Page 48 of Vipers and Vendettas

‘Tabitha will be bringing some food for you later,’ he continues, unaware of myescapeythoughts. ‘I’ll be checking that you eat it all.’

‘Fine.’

He regards me for a moment, something akin to amusement in his face.

‘What?’ I ask, trying not to seem as self-conscious as I feel as his eyes move down my body and come to rest on my abdomen.

‘Tomorrow, you and I need to have a talk.’

Guess what about. No, thanks, Maddox. I’ll be long gone by then.

But I nod, and when he leaves my room, I let out a harsh breath before I start rummaging around in the armoire for my running away clothes.

I hate that I have to do this again, but I have to remember that, really, there’s only Jellybean and me.

ChapterEight

Axel

Itrudge up the road slowly, vaguely aware that it’s dusk. I don’t know how long I’ve been gone. Three days? Four? Does it matter?

I look ahead at the edifice of Maddox’s family estate and despair. The only reason I’m still here is because I know she loves it here, and maybe she’ll come back.

My face burns from the ichor that’s still caked all over it, splattered over my skin during the battle I had with whatever creature was trying to stalk me through the gnarled trees of some dark forest in some dark place.

I don’t even keep track of where I get sent anymore. That doesn’t matter either. My lip curls at the house. Fuck all of us for not being enough for her to stay, for leaving her in the Mountain to whatever Dante did to her. I don’t even know what happened. She would never talk about it, but I wouldn’t have gotten over something like that either.

I pause, swaying on my feet a little because I’ve been up for something like seventy-five hours, and I haven’t fed in weeks. Fuck me for the way I acted in the Mountain toward her, for failing her so utterly at every turn. I don’t even blame her for leaving. None of us deserved her.

I heave a sigh and keep walking, the weight of my pack almost too much for me to carry right now. But I get inside and up to my room without anyone seeing me. I go inside and close the door softly. I let my bag thud to the floor and I peel off my clothes, throwing them into a pile in the corner.

The shower is hot, and I stare at the drain, watching all the poisonous blood of that thing I killed washing away with a little soap. So easy to get rid of the blood on my hands. But I feel like it’s coating my very soul. It’s filling me up, and I’m drowning in it.

After a while, I turn off the water. I don’t bother shaving or doing anything past the bare necessities. What would be the point?

I dry off and throw on some clothes. And then I go online and take another contract to go dosomethingsomewhere. I only skim the mission descriptions. I don’t care where I go. I just don’t want to be sitting here in this room, in this house. I see her everywhere. I hear her voice all the time.

But she’s not here, and none of us can find her.

At the beginning, I looked. I spoke to my own personal contacts. But no one had seen her. No one knew where she was. A few of the fuckers told me they’d been searching for the human bitch who conned them out of cash, too.

I killed all the ones who had a vendetta against my girl without mercy, hoping I was making Supeland a little safer for her, wherever she was.

I sit back in my chair and stare up at the ceiling, thinking about nothing except how many hours I’ll be stuck here until I ship out again.

There’s a knock at my door, and I close my eyes. Who saw me come back? Tabitha always knows when I’m here. I’ll bet she told on me.

The door opens.

‘I’m guessing you haven’t heard.’

I roll my head towards the door, not moving from the chair.

I stare at Daemon’s shit-eating grin, the urge to demon-up and put his head through a wall increasing tenfold every time I see the sonofabitch. I blame myself for her leaving, but close and tied for joint Second Place are Daemon and Maddox.

I’m going to kill them. I just haven’t bothered yet.

‘Heard what?’ I drawl.