I’ll teach him to control it though.
Just not today.
“Head inside, Casey. Richter and I are going to handle this.”
“I’m going to fucking kill you!” Richter growls, but he’s not moving yet because he’s still trying to keep both me and Casey in his line of sight.
My son hesitates, but after a moment he backs away, putting space between him and Richter before he turns to head onto the porch. The door is still open, faces hovering in the doorway, and I decide it’s probably a good idea for them to see what happens to people who betray their family, their blood.
It’s been so long since I had to teach a lesson like this. But it’s necessary.
“You really don’t know what it means to be a man, Richter,” I say, pulling off my coat to toss it onto one of the chairs as I chuckle, shaking my head. “Being a man means protecting your family… and you’re trying to tear it apart.”
“You’re not my fucking family!” he shouts, lunging for me again, but I side-step him this time, making him follow me across the yard.
“All I ever wanted to do was show you what it’s like to be loved,” I continue, sucking my teeth clean because I can taste the copper of blood on my tongue. Probably a tooth he loosened with the punch, but I don’t plan on letting him get another one in.
“I’d never love you or anyone in your bullshit family, Bryden,” he growls, matching me as I take another few steps backward, leading him where I want him to go.
“Oh, I know. That’s just not who you are.” Smiling, I stop moving, and he charges me. His shoulder hits hard, knocking the wind out of me, but I roll with the force of it. Hitting the snow, I shove him away and push myself to my knees so I can return the favor. My punch lands squarely on his cheek, my knuckles aching as his head cracks to the side.
“Fuck!” he curses, landing a kick in my chest to send me backward, and he’s on top of me a second later. There’s blood on his lips as his hands go around my throat, spit flying as he shouts, “You took my sister from me! You tried to take Skylar from me! They’re mine! MY FAMILY!”
Choking, I grab onto his wrists, trying to pry his hands away, but he has too much leverage, and I can feel the blood pounding behind my eyes, and in a strange echo I remember what Marian’s face looked like on our living room floor when I let her go.
The image sends a rush through me and I slam my knee into Richter’s ribs, knocking him off balance enough to break his grip on my throat. With that first, coughing gasp, I realize I’m laughing, and I shove myself to my feet, swaying for a second as Richter stands up.
“Why the fuck are you laughing?” he growls, coming at me again, but this time I grab him, pulling him close as I wrap my arms around his back, locking him to me.
“You have no idea how alike we are, brother,” I whisper against his ear, still chuckling as he tries to punch my side, but he doesn’t have a good angle. Tightening my grip, I force him backward, speaking just for him and not the little audience we’ve drawn on the porch. “It’s a shame you couldn’t love your family, your own blood. I think we could have been close.”
“Fuck you,” he growls, and I grab a fistful of his hair, bending him back until he’s off balance enough to shove to his knees. Then I lean down, putting my face right in his.
“You don’t love me, Richter… and I hate to say it, but I don’t think I love you either. You betrayed me, betrayed all of us, and I’m sorry to say that I don’t think you’re capable of loving anyone.” With a sharp jerk, I slam his head into the edge of the oubliette. He’s dazed, but I can still see the fire in his eyes—so I do it again. Another loud smack of flesh on stone, and he goes limp for a second, barely catching himself with a hand as I let go of him to shove the cover off the oubliette. It’s heavy with snow, settled against the stones from too many years of disuse, but I put my weight behind it and it finally budges.
The yawning darkness is so familiar, the chilly air rising out of it like all the spirits of those who’ve died in its depths are coming up to say hi. To greet their family, ready to accept another into their ranks.
“DIE!” Richter shouts, slamming into me to grab me around the middle. With a roar, he shoves me against the oubliette, pushing me toward the open hole and I can feel the emptiness waiting below me. Flashes of Stephanie’s body flicker behind my eyes, and I manage to catch the lip of the well with one hand, and Richter’s throat with the other.
My fingers dig in, scratching stone on one side and squeezing off air with the other. Richter’s eyes go wide, his face turning red as I twist and bend him backward over the oubliette, letting him hang there, grasping desperately at my hand, nails clawing lines in my skin as I stare into my brother’s eyes. The eyes that are so much like mine, so much like Luke’s.
“All you had to do was accept your fucking family, Richter. All you had to do was love your own blood, and you couldn’t even fucking do that.” Tightening my grip, I can see his eyes starting to roll, blood vessels popping to taint the white, and it makes me laugh again. “Like always,
