Chapter 12 - The Clash of Iron and Stone
The heavy iron axe blade sliced through the damp air with a terrifying whistle.
Julian ducked instinctively, the sharp steel edge missing his forehead by inches, embedding itself deeply into the ancient oak cask behind him with a splintering CRACK!
Before Valentina could yank the stuck blade free from the wood, Julian drove the sharp end of the brass poker directly into her ribs.
THUD!
Valentina gasped as the heavy metal impact cracked two of her ribs, throwing her off balance. She stumbled sideways against the cold stone wall, but her sociopathic adrenaline refused to let her body submit to pain.
She let go of the axe handle, lunging forward with her bare hands, her sharp fingernails reaching for Julian’s eyes.
They crashed onto the hard concrete floor together in a chaotic, desperate struggle. The brass poker clattered away into the darkness. Valentina pinned Julian beneath her heavy silk dress, her fingers locking around his throat with terrifying, unnatural strength.
"Die!" she rasped, her bloody, tear-stained face inches from his. "Die like you were supposed to two years ago!"
Julian choked, his vision instantly blurring into dark, purple spots as the oxygen to his brain was cut off. His hands beat uselessly against her arms, her grip like iron bands around his windpipe.
Beside them, Lily shrieked in terror. "Daddy! Daddy!"
Julian felt his strength failing. The blackness was creeping in from the edges of his sight. He looked past Valentina’s screaming, ruined face, his hand frantically sweeping across the dusty floor, searching for anything—a rock, a pipe, a piece of glass.
May you like
His fingers brushed against something hard and cold.
It was the broken glass neck of a heavy wine bottle that had fallen from a rack during the earlier explosion.
