Page 40 of Facet

Saliva filled my mouth, but I was afraid to swallow.

His fingers grazed my skin as he lifted the charm Damien used to wear and stared at it. He looked at me and smirked.

“You make sure you stay right here,” he sinisterly whispered. Then he pulled the knife away. I breathed a sigh of relief, but it was short-lived because he then rested the tip on my shoulder. He trailed it down to my chest before he paused and grinned. My heart was beating as fast as a hummingbird’s. Then he drove the knife through the right side of my chest. I screamed into his palm, but it didn’t last long because he then ripped the knife free. Between the pain and being unable to breathe, everything started to get hazy.

He removed his hand and gave me an evil smile. “Better hope that healer of your boy’s gets here quick. See you around. Maybe.”

Then he casually got up and walked away.

At the time, I didn’t question how he knew that Damien’s chapter had a “healer.”

My breathing was shallow, and I coughed, spraying blood all over the table. One more thing to add to the rest, I cynically thought. Terrified to leave my seat too soon, but knowing I needed help, I sat there practically suffocating and crying silent tears.

I didn’t want to die. I really didn’t want to die. All I could think about was Damien. I wasn’t ready to leave him yet.

Slowly, I inched my way out of the booth. It took nearly more energy than I had to get to my feet. My tray clattered to the floor, then I staggered forward. I didn’t make it far before I stumbled and toppled onto a table. As I fell, I was aware of the table tipping over, bottles crashing to the floor, and people screaming.

I heard someone shout, “Call Angel!” Then Voodoo’s crystal blue eyes were staring down at me as chaos reigned around us. He rolled me to my right side and tipped my chin to have me look at him. I coughed more blood, and I knew that was bad.

“I’m sorry, babe. Angel is on his way. Stay with me,” he calmly instructed.

Despite his assurances, I didn’t think Angel would make it in time. They needed to know not to try to find the man who had done this to me.

“Don’t… try to… find who… did this. Said… stop look… ing… for… parents,” I painfully choked out with bloody coughing interspersed with my wheezed words. Terror that I was going to die was making me tremble, but Voodoo said something about shock.

That icy gaze of his was the last thing I saw before everything went black.

“DeepEnd”—IPrevail

When the phone call came, my heart stopped. Literally stuttered and quit beating. Then I was on a mission to get to Royal Heaven in the quickest way possible. If my father had been around or I had a way to contact him, I would’ve shamelessly asked him to teleport me.

But because that wasn’t an option, I jumped on my bike and hauled ass. The only saving grace was that Squirrel told me he had already contacted Angel, who was on his way as well. Tell me how insane it was that a demon was praying to the gods for Angel to make it in time.

The sound of several bikes closing in on me had me glancing in my rearview. Chains was closing in, and I was pretty sure the other two racing after him were Venom and Hawk.

As we all skidded to a stop at the club, I barely got my kickstand down before I was bailing off and rushing inside. The place had cleared out, but then again, someone getting stabbed would to that.

“Facet! Back here!” Voodoo called out, and I saw them on the floor back in the darkest corner.

Immediately, I was heading that way. Someone pushed past me, and I scowled before I saw it was Angel. I arrived at Willow’s side, right behind him, and we both dropped to our knees.

Voodoo had already cut her top away to expose the wound. Angel rested his hand on top of it, and I tried to keep my heart from busting through my rib cage. Fear like nothing I’d experienced before licked through me like fire to dry brush.

As Angel concentrated on what he needed to do, I smoothed my shaking hand along her ghost-white face. “Is she…?” I asked, unable to complete the thought because to voice it meant to give it life.

“Not yet,” Angel muttered.

It was the yet part of that answer that had me choking back a sob. To counteract the fear and desperation, I allowed anger to take over. Whoever did this would die a slow death at my hands. Fuck sucking the life from them. Instead of that, I’d savor every scream they made as I slowly tortured them. Then when I finally wrung the last drop of their life from them, I would have Voodoo ensure their soul never found its way back here.

And then I’d eat it. Feast on their soul like it was the last fucking supper.

This time, I didn’t question where that darkness came from—I knew. The difference was that this time, I embraced it.

“Whoa… dude. What the fuck?”

I glanced up to see Squirrel looking around the room with a wary gaze.

“What’s wrong?” I asked, suddenly afraid that we were losing Willow or that someone else had shown up.

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