Page 187 of Shadow

And he meant business.

SIRENA

Ipracticed with my hatchet all night. Church set up a spot in the basement, and I threw it repeatedly, him guiding me with Shadow. Mirage had left. He said he was scouting and working on more information and needed to speak to the wolves.

I didn’t think he actually talked to them; however, he was full of surprises.

“You did good. I’m proud of you,” Church said, kissing my neck as I threw the hatchet for the last time, exhausted to my bones.

I closed my eyes, relishing in the feeling of his lips on my skin.

“I want to watch you fuck Shadow,” he murmured in my ear. “In her blood. I want to watch him make you come for me. Can you do that, specter? Bathe in her fucking misery for me? Fucking revel in it.”

I kissed him in answer, making him groan softly.

“Let’s go to bed. Tomorrow is a big day for my little killer.” He lifted me into his arms. I thought we’d go to his bedroom, but he walked me straight into Shadows and stripped me naked before removing his clothes and crawling in beside me. Shadow joined us, his clothes piled on the floor next to Church’s.

We didn’t have sex, we just lay together, basking in what would soon be a night we wouldn’t soon forget.

But these demons deserved nothing less than my hatchet. I was doing the world a favor by ridding it of them.

* * *

I stood shrouded in black,wearing my white mask next to my guys, who wore the same outfits. My hatchet was clenched tightly in my hand as we lurked in the shadows.

“Keep watch. Let nothing in. Let nothing out. Kill anything that comes close,” Church said to Ashes, Stitches, and Sin. “Take up your spots. We’ll meet you in the clearing.”

The guys departed, leaving me with Church, Shadow, and Asylum, who flipped and said he had to be a part of this.

I held my hatchet tighter.

“We don’t kill here, specter,” Church said softly. “In the clearing, OK?”

I nodded.

“Let us take her down, then you can have all the fun you want.” Church brushed his lips against mine before moving past me. Shadow grabbed my hand and squeezed it before we crept through the darkness and into the church, where we knew Sister Esther would be doing her nightly prayers.

I wasn’t sure at what point I’d slipped and become this person, but if I had to put a finger on it, it was the moment Jerry decided to hold me down in my bed before he beat me with his leather belt. I think that who I would eventually be was born in those painful moments.

Someday, I’d pay him a visit and teach him what being beaten with a belt felt like.

Right now, it was Sister Esther’s turn.

I followed the guys into the cathedral and paused, watching Church stop at the stoup and dip his fingers into the holy water. He made the cross sign on his forehead and body before striding forward. Asylum and Shadow did the same thing.

I did not.

Today, I was god and had no one left to pray to.

“It’s past curfew,” Sister Esther said, turning from lighting her candles, a frown on her old wrinkled face. “Take those masks off. Get back to your dorms before I call the headmaster to deal with you.”

“You’d love that, wouldn’t you?” Church said softly. “That’s what you do, isn’t it? Call Sully and have him deal with us unruly nut jobs.”

“Mr. Church? Y-Your father would be disappointed to know how you treat the staff?—”

“My father,” Church shouted, “can fuck himself. Just like you can.”

He surged forward and pulled a black bag over her head. She screamed and writhed, trying to fight him off, but Church was too strong. I watched, fascinated, as Church got the bag tied around her head with Asylum’s help before jamming a syringe into her neck. She went limp against him.

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