Page 27 of Voracious

“Ding ding ding! You’ve hit the jackpot by using every excuse. Now it’s time for your prize.”

He can tell who he wants. It’s not a problem when I don’t exist. There’s no birth certificate or anything real about me. What’s he going to do? Go to the police and say a woman was going to kill him but he doesn’t know her name or even my eye color. Fucking idiot.

I hum in my head, so I stop laughing, and it ends on a sigh as I straighten up. I’m going to test my theory. He can shake as much as he wants but my curiosity will win. I don’t want to touch him and cut through his belt and jeans. My laugh comes back as I not so carefully do the same to his underwear and I look up.

“Just because you have a baby penis doesn’t mean that touching children is okay, you freak.”

Their egos are always the best thing to hurt. It makes them angry and when they’re angry, their hearts beat faster, so it makes red patterns with their blood.

A snicker sounds behind me and I know Dima will be disgusted. Maybe he’ll kick me out, fuck it, I’ve had a few days of luxury it’s more than enough.

ELEVEN

Dima

My dick is never going to work again as I watch Ana disappointedly throw the knives on the floor. She’s fucked in the head, from her sense of humor to the way she deflates seeing he’s been dead for the last hour of her torture. Her nimble hand reaches into the opening she made on his sternum, and she pushes up into his chest cavity, reaching for something.

It’s so fucked. Her face lights up as though she’s been given a gift, and she yanks her hand back, pulling out his fucking heart. Her fingers have broken through the tissue, and she holds it up, inspecting it. If she takes a bite out of it, I’m getting a priest. But she does something I didn’t predict, and her mouth forms a small O before she laughs without sound and pumps the fucking thing, flexing her fist and mimicking the sound of a heartbeat. It’s not for anyone else’s entertainment but her own, she’s forgotten the audience, and the dull thuds echo through the warehouse while I stare wide eyed.

Vlad dismisses her psychotic bullshit and stands in front of me. “Let her play, why did you ask about Amon?”

She’s not fucking playing like a child. She’s having an episode from whatever the fuck is wrong with her. But it’s the only time she’s happy and laughs so I focus on the new name rather than the disturbing scene.

“Who is he?”

It’s rare I don’t know anything since giving him my life in exchange for a new one.Warning alarms blare in my head at his grimace. They only get louder with every syllable leaving him as Ana changes the pace of the heartbeat she’s making.

“Someone only I deal with.”

Cryptic cunt. He can’t ever just say shit how it is. Vlad is the closest thing to a friend but he’s more family considering we raised our siblings together. The little shits would tell people they have two dads and still joke that we’re husbands.

Keeping his voice low so the hellion doesn’t hear, he gives me more information for once.

“He’s not affiliated but he’s wealthy enough to have every connection, is it Katya?”

One thing I know I can count on him for is sticking to his word and always protecting my sister. Shaking my head, I gesture to Ana, and he gets that weird ass look on his face again as he stares at her.

“What’s her date of birth?” he asks.

The sudden interest is strange, he’s been treating her like shit for years. Both of them do it, kicking and punching each other whenever they have the opportunity. They’ll do everything other than straight up kill each other, but it hasn’t stopped and I know better than to think he would ever show interest in anyone other than his wife. His eyes bore into the side of her neck, right where the mark is branded into her skin, as though he recognizes it.

I don’t have an answer for his question. She doesn’t even have a last name, how the fuck would she know how old she is? He hardens as he turns back to me and orders, “Find out.”

Is she a fucking tree I’m supposed to cut in half and count the damn rings? Dickhead extends his voice and smirks, antagonizing the hellion currentlyplayingwith what looks like a liver.

“Play time’s over, pipsqueak. Clean everything.”

Ana bristles and her arm flexes. I shake my head, so she doesn’t start throwing organs around and she flings it on the floor with an eyeroll.

He walks off and I go to her, so she doesn’t take more shit out of the cunt’s body. At least she’s not staring into space all lost and vulnerable. That shit will wreck me, I’m too accustomed to her brutality that I can convince myself she’s not human. Getting rid of the dead fucker first, she waves bye at his bagged body like a child. There’s always these moments of immaturity when she’s seen so much more than she should have. It’s not faked or to lighten a situation, Ana does it because she has to. The control that comes with growth isn’t there.

She seems like she’s in a good mood and I hope for the best, spitting my question out. “When’s your birthday?”

I know how old she is, and I’ll be able to work out the year as long as she answers. Asking for the date instead of answering, she closes one eye, counting something out in her head and her voice is low with realization.

“Six days ago.”

Oh fuck, she didn’t even do anything for it. She was in hospital, beaten black and blue and it was her fucking birthday.

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