Page 22 of Fall

Unfortunately,I can’t claim that I didn’t hear him correctly. There’s no way I’ve misunderstood, when the wordskill himecho in my brain over and overand over.I stand there, trapped, and don’t let myself look at the man who’s still making desperate noises behind the duct tape. “No,” I say flatly. “Absolutely not.” With all my strength, I try to twist free of them, but they just hold on tighter. “I can’t kill him! I don’tmurder people!”

“But he deserves it, Noa,” Kieran murmurs against my ear, leaning in close and pressing himself to me in comfort. “He’s a bad person. He’s done so many awful things, and the world won’t miss him. Do you want to hear about all the things he’s done?”

Immediately I shake my head, eyes fixed on the knife that has my blood roaring in my ears and panic seeping into every nerve of my being.

But if Kieran notices, he ignores my vehement refusal. His free hand wraps around my waist, and he draws me against him, his radiator-like warmth pushing away some of the biting cold brought by the rain and the season. “No, I don’t care!” I gasp. “I’m not?—”

“He beat his wife and their daughter. She couldn’t find the strength to leave him until she walked in on himhurtingher.” The way Kieran says it makes the meaning clear, and I can’t help glancing towards the average-looking man. He’s back to trying to yank free, as if the rope or cuffs will give. “When he went to court, he got some of his friends to lie for him. He got custody of their child and he took out his feelings on her whenever he could. She was so scared, Noa. She started to think it was normal. And started believing she deserved it.”

The words twist in my chest like a knife, but I can’t do this. Even if he does deserve it, if he is this terrible person, Iam not a killer.I can’t be the one to punish him for his crimes, if they’re even real and not just made up by these two men to convince me. “Please don’t make me do this.”

“Then you don’t get to go home,” Val says flatly. He doesn’t look mad, or even annoyed. Neither of them do, and I wonder if they expected this to be my reaction from the moment they came up with this terrible plan. “Princess, if I could show you undeniable proof of what he’s done, I would. Really. But I can assure you, we’re not lying about him. Joe here really is the worst of the worst. He hurt his own family repeatedly. He’ll do it again if we let him go.”

“How do you even know that?” I whisper. “How do youknowwhat he’s done?”

The two of them share a look, and it’s Kieran who answers. “Do you remember the girl who helped you get away from Val in the haunt? The girl in the doll mask?” At my nod, he continues. “That’s his daughter. She’s the reason we know what he’s done. Originally, he was going to be at the haunt for her. But she couldn’t face him again. She asked for one of us to find him and get rid of him, so he couldn’t hurt anyone else. Especially his new family.”

The explanation sends a shudder through me, and a soft sound of reluctance comes from somewhere in my chest. I’m barely listening, barely working through this in my brain, and it’s so hard to keep myself from looking at the man. AtJoe,I correct myself. He’s not some faceless, nameless creature over there on a rope. He’s not an animal.

He’s ahuman, and they want me to kill him.

“I can’t,” I whine. “Please,can’t! I really won’t tell anyone. I won’t go to the cops or do anything!” My heart pounds in my chest, and Kieran sighs against my hair.

“Poor little girl,” he murmurs, his words sweet and not condescending. “We really are forcing you into an impossible task, aren’t we? I’m sorry, Noa. If we could trust you without you doing this, we would let you go in an instant. I don’twantto force you to do this, but you have to see things from our side, okay? We have no insurance that you won’t go to the cops. And you can promise all you want, but what did I say earlier about your infatuation with us wearing off and the guilt setting in?” He lets go of my hand to tuck my hair behind my ear, still holding me against him. “The sooner you do this, the sooner you can go home. Can you do it for that, darling? You can be fast. All that matters is that you do it, and then we’ll take you home.”

Numbly, I jerk my chin in a nod. I can’t really see anything except the two of them, and the sound of rain seems so loud in my ears. My free hand comes up, fingers curled and shaking, and Val flashes me a winning smile as he gently sets the knife in my palm. “Don’t do anything stupid, okay?” he murmurs, eyes flickering with a silent warning. “This doesn’t have to be that bad.”

A moment later, Kieran steps back as well, letting go of me completely as Val does the same. I’m left standing between them, swaying, and feeling like a strong wind might knock me over.

If I do this, I can go home, I tell myself as I turn to look at the bloody handcuffed man. He meets my gaze with desperate eyes, struggling with the cuffs until they bite into his wrists.

I can go home, I repeat, taking a step toward him with the knife clutched in my hand.

I can?—

He meets my eyes again and makes a desperate, pleading sound in his throat, reaching toward me with shaking hands.

I can’t do this. Without thinking, without making a conscious decision, I drop the knife and whirl around, bolting into the trees.

But I don’t make it very far. Arms wrap around my waist, jerking me off my feet as Val throws me over his shoulder. I scream for him to stop, unable to kick or really do much of anything once he traps my legs against his chest.

“Don’t do this, Noa.” He sighs, dropping me to the ground and keeping a firm grip on my arm. Kieran is holding the knife now, turning it over in his hands as Val drags me back to him. But I certainly don’t intend to make it easy for him. I dig in my heels, trying to use anything on the ground as leverage to stop him. But he’s easily able to jerk me forward every time I find a way to stand still until I’m stumbling into Kieran and he can pull me to him with his fingers in my hoodie.

“I’m sorry,I’m sorry,” I sob, desperation in every word and every line of my body. “I’m sorry, I just can’t. You can’t make me kill someone.”

The two of them trade a look, and Kieran absently lets go of my hoodie to press his palm comfortingly against my cheek. “Yes, you can,” he tells me oh-so-kindly. “I promise you, Noa. When it comes down to it, when it’s you or him?” He nods at the man. “You can do this.”

“Ican’t,” I protest, tears running down my face with the rain. “Please don’t ask me?—”

“Oh, princess, but we’re not asking.” Val loosens his grip ever so slightly on my arm, and I glance back at his face in concern.

He’s no longer the sweet, caring boyfriend from this morning.

Nor is he the exciting, sexy hunter from last night who fucked me on the ground and made sure I loved it.

This is the killer I first met, the one who found me in the haunt and originally intended to end my life right there.

“He’s right.” Kieran’s voice is cool and collected, his tone not brooking for an argument. Looking up at him shows me the same creature from Halloween night. The one who hid behind a mask. I mistakenly believed that once the masks came off and Halloween was over, they were normal people. Or at least, as normal as murderers can be.

---