“Hello, vampire bitch.” The man smiles, revealing a row of perfectly white teeth.
“Don’t touch her.” Instead of enraged like I would’ve expected, Cal’s voice is a low and seductive purr, curling around me and dampening my panties. Immediately, I realize that he’s fighting Alex’s dad in his own way—through pure seduction.
Hunger momentarily blazes in the man’s dark gaze before he shakes his head vigorously.
“Your seduction isn’t going to work on me,” he hisses menacingly, still holding that damn blade to my neck. One look confirms it’s a god-blessed dagger. Because why the fuck not? It’s been almost an hour since someone tried to kill me. I consider that a pretty good run.
“Let her go,” Cal hisses, any and all pretenses diminishing. I can feel his presence behind me, but I don’t dare look over my shoulder. I know he won’t do anything to put me in danger, including step closer.
Out of my peripheral, I spot Barret standing there with a perplexed expression on his face. He isn’t looking at me, however, but at Alex, the skin between his eyes crinkled.
Fuck, I can’t let this man hurt Cal or Barret. I need to keep him distracted long enough for them to sneak away—if they can get their heads out of their protective asses for more than a minute and realize that leaving me is their only chance at survival.
“Why do you hate me so much?” I ask bluntly. “And shouldn’t I get the name of my potential murderer?”
He laughs humorlessly, the noise scratching at my heart. “You don’t deserve my name, pathetic bitch.”
Okay, Bitch it is, then.
“Bitch” continues to glare at me with unveiled animosity. He looks as if he wants to shove the dagger into both of my eyes, then up my nostrils, then in my mouth, and finally end the night with some kinky anal knife play.
“You killed my brother,” Alex answers when it becomes apparent that Bitch isn’t going to.
“What?” I screech. Yeah, I killed a few people throughout my life, but most of them have been hunters sent to kill me. Tit for tat, or however that saying goes.
“You didn’t even have the decency to bring his body back to his family,” Bitch hisses, spittle flying in my face. “Instead, you kept his head like some demented trophy.”
Kept his head…?
Oh, fuck.
“Bob?” I squeak, remembering the severed head I preserved and kept in my bedroom. He was the first man I’d ever killed—and for a just reason.
“His name was Patrick,” Bitch bites out, his face crumpling with pain. “And you killed him.”
“You don’t understand,” I plead, lifting my hands in surrender. “He tried to rape me.”
Bitch doesn’t stop his relentless pursuit, but I notice Alex’s inscrutable expression tense. The hand holding the knife lowers marginally.
“What?” he gasps, staring at me as if he doesn’t quite recognize me.
“I was younger, maybe thirteen or fourteen. He cornered me in an alleyway and slapped a hand over my mouth. He began to pull down my pants.” I tremble at the memory. I remember how scared I was, how small I felt, as his cock pressed against my ass.
“Don’t scream, little one.”
And I hadn’t. Instead, I had spun around and sank my teeth into his neck, pulling away skin until blood bubbled out. He died instantly.
“My son would never do that, you lying whore!” Bitch screams.
Alex is shaking his head vehemently, denial clear on his face. His eyes harden suddenly as he steps around his father, his blade raised.
“You’re going to die for what you did to my family,” he growls, pulling his arm back.
“No!” Barret races forward, shoving me away just as Alex plunges his blade into the man’s heart. Barret’s face creases in confusion as he stares at the dagger protruding from his chest, sickly green blood pooling around him. Genuine fear flashes in his unfathomable eyes as he glances helplessly at me and then Cal before crumpling to the ground.
“No!” Cal screams in anguish, charging towards Alex and his dad. Before he can capture them, they dematerialize in a cloud of black smoke. “No!”
“Barret?” I ask, dropping to my knees beside the giant man. Blood bubbles from his lips as he opens his mouth to say something, his eyes pleading with my own. “Barret?” I whisper again. Tears begin to trail down my cheeks as I stare at my best friend lying in a puddle of his own blood.
“Please, stay with me. Stay with me. You’ll be okay,” Cal sobs as he drops on his other side, his hands pressing down on Barret’s chest. “Violet, do something!” he screams. Refocusing on his best friend, he begins to cry harder. “You’re going to be okay, alright? You promised me. Friends forever, remember? You can’t leave me alone.”
Barret opens his mouth a second time, but only manages to cough up more blood. His eyes turn glazed, the light gradually leaving them, as he stares at the sky.
I’m shaking, my own tears cascading down my cheeks and landing on my slightly parted lips.
Not Barret. Not him. No. No. No. No.
“NO!” Cal screams in a voice rich with denial and agonizing pain. He drops his head to Barret’s still chest as a slight green mist begins to excrete from the monster’s pores. It cocoons his body in a vibrant glow as thousands and thousands of bugs appear where his body once was.
Barret’s dead.
Alex killed him.
My heart stutters to an abrupt halt and then cracks, weeping blood. A strangled sob gets lodged in my throat as I throw my head back and wail my pain for the entire world to hear.
There’s no escaping this pain, this heartache. It strangles me like a piece of wire that has been wrapped around my neck.
My wail turns into a scream, a battle cry, demanding blood and vengeance.
Once that fades, I’m left with nothing but a dizzying loneliness and a crippling depression—a Barret-shaped
