Page 26 of Make Me A Sinner
I struggle against whoever grabbed me, but he’s way stronger than I am. And just before I have a panic attack I realize the arms holding me are familiar, and a voice I’m surprised to say I'm happy to hear, rings in my ears. "What the fuck are you doing here? I told you to stay in the fucking car."
That’s his thanks for coming to his rescue?
"There was someone... someone was following you," I whisper, not sure what to tell him first—the guy tailing him, or the fucking brain in the jar.
"I know. I told you I had this covered," he says, pressing his hand over my mouth again and pointing to a corner of the room where a body’s sprawled on the floor.
Smart move keeping me muted because I definitely would’ve screamed. I only manage to mumble against his fingers. "The jar. A brain."
"Shush," he whispers in my ear, pointing to the other shelves, lined with what has to be hundreds of jars, each holding something worse than the last.
I don't feel like screaming anymore. I feel like I’m gonna have a damn heart attack.
"He either traffics the organs of the people he kills… or keeps them as trophies. Bad news either way." Set whispers so quietly in my ear that I barely catch it—that's probably because I don't even want to hear it.
What kind of mess did I get myself into?
"This is the guy who wants to kill me?" I whimper, terrified I'll end up in one of those jars.
"And you just came to volunteer," he snarls, warning me to keep my mouth shut as he pulls his hand away.
I don't respond, but seriously, a little gratitude would be in order. I came here to help him. Like it or not, that makes me his partner now.
He gestures for me to follow him as he moves between the shelves. I can only go on covering my mouth with my own hand. I want to scream with every new step I take.I said that display was straight out of a horror movie. Scratch that, this place is a horror movie.
I've never seen anything this fucked up in my entire life.
Set walks slowly, glancing back at every step to check if I’m okay as we're heading toward a corner that looks faintly lit. I think there's a computer there, but I can tell if anyone’s sitting in the chair in front of it or not. I try to focus, but the image blurs,probably because my mind does the same. I only get to take one step before someone lunges from between the shelves, snatching Set from in front of me and throwing him somewhere in the room while all I can do isjust scream.
fourteen
-Serena-
For a moment, my life stops, and so does the world around me. I can’t even bring myself to think about what's happening. Everything goes silent for a few seconds, and I swear they’re the longest of my life.
I start to think my heartbeat’s the only sound left—until even that seems to vanish. But just as I reach for my phone to light the dark, a body comes flying through the air, crashing to the ground in front of me with a sickening thump.
Thank God it's not Set. It’s someone even bigger than him—maybe even a head taller. And he just flew through the air like a damn feather.
I reach for the gun, but I don't get to take it out before the guy bolts and races toward Set, slamming into him and hurling him against a wall. The blow is so strong it shakes the whole building like a bulldozer just crashed through it.
The spot where Set landed is better lit than the rest of the space, and I can see him spit a long strand of blood on the floor. My breath hitches. My first instinct is to run to him and makesure he’s okay, but suddenly, I spot a grin crawling across his lips "Fuck yes. This’s what I'm talking about." Maybe he got hit in the head because he looks thrilled with the blow. Like a kid who just walked into an amusement park.
Something unholy lights in his eyes, and he suddenly bolts toward the mountain of a man, slamming a punch into his face hard enough that I hear his teeth clatter. He doesn’t fall, though. Trying to stay conscious, he ricochets—and slams Set with a hit that makes his head snap to the side. Not as brutal as the one the hitman took, but way too close.
Then, as if they’re trading turns, Set slams into him again, so hard that the blow sends the guy flying across the room again.
This time, I'm ready. I aim, and fire straight at him—at least, I think I do. It's so dark that only after I empty the whole damn gun on him, I realize I only hit him in the arm.
I want to scream in fury because I wasted the bullets. But then I hear Set's voice, calm and maddeningly amused. "You're doing so good. I'm proud of you. Just don't steal all the fun just yet," he says, like he's having the time of his life.
Meanwhile, I fumble for my phone and flick on the flashlight. At least now I can see. Not sure if I'm blinding them, but if I don't have some light, I'm gonna lose my mind.
The man rises from the ground, as if the bullet was only a scratch, eyes locking on me. "I see you brought me my paycheck," he gets to take a step in my direction before Set grabs him by the neck, and this time, slams him on the ground right in front of him. In a blink of an eye, one of his knees presses down on the guy’s chest, and he starts hitting him—over and over again, so brutally that just a few seconds later, I can't even tell what the guy used to look like.
I knew he was capable of such extreme violence, but I never imagined he was Mike Tyson kind of strong. Now I'm starting to believe that story about Set wiping out an entire Italianmob family by himself. I’ve seen him order people to kill. I’ve even seen him do it himself—with weapons. But not with his bare hands. He's like a force of nature, totally unstoppable, and totally lethal. Now I get why Whiro didn’t flinch when Set walked in to face a mercenary.
By the time I manage to find a light switch, the man’s disfigured, but still breathing. And to be honest, I wish I hadn't turned on the light. The room’s even more grotesque in full light.
