Page 125 of Jagged Souls

One of them is only here as an example for the other.

As the air crackles behind me, I dart over to the first boy of his. He doesn’t even get a chance to scream before my knife slices across his throat. A quick death. Merciful.

The man roars behind me. A bolt of red fury slams into a pink shield as I turn to face him. A half a dozen other bolts slam into various shields of blue as my brothers all protect themselves. His attack was impressive, trying to take us out all at once, but Dayne already has him down on the ground, one hand on his shoulder. Forced to be still and quiet, only his eyes can scream.

My gaze moves to the woman. Shaking, she tries to calm her own screaming children, shouting words that are meant to be soothing, but her partner, a woman with blue hair to her pink, is rocking her chair back and forth as she shrieks behind her gag. As their terror rolls through the air, the Craving hits hard in my stomach, and my teeth ache. It has been weeks since I’ve eaten, and the urge to feast grows stronger every day.

Fighting it down, I walk calmly over to the man’s second and last son. “Elivici,” I say, addressing the woman.“Chi.” > //Pay attention.

Holding her terrified gaze, I slit his throat. She clasps a hand over her mouth. The man’s wife jerks her chair up and down, trying to free herself so she can fight back. The man’s eyes grow wider, terror eating him up inside. Dayne looks away, unable to stomach watching the kids die. But he does not stop me either, and he does not let the man go.

I kill his wife next.

Then Dayne kills his hostage quickly, stopping his heart with barely any movement of his fingers. He releases him, and he drops to the ground with open eyes. He might have died fast, but he died full of rage and fear.

I turn to look at Elivici.

She trembles and cries in silence.

“Vicara, ke aloze,”I repeat, reminding her there is only one way she and her family go home.

Her lips trembling, she nods.

Cleaning my blade on the dead mother’s back, I gesture for Elivici to come with me. Then I slip the knife into its sheath and lead her out into the night.

Vlad is already waiting for us, ready to take her to one of Eduardo’s circles. He got a dozen locations by interrogating the captured Death Hunt members and has been scouting them out to see which one would be the best to hit without drawing attention. Morn Tower, where Antonio took Khalid and his girl after kidnapping them, is the closest one, but it’s owned by civilians. The police might’ve rounded up anyone associated with the Death Hunt they could, and Aleric and I have been killing or recruiting anyone who’s remained, but enough innocents have their fingers in Morn Tower that we can’t touch it. It gives Antonio an instant way back to the area, but the fact that he let us know about it by dragging my brother there makes me suspect he has another one nearby. There’s no better way of sneaking into a place than by going through the back door that no one knows about because everyone is busy guarding the front.

My eyes soften as I walk up to the vampire. He looks as shit as Dayne and I do. There was a moment when him and Rudy were… something. Athingsounds too solid for what they were. Not Romeo and Juliet sneaking out behind our backs. Not in love. Not just sex.

My brother loved everyone but the man in front of me. He went out of his way to antagonize him, and the two of them got into blows more than once. Vlad is the only one Rudy has ever deliberately affected with his magic, and he’d do it all the time – a type of pushing away, of destroying it before it destroys me.

But at some point, they started sleeping together. Rudy came home smelling like Vlad, and he kept that scent for the next few months. I pretended like I knew nothing; their relationship would have caused an all out war if the Death Hunt thought our two gangs were forming a secret alliance. Ironically, we went to war anyways, so I wonder if Vlad regrets keeping Rudy in the closet. If he regrets that lost time now that my brother is gone.

Then again, they haven’t smelled of each other for over a year. Even though their relationship would no longer cause any strain, they’ve stayed apart. Bad blood festers between them, and yet…

Vlad is only here because of him.

We don’t exchange pleasantries. We might share a love for Rudy, but we’re not anywhere close to being friends. In utter silence, he grabs Dayne and phases him to the school Micha was being held at. It’s risky going back there with the SCU crawling all over the woods now, but it’s the only place we can be sure that Antonio isn’t watching. Dayne can keep them hidden with his magic, but he’s willing to risk getting caught in order to save Micha.

After Vlad takes the teleporter, I head back into the garage to help clean up the bodies – a task normally left to Rudy. My brothers can’t take them into their shadows as that’ll call the monsters to their storage area, increasing the risk of losing the items they hold there. So we’ll burn them into ash – the fire reminding me of Micha, then bury them deep underground, beneath the new flowers we plant in Leno’s honor.

Memories. Honor…

I want more than that.

And I don’t care how much of the world I have to burn to make it happen.

My jaw tight as I help dig a six-foot hole, I vow to bring my wife and brother home.

Thirty-Five

HER

They keep me tied up for the next two weeks.[MG1] Every time I’m free, I try to tear the monster from my stomach. Try to protect the last part of Rafiki’s memory even though I can feel it fracturing into pieces inside of me. They carry me to the toilet, my hands tied together, my fingers interlaced.

If it’s Bear or Sunny, I get wiped. If it’s Sadist, I don’t.

They feed me like I’m a foie gras duck. A funnel is forced down past my tongue so I can’t spit anything out, then soup is poured into it until I can’t do anything but swallow. I try to let it kill me, first by refusing to breathe, then by trying to inhale it into my lungs, but it’s damn near impossible for me to overcome my survival instinct. Yet another way my body betrays me.