Page 58 of Haunting the Hunter

I don’t give a fuck what he says, none of it matters. I need to keep my composure.

I shove him away and turn to grab the knife from the table, cutting the ropes binding him. Then I drag him over to the old metal sink. I plug the drain and start the water, watching as it begins to rise slowly.

“Who is leading you?” I ask calmly.

“You killed my daughter, you fucking prick. Even if I knew anything, I’d rather die in my own piss and shit before telling you. I hope she finds you and your pretty little sister so you can watch helplessly as she slits her thro—”

I dunk him under the water, pressing his head down hard, scraping his mangled cheek against the bottom of the sink. I wait until his body stops thrashing so violently before I pull him up.

“Who is ‘she,’ Allen?”

He’s gasping for air, too weak to resist my hold, legs buckling under him.

“Fuck you, little boy. Our God will come, and whenhedoes, I will meet you in hell.”

I dunk him again. Water spills over onto the floor as I wait a bit longer before pulling him up, then I drag him back to his chair, tossing his limp body into it.

I give him a moment to catch his breath and ask again.

“Who isshe, Allen?”

He just looks at me with a dead-eyed expression, clutching the hand with the missing finger to his chest. The heat in my veins boils over and my impatience gets the better of me. I grab the knife and stab it into his hand that’s resting on his leg, the blade driving through to the bone.

The scream he lets out is agonizing. My frustration turns into rage…

“Tell me who she is!” I yell, my voice reverberating off the walls as I slam my hands into the table.

“Rosa!” he wails, chin pressed to his chest.

I halt, sucking in a deep breath. Rosa White. Calli was right all along.

I walk back over to him and pull the knife from his hand and leg, using it to cut open his shirt.

“Thank you for your assistance, Allen,” I say, my voice steady once again.

“Will you let me go? I told you… so please, let me go…” He’s sobbing now, already knowing his fate, but I answer him anyway.

“Can’t do that, Allen. This is payback for what you did to that little boy—and who knows how many others.”

Without waiting for more begging, I take the knife and shove it into his gut sideways, slicing through his internal organs slowly. No precision, not caring to spare him any pain.

He barely makes a noise as his intestines begin to spill out in a gory display that makes my stomach turn. He collapses out of the chair and onto the floor, blood pooling around him. I begin to collect my things while he twitches and groans, bleeding out slowly.

“This is the least you deserve, fucking coward,” I call over my shoulder as I make my exit.

Getting to my truck, I remove my boots and gloves, placing them in a metal bin on the side of the building and dousing it with kerosene. I light the match and watch as the flames rise, waiting long enough that the soles of my boots start to melt before jumping in the truck and making my way north. The road begins to blur—

Allen’s words echo in my head as I drive:

Your sister, she is doomed, Cade. She’s already marked. Her soul will be his regardless. What’s done is done.

Bullshit. They’re a deluded group of power-hungry freaks. There is no God, and if there was, I highly doubt he’d be asking these dumbasses to do his dirty work. Sounds like a shitty God to me.

I drive for about five hours before arriving at a motel. After a shower and some fresh clothes, I sit on the bed. My wet hair drips water down the back of my neck as I absently rub the metal chain holding the pendulum.

I think of you…

You have crawled into my head and spread yourself out like you belong there.