He caught the blow, staggering back.

Ruby gasped, shaking it off. She grabbed the fist holding the knife, twisting his arm back. She pushed him against the wall, her other hand gripping his wrist in place.

“Don't you want to know everything? How we met? How much I know about you?” he said. “He calls me John, his apostle of love. Is this not love, Hunter? Ultimate sacrifice? Look at her. Beautiful, lovely, and I give her up for him.”

She needed to know everything. Ruby needed him alive, to say these things and prove her suspicions. She needed to know how far these machinations went, if there were more of these apostles.

She needed to keep Dana alive, however.

The woman was getting paler by the second. For the first time, Ruby got a good look at her. It was difficult to see, but Ruby could tell she was bleeding badly by the way she clutched herself.

Ruby grabbed for the knife, catching part of the blade. It bit into her skin, her muscles weak from her injured arm.

She finally wrenched it out of his grasp.

Then John smashed his head backward, cracking his skull against hers.

Stars fired into her vision. John pushed back, knocking her away. He went straight for Dana.

She swatted desperately at him with the badminton racket, but her strength was steadily draining out of her with her blood.

Ruby blinked back until she could see again, her balance unsteady.

John reached into Dana's wound, beneath her shirt. Dana responded in a scream of torment.

“Get away from her!” Ruby managed, her voice cracking.

John faced her, heedless of her warning.

“I was going to spare you, Hunter. I wanted to spare you. But you are ruining this,” John said.

They stared at each other for a long moment.

Ruby went for him again, a staggering charge to grapple John as he leaned over Dana.

They rolled, Ruby's blood smearing over John.

Then, she was flat on her back, staring up at him. His hand closed around her throat.

“This might be the only method more intimate than a blade,” John said.

White orbs floated above Ruby, surrounding John's grinning visage.

She couldn't go out this way, not like this.

CHAPTER THIRTY

Darkness crept into the edge of Ruby’s vision. John’s face was the only thing left in her sight.

Then he was gone, knocked entirely out of view.

Ruby gasped, finally able to get a lung full of air as the pressure vanished off her throat.

She blinked rapidly, regaining focus. Gabe stood over her. He wasn’t supposed to be there, but he was and Ruby was glad to see him.

“Hunter?” he asked.

“Get Dana,” Ruby ordered. She pushed herself up, her arms screaming in pain. Gabe moved to aim, but he wasn’t fast enough.