Out of Darkness

Where There's Smoke

He licks his blade clean and eyeballs my naked body. He grabs his growing erection through his pants and leers at me while stroking himself. I raise my chin, refusing to show him any more fear.

My boys will come for me.

"Little dolly wants more?" he asks as he stalks up to me. He traces the knife down my sternum and digs it in just above my belly button. Its excruciating, but I won't give him the satisfaction of another scream.

"You're going to regret this," I seethe. He laughs and slaps me.

"No more talking!" he shouts. I feel my lip split and I glare up at him as I press my tongue against the wound to stem the blood.

"Oh," I taunt, "can't handle your little dolly having a backbone?" I need him to lose a little bit more of his control so that he won't see the trap until it's too late. In my head, I borrow one of Gabriel's phrases and feel a fire that reminds me of Victor in my eyes.

Bring it.

***

Echo was amazing. The District Attorney already loves her. She has kept detailed enough notes that he assures us that she will be his star witness. I could have kissed her when she told him about her conditions to testifying.

"I won't do it unless you revoke your protection on the Sorensens...you know, Karl Thompson is almost as bad as Salvatore Ferriola. He bought one of the girls that I had been kept with. Willow something. He's a monster too, and I won't be a part of this unless he is prosecuted with the rest of them."

The D.A.'s eyes went wide and he stuttered for a minute. The Federal Prosecutor, who was on speaker with us spoke up, "Done. He's a slimy bastard and I've always felt dirty dealing with him. From the moment you sign the paperwork, he will be on his own." I could tell that Jen wanted to jump and do a happy dance, but we all keep our composure until the end of the meeting.

As we are finishing up Echo adds, "And I want my mother with me until she passes. We've been apart for too long." He nods at her and we turn to leave.

I lean into her as we're leaving and whisper, "We're going to keep you safe, and I will personally make sure that Viv stays with you. You're family now, and us Academy gals take care of what is ours." She smiles and hugs me.

My team huddles in on us and Rosie says, "Girls, I think that this is the start of something beautiful."

***

"Mr. Morgan, what is the status of our preparations?" I ask him as I pull up to our final destination.

His hands fly across the keyboards of three different laptops in the back seat, and he says, "I haven't had time to finish wiring the front entrance. Someone will have to trigger it manually. Other than that, we're ready." Mr. Taylor yanks open the door and storms into our control room, while his older brother and Mr. Korba help Mr. Morgan bring in the rest of the equipment.

"I can trigger the front barricades," Mr. Korba says as he sets down the last computer. "Just tell me what I need to do, Vic."

Mr. Morgan darts under the desk to connect it to the others and suggests, "North and Luke should go in before you lock it, Silas, and Mr. B, you should take the back entrance at the same time." He crawls out from underneath and begins pulling up feeds. "Shit! He's already in there. Sang is -" His voice cuts out and I lean over to see Miss Sorensen nude and bleeding. She's looking up at Volto defiantly and-

"Did Sang Baby just spit at the fucker?" Mr. Taylor shouts. I feel pride burning in my chest and rage pounding in my veins. She is spectacular, and he will be made to pay.