Page 5 of Chaos
“You lied to me. You promised you wouldn’t die, and you lied.”
Pushing the heavy wood slab farther open, I stared at her, my fear now replaced by something more akin to concern. She was kneeling on the bed next to Sin, tears streaming down her face, one hand repeatedly smacking against his chest.
I could hear footsteps racing our way as Grim and Malice rushed to join us. They must have heard her scream. They would have felt the lust supernova, but it wouldn’t have been enough to make them come looking. The sound of her terror, however, absolutely would.
“Merri,” I called softly, not wanting to startle her. She didn’t acknowledge me at all. She was too wrapped up in Sin.
I stepped up behind her before reaching out and tugging her naked body back into my hold. I grabbed a soft blanket from the tousled covers and covered her nudity. “It’s enough, Red. Stop it now.”
“I... I don’t know what happened. He should’ve been fine. I didn’t mean to.”
“Shh, it’s okay. You didn’t do anything wrong,” I promised, rocking her as I pressed my lips to the crown of her head. I was acting on pure instinct, hoping only to soothe the distraught succubus in my arms.
“How can you say that?” Her voice had risen to hysterical levels, and her entire body was shaking. “I killed him.”
Malice’s voice filtered from over my shoulder. “Not possible. We are immortal.”
“He has no pulse. He’s not breathing. That is about as dead as you can get.” The tremble in her words was unmistakable, especially when matched with the way her body shook.
“She’s in shock,” I muttered, glancing back to where Grim and Malice stood in the doorway.
Malice’s expression was stoic, but Grim looked as though he was evaluating something.
“A little help here?” I pressed, not entirely sure how to calm Merri down. This was about as far out of my element as I’d ever been. I didn’t do gentle. I barely did kind. What the fuck did I know about comforting someone?
“Do we know what happened?” Grim asked softly, moving deeper into the room.
“Does it matter?” Malice asked, his voice carefully neutral as he padded in on Grim’s heels.
“I killed him. That’s what happened.”
Merri had turned in my hold and buried her face against my chest. I wasn’t ashamed to say I enjoyed the contact.
“No, you didn—” Grim began, but she cut him off.
“He’s not breathing. That’s the definition of dead, Grim. You should know that.”
“You’re right, I?—”
But she steamrolled over him, her words practically tripping over themselves as they poured out of her. “I never should have left Blackwood. I deserve to be locked up. I’m a menace, no, a monster. How many innocent people have to die before we realize that I cannot be trusted?”
“Merri . . .” Malice tried.
“Red,” I started.
“Would you shut the fuck up?” Grim snarled.
But she just took a deep breath, preparing for another round.
I shook her until she looked at me with red eyes, her cheeks stained with tears. “Listen to us,” I ordered, the softness of my voice belying the steel of my words.
“He is not dead,” Malice insisted.
“But his breathing . . .”
“We don’t need to breathe,” Malice said.
“We aren’t mortal,” I added, echoing his earlier sentiment.
