Page 90 of He is Poison

Seth looked into hiseyes, trying to understand what could hide behind them. Did Dom just want tocontinue their arrangement because he thought Seth was hot or was theresomething else? A quest for power over the future Don, or just pleasure thatcame from being together? Seth might as well give up trying to read Dom.

“I’ll be guarded. I’llhave to take care of her, and there would be children.” It was too overwhelmingfor Seth to even comprehend, and he had to sniff again.

Domenico sighed andraised his hand to stroke his thumb over Seth’s cheekbone. “Everyone’s gotresponsibilities. We need to cope with that.”

Seth swallowed andslowly nodded. He was afraid to even think of Dom’s ‘responsibilities’. Hisheart pounded as he watched Dom’s amber eyes hypnotizing him in the darkness.

Slowly, Dom cuppedSeth’s face in both hands and pulled it down for a slow, chaste kiss. His mouthwas bitter with the taste of cigarettes but warm, with an underlying sweetness.Seth sniffed once more before giving in to the caress and reciprocating itgently, with just his lips, salty with the tears that had managed to slip downhis cheeks before.

“Stop crying. Menshouldn’t cry,” whispered Domenico against his mouth, and Seth felt a shiver godown his neck both from the closeness and a cool breeze that must have comethrough the window.

Wait.What? Seth looked to the balcony. He remembered closing itearlier, and he would have heard Dom going out when he was in bed. Besides,nights were too cold for sitting outside now. He didn’t have the time to evenstart a new thought when his knees gave up at the impact of something hittingthem from the back. The world slowed down, and as he was falling down to thefloor, there was a metallic glint in the darkness and a snap when something hita wall behind where he stood less than a second ago. Dom made a rapid move, andsomething smashed, shattering into a million little glass pieces.

Seth groaned at the painof hitting his skull against the floor, but time to comprehend what washappening rapidly shrunk when someone yanked his leg and dragged him along thefloor. None of Dom’s lessons were kicking in. It wasn’t combat, it was chaos.Survival instinct pulled Seth into action the moment he saw a knife aiming forhis thigh, and he kicked the attacker’s wrist. The man screamed, but Seth’sblood froze when he realized the knife hadn’t dropped to the floor. It wasattached to a stub where the man’s hand used to be.

The grunting, the squeakingof shoes all too close to his head, and even the moving air all faded incomparison to the blade aimed at him by the attacker, whose face was still inthe shadow. Seth gagged with panic at the sound of unfamiliar words hurled athim, but they only enforced his need to fight by any means necessary. It wasthe same language his kidnappers used.

He sat up to smash theman’s face with his elbow, but it ended up in a meeting with the blade. Red hotpain slashed through his arm, but there was no time to ponder that. Seth wentstraight for what he perceived as the man’s weak spot and grabbed the stub,squeezing it to send him into a world of pain.

A sharp cry rang inSeth’s ears, and as the man on top of him bent in half, he finally saw a young,handsome face, now contorted in agony.

Domenico’s voice torethrough the haze clouding Seth’s mind. “Break his fucking neck!”

What Seth did manage wasto pull at the handle of the knife attached to the man’s stub, and it got theblade flopping. No less sharp, but now a lot less efficient as a weapon. Theattacker hissed again when Seth dug his nails into the soft stub, focused onlyon survival. Wet heat covered his stomach and the stench of urine overpoweredthe smell of blood. Seconds later, Seth was on top of the man, grabbing hishead, but it wasn’t good enough with his other hand still gripping the stub. Inone frightening moment, rough fingertips dug into his face, climbing up hischeek to reach the eye. That sent Seth’s senses into a frenzy and instead of tryingto break the guy’s neck, he pulled up his head and repeatedly smashed it intothe floor. The dull sound of skull thudding against tiles lasted until Sethheard a crack, and the man stopped moving.

With his pulse beatingfuriously in his temples, Seth raised his head to look at the shadows in theliving room. Breath caught in his throat when Domenico dodged an acrobatic kickby just a fraction of a second before shooting up like he were shot from aballista and smashing his elbow into the other man’s jaw. The advantage ofheight he had over his opponent only made the smack more powerful.

Seth ripped the knifeoff the dead man’s arm with the bandage still attached and got to his feet,spurred on by concentrated adrenaline. Blood dripped down his arm, but painwasn’t even reaching his brain, all focus set on being of help to Dom.

The two figures, onewiry and broad-shouldered, the other smaller and stocky, were now locked in afurious dance of death where one wrong move could result in a stab in the gut.Seth watched with his lips salty from sweat and took a step closer, attemptingto corner the assailant.

“Stay back!” gaspedDomenico.

Seth clutched the knifein his hand, but did as he was told, trusting Dom knew what was best. He hadto. What was the other choice? Trying to act like a hero when it could lead tocausing more damage than help? The last thing he wanted was to get in the wayor hurt Dom by accident.

With growingfascination, he watched the two men locked in a deadly embrace, almostimmobile, their muscles twitching in response to one another’s movements. Then,with a vicious move of his head, Domenico head-butted his opponent, breakinghis focus for just enough time to scoot down, reaching for a piece of glintingmetal. Seth paled. It was a machete.

Seth’s eyes openedwider, but before he could cheer for Dom to slash the motherfucker in two, theman kicked the blade away and smashed his foot into Dom’s side a fraction of asecond later. A crackle in Dom’s body made Seth take a step forward again, buthe felt as if he were made out of adrenaline, sweat, and stone. Each force andemotion was driving him in a different direction. What if Dom was wrong? Whatif the man was too much, and Seth should approach and help? He was stranded onthe outskirts of a deadly fight, and even with a knife in his hand, he couldn’tdecide what to do.

Steel-willed or not,Domenico fell to the floor, opening his mouth in silent shock. His gaze movedbetween Seth and the long blade, claimed by the other man with a groan ofsatisfaction. Seth gasped and without a second thought, threw the knife he hadin his hand to Dom, praying it wouldn’t miss and stab Dom by accident. Therewas no time to waste.

It spiraled through theair, but it was falling too far from Domenico. Seth’s stomach sank. In the verylast fraction of a second, Domenico gathered his strength and reached forward.He let out a hiss as his fingers caught the blade, the machete already swishingthrough the air. Seth gasped and took a step forward, but if he approachedthem, he might end up being the attacker’s human shield instead of Dom’ssavior.

In the darkness, it washard to spot the move, but Domenico managed to turn the knife in his hand andused it to stop the huge blade from dismembering his hand. His leg bent, aimingfor the attacker’s feet, but the man leaped back, defying the laws of physics,and without leaving a second to spare, kicked Dom right in the face. Domenicogrunted, but then rapidly pushed forward and slashed at the man’s ankle. Therewas a silent scream and thud when the Chinese man dropped to the floor. Hisfate was sealed. In just a few precise movements, Dom stepped on the macheteand turned his opponent’s head. The stomach-turning crack made Seth’s last mealgo up in his throat, but the body did not move.

Only now Seth realizedhe was wheezing, so he took a deep breath tainted by the smell of blood andurine. He couldn’t move as he watched Dom spit blood to the floor with thebottom half of his face covered in red.

With the knife still inhis hand, Domenico walked past Seth and looked down at the other man. “Get memy handcuffs,” he muttered.

Seth swallowed. “He’sdead,” he wanted to say, but only managed a whisper.

“He’s not. Handcuffs.”Domenico let out a sigh and squatted by the body with a low wince. “Fuckerpissed himself.”

Seth looked down at hisown stained clothes, but fetched the handcuffs without a word. As soon as hegave them to Dom, he turned on the lights. The moment the room was illuminated,he wished it wasn’t. Light revealed a scene of pure gore. Dom must have cut theother man’s tendons, because his feet were unnaturally bent. Just like hishead, face squished against the floor.

Domenico sighed andpulled the unconscious man’s hands back, only to groan when he saw the stump.“Okay. Rope, that idiot lost his brain when he lost his hand, apparently.” Heseemed to be more concerned about the piss and blood soaking into the floorthan anything else. He even spat at one red spot and wiped it off with the edgeof his shirt.Thank God for tiles.

Rope wasn’t hard tofind. It hung prominently on the wall, left by the apartment owner for theirfun. Its use wasn’t about to provide fun for anyone. “Dom?” Seth managed in alouder voice.