A shower of glass rained down on Damien. Surprised by the sudden interference, he turned around and retracted the knife from Joan's neck. The figure behind him shocked him.
"Amarya?" Damien balked. "What are you doing here?" His hostile demeanor melted, leaving behind a warm interior. He let the knife clatter to the ground and stumbled toward Amarya's figure.
Amarya had come crashing in through the window and landed on top of the boy who had tagged along behind Damien. Her knees pressed the boy's neck and back into the ground, effectively immobilizing him.
Joan peered at Amarya. It was the first time Joan had seen her so aggressive. The innocence of a little girl was devoid in her eyes. In its place was a burning hatred and an iron will.
"What do you think you're doing?" Amarya asked Damien.
Damien kneeled down before Amarya and brushed her cheek with the palm of his hand. "I should be asking you that. That was dangerous."
Amarya reeled in disgust and slapped away his hand. "Don't touch me."
Damien didn't seen hurt by her words. Instead, he seemed to think her personality was rather endearing. "Amarya, you came. I'd know you come back. We can work-"
"She didn't come back for you, dumbs," a voice came from the shattered window. Damien's head snapped to the right. Viktor was pulling himself through the window. He wasn't nearly as agile nor acrobatic as Amarya so his movements were clumsy and he collapsed onto the ground once he pulled himself through the window. Scaling three stories had proved to be harder than Amarya made it out to be.
Following Viktor, Navier, Pablo, and Turner came tumbling in through the window.
"Don't worry, Master!" Turner happily chirped. "We're here!"
"Rem!" Navier called out as he saw Joan's figure tied to the headboard.
"You…" Damien growled. He recognized Navier as one of the many boys who had been hanging around Amarya.
"Nice to see you, too," Navier said. His eyes flickered to Joan's figure on the bed. His eyes filled with concern as he rushed over to help untie her.
But before he could, Damien picked up the knife he'd dropped to the ground and threw it in Viktor's direction. Navier was entirely oblivious. His eyes were solely focused on helping Rem.
Amarya's eyes widened in horror and her mouth opened in a silent scream as she watched Damien's arm bend and the knife released from his hand. She reached out, hoping to do anything to stop the knife's deadly trajectory, but Damien wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her back, allowing her to do nothing but look on fearfully.
Just as the knife was inches away from Navier's temple, a blur caught the knife. Navier froze, startled. Where had Rem gone?
Before he could process it, Rem stood before him, preventing the flying knife from impaling his temple. She gracefully returned the knife to Damien: by throwing it. The knife flew at an incredible speed and impaled the material of his loose cargo pants.
Damien froze in surprise. "How did you?" He looked between the bed, Rem, and the knife now skewering his pants into the ground. He reached out to yank it out, but no matter how hard he pulled, the knife wouldn't give.
"What the hell is this?" Damien cursed. "Excalibur?"
Amarya took advantage of his confusion and delivered a punch to Damien's jaw. His teeth painfully knocked against each other, and his head snapped backward. He shuddered as his eyes rolled back into his head.
But instead of falling backwards unconscious, he reached out to embrace Amarya. But before his arms could wrap around her waist, Pablo twisted his arms behind his back and used the rope that once bound her to tie his hands together.
Rem strode over and squatted down to his level. She extended her hand, as if she were asking for money. "Hand over your gang."
Damien burst into laughter. "You're too much of a fool. That's not how it works."