Page 31 of Lethal Truths

“Where is she?” I ask, rolling the toothpick around in my mouth. It’s the fourth one I’ve had since Annie came running into the front door with the worst news I’ve ever heard. With all the tension lining my every nerve and muscle, they don’t last long. I keep snapping them, much how I’d like to do to Mark’s neck.

Mark squints his beady, dark eyes, brushing a hand over his overly gelled black hair. “Sorry, I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he answers, flashing me a tight smile before walking off.

I only let him get two steps away before trailing along beside him. While he keeps his eyes cast forward, I have my gaze locked on him, and from the subtle way his throat works through a swallow, I can tell my presence is unsettling. What a little bitch. I haven’t even gotten to the fun stuff yet.

“Heather? I heard you two have become buddies recently. I’m looking for her,” I muse with an easygoing smile.

“Oh, Heather,” he sighs with an airy laugh. “Yeah, uh, we’ve connected, I guess.” He sticks his hands in the pockets of his black skinny jeans, shrugging as we walk. “Not sure where she’s at right now, though. Sorry.”

I grind my teeth, breaking my toothpick. Outwardly, I force my body and face to remain at ease, like my heart isn’t threatening to give out the longer I don’t have Prudence with me. I grab Mark’s arm, fingers digging in with all the fury radiating just beneath my skin. He winces, looking down at my hand with a scowl. His mouth pops open, ready to spit something aggressive at me, I’m sure, but I’ve grown rather bored of him already.

With a smile on my face to avoid suspicion from the swarms of students moving around us, I lean in and whisper, “I’ve been dying to cut you open and debone you like a fucking fish ever since you put your filthy hands on my girl in the cafeteria. Tell me what I want to know, and I might consider sparing you instead. Make a scene and the deal’s over. I’ll kill you right now and we both know I’d get away with it.”

Mark’s tan cheeks redden with rage. He grits his teeth, trying to pull his arm free, but I’m stronger than I look, especially when I’m eager to get what I want. Mark looks around, frantic eyes bouncing from one person to the next, but in the end, he doesn’t try to raise any alarm. With a furious huff, he hisses, “Fine. I’ll take you to her.”

My smile is genuine this time, if not a bit manic. “I knew you’d be willing to help once we had this chat,” I say lightly. “Lead the way, friend. I’m not looking to waste anybody’s time today.”

I haven’t said a word since Mark started walking me across campus. I’ve been silent at his side, brimming with anxiety and impatience. I’m not naïve, though. When he leads me around Greek Row and out into the woods, I know he’s hoping to catch me off guard and get the upper hand.

Heather might be a conniving little cunt, but someone higher up was likely pulling her strings. That means she would have taken Prudence to a Celestial property, not out into the middle of the forest just off campus.

Still, I don’t burst Mark’s bubble. I’m sure he’s planning his next move right now, waiting until my focus is elsewhere before he strikes me with a rock or stabs with me a stick or some other ridiculous thing. I can’t wait to see what he chooses.

Once we’re well and truly out of hearing range and into the thick, dark expanse of Black Creek forest, Mark’s steps slow. He doesn’t say anything, and neither do I, but both of us are primed for a fight.

A sound, like the crunching of dry leaves, echoes between the trees to Mark’s right. He jumps, swinging his gaze that way just as a squirrel runs to cover.

I laugh under my breath, slapping his shoulder, which only causes him to jump again. “Relax, Mark. What could possibly happen way out here?” I ask in a teasing voice. “Where is Heather? Are we close?” I add a moment later.

Mark rolls his shoulders, pushing my hand off. “Right up there,” he mutters, pointing ahead toward a copse of tall, wide pine trees.

I hum, canting my head as I study the area. There’s nothing special about it, no distinguishing marks to set this group apart from all the rest. No footprints or other evidence that anyone has walked this way recently. All the more reason to believe he’s lead me astray.

I take a few careful steps forward, all my senses hyper aware of everything around me.

“Yeah, just keep walking, bro. Just through the trees,” Mark chimes in from behind me, far too loud for the tranquil peace of nature. But not loud enough to cover the sound of his rustling clothes and heavy steps.

I spin on my feet, startled but unsurprised to find him just inches from me. “What on earth do you plan to do now, Mark?” I ask, arching a brow at him and then pointedly glancing down to the hand digging around in his pocket. With a slow smile, I say, “Go on, then. Whatever it is, make your move. I’m practically bouncing on the balls of my feet with anticipation. Will you make me hurt? Make me bleed? Oh, I do hope so. Red would be so nice out here.”

His nostrils flare, his brows dipping low. “You’re fucking crazy, you know that, right?”

My smile drops, replaced by a blank mask. “So I’ve heard. But you know what I’ve come to realize?” I step forward, almost laughing in glee when he stumbles back. “Crazy is just a word people use to describe someone they don’t understand. Someone they refuse to take the time to get to know. And that’s fine, Mark. It really, truly is. Let the whole world call me crazy if they dare.“ Another step forward, putting us inches closer. “I don’t care because I’ve got a woman who does understand me, who has gotten to know me. She’s my sanity,“ I confide. “And you’ve helped take her from me.”

There’s a brief moment where we’re locked in place, eyeing each other. Then we lunge at the same time. Mark slashes out with the blade he pulls from his pocket right as I duck and barrel my shoulder into his stomach. He misses my face by maybe an inch. We tumble to the ground together and I land on top of him, straddling him and wrapping a hand around his throat. Mark swings his knife out wildly, cutting through my long-sleeve black shirt and slicing my chest. It’s not deep, and I don’t actually register any pain, but it enrages me all the same.

“Is that what you did to Prudence?” I bellow, increasing the pressure on his windpipe with one hand and snatching his wrist with the other, immobilizing the blade before it can strike again. “You enjoy cutting up women, Mark? Did it get you off to hold her down and release her blood in this very forest?” I blink through my rage, pressing harder still. “Did you hurt Annie like that, too? What about the girls you dated before her?” I curl my lips up in disgust, digging my fingers into his wrist harder when he tries weakly to jab the knife. “You’re sick, Mark. And I’m afraid I’ve decided it’s terminal,” I whisper, loving the way his dark eyes flare with panic.

Mark’s face is growing redder by the second, and I know it’s only a matter of time before I choke the life right out of him. Satisfying, and yet not enough. Not when I think about everything my girl suffered through at his hands.

Letting go of his throat, Mark sucks in a deep breath while I grab the small hunting knife out of his hand, maintaining my grip on his wrist as I do so. He flails and fights me, but his energy is depleted from the lack of oxygen.

With a crow of excitement, I lift the blade high in the air and then bring it down into his left shoulder. Mark wails, bucking and kicking his feet into the dirt, but I don’t let him go, anyway. Pulling the knife free releases a beautiful spray of blood, and in seconds, the ground beneath us is soaking in his very essence of life. It fills me with an insurmountable kind of joy.

“How many times do you take that knife to my Ember’s skin? Dozens? I cleaned every last wound you inflicted on her, and yet I don’t know that I could have kept count.” Mark’s scream quickly melts into wracking sobs, which is pathetic. I don’t doubt Prudence held out longer than him. Tilting my head to one side, studying the deep crimson flow from his shoulder, I say, “I’ll have to make an educated guess. Don’t worry, though, you’ll lose too much blood soon enough, and then you’ll be blissfully numb while I have my fun.” I try to offer him a placating smile, but all it does it amp up his screams once again.

“Shhh, that’s enough,” I murmur, wiping the flat of the blade on his shirt to clean his blood from it. “You had to have known this was coming. Tell me where Heather took Prudence, and I promise I’ll make your death swift and painless.”

“I d-don’t—“ he splutters, but I roll my eyes and plunge the knife into his other shoulder before he can finish.

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