Page 52 of Nightshades
It’s the last thing she says before placing the barrel under her chin and pulling the trigger. Her brains splatter against the wall, painting it as if it were an empty canvas.
Closing the door, I eye the room across the hall, excited to see what waits for me. The nightmare within me screeches with joy, soaking in all the pain and suffering that is held within this home.
Such a sweet little treat for a wicked monster.
Grabbing the doorknob, I swing the door open to see Ricky being suffocated by his father. Two hands are wrapped around his throat while his father screams and yells at him.
“I’ll skin you! Do you hear me? I’ll skin you and hang you up like a piece of fucking meat if you ever talk back to me again. Your mother is mine to do with as I please. She’s my wife. Do you understand me?”
I close the door, getting bored with how long it is taking to get to adult Ricky. I have a mate to be infinitely curious about, following her, learning all of her moves, the way she walks and talks.
My everlasting obsession starts and begins with her.
Speeding to another door, I pause when it begins to snow again, something I find curious. Opening my palm, I’m mesmerized by how softly it drifts into my massive palm. It stays for a moment, the chill momentary before it melts into a droplet of water.
Another falls, then another, cascading to the floor until it begins to stick. With each caress of a snowflake upon my skin, split seconds of laughter, sobs, screams, pain, and glass shattering, tease my ears.
Reaching for the third doorknob, snow is piled on the curve of the metal. Curling my lip in annoyance, I bend my head down and ram my horn through the door.
Adult Ricky is hanging by his shirt, lifted onto a hook just like his father promised. Ricky, the rapist, is crying, hands and feet bound, and the ghost of his father stands in front of him.
I step in, the man who caused Ricky to turn into a monster of his own, turns to look at me before vanishing into thin air.
A blade is left on the top of the dresser, a hint of blood on the silver. Staring at Ricky’s arms, I see his father has already started to deliver on the promise he made.
Pieces of skin are on the floor, blood running down his slender arms.
“Please,” Ricky begs like the others I’ve killed.
I bet he hopes to reach compassion or the humanity inside me, not knowing that the only humanity I hold is for Lula.
Everyone else can be damned for all I care. The world could burn, and souls could scream, people could reach for me to save them, but I’d step on their hands and break their bones to save Lula. Every person is a stepping stone to get to her, nothing more.
Their lives are useless to me. Nothing but an annoyance for me to scare so I can feed myself. They are food, and Lula is water, the liquid I need to wash them down with.
“Please, get me down. He’ll be back.”
Turning my head, I look at him like a confused animal, trying my best to understand why he thinks I care, when I remember he thinks there are others out there who do care to save his life.
He doesn’t remember that I am in control of his next heartbeat, and he will hang on the hook his father placed him on until his body rots and his bones clatter to the floor.
“He won’t be back,” I state, ignoring the blade that only a weaker man has to use.
I drag my claws across the dresser as I step closer to Ricky, his shirt soaked in sweat and tears.
His gaze finally looks up at me from focusing on the floor, eyes widening when he sees the monster that I am.
“No. No. Get me down! Get me down! Oh, god. I’m sorry. Please, don’t kill me.”
Digging all five nails into his chest, I rip his skin, growling in pleasure when his screams cause my ears to ring.
“Being skinned alive is your worst fear because your daddy threatened you?”
He continues to scream at the top of his lungs as I use his body like pottery being sculpted. Digging my claw under his skin, I cut away at the tissue between the muscle and flesh.
I peel away the first layer of skin, dropping it onto the floor by my feet, and it lands with a splat.
“You have no idea what I went through in this house!” he roars, struggling against his restraints.