Page 26 of Body Tox

Your destruction this time is damn near too much.

Strapping her down to the table with the blue velcro straps to keep her steady, I ran to the stove at the back of the room.

This was likely used for cremation of some sort, and there was some tool that looked like it was meant to pull something apart. The metal wrung of the object was about the size of her thigh.

I shoved that fucker into the crematory, cranking the dial to some random number and waiting to see the orange glow behind the light.

The blonde moaned weakly on the table, a fucking smile plastered on her face.

Why don’t you let her go, you moron? She just did your job for you. Take a picture and be done with it. Go enjoy the feast she has left you to drink.

With a growl, I shook off those dark, inviting thoughts, throwing open the door and grabbing the glowing orange metal with some prongs looped on the side.

“Well, this will surely wake up your crazy ass, Little Wraith,” I said, a promise in my statement as I walked over to her with the hot metal.

Making sure the straps were secured enough to hold a bear, I thought about gagging the woman, but she’d already killed anyone who would hear her scream. A thrill ran through my blood at the anticipation of her pain. It overwhelmed me with the collection of emotions presented.

Rest in peace, my dear eardrums.

The Debt Collector’s warped messages of the task popped into my mind, and a stupid idea filtered through my brain. Ignoring the better part of my consciousness, I grabbed my phone from my pocket.

Snapping a photo of her bloody, lifeless-looking form, I pressed ‘send’ to my boss before I could convince myselfotherwise. Pocketing my phone, I moved fast, bringing down the hot metal onto her wound. The smell of burnt meat and sizzling hissing surprisingly made my stomach churn.

Sure enough, the ear-piercing scream deafened me.

I fell backward, my ass hitting the tile, and the makeshift metal cauterizer flew off under some desk. Getting back onto my feet as fast as possible, I grappled my way back to the metal table and stared down at my Little Wraith.

“Wakey, wakey,” I said, grinning above her face.

She was breathing heavily and cursing with words I hadn’t even heard of before in multiple different languages.

Guess those lessons from her deadbeat Daddy paid off at that moment.

“You-you monster! How could you rob me of this? What is wrong with you?”

“I told you.” I shrugged. “I am your bodyguard, and like it or not, I will protect you.”

Her question rang in my ears. Why the fuck had I saved her? Her eyes were like a glacier, and the chill was downright lethal.

“I will fucking kill you for this, Vamps,” she promised.

I sighed and shook my head. The lame-ass nickname grated on my nerves. It was worse than the kids at the orphanage circling around me singing “Ashes to Ashes.”

“My name is—” I began.

She snorted, her body shaking under the restraints. “Dead men don’t have names.”

I had to smile at that. Persistent.

“You love her so much that you’d check out early for her?” I said, toying with the tongue in my hand.

A sting of jealousy filtered through me, which was ridiculous. She followed my hand and then looked away.

“No—I don’t know,” she said softly.

Was it sex, then?

“You loved her tongue,” I reminded her, walking up to her and running the squishy flesh down her arm.

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