Page 44 of Freaks
Shit!
It took everything in my power not to slam the sole of my booted foot into the front door. If I busted my way in, my presence would be known immediately. Likewise, if I knocked, that would tip Sadie off. Instead, I moved quickly, fishing a card out of my wallet and sliding it between the doorjamb and the actual door itself, wedging it between the wood, giving it a hard, solid shove down, and then…
The lock popped open.
“That’s illegal,” Julian grumbled. “I’m afraid I’m gonna have to call the police.”
“Damn it, Julian. I’ll get Rhonda over here in a minute if you don’t mind your own damn business.” I left him standing out in the hallway, hoping and praying that he went back inside his own apartment and he didn’t call the cops. Cops were the last thing we needed right now.
The door to the bedroom was wide open. When I saw the scene of destruction and old, dried blood beyond, my vision nearly faded to black. What thefuck? Where was Sera? Was she fucking hurt? If that bitch had harmed one hair on her head…
“…inflicting pain on you. I won’t stop until every last inch of your skin is in ruins,”a voice hissed. By the way it echoed, its owner was somewhere small, somewhere cramped, somewhere tiled. They were in the bathroom. I rushed down the hallway, already planning the glorious revenge I was going to enact on Sadie for creating this mess. When I saw the small pool of blood on the floor outside the bathroom, my rage, my fear, and my panic all just…ground to a halt.
This was not old blood, like in the bedroom. Was it Sera’s? The sight of the vibrant, bright red fluid against the floorboards kindled the most reckless, cruelty in me. Of all the times I’d killed over the past five years, I hadn’t enjoyed the experience once. If Sadie really had made Sera bleed, however, that was all going to change. I was going to do more than enjoy it. I was going to savor every last second of it as I strangled the life from her wretched body.
A crashing sound cut through the silence. The nerve endings in my body fired, pulsing through me like an electric current.
“Sadie, no! Juststop!”
I had no idea what was going on in that room, but I wasn’t going to wait any longer. Sera was in danger. Her life was being threatened. I threw my weight behind my shoulder, crashing into the bathroom, and an explosion of broken glass went skittering across the tiled floor. Sera stood by the wash basin, wearing a white shirt that was stained red with blood. There were small cuts and scrapes all over her feet. Her eyes were vacant, staring numbly down at her hands, which were…
Which were…
I released an uneven breath, my finger nails digging into my palms as I stared down at her stomach. She was holding something in her hands. Something jagged and sharp.
To the side of her, Sadie smiled smugly down at the huge piece of glass she’d obviously just driven into Sera’s stomach.
“This is how she did it to my father,” she said, addressing me. “I could have used the knife, but this seemed more fitting. A shard of glass for a shard of glass.”
Sera’s eyes found mine. Her lips were parted and flecked with blood. She licked them, and the blood transferred to her tongue. She was so, so still, but she was panicking, I could tell. “Donotpull that out,” I told her. “Look at me. Sera, look at me. Everything’s going to be all right. I promise.”
“Tut tut, Father Marcosa. You really shouldn’t make promises you can’t keep,” Sadie said in a sing-song voice. “Little Sera Lafferty only has about half an hour to live. Stomach wounds aren’t very practical if you want someone to die quickly. I don’t mind waiting a while, though.”
What the fuck did the woman think was going to happen right now? Did she really think I was going to let her live long enough to see Sera draw her last breath?No fucking way.A ruthless growl built at the back of my throat as I crossed the small bathroom and I took hold of the woman by the throat. “You’re insane,” I snarled. “You’ve accomplished nothing here. You’re going to fucking die, and we’re going to forget all about you.”
I slammed her into the tiled wall. Her feet were five inches off the ground, the heels of her boots kicking and scraping at the patterned ceramic tile as she fought for purchase. I wasn’t going to let her have it. She’d dared to hurt Sera. She’d been hurting her for weeks, and I wasn’t going to fucking let her do it anymore. Sadie’s face turned a brilliant shade of red as I closed my fist tighter around her neck, digging my fingers into her throat.
“Fix.”
I immediately responded to the sound of Sera’s voice, turning my attention to her. The bloodlust that had taken hold of me was powerful, but it wasn’t powerful enough to drown her out. Nothing would ever bethatpowerful. “Please,” she said. “Just let her go. Take me to the hospital.”
“Ican’t. After everything she’s done to you…”
Sera’s face was sheet-white as she reached out and placed her hand on my bicep. “All of those people who hired you came to you, begging for you to deliver them vengeance. I’m begging for you to havemercy. She’s already suffered enough. We should let the police deal with her. I just… I just want this to be over.”
I stared into her eyes, wondering how I’d ever come across anyone capable of such compassion. I’d forgotten what compassion was altogether. Had no clue what it even fucking looked like.
Just fucking kill her. Snap her neck. Get it over with.
The voice inside my head, urging me to handle the situation with swift, brutal precision, was very persuasive. But when I looked at Sera and saw the resolved angle of her shoulders and the fiery determination in her eyes, I knew I would lose her. If I squeezed just that little bit harder, if I twisted my wrist, snapping the column of bone in Sadie’s neck, I wouldn’t just be breaking bone. I’d be breaking Sera’s trust. Showing her what to expect of me for the rest of our days together. Her entreaties would go unheard. I would always be cruel, hard, and brutal, leaving no room inside myself for anything that might resemble peace.
She deserved more than that. Our life togetherhadto be more than that. Slowly, I loosened my grip around Sadie’s neck, ignoring the twinge of frustration I felt when her rasping, spluttering gasps for breath eased. Oxygen was too precious to waste on her. She didn’t deserve one sip of the same air that Sera breathed.
I dropped her, and she slumped to the ground, hacking and spluttering, rubbing at her neck. Her esophagus was going to be real fucking bruised, and I couldn’t muster up a single fuck to give. “You can’t hide behind your anonymity anymore, you deranged bitch. I swear to god and all things fucking holy, if you so much as think the name Sera Lafferty, I will fucking know about it, and I will come for you. I’ll find a hundred and one ways to cause you pain before I’m done with you, and she won’t be able to stop me next time.”
I wrapped an arm around Sera. There wasn’t going to be a second to waste here. She was pale as death, her skin waxy, her brow beaded with sweat, and the pool of blood on the tile at her feet had grown uncomfortably large. I knew exactly where the nearest hospital was. I’d seen one in the cab on the way over here, about six or seven blocks away.
“My car keys are on the hook in the kitchen,” Sera said. There was a worrying wet rattle in her lungs. The glass couldn’t have hit them, it was too far down for that, but whatever was happening in her chest didn’t sound good. I began to guide her out of the apartment. I couldn’t carry her. Lifting her would compress the wound, potentially causing untold damage. We’d almost made it to the front door, when the skin at the back of my neck prickled.
