Prologue
Six Months Ago
His blood wasall over me. I could feel it seeping into my pores, marking me bone-deep, but I couldn’t stop. I couldn’t fucking stop. The moment Jude’s fist connected with Elio’s face, I’d lost it. Memories of a fate I’d refused to let myself follow rushed through my mind and veins as I pushed my fists straight into his face, over and fucking over.
“Oh my god, baby! Get away from him!” the other bitch screamed. How fucking hilarious of her to think I was going to listen to her.
“Watch out!” That voice, I would listen to. Elio’s voice sounded so different. So hoarse and sad and desperate.
The girl tugged on the back of my shirt just as I rose to my feet. “No, the fuck you don’t!” I pushed her. I pushed her hard, not even glancing back at her. I heard her fall, a deafening crack echoing through the room, but I didn’t look.
Jude growled, his ugly fucking lips turning up into a snarl. “Fuck you, you fucking asshole! Sarah, baby! Can you hear me? Sarah!”
“Oh, shut up!”
Blood clung to both of us—his blood. It dripped from his eyebrow and curled around his bared teeth, outlining them in demise. He rushed after me, forcing me off balance as his palms wrapped around my neck. I could feel my heartbeat starting in my neck, pounding against his hands as I grabbed onto his outer arms.
Pushing my weight into him, Jude lost his balance, sending both of us to the floor. His grip got tighter around my neck, but I had the upper hand. Rage I’d never felt before, fury I didn’t know existed, replaced by adrenaline as I took his neck between my hands and squeezed as hard as I could. I stared into his eyes—his pitch fucking black,evileyes—as I took his breath. As I pushed him closer to the brink of death.
Unfortunately, he was trying his damned hardest to do the same to me. His nails dug deep into my skin, a burn following them as he clawed and gasped and bucked his hips beneath me. My vision began to blur, his eyes fading away into nothing but colors I couldn’t fully comprehend.
Fuck. If this was it, if I died right here, right now, at the hands of a fucking monster like Jude, at least I’d do it protecting my little brothers. That’s all that mattered. That’s all I cared about.
Something dragged across the floor, scraping along the wood. It was loud next to the gurgling, choking sounds Jude and I were both making. My head was on fire, and I wasn’t sure howmuch longer I had before I’d lose consciousness. I chanced a look to the side, realizing what the scraping sound was.
I tried to say something. I opened my mouth, only to make a squeaky, hissing sound instead. I wanted to warn him. Make him go away.Let me take care of this, El. I didn’t notice he was hurting you when you were younger. This is on me. This is my fucking job.
He got closer just as my eyes started to flutter, and my hands were starting to loosen. Elio raised his hand, grabbed Jude’s wrist, and pulled it down, freeing me. I took in a deep breath and squeezed. Harder. I scooted up, gaining more leverage on Jude, and gritted my teeth together as I put all of my strength into taking his life. He thrashed, banging against the floor beneath us, knocking my body up and down. Through it all, I stayed firm. Even as his body went limp.
Even as his eyes relaxed, a glossy film covering them.
Even as his chest fell for the last time, a long, shaky exhale leaving him.
Even as tears started to fall down my face, the realization that I’d killed a man slowly hitting into me.
Even as the police swarmed the room.
I stayed firm. I’d defeated the monster. The monster in my nightmares, the monster in my past, and the monster who dared to fuck with my little brothers.
The metalof the handcuffs scraped against my wrists. My skin felt tight and uncomfortable, Jude’s blood creating a sticky cast all over my skin. It was hard to move my face. It was hard to move any part of me, actually. The moment I’d drained Jude’slife and learned I’d taken Sarah’s too, it seemed they took a part of me with them. Maybe we’d all meet in hell. Maybe we’d have the same torture chamber, or whatever it was they used down there.
“Moon?” Officer Blake’s voice echoed in the desolate room. It startled me.
Looking up across the table, I said the first thing that came to mind. “Where are my brothers? Are they okay?”
The officer tilted his head, his eyebrows pulling down a bit. “Crescent is perfectly fine, Moon. You don’t have to worry about him.”
“No,” I shook my head. “No, no, Elio too. Elio is my brother too. Where is he?”
“Elio is in the hospital, safe and sound. Last I heard, he’s stable and doing just fine. Crescent is with him.”
I was pretty sure I was nodding, though the world never stopped spinning. It hadn’t since I first got lifted from Jude’s body, and handcuffs were tightened around my wrist. “Yeah, okay. Sure.”
Detective Manuel shifted in his seat, glancing at Officer Blake. “So, Moon, you mentioned that the ex-boyfriend was hitting Elio when you walked in, right?”
“Yeah. I heard something going on inside. I don’t know. I wasn’t supposed to be there yet, and Cres was at work. Something told me to open the door, so I did. Maybe my parents are onto something with the whole spirit-and-universe thing. I can’t think of why else I’d have tried to open the door without knocking first.”
“Okay, so you immediately went to Jude?”
