Page 33 of The Demon's Pet

“I wish I could go slow and take the time to really enjoy your pain and fear. I wish I could pause to savor every scream. But I don’t have time, so—”

He tore my dress fully apart, leaving me in my bra. I tried to spit at him again and began fighting in earnest. Even dangling, even with two collars, I was going to fight.

I heard something scrape at the desk but couldn’t see over Zane to know what was happening.

I felt Zane’s hand touch my side, and then he was pulled away from me, and I fell on my hands and knees at the sudden lack of contact.

I looked up to see Sam was in the cell, looking so tall as he shoved Zane back by the shoulder, pushing him into the wall the way Zane had pushed me.

Zane only had a moment to stare at him in shock and confusion before the metallic sound of a sword being drawn from its sheath startled both of us.

Before Zane or I could react, Sam spun his sword so he was holding it up like a dagger, and, quick as lightning, he slammed it into Zane’s face, right through his open mouth. The wall behind him made a crunching, grating crack as the sword impaled itself there.

My whole body went light with shock. I’d never seen anything so violent.

Slowly, dreading what I’d see, I stood, looking over at the wall and Zane, who was shaking there, spasming, his mouth gushing blood, his head completely impaled on the sword embedded in the stone behind him.

Zane choked, let out a strangled sob, and lurched against the sword, but his body just kept jerking as blood ran down his chest.

To my horror, I saw his weight on the sword was slowly cutting through his soft palate, up toward his nose, as his eyes rolled back in horror.

Sam smiled at him, watching him as though Zane were a watercolor he’d painted. “I wish I could go slow and take the time to really enjoy your pain and fear. I wish I could pause to savor every scream. But I don’t have time, so—”

He yanked his sword out, and a spray of blood went with it as Zane fell to the ground, seizing a bit before lying still.

Sam looked at his sword, then pulled a dark cloth from inside his tunic and wiped the blade down, then spun it in a fancy motion and put it back in his sheath.

I just stood there, splattered with blood, wondering what just happened.

“What… what did you…? Why…?” I couldn’t find words for anything. I had no idea how things had gone so sideways. When I saw violence, it was always targeted at me.

“It’s nothing personal,” Sam said. “I just hate rapists.” He held up the book, open to a page with red underlines. “And attempting to rape a prisoner is against the precepts, even in this backwards ‘haven.’ So we’re good.”

“Good?” I yelled. “Good? He… Oh gods, you shish-kebab-ed his face!”

Sam turned to me in consternation, folding his arms over his impressive chest, his sword swinging at his side.

Despite the horror of what had just happened, he was completely unaffected by it.

“I can’t believe you’re angry at me for saving you,” he said, rolling his eyes. “Anyway, please be quiet because I have some studying to do before my friends show up in the morning.”

I heard a gasping, wet, choking noise from Zane, which instantly panicked me, sending me back onto my cot.

Sam looked over, bored, as Zane went quiet again.

“Agonal breathing,” Sam said. “Just a reflex.”

“You… you killed him,” I said.

“I told you. Rape is against the precepts.” He grinned. “I apply punishment.”

He looked supremely pleased with himself.

“But you can just… just murder someone?”

He nodded. “Absolutely. I do it all the time. Now, as I said, please stop bothering me. I really am trying to work something out that might suit both of us.”

I cringed. I couldn’t imagine anything that could work for both of us. This cruel man who felt nothing even when dealing out incredible pain would be ending my life.

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