Page 37 of Shadows in Bloom

I pull a length of rope from the duffle and tie him to a chair. He struggles against the restraints and when he opens his mouth to scream, Diablo twirls his blade before pointing the tip under Jordan’s chin.

Jordan stills immediately, tears streaming down his reddened cheeks as snot drips from his nose and his pupils dilate with terror.

“How do you know Justice?” I ask, my grip on the knife tightening as I shred through the fabric of his t-shirt.

“He... he’s my boy—boyfriend,” Jordan stammers.

My jaw tics, and I pierce his abdomen with my blade, causing him to cry out in agony. As his stomach clenches, blood seeps from the wound and trails a path down to his thin, grey track pants.

Diablo moves closer until he’s standing between Jordan’s parted legs, glaring down at him. “Since when?” he asks in his cold, detached tone.

“What? Why are you—” Jordan begins, but Diablo backhands him, splitting his lip and drawing fresh blood. “Si—six months ago,” he finally says.

I tighten my grip on my knife and draw my elbow back, ready to plunge it into his heart.

Diablo shakes his head slightly, the gesture is for me, but he keeps his eyes trained on Jordan’s petrified face. “Where do you live?” Diablo asks.

“Lorimer... Please, please just tell me what you want. I have some money, not much but—” Jordan offers, a desperate attempt to save his own life.

A sinister grin spreads across Diablo’s lips as he leans in close to whisper in Jordan’s ear, “We don’t want or need your money.” He traces the tip of his blade around the left side of Jordan’s chest as though circling his beating heart. “This is what we came for.”

Jordan swallows, sucking in a huge lungful of oxygen as he attempts to rein in his fear.

“See that man over there?” Diablo asks, motioning towards me.

Jordan swallows hard and nods.

“That’s who Justice belongs to.” Diablo steps back, then moves around the chair to stand behind Jordan as I approach.

“That’s my brother,” I say, lifting my chin towards Diablo. “My best friend. My fucking sanity.”

My heart races as I watch Diablo grasp a fistful of Jordan’s hair and yank his head back. Body convulsing, his voice reduced to desperate whispers, Jordan begs, “Pleaseplease, no, what do you want?”

The sharp glint of Diablo’s knife hovers over Jordan’s fluttering pulse, ready to slice him open from ear to ear.

“If he wasn’t with me,” I say, face twisted into a sinister grin, “you’d already be dead.”

“No, no, no… Please!” Jordan screams, unable to break free from the ropes that bind him. Panic and terror fill his eyes as he pleads for his life. “What do you want? Tell me what you want!”

“I want to watch you suffer,” I say simply. “And I want your heart,” I add. “I want to carve it from your chest.” I cup his cheek with my free hand. “I want to hold it in my hands and feel your blood flow through my fingers.”

“NO! Nonono!” Jordan screams, but when Diablo’s blade nicks the soft flesh of his throat, he falls silent.

“How many times did you fuck him?” I ask.

“What? I don’t know,” Jordan sputters through tears and snot. “How am I supposed to know that?”

“Once?” I ask as I slice into his left pec. “Twice?” Another cut causes him to choke on a sob.

Sniffling and gasping for air, Jordan stutters out an answer. “Nearly every day, I—I don’t know...”

Looking into his pleading blue eyes, I continue marring his chest with cuts, each one deep enough to cause pain and to bleed profusely, but not deep enough to kill. “Ten?” I ask, making yet another slice.

“Please, please stop,” he begs.

“Justice is mine,” I say. “He’s been mine for his entire life.”

Jordan’s eyes narrow in confusion, his fear replaced with a pinched expression before he gasps aloud. “You—oh my god, you’re him...”

---