Page 2 of Reckoning

I feel the knife hitting something solid over and over. The handle no longer just wet with sweat but with blood.

One of the men fall. He collapses. And I realise I’ve actually hurt him.

My heart leaps.

I can do this. I can kill them both.

The other man wraps his arms around me locking my body against his and as his smell washes over me I get a flashback, a memory so vivid I lose sense of myself. I let out a whimper, trying to fight it but the trauma overtakes me and I can’t focus. I can’t do anything.

“Stupid fucking whore.” The man spits swinging me around, throwing me forward.

My eyes widen as I see more men surrounding us. Thiswasa setup.

“Drop the blade or we fuck you with it.” One of them says.

I shake my head. I’m not that stupid.

“Little bitch wants another lesson.”

Every voice, every man here that I look at makes a new vision echo in my head. One of pain. One of violation.

“It’s been a while, Sofia.” One of them says stepping closer. “I’ll admit I missed your cunt but I missed the way you cried as I was fucking you more.”

I snarl, holding the blade out like my life depends upon it but I guess in a way it does.

They all start moving, closing in on me and I turn swinging the blade, trying to force them to keep away but I can’t hold five men off. I don’t stand a chance.

Just as that thought hits me I see more. They’re rushing in, only they’re not joining this sick soirée, they’ve got bats, wrenches and they’re attacking the men who seconds ago were all but attacking me.

I stare about, not understanding what the hell is going on and someone grabs me, trying to use me as some sort of human shield. I scream, I flail, instinct taking over as I bury the knife over and over and the man slumps, releasing his grip while I’m covered in his blood.

He falls to the floor, blood now gurgling from his mouth but he’s not who I’m staring at. Not who I’ve got my attention on.

All I can see are the pitch black eyes of a man so big, so domineering it feels like this entire world has to bend to fit him.

He stares back at me but there’s no brutality in his eyes right now. There’s something so much softer.

“Sofia.”

The way he murmurs my name feels wrong. My body shouldn’t react to it, shouldn’t respond the way it does.

This man should petrify me more than every other and yet he does the complete opposite.

I shake my head, dropping my eyes and for the first time take in the blood that’s covering me. It’s soaked my clothes, it’s all over my skin.

My breath hitches.

I killed him. I killed that man. I know it’s what I intended, but now that I’ve done it, it feels so different. It feels too real.

I have to get it off. I have to get his blood off me.

Koen steps closer to me, not touching me but it still feels like he is.

“Sofia.” He says again, more softly, as if he can tell I’m about to break completely.

I shake my head, shut my eyes. I don’t want to be here. I don’t…

“Reid.” Koen growls and a man crosses the space, running to us. “Get her out of here.”