Page 95 of All Your Hate

Bones pushes the iron gate open and it gives with a foreboding creak. There’s a scuffling noise inside and I try to step back, but Bones tugs me inside.

More candlelight fills the space, revealing a man tied up in the middle of the floor.

His eyes widen with terror as Bones steps towards him. “Please, no more,” he chokes out through the gag tied around his mouth.

“I’m sure I don’t need to introduce the pair of you. Unless you care to know the name of the man that thought it was okay toshove his dick down your throat while you were unconscious. He’s been so helpful and has told me every disgusting thing he did to you and wanted to do to you. It only took a bit of prodding to get him talking.” Bones nudges his foot against the man’s ribs and he sobs loudly.

My throat closes and refuses to open back up. I can’t breathe. All I can see are the dark walls of the basement closing in on me. I run back outside and grab hold of the nearest tree so I don’t fall over as I try to catch my breath.

Bones comes up behind me and places his hand on my back.

“You could have warned me first!” I gasp out.

“You need to know what they did,” he says bluntly, his arms wrapping around me, holding me close. “It’s the only way you’ll be able to take revenge on him and the rest.”

“I know.” Now that Bones is here to pull me from my nightmares, I’m calmer about the whole idea.

What I did to Grayson was a moment of panic, I didn’t actually think about what I was doing. But tonight everything will be done by choice. I’ll be killing a man because I want to. I’ve known this moment was coming since I struck the bargain with Bones. Yet it feels surreal.

I’m actually going to kill someone.

“What if I’m not ready?”

“That’s what you’ll always think. No one’s ready for their first kill. You’ve just got to do it, get your hands dirty then deal with the consequences later.” His fingers trail up to my throat.

“You still want to protect Summer, don’t you?”

“Of course I do.”

“There’s only so much I can do. You have to help her as well. You can do that can’t you?” His words are a warm whisper on my ear, making my skin pebble.

I nod slowly, unable to give him audible confirmation of my willingness to kill a man. It’s good enough for him.

Once Bones moves away from me, my breathing steadies out and I feel like I can think again. “How long has he been in there?”

“About a week.” Surprisingly, I don’t feel bad about that. I spent months in the dark. One week is nothing.

I look up at the inky sky through the canopy above us as I remember it. With Bones this close to me it feels so far off. Like it happened to someone else.

“In the beginning I dreaded them coming. All I did was fight them. Constantly. It got me nowhere. Being left alone not knowing if I was going to die down there was just as painful as the beatings, maybe even worse some days.”

Bones is silent and when I turn to face him I expect to see pity on his face, but there’s cold anger there instead. I know now that it’s not aimed at me, it’s for everything they did to me.

“Do you really believe that bad people deserve bad things to happen to them?” I ask. “That they should be punished for what they did? Maybe even die for it?”

He’s so silent I wonder if he even heard me.

“Yes.” Bones hands settle on my shoulders.

“It’s wrong to want to hurt someone so much, but I do. As much as I want to move on, I also want him to feel as afraid as I was.”

“Then let’s do that. Make sure his last moments on this earth are filled with nothing but terror.”

Bones’ features are like they’ve been chiseled onto his face, he’s so still. Placing my palm on his chest, I feel his heart pounding wildly beneath. It’s like it’s beating for me.Withme.

“What do I need to do?”

A dark smile appears on his beautiful face. Suddenly I realize that I’m in way over my head and there’s no way out. I’ve already sold my soul to the devil.

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