Page 25

Trenton rushed forward and kicked him in the stomach so hard that the man made a choking noise before throwing up all over the front of his polo shirt.

Now that I could have done without seeing. Gross.

Trenton didn’t let up and kept kicking him over and over again. When the man rolled over and clutched his stomach in an attempt to protect himself, Trenton started to kick him in the back.

The man started crying and whimpering. He turned into a snotty, blubbering mess. “You’re going to pay for this when Adrian hears about this. When he comes to rescue me, he’s going to murder every last one of you.”

Promises, promises. I snickered, though I probably shouldn’t have. It was wrong to do so. This man was under the influence of magic and probably brainwashed by Adrian. Who knew what the fat little man had done to him?

I should have felt sorry for him.

I didn’t.

I was long since past the point of caring when it came to the regular people the Council sucked into their shenanigans for nefarious purposes.

I couldn’t care about all the Chuckys out there. I had my own family to worry about. Them and all the female witches who needed a savior, and all the other families who were bullied by the Council.

Those were the people who needed me to worry about them and look after them. Fuck everyone else.

I was learning from Quinton and Rain that sometimes it was necessary to be ruthless. I’d like to think it was something they’d both be happy to learn I was picking up on from them, but I had no plans to tell them.

Trenton bent forward, crouched down, and leaned into the man’s face. He grabbed a fistful of the man’s hair and wrenched his head backwards. “You just said the wrong fucking thing. But what’s worse is that you seem to believe the shit you’re actually saying. I don’t even feel sorry for you. If you believed the man who filled your head with that nonsense, then you’re even stupider than you look. I’m doing you a favor, really. You should be thanking me for putting an end to this before I had the chance to really hurt you.”

I hoped he didn’t expect the man to say thank you, because his head was jerked back so far the only noise that came out of his throat was a strange gurgling sound that was filled with pain. There were tears streaming down his cheeks, and he looked like a mess.

Trenton’s grip tightened on the man’s hair as a look so terrifying crossed his face that it had me stepping closer to Simon and into his side. He slammed the man’s head forward. There was a loud crunch as the man’s nose broke and blood spurted everywhere.

Messy, messy. Blood always made such a mess.

I was happy to be standing far enough away so that there wasn’t a chance of it getting on my clothes or boots. Trenton wasn’t as lucky, and his boots and his shirt got hit. Good thing he always made a habit of wearing dark clothing.

Trenton pulled back on the man’s head one more time and slammed it forward. This time the man’s temple struck the floor with a heavythwackthat made me take that one last step into Simon’s side so I was crowding him. He immediately wrapped his arms around my shoulders and his lips went to the top of my head as he whispered soft reassurances to me.

I wasn’t reassured though, even though I knew neither of them would ever hurt me. Oh no, that wasn’t what had left me a trembling mess at all.

I had been transported back to a different time. A time where I’d heard that same noise when someone else’s head bounced off of something. Only Vivian’s head had bled a whole lot more. It’d also been the thing that had killed her.

Jesus, fuck, Ariel Kimber, snap out of it.

I could see her dead eyes fixed on me with that blank stare. It was one of the few times I’d seen her look at me without hatred or jealousy or absolute loathing, and she’d had to be dead to be able to look at me like that.

“Are you okay, sweetheart?” Simon whispered so quietly that I knew only I could hear it. “Would you like me to take you out to the SUV so that we can wait there for my brother? He won’t mind.”

I blinked at his words, slowly coming out of that wretched memory that had been the moment I’d been granted my freedom. I tried never to think of itorVivian.

“N-No,” I stammered out through chattering teeth. “I want to wait for Trenton. I don’t want to leave him alone.”

I also wasn’t exactly in a hurry to go home at the moment either. Not where I had more memories of Vivian being buried in the basement in the dirt. It was something I hadn’t thought about in a very long time, but should probably talk to someone about now so it wouldn’t haunt me in my waking hours or whenever I fell asleep somewhere that wasn’t my own bed.

“What’s wrong with her?” Trenton asked softly as he appeared directly in front of me. His silver eyes raked over my face as concern filled his gaze. “Is she okay?”

I didn’t bother trying to look around him so I could check out what he left of the man from the minivan. I didn’t really want to see it and have it trigger another flashback of a horrible memory.

I didn’t think I could handle it.

And I didn’t want to be looked at as if I were fragile and something breakable. Although at this moment that might be exactly what I felt like on the inside, I didn’t want anyone else to notice it.

“She’s fine,” Simon answered for me. “Now let’s get out of here.”