His boat was a moving tomb on the water and Lincoln, my beacon of hope, faded away into the cold and terrifying darkness.

"Hey, what the f.u.c.k is that?" I heard one of the guards suddenly say. Before I could submerge myself under the water to hide, one of the boat's large spotlights was pointed in my direction. Hot white light penetrated through the darkness, illuminating my shivering body that was wading in the swamp.

Four guns were immediately drawn on me. Beau had disappeared.

Chapter Thirty-One.

Aria I lost track of how many times in the past few weeks where I thought I was going to die.

This was another moment, added to that list.

Four guns pointed in my direction, with a strict 'kill order.'

I wonder if it was too ridiculous to ask for one last phone call. I felt the cellphone in my pocket, which Lincoln had given me. I hoped it still worked after being drowned in the swamp.

If I was going to die, I wanted to hear Shadow's voice one last time.

"It's a girl," one of the men said. "You going skinny dipping this late in the hour?"

"Do I look naked?" I seethed.

One of them laughed. "Not yet, but I'm sure we can fix that soon enough."

Suddenly I heard a splash coming from the second boat. Did someone just fall into the water?

"What in the blue h.e.l.l?" one of guards shouted as he spun around to see where the noise was coming from.

They were momentarily distracted. Now was a good time as any to disappear.

I took a deep breath and dove under and began swimming blindly, further out into the swamp, hoping that a break in their line of sight was enough for me to lose them completely.

No sooner had I surfaced for air again, I heard the sounds of gunfire. One of the men had disappeared. Meanwhile the three remaining men were congregated on the second boat, firing their guns into the waters just beside the boat.

What were they shooting at?

Out of the corner of my eye, I watched as Beau pulled himself up and onto the first boat, which the men had just abandoned.

"Aww s.h.i.t, I think we killed Matt guys," one of the men said as he knelt down and examined something that was floating on the surface of the water. From where I was treading, it looked like a body.

"You boys should know who you're shooting at before you do it," Beau said. All three of the gunmen turned around, just in time to see Beau unload bullets from his semi-automatic rifle, presumably stolen off the first guard 'Matt'.

Beau didn't stop firing until the clip was completely finished and the men were literally dead, in the water.

"Aria? You still with me hon?"

"Over here," I waved. I began swimming to sh.o.r.e.

I pulled myself onto dry land and immediately felt the cold of Louisiana's night air bite into my damp flesh. I shivered.

"Hold on there," Beau said as he rummaged around the speed boat. He eventually pulled out a lifejacket.

"Here, put this on," he said.

"You're a little too late," I said. "If you haven't noticed, I'm no longer in the water."

"Don't be a wise-a.s.s," he said. "It's dry, padded and will keep you warm until we find you another set of clothes."

There was logic to his reasoning and hearing the word "warm" was enough to convince me to look like a walking cheesy puff.

"Sorry about the dress," I said as I looked at the once beautiful garment, now caked in seaweed and moss from the swamp.

"No worries," Beau replied. "I had no use for it anyway. Now come on, let's drive over to the other side of the island and find us our boat."

"We can still catch up to Lincoln," I stated.

Beau shook his head. "That's a death sentence girl. If you didn't notice but the boat that had Lincoln on it was armed with a d.a.m.ned turret. There's no way we could get close enough to that boat without being shredded. From the sounds of it, they won't hurt Lincoln...yet. We need to regroup first and come at them with a plan and back up. But in the meantime, let's get the h.e.l.l outta here."

He was right. Going after Lincoln was suicide at this point. However, there were still two other people I could try saving.

"The wedding..." I began. "Isadora and Delilah..."

Beau sighed. "Don't you say it. Don't start laying a guilt trip on me girl."

"They may still be alive," I said.

The sane thing to do was to flee from this s.h.i.t storm while we were still yards ahead of it. Whereas Lincoln still had a chance at living, Isadora didn't and the thought of her getting killed on her wedding day didn't sit well with me.

I owed her for helping me clean out all the mess inside my head.

"They may be dead also," Beau pointed out. "We'd be marching into the wolves' den. We got what we wanted from her. Let's get the f.u.c.k out of here while we're still breathing."

"We need to go back. The odds in saving them aren't completely out of our favor."

Beau smacked his forehead. "Holy s.h.i.t girl, are you that eager to die? Why do you care so much whether that voodoo snake queen is still breathing or not? It's not like she did us any favors."

"That's where you're wrong," I said. "She saved me."

Beau looked at me with puzzled eyes. He opened his mouth, ready to retaliate. I cut him off before he could.

"Please Beau," I said. "I need to save at least one person tonight. Help me."

Beau sighed.

"You know how to fire a gun?" he asked.

"Remove the safety, point it at the b.a.s.t.a.r.d you want dead, and then pull the trigger," I replied.

Beau nodded. "I guess that pretty much sums it up." He grabbed an automatic rifle off one of the dead bodies and handed it to me.

I frowned.

"There's still blood on it," I said.

Beau sighed. "Sorry princess, I didn't have any wet wipes to clean then gun with. Seeing as how you were just wading around in a dirty swamp, I didn't think you'd mind."

I scowled at him. "a.s.s."

"You might want to remove that life jacket as well. You stick out like an erection through sweat pants."

I did as he suggested. I tore off the bottom of my dress as well, allowing me more freedom to move.

"Now come," Beau said. "Stay close to me and don't make a sound, unless you're pulling on the trigger of that gun."

Under the cover of darkness, we made our way back up the gra.s.sy hill and onto the outdoor pavilion where most of the guests had congregated earlier, just before the ma.s.sacre began.

Bodies were littered everywhere, fleshy husks of the dead who only moments ago were dancing and drinking in merriment.

The red mess on the ground was a mixture of blood and wine, pooling underneath a dam of shredded bodies.

"f.u.c.k," Beau said as he stood there, dumbfounded.

Three weeks ago, this senseless ma.s.sacre would have made me catatonic. But I've been desensitized since, and now, the only thing I felt was sadness and anger for those that had died so needlessly.

I had come to accept the fact that for the rest of my life, I will always be drowning in a sea of the dead.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw something shiny protruding from the dirt in the ground. I bent down and picked it up.

It was Lincoln's silver pocket watch-his totem of truth. There was a single smear of blood on its once l.u.s.trous surface. I gripped it tightly in my hands and closed my eyes.

"I'll return this to you," I whispered. "I promise you."

Suddenly more gunfire erupted from within the mansion of the plantation. We both turned towards it, just in time to see bursts of orange light through the large windows, flashing to the rhythm of gun fire.

"Stay down," Beau said, as we slowly crept up towards the house.

The shots fired were erratic. The sounds of men screaming inside the manor soon drowned out all other sounds. What the h.e.l.l was going on inside?

"It's a d.a.m.ned warzone in there," Beau said.

That was when the phone Lincoln had given me rang.

"For f.u.c.k's sake girl, mute that d.a.m.ned thing unless you're planning on visiting the afterlife tonight," Beau hissed.

However, I needed to take this. If things went south, and there was a good chance they could, I needed to hear Shadow's voice one last time. I hid amongst the foliage, with the phone in my hand.

I answered the call, pressing the receiver up against my ear.

"h.e.l.lo," I whispered into it.

"Lincoln? Are you there?"

I bit my lip. The very sound of Shadow's voice filled me with longing. I wanted him to be here with me right now.

I'll keep you safe Aria, he had told me once. That's one of the perks of being with me.

Then why the h.e.l.l did you send me away? Can't you see that all this time, I needed you?

"Shadow, it's me. It's Aria," I whispered into the receiver.

"Lincoln? I can't hear you. Everything sounds like static."

The d.a.m.ned phone must have been damaged in the water. I didn't care though, I had to keep trying. I needed Shadow to hear me.

"Shadow, it's Aria," I said once again, as I darted towards another hiding spot, hoping to get better reception.

"Can it not wait?" Beau cursed, as he pointed towards the mansion, a symphony of gunfire resonating from deep within. "They created this nifty, silent thing called texting too."

"Is Aria okay Lincoln? f.u.c.k, all I'm hearing is static."

"Shadow," I cried out once more to him. "Shadow, I need you."

The sounds of screaming and gunfire continued to reverberate from within the house.

And that was when the phone died on me.

I stared at the phone with shock and anger, as if this inanimate object had reached out and punched me in the face.

I whipped the phone to the ground and cursed.

"Keep your voice down you crazy bird," Beau said. "I don't know about you, but I still care to survive. Now come on, let's hide out close to the house and hope we can catch whoever comes out of it off guard."

I nodded. We continued inching toward the house. It wasn't until we were fifteen paces away from it that the sounds of shooting completely stopped.

What followed was a long moment of lingering silence.

"What do we do?" I asked.

"We hide behind that tree over there and point our guns at the doors," Beau said as he grabbed me by the wrists and dragged me towards a large, oak tree.