Bile burned in Jack’s throat, scorched the back of his tongue, hot and acidic.
“Again,” said the yellow-eyed man with a note of exasperation. “The faster you answer the questions, the less damage the spell will do.”
“Alright, alright,” said Enzo, groping at his face, scraping swollen fingers over his nose, recoiling when he discovered the missing piece. “Fuck!Fuck! You’re gonna kill me. Oh my god.” A shoulder-shaking wail. “Her name was Diana, and she was a lying, cheating whore! What the fuck else do you need?”
“We should run,” whispered Boris, breath hot against Jack’s ear. “We gotta get out of here. He’s insane. They’re both insane.”
“How the fuck can you run from something like that?” Carla hissed, gesturing to a weeping Enzo. Blood and wine stained his white shirt, now a macabre swirl of crimson and plum.
“You don’t,” said the yellow-eyed man, grinning wickedly. Upstairs, a door slammed.
Boris made a little moaning noise, wobbled on his feet. “Did you hear?—”
“It’s fine,” said Jack, panic racing through him. “It’s gonna be OK?—”
The yellow-eyed man took a step toward Enzo, hand outstretched, fingers twisting into signs Jack couldn’t interpret.
“Aw, fuck no!” spat Carla, stepping forward, gun drawn and aimed at the yellow-eyed man. Somewhere in the distance, footsteps pounded, quick and urgent. She ignored them. “Stop it right now, mister.”
“Weren’t you prepared to cut the head from the snake?” A pale eyebrow raised. For someone with a gun in his face, the yellow-eyed man was entirely too calm.
Jack didn’t want to know how he planned to protect himself from Carla. He tamped down the urge to intervene, afraid that anything he might do or say would only make the situation worse.
“Not like this!” she snarled, glaring at Enzo. “This is torture!”
“Your boyfriend is famous for torturing his enemies,” saidthe yellow-eyed man, an amused glint in his eye. “Suddenly, you’re against it?”
“Carla,” warned Jack. Footsteps sounded behind him, but he didn’t dare look away. “Carla, don’t?—”
Something cold and hard pressed against the back of Jack’s head. “Don’t move.”
CHAPTER
FORTY-FIVE
Boris joltedaway from Jack like he’d been shocked.
“God damn it,” Carla groaned, looking past Jack to his assailant. The gun trembled in her hand, still aimed at the yellow-eyed man. “Ronnie, get the fuck outta here. We need help. Go get me some fucking help?—”
“I don’t think so, cupcake,” said a low voice that made all the hairs on Jack’s body stand on end. “Tell me, what’s going on here?”
Fingers twitched at the yellow-eyed man’s side. Jack closed his eyes, swallowed down despair.
Enzo wailed. “You gotta help me, Ronnie. This guy’s crazy! He’s trying to kill me! I’m fucking melting!”
Jack couldn’t be sure, but he thought that the body behind him tensed. His eyelids fluttered open.
“What’s going on?” asked Ronnie, cool and authoritarian, completely unaffected by everything going on around him. Disappointed, but not surprised.
The barrel of the gun nudged against Jack’s skull, and he realized with a wince that Ronnie was speaking to him.
“Um, well?—”
“Jesus Christ,” Ronnie groaned. “Your brains would be more useful splattered on the wall. What the fuck is going on?”
Carla shook her head frantically, curls flying. “Ronnie, no?—”
“Interrogation,” Jack gasped, picking the first word that came to mind. “He-he summoned something he shouldn’t have?—”
