Page 56 of Sinful Bargain

Celeste moves slowly, with a heavy limp. I get up from the floor, crouching low to the stage, the sweatshirt sleeves wound around my hands. I try to remember the hand-to-hand combat training I was taught, but it always ended with us pulling off our clothes and devouring each other, and while the inevitable conclusion of this situation is that I’ll be eaten, the outcome could not be more different.

“Please! Make it stop!”the girl cries.

I slowly walk backwards around the pole, formulating a plan. Celeste is gaining speed, which means I don’t have long.

If I’m going to act, it has to be now.

Standing straighter, I pull the sweatshirt taut and position myself between the pole and the lip of the stage. Dead Celeste takes the bait, lunging forward, her mouth clamping around the shirt.

I shoot forward, wrapping the sweatshirt arms around her head, and position myself at her back with two swift steps. Then, I pull the garment tight and push the monster forward, one step, then two.

“Jesus Christ,”Frank shouts. “Someone do something!”

After I’ve taken her as far as I can, I pull the sweatshirt down and out of her mouth and bring my unchained leg up, placing my foot in the middle of her back.

“Fuck you, Frank!” I seethe as I kick my leg out as hard as I can, sending the walking corpse rushing toward the lip of the stage.

As planned, it tumbles over, straight onto Frank.

They panic, struggling to get away from Celeste, who is now latched onto Frank’s cheek.

“Mother fucker—someone get this bitch off me!” he wails, his hands flailing.

This is the one victory I have left. My one revenge before leaving this world.

The corpse handler finally steps in and reapplies the noose to Dead Celeste, but the damage is done. Frank is a dead man walking.

Frank covers the gaping wound on his cheek with his hand. “Kill the bitch! Fuck her to hell. And Kill him too!” He points to Roy.

Chaos ensues as furniture is wielded as weapons. With nowhere to hide, I bide my time, hoping that every last mother fucker in this place gets their due.

Roy bashes the corpse handler’s head in, then he beats Frank with a stool. With the corpse handler down, Dead Celeste gets loose and bites his arm.

“Fuck!” he grunts, breaking a whisky glass over a table and stabbing Dead Celeste in the temple.

His eyes train on me.

“YOU—youdid this, you filthy cunt!” Glass in hand, Roy hops onto the stage, his eyes seething with rage.

“That’s what you get for killing the only man worth a damn left in this world,” I say boldly.

He charges towards me, but just as he’s about to connect, a shot rings. One, then two.

Roy stops dead in his tracks, looking stunned.

Three.

He crumples to his knees, then falls forward, landing with a thud.

Surprised, I blink down at my assailant and see a hole in the back of his head, two more in his body.

Footsteps sound and another shot rings out, dropping Madam Frisk. A fifth ends Frank’s death wail.

With nothing left to live for, I close my eyes and recall my time with Gabriel, focusing on the love and warmth we shared instead of the fear.

But instead of the sound of bullets, I hear, “Brooke, are you okay?”

I open my eyes, stunned to see Gabriel scrambling to get on the stage.

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