I sink down to my knees, my skin buzzing with something electrifying andconsuming. Whatever has held me back for so long finally bends and snaps. Fractals of ice shatter around me, releasing the dark beast at my core.
The thing that begs for death in its rawest form.
“Please,“ the boy pleads one final time, the sound of a whisper. “I-I can’t fail my father…”
“You didn’t fail him,” I lie through a wicked smile. “You didn’t get far enough to consider this a failure.”
I lurch forward, jamming my thumbs into his eyesockets as he screams. The sound echoes in the cellar, bouncing off the walls like a haunting siren’s call as I feel the organs squish.
A single trophy won’t be enough for this moment.
No. I needmore.
As the blood begins to ooze, it’s like a pressure in my chest finally releases, and my breath evens as I pluck out both of his eyes. The thin extraocular muscles pull tight, and I rip back, shredding them. The boy’s body moves jerkily, his legs kicking as his chest heaves. He’s dying from our spar, but I don’t want this to end.
Not yet.
Only if it’s by my hands.
“Good choice,” Sergey praises as he leans back against the table and lights a cigar. The thick smoke billows from his mouth. “End this,Smerti.”
I wrap my hand around the boy’s throat, pressing until I crush his windpipe. Deranged laughter bubbles out of me as the feeling of his crushed throat moves beneath my hand.
This is better than I ever could have hoped. It’s hell at my hands—and I’m the harbinger of death. It’s fucking reprieve from all of those years of waiting and watching. It’s satisfied a part of me that I know will only begin to grow the longer I do this.
Addiction.
The cellar door opens, but nothing can distract me from the marvelous sight below me. The boy is still, his chest only rising on reflex as his dark eyesockets stare back at me.
“He’s ready,” Sergey says to our visitor. “He’s been ready, but this only proves it.”
Ivan’s voice touches my ears a moment later, his tone hard. “Then we strike tonight.”
Chapter twenty-nine
Kaden
Therestofthemorning is nothing but a big blur. I couldn’t get past the thrill of my first kill long enough to listen to Ivan and Sergey’s muttering. It was still so fresh, and I wanted nothing more than to keep mutilating the body beneath me.
As I scale the steps of my parents’ mansion, there’s a lightness to me I can’t place. It’s as if years of tension have finally rolled off my shoulders, taking the burdens with it.
I breeze right through the front door, two large bouquets of roses and a fresh iced coffee in my hands as I pinpoint my girl sitting on the sofa. Mom and Dad are talking quietly in the kitchen, drying dishes as they laugh. Melody is watching something on the History Channel about plants in the rainforest as I lean over and whisper in her ear.
“For my favorite girl,” I kiss her temple quickly, handing the flowers to her.
She beams, her eyes lighting up as she takes them and turns them over in her hands. “They’re beautiful!” Her gaze flickers to the kitchen. “But what about—”
“I have some for Mom too,” I say quietly. “Don’t worry, Sunny.”
She relaxes, her eyes softening into fondness as she holds the bouquet tightly. “I love them. Thank you, baby.”
“Oh, and another thing,” I smirk, reaching around her shoulder before rattling the ice in the coffee.
Her mouth falls open before she takes it with gratitude. “You’re a lifesaver. Are you trying to butter me up?”
I pinch her chin with my fingers, peering over at our parents to make sure they aren’t watching as I kiss her passionately. “I love spoiling you.”
She lifts a hand to my cheek, her touch chaste but warm. “How did themeeting go?”
