Page 35 of Sick Bargain

Did he herd me to Vile House?

I didn’t know my brother cared enough to notice Gregory Malone stalking me as often as he does. I honestly thought he was trying to kill me just to end this curse—Soren’s nature rarely puts anyone above himself unless he gets something out of it. Krypt told me everything I knew was about to change, and it has. I know nothing concrete and don’t know how to start dissecting it all.

Malone is watching me. He doesn’t know Krypt is protecting me, and he doesn’t know I’m aware of him being there. He’s tried many things over the years to get me to crack, and sometimes, just watching me like this is almost enough. I hate the way his eyes feel on me. They send prickles up my spine and make my stomach queasy. It’s a form of torture he’s conditioned me to react to. Years ago, when he first started following me, I started working out. I went from having a lean body with no endurance to a hardened body with muscles that won’t fail me. All because of him.

“What do I do?” I whisper.

Krypt’s eyes are on Matterson, but at my question, he shifts his gaze to me. “Matterson can wait for another night. Right now, you’re going to walk up to Gregory Malone and give him this.”

Discreetly, I take whatever he’s holding out to me. It’s a calling card, but it’s too dark for me to read what is written on the back. “I… I don’t want to confront him. He makes me… I can’t.”

“You can and you will. And when you give him that card, he’ll know you belong to Vile House. He already knows one of us is stalking him, and now he’ll sweat knowing you’re protected by another. He needs to know we took your bargain.”

“What colour is Ghost’s mask?”

“Give him the card, Remiel.”

“What if he tries something?”

“He won’t,” Krypt says. “He’s fascinated with your suicide, not your death. Walk the fuck over there and challenge him. I’m right here.”

I’m right here.

I’ve never had anyone at my back before, and it’s enough to make me lift my chin and straighten my spine. I grip the card and turn my back to Krypt, facing Malone. Krypt calls me a hero, even though it’s mocking, and it’s time I start acting like the hero of my own life.

Stepping away from Krypt is harder than I thought it would be. The farther I get, the more my nerves intensify. Malone sees me coming, but instead of getting nervous, he gets a wicked glint in his eyes, and I just know he’s going to fuck with me. Any opportunity to push me over the edge is fair game in his book, but he saw me go to Vile House, so he should be the one sweating now.

He’s about fifteen years older than I am, and he must live a pathetic life if taunting Sauder men is where he gets his kicks.He’s married to a woman who plays a harp, but I’ve never seen her step foot in my store. Probably because she knows her husband haunts me.

“Out a bit late tonight, aren’t you, Remi?” he asks when I'm near him. “Never know what you’ll find lurking in the night.”

“I do know, actually.” I close the distance between us, standing a foot in front of him and feeling more confident than I ever have in his presence. “It’s you. It’s always fucking you lurking in my night.”

He laughs, and I hate the sound. “Wasn’t sure where you’d be now that your house is burned to the ground. Someone else trying to push you over the edge?”

Yeah, but not in the same way he is. “What happened the other night? Didn’t want to follow me into Vile House?”

His smile falters infinitesimally, and then it returns. “I respect your ability to get creative,” he says. “Just makes the challenge more fun.”

“My life being the challenge?”

“Your death,” he corrects. “Any suicidal thoughts lately, Mr. Sauder?”

Plenty, but only if Krypt is the one doing the life ending. I smile at him, sweetness soaking my features. “Guess you’ll find out.” I hold out the card to him, and he steps back from it. “If you’re brave enough to stalk me while I’m owned.” I press the card to his hand and let go when his fingers wrap around it. His face pales, and I know Krypt has walked up behind me.

Gregory Malone’s throat makes a strange sound, his eyes as wide as dinner plates as he tracks the masked demon at my back. He looks back and forth between something, but I’m not going to give this man my back to see what it is. Tonight, I’m the hero.

“Have a nice night, Greg.”

He backs away slowly, the card tightly gripped in his hand. I don’t know what it says, but he takes it and leaves, weavingthrough gravesites until he’s back on the street and heading somewhere else. I should feel powerful, but I don’t. I don’t instill fear in that man. Only Krypt does, but I’ll take it for now.

“What did it say?” I ask Krypt while I watch Gregory fade into the night. “The card.”

“That his suffering will be everlasting if he so much as looks at you again.”

I don’t know if I believe that, but I nod and turn around. I startle when the purple mask isn’t the only one looking back at me. Teal and white stand on either side of Krypt, and my throat dries.

Is one of them my brother? Who is the other?

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