Page 126 of Anathema Codex

“Because you drugged them,” Lakyn interjects and I shrug, setting the crown down in its place.

“Does it really matterhow, Lakyn?”

“Yes!” he shouts, shifting his grip on the hatchet to point it at me. “There’s two fucking things I hate. Blondes, and druggies, and you’ve managed to become both of those things, Trixie. Once upon a time you entertained mejustenough to earn the right to breathe, but after this shit? No fucking way.”

Waggling the knife back and forth, I flash the smile that used to either excite Lakyn or infuriate him depending on his mood. “Tsk, tsk, tsk… we both know you’re not going to kill me, Lakyn.”

“Why’s that?”

Moving closer, I nudge the hatchet off his shoulder slowly and lean in until my lips are just a breath from his. “Because you’ve always wanted me.”

“Hmm…” Lakyn drops his cigarette onto Aftyn beside us before gently cupping my cheek. For a moment he almost reminds me of Aftyn. Gentle, kind, but when his hand glides down to my throat and tightens, I recognize the glint of violence in his eyes.

“S-stop,” I choke out, but he just tightens his grip on my throat until I can’t squeak out another sound. Cold fear fills my stomach, right next to the life I know Aftyn and I created. The last bit of Light in this rapidly darkening place.

“You spout a lot of bullshit, Trix, but you make a good point. I told you I’d fuck you one day, and like I said before… I always keep my promises.” Lakyn’s grin is manic, wild, and I suddenly remember everything. I remember every time I saw him look just like this as he picked up a blonde at a bar to take home to his twisted party room. I remember their screams, the hatchet I used that was a twin to the one in his other hand. The blood. So much fucking blood… and I loved it. I loved every damn minute of it while I traded it for power and strength, and Lucifer provided all of it. Everything I asked for I got.Here.

And now Lakyn wants to take it for himself.

He grins as he leans in to lick my cheek, his lips right against my ear. “Your cunt is probably a rancid hole by now, but I doubt this idiot was fucking that pert ass of yours, was he?”

I shake my head and manage to steal a thin breath, but he has an iron grip on my throat and soon my head is swimming again. I have to fight. It’s the only chance I have, but when I try to jab the knife into his side, he knocks my arm away with the hatchet and a searing pain tells me the sharp edge just cut me. A thin squeak that was meant to be a shout is all I can get out as he shoves me backward until my legs hit the bed and then I can breathe.

Air burns its way into my lungs with a rough gasp, and I cough on the next agonizing inhale while he laughs.

Fuck. I remember that laugh… and I remember what happens next.

“Lakyn!” I manage to croak out his name as I turn to crawl off the bed, to run, but then he’s on top of me.

“That’s it, Trixie. Struggle for me, put up a fight,” he says, shoving my blood-spattered dress up over my hips.

“Get off me!” I shout into the sheets that still smell like Aftyn, like both of us, and even though I never loved him the way he loved me, I still miss him in this moment. Just a little while ago everything was so much simpler, so much easier.

“This is pathetic. You used to be a lot faster when you were Satan’s number one bitch.” Lakyn grabs a fistful of my hair to crane my neck back painfully far. “But you just had to join this druggie commune so you could be head bitch of the light side instead.Thatis where you fucked up, Beatrix. Drugs are where you always fuck up.”

Drugs.

Ichabod.

“Wait, wait, wait,” I babble, wincing as pinpricks of pain race across my scalp and my arm burns. “You promised Ichabod you’d take me back with you, right? And you don’t break promises, Lakyn. You always keep your promises.”

“And I’m about to keep one right now,” he answers with a low, rolling chuckle, as I feel him undoing his belt.

Fuck, fuck, fuck.

He shoves my face back into the bed, his knees pinning my legs with more than enough force to leave bruises. The lingering scent of Aftyn in the sheets is getting steadily overwhelmed by the copper odor of blood. It’s coming from my arm, soaked into his clothes, coating his hands, his arms, and the hatchet next to us that I know I can’t risk yet. I’d never be able to hit him at this angle. I just have to wait, and it’s not the first time I’ve taken it up the ass.

I can handle this.

I can handle Lakyn goddamn Meyer. I won’t be one of his mewling whores begging for him to stop, and as soon as I get back to Ichabod I’ll take him away and we’ll leave Lakyn alone and pathetic like he was when I met him.

“This really would be better with some Blondie, but I’ve waited long enough to hear you enjoy my dick, Trixie.” The sound of him spitting makes my muscles tense, but I force a deep breath.

“No one enjoys your goddamn dick, Lakyn!” I scream, but the solid hit to the back of my head makes me bite my tongue and I taste blood as he laughs and prods my ass with his cock, which is definitely larger than I remember.

“Everyone loves my dick. Hell, Ichabod has been taking it like a champ since you sold him to me, and you’ll realize how much you like it in a minute.”

I try to say ‘no,’ but it comes out as a garbled mess that ends in a guttural shout as Lakyn forces his way into my ass with one brutal thrust, pain shooting through me as my back muscles lock up in protest.

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