Page 24 of As Angels Sin

I can hear your thoughts. You know that, right?

I do, but speaking them out loud makes me feel less crazy than an internal back and forth with myself.

“Where would we go instead?”

My shadow has evolved from a black spot to a black fog that hangs over every thought. It’s so thick that I can almost feel it moving around my skull. It is searching for a way to take control and drag me back to the forgotten realms where it resides.

At least until our next kill. But I fear that, if I lose my way and let the shadow win, I’ll regret who it picks as its prey.

I don’t do regret.

We’ll find someone, somewhere; take him to the kill chamber and deal with him the right way. Someone strong, fast and deadly. Someone like you.

“Are you trying to challenge me?” What the fuck am I saying?

Make Lorenzo believe he’s Fiametta’s stalker. The masked monster. Cover his face and—

My brilliant idea is cut short by Fiametta’s barging through the door. She looks ecstatic, with a smile beaming from ear to ear and eyes that sparkle like fireworks on the Fourth of July. When she tells me what Lorenzo said, I must admit I’d also be tickled pink. If anything could permeate the layer of black my shadow has cast over me, it’s that news.

“Are you going to do it?” I stand, unsure of what to do in this situation. A hug? Seems too personal. A quickie before I disappear into the night. More my style.

“Yes, I’m going to drag you along with me, everywhere I go,” she smirks, cocks her hip to the side and rests a hand on the extended flesh. I’m sure there’s a hidden meaning in her words, but I fail to read the subtext. “Not that I have to. Since you’re the one trying to kill me.”

“Tried,” I correct her. “I don’t have to anymore.”

“Have to or want to?”

That depends on who she’s asking. My shadow still wants her dead. He hasn’t said it, but I sense her death will finally still him. Potentially for years to come.

I am not mad enough to think that she can’t speak to the voice in my head, so I answer. “I never wanted to hurt you, Fiametta. It’s not a want. It’s a need. An all-consuming hunger—”

I shut my mouth. I don’t have to hide myself from her, this much I know. She’s seen the darkness in me and instead of trying to run, she embraced it. I can be myself with her. The hunter, the stalker, the monster, whatever you’d call me.

I can be Crue.

“Wait a second, what do you mean you don’t have toanymore?” Her brow furrows and her cute button nose twitches.

“Precisely what I said.” I’m not going to go into the details. No one could torture me enough to extract them. “I have had a good idea. We’ll pin the blame for your stalker on some poor fool, who’d make a believable assassin. I’ll deal with him for Lorenzo and we—”.

“No, Crue.” She presses a single finger to my lips to silence me. “We can’t do that. Don’t just kill some innocent dude because you want to get out of a jam.”

That’s a mighty difficult request to fulfill when it’s all I can think about. Literally, with my shadow whispering its dark dealings non-stop.

“It will make things easier for both of us.”

“Afteryoumade them challenging.”

Being out of control is one thing, but having to suffer the constant undermining I am getting from everyone I speak to these days is a massive annoyance. Or is it my imagination? Am I misconstruing the reasons for my unyielding desire to follow through with my shadow’s requests?

It matters not.

“I can’t play this game, Little Flame.” I can feel the growl rumbling in my chest. “I told you that you’re mine. That hasn’t changed.”

Her eyes grow to the size of saucers and her lips curl into a pout. Happy? Sad? Yes? No? Give me a straight, fucking answer.

“Crue,” her voice is meek.

Screw it, here goes nothing.

---