More shots come at us, clinking against the metal of the bed, barely missing us as Sebastian and I stay low under it, holding each other close.

"There are only three left," Sebastian breathes. "I saw. If I can just get a clear shot, we can end them." His chest keeps rising and falling, but his eyebrows are deeply furrowed, and I can see the intense concentration in his eyes, the way he looks at them, calculating his next move. He's an expert in the art of murder; that much is for sure.

"What do you need?" I say in between pants.

"I need you to back me up, angel." He looks at me, just for a moment, but the intensity in his stare makes my insides melt. "Can you cover fire for me?"

"Of course," I breathe, not sure what else to say.

"Okay." Sebastian takes in a deep, long breath, like he's afraid it's going to be his last. "On the count of three."

Every muscle in my body hurts. I tense up, aiming my gun at the spot beyond the bed where I know the men are.

"One."

My heart is pounding so hard now I swear my chest is going to explode.

"Two."

I take a deep breath.

"THREE!"

The rest happens so fast.

I barely have time to blink before Sebastian barrels out from our cover under the bed, shooting at the men at the front. There are shouts and the sounds of gunshots come right back toward him. Sebastian dives out of the way, narrowly missing a flurry of bullets directed at him, and I look around wildly, cocking my gun and pointing at the space where I know the men are. Then, I start firing. More shouts come and my heart leaps into my throat as fire is returned at me, hitting the metal on the bed all around, and I squeeze my eyes shut but keep shooting.

I hear Sebastian get up, yell something, and then let off another round, and before I know what's happening, two more screams fill the air. The room goes silent, for just a moment.

My whole body freezes up at once.

One person left.

At first, there is nothing. Sebastian ducks into the bathroom to reload, and I find myself lying there, looking around wildly for the last person, until, finally, I see him. Or at least, his silhouette. He inches along the side of the safe house, back pressed to the marble wall, gun raised. I can barely see him, but I freeze when I realize he's only a few yards away from Sebastian, who is still reloading.

Sebastian is going to get shot!

My heart pounds wildly as I slowly turn my gun to the man's direction, but I can't get it to train on him. He keeps moving closer and closer to Sebastian, but I can't scream without giving myself away. I jerk around, not knowing what to do, until I finally get the gun to focus on the man. My finger automatically moves to the trigger, and I hesitate for a moment, staring at the man, and then, finally, I fire.

A scream fills the air and the man stumbles back, but he doesn't fall. It takes me a minute to realize my shot hit his foot. I curse silently at my horrible aim, starting to stand up and run at him, but Sebastian has beaten me to it. Sebastian is on him in an instant, tackling the man, his arms holding him in a chokehold. The man struggles to get free, throwing Sebastian against the wall. Sebastian groans as the man elbows him in the face, and suddenly, to my absolute horror, the man pounces on Sebastian and wraps his hands around his neck.

I barely withhold a scream, running in their direction as Sebastian's eyes begin to bulge, but I can see I'm not fast enough.

"Shoot him!" Sebastian screams as he struggles to get free. At first I'm too stunned to do anything but watch Sebastian fight, watch the man suck the air out of him. "SHOOT HIM!" he screams even louder, and then, just like that, I snap back to my sense. I feel myself shaking, my hands a mess of trembles, but I pull the trigger without hesitation. The man cries out and falls back right before he has the chance to end Sebastian forever.

And then there is nothing but silence.

I force back a sob, trying to stay strong, trying not to think about how I just killed someone in cold blood. Slowly and numbly, I rise out of my hiding spot, every part of my body hurting.

Sebastian's eyes are filled with rage, but he doesn't look at me as I come up behind him. He just stares at the smoldering remains of the safe house, the dead bodies strewn across the floor, and the truck in the middle of the room. Everything is silent, so silent, and it hits me then how close I was to dying. These people came for us. These people found us, somehow. They want to kill us. To end us. To end me.

"Sebastian," I say, my voice shaking as I walk over to him, but he just keeps glaring at the man I shot, his face tight and full of fury. It's only then that I notice the man is still breathing, even though he's unconscious. Sebastian clenches the gun in his hand. His arm shakes a little, but he continues to look down at the man, the hate in his eyes as evident as ever.

"Stay back, angel," he says to me, hard and firm.

I shake my head. "Sebastian, what--"

He whips his head around to me, his eyes wild. "I said, stay back!"

My stomach hurts at the harshness of his words, but I obey, putting down my gun and feeling so, so out of place. This can't be real. None of this can be real. I don't even know what's going on, but I just shot a bunch of people and now I'm on the run for my life with the man who imprisoned me, and I have no idea how any of it happened. Smoke billows throughout the safe house, and it's clear we have to leave it, but for where, I don't know. I don't know how we're going to safe. We got lucky this time, but if they can find us once, they can find us again, and Sebastian may not be there to protect me that time.

"Sebastian, just leave him. He's unconscious. He isn't going to hurt us," I call, but Sebastian doesn't listen.

I watch as he leans over to the man, whose shirt is covered in crimson. Sebastian's face is as hard as a rock as he whispers something into the man's ear. And then, just like that, he presses his gun to the man's forehead, narrows his eyes, and fires.

That's when I notice the look in Sebastian's eyes again as he pulls the trigger, that sadistic little glint, like his whole face is lighting up, like murdering makes him happy. And as soon as I place it, I know I've made a serious, serious mistake.

It's the look of a killer. 

Chapter Ten

Sebastian isn't telling me where we're going. He just drives me away as soon as we get out of the safe house, keeping his down, checking his rearview mirrors every few seconds. He doesn't speak a single word the whole time. I try to talk to him, to ask what happened in there, to ask where we're going, but he just ignores me, eyes trained on the road.

The warm morning sun quickly melts away as we drive, turning into dark skies and pouring rain. I watch the window, the rainwater slipping down the glass, and I feel myself wondering about my life--before all of this. I wonder whether meeting Sebastian has really been worth it. I mean, he makes feel like I matter, but look where that has gotten me now. I'm trapped with him. I'm his captive and I've fallen for him. I'm supposed to be his angel, the girl whose soul is pure and who has no flaws, but I don't feel very angelic. I feel much more like an idiot, really. I don't even know what I'm doing here. I just wanted something in my life, something good that couldn't be ripped away as quickly and as painfully as my parents and love of dance was, and I couldn't even get that without ending up hurt.

I look over at Sebastian, at his steely blue eyes trained on the road in front of him, at the tension in his hands as he clutches the wheel. His jaw is tight, and he looks like he's expecting someone to leap out and attack us at any moment.