Secrets And Sins Part 3: Happy ever after

Chapter 4

~Beatrice~

Standing in the office beside the trapdoor, Beatrice glanced down at her phone and groaned. Of course there was still no signal, because nothing could ever be easy, she would have to head back out into the cafe. The sister warrior sighed; she was truly exhausted after the enormous effort to clear the Brotherhood members in the basement.

Dragging her feet, Beatrice made her way down the hall and through the kitchen before stepping out into the cafe. Judging by the light peeking through the edges of the shutters it was late afternoon. She could hear the road outside was busy with rush hour traffic and smiled to herself. The Florentines were none the wiser to the battle that had taken place beneath their feet. Her team had done their jobs well.

Raising her phone above her and taking a few steps forward into the center of the room, Beatrice searched for a signal, grinning in victory when two bars appeared in the top right corner of her screen.

Fucking finally.

Scrolling through her contacts to find Mother Superior's name, she was just about to press her thumb to the little green phone symbol when there was an ominous creak from the other side of the counter. Beatrice turned to see a hooded figure standing by the glass display cabinets, an empty compound bow pointed right at her. Before the sister warrior had time to even think about what that meant, the arrow hit her, sinking deeply into her stomach to the right of her navel.

Beatrice's phone clattered to the floor when her hands instinctively came up to close around the arrow's shaft, which glowed with the electric blue of divinium.

Oh.

With that terrifying realization, the pain suddenly caught up with her, erupting from the wound, bringing the sister warrior to her knees.

"Beatrice?!" She had never heard Halo sound so panicked before.

Blood trickled from Beatrice's lips as she opened her mouth to call for help, "Ava..." It was barely louder than a whisper.

"I'll get Ava, just hold on!"

Movement pulled her eyes back to her assailant, the archer approaching in slow, measured steps. Beatrice could see the sneer twisting his features as he loomed over her.

"Warrior nun..." He muttered softly, not wanting to draw the attention of her friends below, "Don't fight it." The man pressed the point of his bow into the sister warrior's shoulder, forcing her onto her back.

The action sent a brand-new wave of agony surging through her, blood pumped between the fingers she held around the shaft. Tears blurring her vision, Beatrice watched as the archer retrieved another arrow from within his billowing robe and notched it.

"I had friends at Konig ..." He whispered, drawing back the string, the sister warrior closed her eyes.

There was an enormous crash of splintering wood, followed by a spine-chilling roar of rage. Beatrice kept her eyes squeezed shut as her Halo burned in her chest, reacting to the concussive wave of power blasting through the room.

Flinching at the sound of glass smashing behind her, the sister warrior opened her eyes and was beyond relieved to see Ava kneeling beside her, the younger woman's eyes still shining with the otherworldly golden light.

"Bea, are you..." Her fiancé's gaze dropped to her stomach and fear flooded her expression.

"Fuck."

Beatrice blinked slowly, taking far too long to realize the voice in her head was Ava's.

Did you just Halo blast that guy out of a window?