Page 87 of Anathema Codex

It's thinking of how different life could be with Lakyn Meyer that drags my attention to my backpack again and I pull out Lakyn's shirt, pressing it to my nose to inhale deeply. The shirt smells like him, a mixture of cigarette smoke and warm male skin—but not like the greasy bastards that pick me up all the time. No, Lakyn smells like… Lakyn. Unique andgood.

Pulling out one of my sharper knives from its zippered pocket, I slice his shirt into long strips, and then I take my shirt off to force enough of it into my mouth to help keep me quiet—and keep me from biting my tongue—because this is going to hurt.

I take a deep breath and lay the last clean washcloth over the cut, and then wrap the first strip of his shirt around my thigh, knotting it tight to hold the cloth in place and keep pressure on it. The pain is nauseating, but I've had worse, and with Lakyn's scent against my skin I'll always have him with me. That's what gets me through the rest of the strips, even when I have to lean against the tub to keep from getting sick.

When I finally finish, the bandaging job doesn't look half bad, and with the pressure on the wound it doesn't hurt as much to move my leg.

Or I'm just blocking out the pain, but who the fuck cares?

Gathering the remnants of Lakyn's shirt, I know I need to hide them, because I don't think either of them would understand. It's as I'm gathering the last scraps that I realize I'm staring at the pile of bedding that holds a corpse we'll have to get rid of tomorrow. The priestess hadn't been very appreciative of the attention Lakyn showed her, not even when he complimented how good her ass had felt.

"Perfect," I whisper to myself.

When I shuffle across the bathroom floor to unwrap her, I try to ignore just how dizzy I feel so I can finish this before I go to sleep. As soon as she's revealed, I use the pile of fabric to flip her onto her ruined stomach and slide my knife into her asshole, imagining how it had been for Lakyn.

It's always amazed me how easily sharp knives can cut through skin, but I imagine it wouldn't bethiseasy if she were alive. Still, I manage to widen the hole enough to stuff the scraps of Lakyn's shirt inside her where I know his cum is already waiting. It's messy, and I get blood all over my hands, but it's… fitting. She wasn't grateful for what he'd given her, and now he'll be inside her forever.

I think even Lakyn would appreciate it—if I told him, which I won't.

I wrap her back up and scrub myself clean with the soap, dry off, then brush my teeth and hair. I have to bite down on my shirt again to get my leg into the soft, black pants that will hide the blood if it leaks through, and by the time I'm actually dressed again, I feel dead on my feet.

Blood loss and pain will do that, though.

With one last glance over the bathroom, I pack everything away and turn off the light before I open the door, staying quiet as I creep into my corner. Laying down, I face the wall and hug my backpack to my chest, giving into the exhaustion so that I can be ready for whatever Aftyn wants to throw at me next.

I’ll take it, and I’ll survive it, like I always do, because I’m not going back to how things were before.

I won’t go back to wearing a mask all the time. No. I want to be as free as Lakyn.

SEVENTEEN

Snakes in the Desert

LAKYN

I grunt and smack my lips together when I wake up. I think I slept wrong because my neck feels a little hinky, but that’s nothing that Red probably wouldn’t throw herself off a cliff at the chance to rub out for me.

Speaking of Red…

I prop myself up on my elbows and glance down at my dick, smirking when I see it’s just as dry as I left it.

I’ve met and fucked a lot of chicks in my day, though I’ve never met one as desperate for my dick as her.

At least she listens when spoken to,I think with a shrug as I sit up and rub my eyes. Glancing over into the corner of the room, I can see the kid is still asleep and I can’t help but laugh at the expression on his face.

This is the first time I can honestly say that I’ve seen someone rage sleep before.

Red on the other hand is still on the floor, tucked neatly in a little ball, and if this were a different time and place, she would’ve been fucked through the wall behind her.

But she has to learn.

I don’t like accepting what’s thrown at me so easily.

If I get hungry enough for her, I’ll wear her down, then fucking take it when I want.

Maybe I’ll even let the kid have some. He seems to do better when he shoves his dick into some pussy.

I reach up and rub my neck, tilting my head to the left, then gingerly to the right.

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