Another guard rounds the corner, surprise on his face as his eyes land on the man slumped over at the front door. He hesitates just long enough for me to take him out with a jab directly to his heart.
He won’t last a minute.
“Damn, he’s good,” I hear Fallow say, just as I hear a gurgle emanate from behind me.
When I turn, I see Fallow pulling a knife from a man’s head. Casey, Jax, and Kit have spread out, sweeping through the house, knowing that Bane’s here somewhere.
I move into a small living room, floral pillows on the dark brown couch, and that’s when I see it: a door behind the desk. It’s locked, but I want in.
Your reaper is coming. Don’t try to run. Don’t hide.
I will find you.
My heart rate picks up, my eyesight narrowing as I stab the knife between the door frame and the door, prying it open. As it opens, an inch of light emanates from the other side, my hand flexes on the knife and I move forward.
I don’t have time to wait for the others to catch up.
The people on the other side of this door are going to die.
All of them.
My feet hit the stairs, but I don’t even know I’m moving.
I’m hyper-focused. All I can do is act.
I turn the corner, and my eyes land on him. He’s draped over a chair, blood pooled at his feet, his eyes blinking up at me.
He looks broken.
So unlike my Bane.
His lips part, trying to speak, but before he can, revenge blinds me.
They hurt him.
And they’ll reap what they sow.
I walk toward him, my eyes taking in Bane’s back, the way they peeled the skin from him. The pain he must feel.
I won’t let them go easily.
A man who I assume is Henry turns around, hazel eyes flashing up to me, a bloody knife in his hand. He’s surprised, taken aback by the fact that we found them. He underestimated my obsession.
I will always find him.
“What the fuck…” he begins, but my knife flicks out and plunges into his rib cage, making him gasp in disbelief.
“You’ve taken what’s mine,” I hiss, dragging the knife up, slicing through muscle and bone.
He falls to his knees as I tug the knife free and move to the next person.
A woman.
Virgin. Emma. Just as complicit. She screams when she sees Henry, but her emotions don’t faze me.
They took the skin off him. They took a piece of him.
I don’t even let her breathe another breath, just plunge the knife into one lung, then the other. I can almost hear them deflate. Her chest contracts, and I know she doesn’t have long.
