answer.
The man sitting across from me, the one who dragged me from my hiding spot stared at me way too much.
His eyes ran over me shamelessly as he chugged down a can of beer.
It spilled down his chin as he laughed at something the driver said.
Beside him, another man leaned against the wall, he spoke less.
They didn't need to tell me, but they were taking me to him. Luca.
I swallowed slowly at the thought of getting back into Luca's hands. No way, I had to do something.
The van hit a bump and I jerked sideways slightly and the pervert laughed.
“Careful,” he said mockingly. “Wouldn’t want you hurt before we’re done.”
My stomach twisted as I looked down at my cuffs.
Then the singing grew louder, led by the driver who started slamming the steering wheel like it was a drum.
The quiet one beside the pervert yawned as the minutes passed.
Then, the feeling in me shifted into something colder as the quiet one’s head dropped forward.
He jerked once, then went still, falling asleep while the pervert kept drinking, barely noticing.
I lowered my gaze to the floor, thinking hard on my next move.
My pulse pulsed. If I wait, they’ll hand me over to someone way worse.
If I did anything silly, I could be killed. But as I thought about it, an idea crept into my mind.
I hated it immediately, I wasn't that kind of woman. I didn’t manipulate and I wouldn’t use my body as leverage.
But then, another thought comes, maybe it was the only price left to pay.
The driver laughed loudly again, not bothering to look back.
The pervert wiped the beer from his mouth and leaned back against the wall.
He thought I was helpless, and I slowly lifted my eyes to him.
When he caught me staring, he smirked back at me. But I didn't flinch, I just shifted slightly, getting into a better posture.
His eyes darkened and disgust rolled through me, but I gulped it down.
I couldn’t fight strength with strength, so I’d fight it differently.
I tilted my head slightly, just enough to draw him in.
“What?” He asked in a low voice and I forced myself to hold his gaze, even though everything inside me pushed to look away.
I inhaled slowly. If this is what it would take, then I’d do it, cause I’m not dying in the back of this van.
And I’m certainly not waiting to be saved, not even by Dante.
His smirk widened as he shifted closer. Perfect.
I let my shoulders relax, let him believe what he wanted.
With the engine roaring, the driver blocked out of view and the other man snoring softly.
I prepared to get my hands dirty. If they want a monster, I’ll give them two.