The front door is still open, allowing the girl’s voice through as she screams, “Dad!”
Followed by Scarlet’s fear-filled shout, “Daigon! Help!”
If looks could kill, I’d be written out of existence with the murder aimed at me as Ruby and Daigon rush out of the house.
“DAD!” their daughter screams again as Scarlet shouts, “Move back!”
79
KANE
More guilt is added to my shoulders when I see Scarlet sitting on top of my car with the children. Daigon pushes Ruby back into the house. The gravel clinks together around the snakes slithering over the rocks. Not one or two. Fucking hundreds of them.
I hold Ruby back while Delilah stands at my back, peering around me. Daigon steps forward with one foot firmly planted on the small stones, stretching his arms out, attempting to reach for them as his son cries. Softening his voice, he coaxes, “It’s a game, buddy. Auntie Scarlet is going to throw you. I’ll catch you.”
“Dad?” the girl says, leaning over the car. “Can I keep one?”
“No. Help your brother.”
She sits up on her knees as Scarlet holds the boy under the arms as she crawls to the back of the roof. The hissing vibrates through the air, making my skin crawl as Ruby runs to the kitchen.
“Was Delilah worth it?”
“Shut the fuck up,” I grit.
“Who are you talking to?” Delilah asks with tears in her eyes.
There’s too much noise. From the gravel moving beneath the cold reptiles, their hissing, a father trying to settle his crying children, to Ruby running towards us, metallic scraping. It’s all too fucking loud.
I catch a glimpse of her dragging a broom and take it out of her hands, so she doesn’t get hurt. This is my fault. I accepted the sadistic bitch took my arm, so it was over. But it wasn’t—isn’t—because they’re never fucking satisfied.
Using the metal stick of the broom, I move the snakes away from Daigon’s foot as he remains rooted in place. The children are too scared to move and he shouldn’t risk death because I fucked up.
Delilah hates me, she’s disgusted, so there’s nothing left for me anyway. I carefully walk in the cleared path, the snakes promptly closing it up behind me. They don’t attack or touch me until I stop at the trunk of the car, then they slither over my booted feet.
I can’t hold the children and the broom.
“Because you gave your arm for Delilah when she’s not worth it.”
Tilting my shoulders as a snake winds up my calf, I tell Scarlet, “Put them on my back.”
She sits the boy on my shoulders then lightly taps the girl’s back. “Climb onto your uncle. Hold on tight.”
I’m an uncle when I don’t have any family.
The girl wraps her legs around me, tightly holding my hoodie in her fist as she winds her arm around my neck to make sure her brother doesn’t fall. The extra weight, being choked, and the snakes coiling around my legs make me slower. I try to move the reptiles with the bottom of the broom, but they hiss louder. Fuck, if they sink their fangs into me right now, I’ll drop.
The boy doesn’t help matters as he clings to my head, slapping his small hands on my forehead, nearly toppling me.But he calms when his sister whispers, “It’s okay, Micah. They’re just really big worms.”
Daigon widens his legs, pushing his foot through the gravel to draw the snakes to the noise. He keeps one foot behind him on the step in front of the door, stretching his arms out to lift the boy off my shoulders. Seraphim stops choking me as she holds the handle of the broom with both hands, helping me balance the weight. I don’t walk forward though, I turn as Ruby takes the boy, tightly hugging him to her chest.
“Grab her,” I say as the snakes get closer, joining the fucker coiling tighter around my calf. Once she’s safe with her parents, I turn to Scarlet. “Your turn. Think light thoughts for me.”
She weakly laughs as she crawls forward, sits on the edge of the roof and fucking kicks me as she attempts to wrap her legs around me. Delilah’s tears fall, dripping down her cheeks to form darker spots on her hoodie as it soaks them up. But there’s no hate in her eyes. She looks at me like she used to—before all this shit, when I still had hope.
I rock forward when Scarlet indelicately propels herself at my back, wincing as the snake tightens around my leg. The head is right behind my knee, but I manage to stop myself from crumbling, so it doesn’t unhinge its jaw to attack as my foot goes numb. I can’t balance the broom well enough to create a gap between the cold body and my limb. Instead, I lean forward so my back is straight, tapping Scar with the bristle edge of the broom. “Crawl up so you can reach him.”
“Walk, you idiot. You’re going to fall.”
