Page 7 of Home: Posy 5

Thanking him, I hunkered down next to Gage as he wheezed and choked on his own blood. Grabbing his chin in one hand and the back of his head in the other, I gave his neck a violent twist, then waited until his breathing and heart beat slowed down to a stop.

"Told you I didn't need an ax."

Getting to my feet, I spat on his corpse before I turned and walked away.

#

Ash

"Afternoon, Ezra!" I chirped as I sat my bag on the floor of his cell. "Let's have some fun!"

"Not you!" he groaned. "I thought I merited the deathbringer, or at least the iceman. Even the hot head would have been preferable. But no, the final insult is to die at the hands of the idiot. Ah, well, at least I'm spared the indignity of the clown."

I rolled my eyes at his sad attempt to be witty and pulled a bundle of zip ties out of my bag.

"Let's get you more comfortable, Ez."

He put up a struggle, but this 'idiot' had him down on his belly and hog-tied in less than a minute.

Fingers or toes?I debated.Hmm. Fingers are more sensitive, but toes would freak him out. Such a hard choice.

Once my mind was made up, I pulled off his shoes and socks and tossed them aside.

"Was it from losing your wolf, Ezzy?" Taking a box out of my bag, I slid the paper drawer out and took my time selecting a match. "Is that why you went a little cray-cray? I've been wondering all this time."

I scraped the match head along the black strip and watched the spark turn into a flame. Cupping my free hand around it, I held it to his foot and watched the skin darken. Ignoring his yells, I waited until the flame ate down the wooden stick and scorched my own fingers, then shook it out.

I didn't wake Sid to heal me. For one, it was only a tiny sting. For another, he didn't need to see any of this.

And it wasn't like I had any moon magic to worry about. Before he'd unlocked this cell, King Julian explained that he'd drained Ikhlassi of all his magic and stored it in a special container, which he said we could take home for Konstantin's dragon.

"You son of a bitch!" Ikhlassi squalled. "I never pegged a moron like you as a sadist! If you're here to kill me, just kill me!"

"So, was it?" Ignoring his tirade, I dropped the matches, reached into my bag, and took out a bottle of nail polish remover I'd stolen from Posy and a barbecue lighter. "You know, the whole going bat-shit crazy thing. Was it from losing your wolf so young?"

Instead of answering, he cussed me out.

"It's a simple question, asshole. No need for profanity."

Ignoring his sputtering, I drizzled the remover over his toes and soles. Goddess, that stuff stank! Then I flicked the lighter and set him ablaze. While he shrieked, I waited impatiently, rocking back and forth on my heels. Finally, the fire - and his screeching - died down.

"Come on, Ez! You can tell me. Did losing your wolf make you twist, or were you just born a psychopath?"

"I didn't lose him!" he howled. "Isoldhim!"

I froze for a second.

Definitely was not expecting that.

"To whom?" I asked, tilting my head as I blinked twice.

When he didn't answer, I poured the remover on his hair, then held up the lighter so he could see it. When he didn't open his mouth, I clicked the trigger on, and he caved.

"A witch! Alecto Sanderson!"

"The same witch you've been working with ever since?"

"Yes! Yes!" he admitted.

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