Anachronistic: Endless Masquerade

41.b | Her Final Hunt Part 3

        To her credit, Medusa turned out to be suited to information dealing. While Victor stitched my eye back up, she had me detail our previous encounters with the hunters. She stopped me after sixty seconds. As soon as she heard about Bones, the most vile self-serving grin warped her face. I had seen it a hundred times on various brokers across the city. She was a natural; a prodigy.

        She left right away, eager to visit the remnants of his office. I don't know exactly what she found inside, but apparently, there was more than enough information to start negotiating with. Intel bought and sold with secrets and contacts acting as the capital. She discovered where they were holding Renna with ease.

        The hard part was convincing me not to go. Renna was locked deep below the Cathedral of the True Creator. Apparently, there was a crypt built underneath it at some point and they were using it as a makeshift prison. I had it in my head that I could break her out, but Medusa was right. The True Creationists were one of the most popular sects in Eden, and they had by far the most hunters. If I had gone, I never even would have seen the outside of the church.

        It was endlessly frustrating to be so powerless, but there was still hope. They wouldn't kill her in her cell. They wanted a public execution, a time and date had already been set. They couldn't show up without the star of the show. Medusa managed to get word on the route they planned to take. When the time came for them to transport her, that's when I would rescue her.

╚═══━━━─── 🌸 ───━━━═══╝

        Pandora swallowed. The words were coming harder now. They had flowed so easily when she started, but that was all context. Those memories hadn't healed properly, but at least they had scarred. Now, Pandora had reached the open wound. The shard of glass still lodged in her heart.

        "Pandora?"

        Shit. I paused for too long. Lily must have noticed. "Sorry, I got... lost in my thoughts."

        Lilith looked up, concern painting her face. Pandora turned away from the stare. Haven't I worried Lily enough already? Gentle lines traced across her forehead, snapping her from her thoughts. Lilith brushed her hair away, tucking it behind her ear, then leaned up to plant a kiss at the corner of her eye.

        "There was a tear forming, but I got it for you."

        Pandora's heart raced. All the women she had been with since losing Renna and not once had she come close to feeling this way.

        I love this woman.

╔═══━━━─── 🌸 ───━━━═══╗

        We spent the week leading up to the execution to scout the route. We found a spot where the convoy would pass through a narrow alleyway. If we blocked off the far end they would be trapped. The space was too small to turn a motor carriage around and they wouldn't be able to back it out before we overtook them. And that wasn't even the greatest advantage the spot granted us.

        The abandoned warehouse forming the alley's northern wall was damaged. The stonework on the upper floor had been neglected and crumbled away, exposing what had once been a storage room to the elements. A massive opening overlooking the path Renna would take. When the fight started, we would have the high ground. It was the perfect place for an ambush.

        The day before I spent hours setting a trap. I busted out a few windows, then ran a beam through them, bridging the two buildings. It was the attachment point for the pulley that would be holding our roadblock. With the help of some blood, I stacked as much weight as I could onto a steel platform and hoisted it up above the alley.