Page 66 of Pretty Little Psycho

Valentin has a knife in each hand when he comes toward us. “I say we kill all of them just to be sure.”

The whimpering turns to full-on crying from a handful of them. While others lift their chins higher in a pathetic attempt to look brave. Too bad for them, I can see the puddles of piss pooling at their feet.

“Who’s going to break first?” I taunt.

Atlas moves to the next guy and smacks him in the forehead with the flat of the blade. “There’s a traitor in this room. Is it you?”

This one doesn’t move a muscle as he stares straight ahead, his head held high. He’s also the only one who hasn’t pissed himself. I circle him. “Your name’s Zeke, right? Weren’t you harassing our girl at the Swallow a few weeks ago?” I glance over at Valentin while waving my knife in the guy’s face. “This is him, right?”

Valentin nods. “That’s him.”

“I didn’t harass anyone,” Zeke snaps with a little too much bark for my liking.

Atlas smacks him on the forehead again. “Are you calling Valentin a liar?”

He shakes his head. “No. Sorry. I didn’t know she was your girl.”

There’s an uneasiness about him. He’s one of the newer initiates and has been nothing but obedient. He keeps to himself and follows all the house rules. But there’s a nervous energy bubbling below his calm exterior.

“When Val relayed what you did, I let it go because I truly believed you didn’t know she belonged to us. But now one of you is running your mouth about our girl. About what they witnessed. But you weren’t there, so you’re off the hook.”

I turn back to address the group as a whole again. “In fact, there were only ten initiates in the altar room that night—the oldest and most trusted. And yet not so trustworthy apparently.” I point to the ten new initiates, including Zeke. “You’re all dismissed. But if I find out you know something and aren’t talking, there will be a fucking reckoning.”

They shuffle out, nodding and mumbling promises as they exit the room. I snicker and turn back toward the remaining initiates.

“Which one of you thinks it’s okay to talk about our girl’s pussy, hmm?” I tap my knife on each of their shoulders as I stalk behind them.

Valentin rears back and slaps a short chubby initiate across the face. “Someone start fucking talking,” he screams into his ear.

The betrayal is sickening. It casts a shadow on Nocturnus, unlike anything I’ve ever seen. The stench is putrid and stains our souls. “Some of you have received the rare privilege of a sigil. The ravens have accepted you as we have. And this is how you repay them?”

Atlas sucks in a sharp breath and slashes his knife across the face of the initiate closest to him. “Fuck this. Let’s kill them all and start over. I’m sure there are plenty of eager souls who would gladly take their places.”

Valentin nods in agreement and grabs the guy on the end.

“Wait,” he begs.

I motion for Val to stand down as I walk toward them. “Do you have something to confess?”

He looks down at the ground, his lips trembling. “I-I wasn’t there that night.”

“Then why the fuck are you speaking?” Atlas growls.

My stomach knots and a chill snakes up my spine. “But there were ten elder initiates. You are one of them. What do you mean you weren’t fucking there?”

I feel like I’m having an out-of-body experience as my worst fucking nightmare comes true.

He swallows hard and keeps his gaze on the ground. “I-I couldn’t find my phone anywhere that day. I never got the message about the ritual. Someone must have… replaced me.”

Fuck. I knew it.

I exchange a knowing look with Valentin and Atlas before giving them a nod. A collective gasp rings out when the blood splatters on the remaining nine initiates’ faces as Valentin slices open the missing initiate’s throat.

I glare at all of them. “Find out who did this and bring him to me.”

“And clean up this fucking mess,” Atlas snarls. He’s never been so unhinged before. But our firecracker makes all of us crazy. He’s just as obsessed with her as I am.

We leave them there to deal with the body and head back upstairs. Taking a life isn’t frivolous, just necessary at times. We give and we take. The ravens demand it. But once we have Maureen’s sigil bond… we’ll be the ones truly in charge.

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