Page 49 of Sick Bargain

I love the way Remiel looks in fear. I wish the lights were brighter so I could see the sheen of sweat above his browand the way his hands rub together. But under the red-washed emergency lights, I see it in his eyes. I feel it in the way his body shivers and his heart rate accelerates. I taste it in the way his energy changes, and I know it by the way his pants tighten. Because I’ve learned a few things about my hero.

Fear turns him on.

“Blood, Remiel. I fucking need it.” I dig the tip into his chest, loving that it goes in deeper when he breathes harder. To breathe is an instinctive reflex that harms more than it prepares him for what’s to come, and I love that he turns stupid for me. His survival instincts are warped. Maybe he trusts that I won’t harm him, but he’s going to find out how wrong he is about that.

I won’tkillhim.

But I’ll hurt him. His blood, like all of him, belongs to me, and I crave it all over my body, against my tongue, and dripping down his skin.

He smartens up. Finally, he smacks my hand away and sends the knife flying. Turning his back to me is his first mistake, but running is his second. He should know by now that running only feeds my beasts and entices me more than anything. I smile behind my mask, giving him a head start, and when he looks over his shoulder to see if I’m following, I throw a dagger straight at him. He ducks, and it wobbles to a halt in the wooden doorframe.

“You’re fucking crazy!”

“Run, hero!” I shout at him, sinking into the sickness my mother hated me for. “Fucking run!”

He runs, and my animal instincts engage.

Remiel is predictable. There are only two places he’ll go. The front door, or my bedroom. I’m not going to let him go to either, because I might be a hunter, but I’m done toying with my prey tonight.

I stalk after him, easily keeping him in my sights. He isn’t as familiar with Vile House, and the darkness makes it a maze he’s eager to get caught in.

Fear has him clumsy. He trips over the rug in the living room, crawling across the wooden floors to get to the stairs. He makes the mistake of looking back, and when he finds me only steps behind him, he whimpers. But it doesn’t sound all that panicked. He’s trying to entice me because he’s as dark as I am.

He grabs the rung of the railing, trying to swing himself to his feet and climb. As soon as he makes it up to the third step, I howl at his back and latch onto his ankle.

“Krypt!” he screams, scared for real now.

I yank him down the stairs, his head clunking off the risers and his hands grasping at the railing. He kicks at me, but I’m more coordinated than he is.

“Didn’t try very hard, hero.” I tug him down and rip his shoes off, tossing them aimlessly.

“Stop! This is my night! Don’t ruin it.” His nails scratch my forearms, and the burn of it is fiery.

“Your night?” I rip his pants down next, finding him hard behind his red boxer-briefs, his thighs thick and tinted with blood. “You gave me the names, and I get to end them. Make them gone. Isn’t that what we agreed on?”

Remiel makes a last-ditch effort to get away from me, but I slam him down and pin him there with my knee on his chest.

“Krypt,” he cries. “Please.”

“Please, what, Remiel? Please let me go? Please don’t fuck me on the stairs? Please don’t hurt me?” I tilt my head and watch him whimper. “Please scare me more?”

Anger stamps into his features, and he growls at me. “Fuck you. I don’t want to be scared.”

“No?” I move my knee down until it’s pressing painfully against his hard cock. “When are you going to own up to things?You love finger-pointing, don’t you?” I grind my knee harder, and when he cries out in pain, I keep going. “Admit you’re scared.”

“No.”

“Admit it.”

“No!”

“If you don’t admit it, I’m going to flip you over, tear the rest of your clothes off, and slice my knife across your lower back until the blood drips down your ass to lube your hole. Then I’ll fuck it inside you until your cum does the admitting for you.” I press my knee down and bring my small dagger to the corner of his eye. “What’ll it be?”

My defiant little hero purses his lips together, glaring at me.

“Honesty in the form of silence. I hear you, Remiel.” I grab his waist and slide my knee to his hip to flip him over, but he stops me.

“You don’t have all the power here, asshole.” He forces himself against my chest, sitting until I feel the prick of a knife against my stomach. “You wanna fuck me bloody, you’ll do it while you look at me.”

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