Page 4 of Pike

“Are you hurt?” he asked when she failed to respond.

She shook her head, noting the dry dragging sounds of the ghouls creeping closer. They didn’t like being ignored. And were probably foaming at the mouth trying to get to her, her liver, and whatever pieces of Pike they could reach. “I’m fine.”

Pike pointed a finger at her face before setting her down. Making sure to plant her feet. “Stay here. I mean it.”

Then he swirled around and shrugged off his jacket. The sight of his body underneath was almost worth the near-beating. Muscles stretched across broad shoulders, leading down to equally strong arms. The man must live at the gym in his free time.

Lavinia watched him lunge toward the nearest ghoul, his forearm bringing the creature into the crook of his arm where its neck was promptly broken. When the second and third charged, Pike was prepared.

Her vision hadn’t been wrong. Not entirely wrong. Pike was in the middle of a fight. In the brief flash of the future she’d seen, the dead had surrounded him, with fists flying and teeth gnashing. She glanced up and saw the vision in her head blending with the reality in front of her. Yup. Definitely a fight. Only this time, the fight was her fault.

He dispatched the second body quickly enough. Lavinia cringed when its neck snapped, a wad of decaying tissue splattering against her leg. Pike was swift and rounded a kick toward Ghoul 3. The creature ricocheted against the wall with a howl. A fist to the chin had the creature’s head snapping back before Pike grabbed it in a chokehold.

“Come here,” he demanded.

Lavinia glanced around then pointed at her chest. “Me?”

“You, yes. Come here and kill this thing.”

Her head shook vehemently. Dark hair fell in front of her face. “I’m not equipped to kill anything. Sorry. I’ll just stay over here until you’re done.”

His laugh was stifled by a groan. “Come here now.”

Her bones protested when she got to her feet, aching from her scrape with the wall. Lavinia swiped her cheek, noticed the smear of blood on her hand, and winced when heat sliced through the cut. Stalling.

“You have to learn,” Pike insisted. “Come.”

Like she was some dog. “I don’t know how.”

“You snap the spine. A quick twist to sever the head. It breaks the enchantment. Come on.”

She glowered at him and the ghoul that continued to snap his teeth in her direction. It wanted to take a bite out of whatever body part was closest. It would have, too, had Pike not been there to keep it contained.

“I’m not cut out to be a murderer. Sorry, not sorry.”

“Do it, so we can go home.”

“Home? We?” She almost screeched the word.

“So I can go home,” he clarified.

Of course. She should have known better. Pike had never invited her to his house in all the time they’d been friends. She shouldn’t have let a slip of the tongue get her excited. Unnaturally excited, given the circumstances.

With a self-righteous scowl, she stepped forward and ignored the ghoul’s snapping jaw. Her hands came down on both sides of his temples with a squelch. The scent of rotting flesh filled the air.

“I apologize, but you did try to eat me,” she said to the ghoul. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and twisted.

Instead of the satisfying crack she fully expected, nothing happened. Nothing budged. Panic tripped over her skin.

Pike’s shoe tapped against the cement as seconds ticked by. “Oh, for goodness sake.” Lavinia’s poor attempt at decapitation was blown out of the water the moment he finished the job, the ghoul dropping and turning to dust in the blink of an eye. “You,” he pointed to her, “are hopeless.”

His dark gaze drew her in and enthralled her to the point where she couldn’t pull away even if she wanted to. Instead she stood in the dark, staring. Fascinated by the tiny embers burning at the centers of his coal-black eyes.

Pike shifted and crouched next to the first ghoul. The light from the street lamp glinted off a silver ring on his left ear. “They keep finding you. Or you keep finding them. I’m not sure anymore.” He shook his head.

The coppery smell of blood—hers—mixed with the foul odor of garbage and decaying ghoul. There wasn’t much she could say. Not when she was the one who’d fucked up. “I’m sorry—”

“Save your apologies,” he interrupted. “I don’t want to hear them.”

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