Reverence In Ruin

Chapter Fifteen

The sweet, cloying scent of the gas was getting heavier. The air felt thick and too sweet, leaving a chemical film on the back of his tongue.

“Don't breathe it in,” Voss snapped, his voice rough. He stripped off his charcoal suit jacket, moving like a possesed man. He doused the expensive fabric with the water from Lila’s bedside pitcher and shoved it against the door’s base, but it was a bandage on a bullet wound. The vents were high, and the air was already thinning.

​Amelia was on her knees by the crib. She had already stopped crying. She is now staring at the snapped wooden boat, her fingers white as she grips the splintered mast.

“Is she going to die, Adrian,” she whispered. The gas was making her lightheaded, her voice sounding like it was coming from the bottom of a well. “Is she going to die because of us?”

“Look at me,” Voss commanded, dropping to his knees and grabbing her face. He forced her eyes to meet his. The V Lord was gone, there was only a man terrified of the silence in the room. “I am getting you out of this. Do you hear me? I built this room. I know the bones of it.”

​He dragged her toward the center of the floor, where the air was marginally clearer. His lungs felt like they were being scraped with sandpaper. Every breath was a choice. He looked up at the ceiling, at the sprinkler system. It was high pressure, but the sensors were heat activated.

“The lighter,” Voss said, fumbling in his pocket. He pulled out a black lighter. He looked at the height of the ceiling, then at the heavy dresser. “Amelia, I need you to climb. Now.”

​He picked her up, his muscles screaming under the creeping harshness of the gas. Amelia scrambled onto the tall mahogany dresser, her movements were clumsy and sluggish.

“Hold this to the sensor,” he choked out, handing her the flame. “Don't stop until the water hits.”

​He braced his body against the dresser to keep her steady. Below them, the hiss of the vents grew louder. Amelia’s hand shook, the small flame dancing inches from the glass bulb.

“I can’t... I can’t reach,” she wheezed, her head lolling.

“Yes, you can! For your daughter!”

Hearing that jolted her like electricity. Amelia arched her back, stretching until the flame got closer to the sensor. A second passed. Two.

​Then, the world exploded in a freezing, high pressure deluge.

​The water slammed into them, drenching the emerald silk and the charcoal wool, washing the scent of the gas out of the air. It was a chaotic, drowning cold. Voss pulled her down, shielding her body with his as the room began to flood.

​They lay on the floor, gasping for oxygen, the red light reflecting off the rising water.

“The phone,” Amelia panted, her hair plastered to her face.

​Voss reached for the burner phone on the nightstand. It began to vibrate in his hand. He didn't wait before pressing it to his ear.

“If you've touched her…” Voss started, his voice a guttural snarl.

“The clock is ticking, V,” the voice on the other end said, distorted, electronic, and cold. “You spent so much time looking for an enemy in your bed that you forgot the ones you left in the shadows. If you want to see the girl again, leave the tower. No guards. Just you and the love of your life.”

“I'm coming for you,” Voss hissed.

“I know you are. That’s the point of the bait.” The line went dead.

​Voss looked at Amelia. She was shivering, her hand clutching the broken piece of the wooden boat. The war between them was still there, but it was being smothered by the shared terror of the empty crib.

“We have to go,” Voss said, standing up and pulling her to her feet.

​He grabbed a heavy metal chair, he swung the chair until his shoulders burned, the metal clanging against the glass in a desperate, jagged tempo. The glass finally shattered, and the cold Marseille wind howled into the room.

“Rino!” Voss shouted as the door finally buckled from the outside.

​Rino burst in, soaking wet and armed, the sigh with relief that turned instantly to horror as he saw the empty room. “The perimeter is breached, V! We're being swarmed from the docks!”

“They have her daughter,” Voss said, his voice flat and terrifying. “They want me alone. Stay here and secure the tower. If I don’t call in twenty minutes, burn everything.”

​Voss grabbed Amelia’s hand, his grip bruising. He didn't look at Rino. He headed straight for the shattered window and descended into the rain.

​They hit the pavement of the alleyway, the cold air hitting their lungs like a physical blow. Amelia's eyes were glazed and unfocused. The combination of the gas, the adrenaline, and the freezing water finally snapped her She took two steps into the rain before her knees simply gave out. She went down hard, her hand sliding out of his as she hit the wet asphalt. Her hand slipped from his grip, and she crumpled onto the wet asphalt, unconscious before she hit the ground.

“Amelia!” Voss knelt beside her, his heart was beating so fast and loud like it was threatening to fall out.

​He looked toward the end of the alley. A single pair of headlights flickered on, cutting through the dark and the rain.

​His phone vibrated again. A new text.

​She stays, You come, Or the girl learns how to swim in the dark.

​Voss looked at Amelia's pale face, then at the approaching lights. He was the V Lord, a man who never left himself exposed, yet here he was, standing over the woman he hated, hunting for her daughter, with no backup and a clock counting down to zero.

​He reached into his pocket, his fingers brushing the cold steel of his weapon, and made the only choice he had left.