Page 130 of Three to Fall

The bloodlust inside me surged, pleased by the scent of fear in the air. I dropped my mouth open in mock outrage, playing with him. “First you don’t offer us any cheese. And now you don’t even know my name?” I tutted beneath my breath as Ipushed my way into the room. “But I know yours. And it’s not because you ordered pizza, Pauly. Little secret? I already ate that whole thing. And it didn’t make me shit myself.”

“This is the weirdest killing I’ve ever been to,” Scythe murmured behind my back. “I don’t know if I’m hungry or ready to vomit.”

But my gaze was too set on Paul to pay Scythe any attention. The red haze the bloodlust stirred up spread through my body, rushing on my breath, priming each of my muscles for the fight and the release I so desperately needed.

But Paul caught his words. His gaze darted between the two of us, and he put his hands up. “I didn’t do anything! I swear! I’m innocent!”

I fucking hated when they lied. I dropped the knife down my sleeve and wrapped my fingers around the handle. “You’ve got one chance to tell us the truth. Admit what you did.”

He backed up, knocking over a lamp that went crashing to the floor. “Fine! I did it! I abducted those women. Killed them. I can’t help it. It’s not my fault!”

I knew all about urges that weren’t my fault.

Didn’t mean I felt sorry for this prick.

Paul kept babbling. “They were just so tempting. All pretty hair and tits and ass. So easy to manipulate and control.”

His hand drifted to his crotch and rubbed it.

“Oh, fuck off,” Scythe muttered. “Definitely not hungry anymore. Gag.”

Neither was I. There was a reason I never killed women, even though some of them on the list more than deserved it, like Gray’s wife and her sister had. The red haze swamped me, conjuring up images of Paul’s victims’ last moments, trapped and hurt, screaming for their lives, their fear palpable in the air. My heart pounded. In front of me, Paul’s image morphed into someone else.

Someone I’d spent a lifetime wanting to kill.

The knife was in his gut before I knew what was happening. Over and over, I plunged it deep into his stomach, his hot blood spurting everywhere, covering my clothes, but I didn’t care. It had been too long since I’d seen the flow of crimson coating my blade, pooling on the floor around my victim.

I couldn’t stop. My knife had a mind of its own, desperately needing to be used. Each slice of his skin was a rush. Each new wound retribution for every life he’d destroyed.

Blood coated my hands. My clothes. My face. But I didn’t stop. I couldn’t. Not until the bloodlust had been satiated.

But it never would be. Not fully. I knew that. Killing quieted it for a little while. But it would come back. It always did.

“X!”

I froze with my knife in the air, mid-strike, and glanced over my shoulder at Scythe. My mouth dropped open. “I’m so sorry! Did you change your mind?”

Paul, full of stab wounds, was very much dead on the floor at my feet. I cringed but held the knife out to Scythe with a sheepish grin anyway. “Want to have a turn?”

But his gaze didn’t meet mine. He was focused on something just over my shoulder. “So…we have a problem…”

I spun around to follow his line of sight.

A set of eyes stared back at me. Big, blue, terrified eyes, rimmed with dark lashes. Matted blond hair stuck to her face, and ripped clothes exposed her curvy body.

As well as the damage Paul had done to it.

The red haze that demanded blood switched on a dime and demanded something a whole lot different. Lust surged through me at the sight of her full tits and pink lips.

She backed up until she was in the corner of the kitchen, a knife block just to her left.

Her gaze darted to it.

So did mine.

She’d seen everything we’d done. I couldn’t let her just walk away. But I couldn’t just kill an innocent either. Which category did she fall into? Was she a witness I needed to get rid of? Or an innocent I needed to spare?

Grayson’s rules were so confusing!

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