Page 41 of Judas (The Lito Duet #2)

Chapter twenty-one

Beast

I puked—well, dry heaved as darling Uncle Lucien likes to point out—several times before the body ever came apart.

At one point, I hit a pocket of something around the hip area and fluid sprayed in my face.

I blacked out—as embarrassing as it sounds.

The entire time was torture. Lucien barked orders and told me I was doing things wrong, but when I would offer for him to finish it up, he refused.

Telling me it was some right of passage type shit.

Fucking psycho.

Speaking of, where are the voices when I need them?

Kate usually takes over during high stress and she’s nowhere to be found.

There was a point I internally screamed for her, hoping to annoy her just enough where she’d do the damned thing and come finish quartering this poor guy.

Lucien said he and the other one, who he drained like some sort of Dexter reject, came into the cabin when I wasn’t myself.

I remember seeing them when we were on our way back from the lake but not much after that—not until he gave me a bath in his essence.

Now, I’m standing off to the side as he throws the pieces off the back deck into a hole he dug while I was too busy trying to figure out how to break a joint enough to cut it with a kitchen knife.

I am soaked in more blood than I ever imagined I would be, some other fluids, and the dirt from our run through the woods earlier.

There’s no doubt about it: I definitely should have kept running instead of coming back.

But the survival side of me knew that the nightly drop in temperature would eventually kill me—and slowly.

The idea of dying that way sounded painful and I’ve endured enough as it is.

If I were to die, I want it to be quick.

It’s dark now, giving Lucien the coverage he needs to bury the bodies.

The scent of cold earth is mixing with the metallic aroma of crimson; boy does it make my stomach churn.

He ordered me to watch him, and I do, because there’s no way I want him to do the same thing to me.

Not when he’s beaten me into unconsciousness before.

Well, maybe if he does, Kate will come back and she will fight him again.

No, that’s not necessary. My body always aches afterwards and I’m not sure what he would do to me at this point.

A loud clattering from the shovel Lucien is using makes me jump, the metal and wood loud against the floor of the deck.

Looking up, away from the filled in hole in the ground, I see him stalking towards me and every hair stands on end.

The man is terrifying. Though I crave acceptance and being seen as Sadie, not the others, I know his sort of love comes with a price I don’t think I’m willing to pay.

He grabs the front of his shirt and yanks it up so he can use the tail of it as a rag and wipe his face, exposing his torso to me.

The skin there, covered in more tattoos and scars. He’s just one big one at this point.

“Let’s go, you’re taking a bath. I can smell you over the dead.”

“Shouldn’t have poured blood all over me and made me kill a man. I would smell better.”

“Hate to break it to you, sweet girl, but you stopped smelling good back at the hotel.”

“Wh… that’s rude as shit, Lucien.” I grumble at him.

“You rather I sugar coat everything, Sadie? As not to offend your delicate sensibilities?”

“Fuck off. My point is, that was well over a week ago. You could have said something before then.”

“Two, actually, and why would I? It helped me find you when you went running. Now that you’re not going anywhere, you need to bathe. The lake is cold, but it’s much cleaner than you are right now.”

He lingers for a moment then reaches for me and I leap out of his grasp. Which makes him grin. He enjoys the chase—the struggle I give him. It must be new to him. That or his prey in the past never ran, nor fought, as I have.

Sick fuck.

“I’m going. I… I need clothes first, and a towel.”

“Nah, you need to march your ass down to that lake and get in the damn water. I don’t give a hoot about your body. It’s the rest of you that confuses me.”

I confuse him?

“What’s…“

“Stop talking and walk. Now, Sadie.” His words are spoken through gritted teeth.

I can tell that I’m working every one of his nerves and to be honest, that appeases me more than anything.

Fuck him and his orders. He’s the one that wanted me here; went out of his way to make sure I didn’t get far enough to find anyone to scream for—not that I ever would, strangers are a no-go—and now he wants to be an asshole all the time.

Where’s the guy that was promising me safety and protection?

The one who said he was like me, broken in ways we can’t be pieced back together?

All sorts of thoughts regarding ‘what if’ and ‘why’ swirl through my oddly clear mind while I traverse the land between the cabin and the lake.

It’s harder to find when it’s dark outside, but luckily the moon is out enough to give me some sort of illumination once I finally make it to the tree line.

Which feels like it took forever, maybe I should have ran.

If you did, you would have gotten hurt, child.

“Oh, hello. Nice of you to join me today, ancient one. I don’t know if you noticed but I killed and dismembered a body earlier while you three camped out with sour gummy worms and popcorn. Care to enlighten me on where you were, why no one was around?”

“Sadie,” Lucien calls out.

Didn’t know he was following me.

“What?” I answer.

“Which voice are you talking to?”

The fuck does he care?

“Why? How do you know there are multiple?”

“I’ve met the other two. Liz and Kate. Let’s just say, you behave differently when they’re in control. So, who are you talking to now?”

Great.

Just. Fucking. Great.

I keep walking, not answering him. The water is in sight now and my bare feet are beginning to sink into the sand at the bank, which I know will give way to rocks once we get close enough to the shore.

When I finally make it, still not giving anything away, my hands reach for my blood soaked shirt but I stop.

Looking over my shoulder, Lucien is right behind me and it makes me yelp.

“It’s rude to sneak up on a lady.”

“Good thing I don’t see any ladies around here. Strip, and answer the question.”

“I am not taking my clothes off in front of you, creep!”

He groans and I stand firmly in place.

“You can do it, or I can do it for you. I’ll be joining you because we both need it. And, again, I have no interest in a child’s body. Hell, women don’t interest me either, let alone one that’s not finished developing.”

“Such a gentleman,” I clip.

Trying to swallow my pride, I reach for my shorts that are more or less plastered onto me now—like a second skin—and shove them down my legs.

The cold air that meets my flesh is shiver inducing but it’s even worse when I pull my shirt up and over my head, tossing it to the side.

As soon as my feet touch the water, every hair follicle goes goose-y and my teeth begin to chatter from the cold.

I stop to let myself adjust to it, inching in a little bit at a time as the water crashes up higher and higher on my legs.

Suddenly, I’m pulled from the water and squeal.

A longer, stronger arm is wrapped around my waist and next thing I know, I’m thrown several feet away from where I was just standing.

The cold slices through me and goes straight to the bone.

I wail under the surface, cries captured in bubbles before I come up gasping for air.

It’s not warm enough to make me feel like I’ve managed to capture an adequate breath.

I cough and splutter, arms wrapping around myself to ward off the shivering but there’s no way I’m making it through this without shaking.

“What was that for?!”

“You acclimate quicker if you just jump in. It’s a shock to your system, but you get over it,” he answers.

Keeping my body below the surface, the cold almost feels better than being above the edge.

Lucien quickly busies himself with washing off what he can.

Head tipped forward into the water, he scrubs it vigorously before moving on to his face, neck, shoulders, and chest. Doing what we came here to do while I give him my best ‘go to hell’ eyes.

“You didn’t tell me who the other voice was. If you do, I’ll help you with your hair, that way we can get out of here faster. Blood is caked in there pretty bad.”

There’s a catch to this; there’s a catch to everything, but what choice do I have?

I could cooperate right now, or he could force me, and we know how well I do with that now that my riders are off in la-la-land, not helping a bitch out.

So, I wade closer to him and turn around, waiting for him to approach where he can start helping get all of the blood out of my hair.

At first, he helps me dunk quickly, pulling me back up—this water is so damn cold it’s paralyzing.

Suppose he doesn’t want me to drown. Not when he still wants to boss me around and have me help him kill people as if we are some fucked up version of Bonnie and Clyde.

Feeling the tension in his hands, I open finally, and let him in on who I know her as.

“I call her ‘the ancient one.’ She, uh—“

Something urged me to stop, a sixth sense I guess, or the voice herself. I keep going though.

“Her name is Naamah. I don’t know where she’s from but she’s like the leader of all of us. Well, more so the other two. Especially Kate. Total mother-figure, you could say.”

“Naamah,” Lucien repeats. When he doesn’t ask for more, his hands still working, I take that as him waiting for me to share. So, I do.

“I wasn’t always like this, damaged. Once upon a time, I was a regular little girl singing and dancing around at the playground to my favorite lullaby. London Bridge , you know that one?”