Page 86 of Glitter Rose
Freddie wouldn’t hesitate.
“Die, sweetheart.” I drive the blade into the side of his neck, opening his throat from ear to ear with the last of my strength.
Hot blood cascades over my hand, soaking my sleeve and running down my arm in rivulets. Mike makes a horrible gurgling sound, hands flying to his ruined throat as he drops to his knees.
Not so powerful now, are you?
He topples forward, face-planting into the dirt with a dull thud.
I go down with him.
I did it.
I stare at the knife still buried in Mike’s flesh, my fingers numb and locked around the handle. Blood pools beneath him, spreading in a dark stain that soaks into the forest floor.
I killed him.
Not a zombie. A human.
I… slit a man’s throat.
“Paris.” Knox’s hoarse voice reaches me through fog. “Let go of the knife.”
I can’t. My fingers won’t obey.
He kneels beside me, his blood-streaked face swimming into focus. “It’s over, princess. You can let go now.”
“I killed him,” I whisper, the words tasting strange on my tongue.
“You saved us.” His hands cover mine, gently prying my fingers from the handle. “You did what you had to do.”
But did I? There must have been another way. One that wouldn’t leave me with a man’s blood cooling on my skin, his death rattle echoing in my ears.
Knox gathers me against his chest.
I should be crying, screaming.
Something.
Anything.
Instead, I feel hollow, scraped clean of everything except the weight of what I’ve done.
Knox’s hands gently probe my ribs. “Anything broken?”
“I don’t—” A stabbing pain hits me. “Maybe?”
“We need to move.” He helps me stand, steadying me against his side. “Can you walk?”
I nod, but only make it two steps toward the SUV before my knees give out. He catches me before I hit the ground, saying nothing as he lifts me into his arms and carries me the rest of the way. The world tilts and spins, trees blurring into smears of green and brown.
What is happening?
He lowers me into the passenger seat, and I sink into leather that oddly still smells new. Something so normal it makes my throat close up. Knox settles into the driver’s seat, turning the keys in the ignition.
“We made it,” he says, like he can’t quite believe it himself.
I look back toward the hill, toward Gabriel, Min-ji, my potential niece or nephew, and everything else I’m leaving behind. “Did we?”
