Archers eyes snap to her stomach at the same time as mine, seeing the way she cradles it, her face scrunched in pain.

"What?" Archer breathes out softly, word on the verge of disbelieving.

Holland continues, her words soft, eyes looking over Archers shoulder, a tear falling from her eye, "I- I don't know. He kicked me - I think I just killed- Archer."

"How-" Archer cuts himself off when Holland sucks in a shaky breath,

"A pregnancy can't survive a kick to the stomach this early right?"

"I don't know." Archer murmurs, stroking her cheekbone reverently. He helps her stand up, as her knees struggle to hold her up, face scrunched in pain as she continues to hold her stomach. "We have to get you to the hospital." He says, looking to me. "We have to get her out of here."

I glance down Hollands figure, my brain lagging before I look to my brother and the woman in chains, stepping towards them as they look between the three of us.

"We will." I say, pulling at the ropes binding Clay, ignoring his eyes on me. "And we're going to run, okay?"

He speaks, the words gravel like. "I can run."

I look to the girl I've been ignoring, the vision of her in chains pushing me back to a time I like to forget.

Clay Anders for her, "I can help her."

I nod. I connect my eyes to his, seeing the man behind the facade my father created for his golden child, and I nod.

"Thank you." I whisper, so only he can hear it.

His eyes move from my eyes to the scar, tracing my face as if he'll find something recognisable. His eyes stop on mine again, glancing between them.

He pushes from his chair as soon as he is free, walking for the girl and I follow, my hand shaking slightly as I work to release her from her confines. Her hands drop, wrists rubbed raw.

"Did you know if he's still here?" I ask her quietly and she shakes her head, dark hair falling in a mess around her face. "No, he left as soon as the alarms started."

"I'm sorry." I say, looking between her eyes. "I'm so sorry."

"Don't." She mutters, squeezing my fingers quickly before releasing them. "You didn't do this

I might as well have. If only I'd killed him when I had the chance.

I rub my own wrists at the phantom ache running through them, and her eyes snap to them, a knowing glint in them.

"You didn't do this." She repeats, her words harsh.

I clench my teeth but nod back at her.

Clay steps forward, taking her arm and looping it around his shoulder as he takes her weight, murmuring something to her, her name slipping from his lips.

"Let's go." I turn to them all, walking for the door, palming my gun. "Try and keep up, and silent."

I look back at Archer and Clay, seeing my sister and the girl - Cleo, held up by them or carried.

"Stay behind me." I mutter, tightening my grip on my gun and stepping out of the room, glancing down one side of the hallway to the next.

• • •

The sky shakes once more, opening as rain starts to pour freely from the sky, soaking the five of us to the bone as we creep away from the remnants of headquarters, leaving it behind us.

It slicks past my skin, soaking my hair and causing it to stick to my face, the red strands tracing patterns on my cheeks but I ignore it, narrowing my eyes on the limited view, the rain falling too hard to see properly.

A body moves into view and I lift my gun, hesitating at the man that stands under the sheet of rain.

"Lilac." Sebastian says, my name almost drowned out by the rain.

I feel Archer at my back and I turn my head slightly to him, "Leave."

"No." I hear Holland say, Cleo limps beside them, her dark eyes filled with distrust, Clay beside her.

I shake my head, looking between the four of them while trying to keep Sebastian in my peripheral. "I'll catch up, but you have to get her somewhere safe." I look to Archer, knowing he will, that he has to take her. "Please."

I look between Clay and Archer, hoping they listen. Before looking to Cleo, "Half of you can't fight right now and the other half are too worried to be of much help." I say before glancing back to where Sebastian stands, silent in the rain. "And I'll be fine."

"How do you know that?" Clay asks and I close my eyes for just a fraction of a second when Sebastian speaks. "I won't hurt her."

Too late.

Archers eyes narrow before I see him nod, stepping back and leaving with Holland, his steps dispersing quickly. Cleo hesitates a second before I nod at her and she nods back, following Archer at a fast limp, her features uncertain.

I turn back to Seb, noticing him closer now.

"What do you want?" I say, holding my gun steady on him.

His dark eyes trace the gun, the feel of his gaze almost physical on my skin as he slowly travels from the gun in my grip to my eyes.

The gun shakes slightly in my hand, the feel of my heartbeat echoing though my fingertips.

He stands across from me, those dark eyes pinned to mine.

"Lilac-" he moves to take a step closer and I wiggle the gun in my grip in warning.

"I will shoot you."

"Shoot me." He utters softy. His hands splayed out by his side. "Make me feel again."

A splatter of rain hits my face, slicing through my scar and dropping down my cheek like a tear.

"C'mon Angel, don't hesitate now." He takes a step forward and my breath releases past my lips on an exhale, fingers caressing the trigger.

"Don't move." I grind out.

"Or what, Lilac?" His head falls back, water sprucing down the contours of his neck, soaking his black tee to his body. "We've done this before." He takes another step, shadows bathing his face in sharp angles. "Shoot me, Angel."

"I said, don't move." I hiss, finger tightening.

His lips lift at the corner, taunting, challenging.

"Do it." He growls. Lifting his arms up high as the rain pours from the open sky

Thunder explodes and I flinch, finger tightening on the trigger as the bullet releases from the gun.

It spins through the air in slow motion before tearing through blood and bone, Sebastian stumbling back as the bullet splinters through his shoulder. A matching scar on both now.

I don't even have the time to register what's happening before he's in front of me, water sprucing down his face and dripping off his chin onto my cheeks. His hands curl around the back of my head and he yanks me into him, his lips smothering mine in a claim I can feel down to my toes.

My breath releases on a shaky exhale, hands moving to his shoulders as I kiss him back.

Another crack of thunder sounds, my feet stumbling under me, lips ripping from Sebastian's as he grunts, pushing me to the ground with the weight of his body, warmth coating my midsection quickly, the sticky substance of blood sinking between the cracks and crevices of my hands, the iron scent pungent.

My knees slam to the ground, the impact of the ground sending shots of agony up my legs, my hands moving rapidly to catch Sebastian as he crumbles in front of me, a pained grunt leaving his tight lips.

"Lilac-" he groans, "Run."

"Shut up." I hiss, frantically covering his hands with mine, desperate to stop the staunch of the blood flow, my gaze flickering around wildly in search of my father, my breaths shallow.

"Lilac. . . Angel. Please."

"If you don't shut up right now." I mutter, pressing tightly on the wound, ignoring his moan.

My eyes frantically fly around the area, my heart stuttering to a stop before beating twice as fast, fear flying through my veins like ecstasy.

Those amber eyes sweep over my figure where a sit, holding Sebastian's body to me, the rain coming in slow droplets, in stark contrast to the way my heart is pounding.

Dimitri's eyes connect to mine, a visceral reaction rolling down my spine at that familiar gaze and the monster of my past smiles back at me, the smile too dapper to be anything but fake.

"There's something different about you doll, something fractured." He grins wider as he says it, the glimmer in his gaze shining brighter. "But not broken." He amends, "Not yet." He taps his finger along the silver gun in his hand, a silent beat in tune with the song he hums, reminiscent of the songs he would play as he tortured me.

My tormentors gaze goes to Sebastian, darkening to something sinister and I hold him closer, vaguely feeling his chest rising and falling, the only sign of life right now, his body a dead weight on my lap, eyes shut.

"Long time, no see, Dimitri." I say confidently, the facade soothing to the fear running through my veins right now. "Pity you didn't follow Jedrik into the afterlife."

Dimitri grins, nodding his head as he toes closer, "Yes, such a Pity." He shakes his head, "I have nothing but respect for my old teacher but it was high time I graduating to something more than just his student."

I shift in my seat subtly, inching Sebastian's body off my legs, scanning the ground quickly for my gun, just now realising I'd dropped it earlier.

It lays at Sebastian's feet, too far for me to grab quickly or without notice.

"You were always my favourite, Lilac." Dimitri murmurs, "out of all the dolls we collected, you were the only one I dreamt of afterwards."

A shimmer in the corner on my eye causes my attention to drift, faintly catching a man's green gaze, and I snap my attention back to Dimitri, ignoring the eyes of my brother.

"Why didn't you run, Dimitri?" I press, pulling his attention from the past.

"And miss this reunion, Doll?" He tuts, "I've missed you. I've had to settle for others but no one is like you, no one screams like you." He closes his eyes as if remembering the screams, a shiver rushing down his spine. "No one feels like you."

Disgust roils through me, the taste of vomit in the back of my throat.

I flick my gaze to the left, notices the slight shift in the shadows along the brick building before focusing to my right, knowing my brother still stands there, biding his time.

I look back to Dimitri and he opens his eyes, tilting his head at me like a predator watching his prey.

"Why do you run, little doll?" He whispers but the sound carries.

A laugh escapes me and I lift my arms out to my sides, "I'm not running."

Dimitri smirks back at me, "You will. You always do."

A scrape from the right pulls both our attention to the newcomer, Clay pulling Dimitri's attention quickly.

"Ah, the golden child." Dimitri chuckles, looking Clay up and down spitefully. "He chose wrong."

I don't reply, keeping my gaze on Dimitri as he looks to Clay even when I see the man creeping up behind him, the blood on him causing Liam to look a whole lot more scary then his puppy like appearance wants you to believe.

He catches my gaze quickly, lifting a finger to his lips in a 'Shh' motion as he stalks closer, the action so familiar to me, that I'm reminded once again that he's Sebastian's brother.

I look down to Sebastians, his body at my fingertips, his blood coating us with a diluted halo, the man bleeding out in my lap.

Looking back up, I see Liam approach Dimitri, wrapping his hands quickly around the his neck.

"Don't kill him." I hear myself saying, the words loud over the sound of the rain.

Liam looks to me softly, shaggy red gold hair falling into bright blue eyes and then he nods, his fingers flicking along Dimitri's neck quickly and Dimitri slumps unconscious in the man's grip, he didn't even have time to fight.

Liam doesn't catch him, letting him fall to the ground with a loud thump and steps over him, walking straight for me, his gaze on Sebastian's body.

"He is not dying before me." He mutters, reaching down to grab Sebastian around the arm and I hear the sound of a car approaching, the squeal of tyres pulling me from my mind and I look up, finding Gary in front of me, taking Sebastian from Liam and hefting him over his shoulder and running for the van, yelling over his shoulder for us to hurry up.

I turn to Liam, "Thank you."

He shrugs, grinning. "I would've preferred to snap his neck but that just me." He turns, walking for the van.

An hand lands on my shoulder and I flinch, gazing up at Clay, finding Dimitri being dragged behind him by his leg, his body hitting every rock and crack in the pavement.

"Thank you." I say the words again, this time to my brother. "For coming back."

"Thats what family does."