“You fucked yourself yet?” she retorted.
Finally, Ruby’s search yielded results: it was only a switchblade, four inches long, but it would be more than enough to gut Gavin with.
Ruby stood and faced the doorway. “Come and get me. You mutie bastard.”
“Don’t call me a mutie.”
“It’s what you are,” Ruby taunted. “You think everyone else has a fucked up face like yours? I’ll give you a hint: they don’t. You’re a mutie, Gavin.”
“Shut up!”
“Make me.”
She hadn’t expected simple antagonizing to work, but Gavin walked into the hall. His thugs didn’t follow. Ruby quickly calculated how the fight would go. Gavin had the longer weapon, and the advantage in size, but if she took him by surprise she would have a chance to end it quickly.
Ruby crept silently to her left, watching Gavin as he advanced deeper into the darkness of the hall. She flanked him just before he vanished completely in the shadows. Stalking forward, she followed his footsteps.
“Is this your idea of a fight?” Gavin growled.
Ruby smirked. His voice was close; he couldn’t be more than five steps away. She kept her switchblade raised, ready to slit his throat the moment he came into reach.
Gavin’s footsteps stopped. Ruby took another step closer, careful not to trip on the bodies beneath her. She didn’t dare breathe. Another step, then another. Where was he? She fought the urge to just swing the blade aimlessly through the shadows around her.
Ruby advanced one more step. Still no Gavin.
She heard something to her left. She spun around, knife swinging. Gavin rammed straight into her, shoulder first, and sent them both tumbling to the ground. Ruby frantically tried to twist free, but Gavin planted his bulk on her chest and pinned her down.
Ruby thrust her knife upwards, and it stabbed into Gavin’s gut. His howl echoed through the hall. Before she could pull the knife back for another blow his hand grabbed her wrist and restrained it against the floor.
His other fist slammed into her cheek. Lights flashed in her vision and her body went limp. He hit her again. Harder.
She managed to raise her free hand and punch Gavin in the chest, but he barely flinched. Cold steel pressed against the fingers on her right hand which Gavin had pinned down. He chuckled maniacally and moved the knife to her little finger.
A flash of pain spasmed through Ruby’s hand, through her arm, and into her whole body. It hurt like nothing she had felt before. She screamed until there was no air left in her lungs.
The knife moved onto her next two fingers. Without those two, she would never fire a bow again. She would never be able to defend herself again; she would be constantly helpless.
That couldn’t happen.
“Motherfucker!” Ruby howled. Gritting her teeth against the pain, she reached up with her left hand and grabbed Gavin’s face. He tried to shake her off but she dug her nails into his skin, then moved her index finger over his cheek, feeling for his mutie eye. She found it and dug into it as hard as she could.
She felt the eye burst.
“Argh!” Gavin howled as he writhed in pain, his hands releasing Ruby. She twisted madly and slipped out from beneath him. Clutching her wounded hand tight against her chest, Ruby crawled away, climbing over bodies. Between her leg and the hand, the pain was so pressing that all she could think of was getting as far away as possible.
“You’re dead!” Gavin cried, his voice shaking with fury.
Ruby’s knee brushed past something sharp. She ran her hand over it. An axe. She grabbed it with her left hand — her right was in too much pain to touch anything.
Gavin’s footsteps were following. He yelled a long string of curses at her.
Ruby stopped fleeing and let herself collapse on top of the corpse she was climbing over. She went still, axe held tight, her pulse pounding so loud in her ears she was sure Gavin would hear it. She felt his foot press into her back and forced herself not to recoil. Then it lifted off and he moved past her. Right now, she was just another corpse to him.
Ruby silently climbed to her feet, raising the axe above her head…
… Then she swung it down.
Gavin’s yelling stopped the moment his skull split open. Ruby dropped the axe, fell to her knees and vomited. Her whole body convulsed, shivers running down her whole body.
Shaking, Ruby rose to her feet and staggered away. She needed to get away from him, away from all the bodies. But with each step, she passed over another. She hugged herself and blood ran down her chest from her hand, warm and sticky. She felt faint, her legs barely able to support her.
Get a hold of yourself, Ruby repeated over and over in her head. This isn’t over. I can’t lose control now.
Struggling to steady her breathing, Ruby bent down and ripped the shirt off the first corpse she touched. Grimacing, she wrapped it around her throbbing hand. The fabric pressed against the stump that used to be a finger. She ripped off another shirt and wrapped it around the gash on her leg. That’s two problems sorted. For now. Next, she just had to deal with the rest of Gavin’s thugs. Yeah, just that.
She approached the door from the side, leaning against the wall for support. She could hear the thugs outside, arguing. It didn’t seem any of them were in a rush to follow Gavin.
I can do this. I need to. Ruby pressed her back against the wall and called out: “Gavin’s dead. Surprise, fuckers.”
They went silent for a long moment, then one responded: “You’re still trapped.”
“And you’re no longer getting paid.”
A few of them muttered things she couldn’t make out.
“Shall I explain your situation to you,” Ruby said through gritted teeth. “You can stay here and wait for me to come out. Or you can come in here and die. Or…” she paused as a fresh wave of pain lanced up her arm. “You can get rich.”
That got their attention. “What are you talking about?”
Ruby groaned. How could they be this thick? “Gavin’s money is somewhere here. He’s not going to miss it anymore. The first to find it doesn’t have to share it with the rest of you shit-heads, does he? So if I were you, I would stop jerking off and start searching.”
They went quiet again. She couldn’t hear any of them leaving, yet. But she knew she had them. Once one of them left, the rest would scatter. It was her patience against their greed – not a fair fight.
Ruby slid down the wall till she sat on the ground. Slowly, her breathing steadied and her pulse stopped racing.
Gavin was dead. She could barely believe it.
Was it worth it? Ruby grimaced as she raised her bandaged hand above her head to lessen the blood flow to the open wound. Her mind kept replaying the feeling of the axe jerking in her hand. The horrible sound it had made when it dug in. She puked again, but there was nothing left in her stomach to get rid of. One thing was for sure, killing Gavin hadn’t made her feel any better.
Ruby spat, trying to get rid of the taste of her own sick. It didn’t work.
Eventually, she heard the first of the thugs leave. It wasn’t long before the rest followed. Glancing out the door, Ruby confirmed the way was clear. She stepped back outside and into the rain. She cautiously made her way out of the Haven, watchful for anyone following her. It was only when she left through the gates of the Haven that she let herself properly relax.
She had done it. Somehow. Now she needed to find Roman before he got himself killed.
And, in the back of her mind, Ruby wondered about what Gavin had told her. I know of a dozen Ministry workers who left after they got close with Juliette, he had said. She’s hiding something. Something that inspires disloyalty in some of her people. What had made Ashton Spencer free Candle and run away?