Once. Twice. Over and over. Lift, stab, lift, stab. Liquid splattered all over my face, neck, body, but nothing could stop me. I didn't even stop when the screams descended into gurgles, which quickly turned into silence.
The laughter, at first in my head, spilled from my mouth as I took out all those ugly thoughts and feelings and turned them into my triumph.
When this side of myself receded, the job done, my body was left painted in blood. His heart laid in sheared pieces beside him. Red on the rug. Red on the walls. Red on me.
I slid the bottle back into the ice bucket. Walking over to the nightstand, I picked up my phone and dialed.
“Niya?” Riot’s confused voice filtered through the line.Normal. You need to act normal. That asshole got what was coming to him.
“Heyyy, sis! How was your flight? Job go good?”
Her pause felt like it lasted forever. “…I just landed.”
“Perfect! You’ll be proud of me, but for right now, I… I need a clean-up crew.”
Silence.
A giggle bubbled out of me, making me sound even more unhinged. “Your baby sis made atinymess…” I looked around and winced, “or maybe abigone.”
“Want to tell me what happened?” Her voice went down an octave, so I knew she was pissed. The real question was, who was she pissed at?
“Nah. Nothing to worry yourself about. Just a wolf who got lost in the sauce. He’s a nobody. We're at the Golden Fang.”
“Got it. I’ll send a crew right away. Love you.” Riot went right into business mode, but I appreciated her lack of questions right at this moment.
“Love you more.” Hanging up, I turned to walk out. There was nothing left for me here. Suddenly, I caught sight of myself in a mirror.
My eyes roamed my reflection, scanning myself. Bejeweled top covered with blood. Ash-white hair darkened by gore. Skin kissed by claws and violence. All I could think was,there she is, murder Barbie,and a smile lifted on my lips.
I’d never looked more like a Glovefox, more like a Syndicate heir, than I did right now.
A glittery, slutty, mafia queen reborn in blood, and no one could say shit about it.
Riot’s crewhandled the aftermath like pros, but somehow, word still got out that I’d killed that werewolf. Ezra, ever the mastermind, spun it in my favor, turning me into some elusive, lethal badass that people needed to fear.
I mean, Iwasa badass, but the story she was selling had people avoiding me like I carried the plague, and that didn’t exactly help with getting laid. Itdid, however, make all my parents proud.
Dad Ax kept taking credit, swearing it was his combat training that molded me into a killing machine. Papa Avery claimed itwas his genes, the royal fairy magic he’d passed down to me. Apá Cosmo was just relieved I made it out unscathed, talking about bringing that wolf back to life so he could take him out again. Father Falcon responded by building emergency weapons into every suite the Syndicate owned across the country. And Daddy Lex? He was pouting, saying I should’ve knocked the bastard out sotheycould’ve had some fun making him pay for touching me.
No one knew the real story but Ezra. My big sister had this superpower where she could just look at you, and you’d spill your guts like a broken dam. I told her everything, and she promised to keep it buried. As far as everyone else was concerned, I’d lured some creepy stalker into the suite to satisfy a thirst for blood.
At my birthday dinner, Mom kept looking at me like I’d just single handedly won a war. Her eyes glowed with pride when she stood up in front of everyone and lifted her glass.
“I just want to say I’m so proud of all of you. The skill, the teamwork, theruthlessnessyou showed today went beyond anything your fathers and I could’ve expected.” Then she turned to me. “I’m sorry for that nasty business from earlier, but it had to be handledbeforewe celebrated your twenty-first. We had a promise to keep, and we needed to know if you all were ready before we stepped back.”
I waved her off. Honestly, I needed to take my frustrations out anyway, especially since most people were now too scared to touch me. Killing a guy did that to your dating life.
Earlier that day, the five of us had gotten an SOS from our parents, coordinates included, saying they’d been kidnapped while chasing down a lead on a major underground slave trader. We mobilized instantly.
Except it was a trap.
They lured us into a fighting pit, with our parents sitting pretty in a magic-blocking cage, while an army of supes tried to tear us apart. Big mistake.
We moved like a synced unit, and we were lethal. Once all the goons were taken care of, Ezra used her smoky hand power to drive the leader insane, which was horrifying and hilarious all at once. My sister was not someone you messed with.
We freed our parents, only to find out they’dletthemselves get captured. The whole thing was a test to see if we were ready to take over. To see if we had it in us and could work together.
Annoying? Yes, but I still had fun.
