Arthie intended to make the most of it. She took a step toward him. That took her closer to one of the canisters too.
“Stop moving,” one of the guards commanded, but that did the trick: Bloodworth’s aim was solidly on her now.
“Distract the guards,” she heard Shaw whisper to Matteo.
“He said stop moving,” the other guard shouted, aiming for Arthie.
“That’s enough out of you,” Matteo said, and lunged toward them. One of them fired at Arthie, but Matteo swerved, knocking him to the ground. The other pulled out a knife, slicing into Matteo’s arm.
Matteo scowled. “You ruined my shirt.”
The guard stumbled back to the door as Matteo stalked closer. And closer. He didn’t pull out his gun, no. Hewasthe gun. The guard tried reaching for the handle, but Matteo didn’t let him. He ripped out his throat, drenching the floor in blood.
He—he killed him.
Matteo froze, staring at the guard’s prone body. His dead body. Then he glanced at Arthie, shame flooding his verdant gaze. Only the guard who had aimed at her was dead. Only he had seen Matteo’s wrath.
He had killed for her.
It took everything in Arthie’s power not to waver, to keep her aim steady. It wasn’t as though she hadn’t seen Matteo kill before, but never so quickly, soeasily. The other guard screamed, Shaw froze in place, and Bloodworth looked ready to give in to his own panic.
Which wasn’t ideal when he was holding a gun.
Arthie didn’t wait; she spoke her next words on a low breath. “Jin, the master key.”
Shaw tossed him his umbrella, and Jin dropped his cuffs to the floor, diving for Bloodworth. The overseer fired, but Arthie was ready.She leaped out of the way. The tiny dart oozed out a greenish liquid when it hit the floor.
What she didn’t expect was how quickly the weapon could fire. Bloodworth squeezed out another shot just as Jin tackled him to the floorboards.
The dart soared. It hit the canister.
As Jin and Bloodworth battled on the floor, Matteo met Arthie’s eyes from across the room, and a fissure formed in the glass.
“No,” Shaw breathed, and Arthie refused to give in to the utter terror in his eyes.
“Shaw, listen to me,” she said. “Can we free the other six Ripper vampires?”
His gaze flew wider. “No! I put them in there to slow the process in the hopes that I might find a reversal to the silver; meanwhile I developed a fail-safe, a way to kill them if we could not find a solution, because once they’re out—”
A bell tolled loudly as the remaining guard rose behind Matteo and yanked on a cord.
“Guards!” Bloodworth shouted, the last of it uselessly muffled as Jin clamped a hand over his mouth with a grimace.
“They’re on their way!” the remaining guard shouted back, pulling out a short stake.
“Matteo!” Jin shouted.
In the same movement, Matteo turned and threw the guard against the wall. His stake clattered to the floor. He groaned one last time before he breathed his last.
Matteo wiped a smear of blood from his brow. “Much obliged, Jin.”
Arthie whirled back to Shaw.
“I can’t stop this one,” he said. “If oxygen enters that canister, our circumstances will worsen.”
“Too late for that now. Find Sora. We’ll meet you at the doors,” Arthie said.
“I’m not leaving you three,” Shaw said with a shake of his head.
