Page 114 of Heathens

My gaze rests on him.

“I won’t need long to take you out, Tierney.”

“Then do it,” he taunts, stepping toward me with his arms wide. “Come on, Dom! Where’s all that confidence?”

I hear the crack of gunfire as a bullet grazes his cheek, and I glance back to see Ruby readying a second shot. Theo takes advantage of my moment of distraction and charges her, and I’m forced to move to intercept him. Anothershot rings out as we leap into the air, this one hitting him right in the arm. He doesn’t even flinch as blood soaks through his suit.

We collide like boulders and smash against the wall. A mirror shatters during the chaos and I hiss as I’m pushed onto the ground, cutting myself on a shard of glass. Theo gets the upper hand, rolling me onto my back as he raises his fist. I didn’t even notice him slip on the brass knuckles. He wants me to hurt.

He brings his fist down hard, hitting me square in the jaw, and then again in the chest, like he’s trying to punch right through my ribcage. I dodge the last strike just in time, the marble beneath me exploding into dust as he readies another blow.

Before I can get my bearings, I hear him let out a frustrated howl; Sofie and Ruby are trying to haul him off of me, both of them struggling against his strength.

He knocks Ruby back first, her body making a wet thunk as she hits the corner of the staircase. By the time I try to get back on my feet, he’s already on to Sofie, grabbing her by the throat and pinning her to the wall a few feet away. Veins pop in her forehead as he squeezes, tighter and tighter until her head looks like it’s going to burst.

“You’re in over your head, princess,” he snickers, kicking out at me as I try to reach for his leg. I let out a yelp of pain as his shoe smashes against my nose. “Down, boy. If you’re good, maybe I’ll only paralyze her for you.”

She chokes and gags, her hands flailing as she tries to work her way beneath his grip, but it’s ironclad.

My hand fumbles along the ground blindly until it bumps into a large shard of broken glass. In the few moments Theo looks away to revel in Sofie’s torment, I’m on my feet, rushing him and driving the shard straight into his left eye. He releases her, stumbling back as he brings his hands up to claw at his face.

“You motherfucker!”

Sofie instantly moves for the crumpled Ruby, who is still slumped on the ground, blood pooling around her head. I can tell she’s still breathing, but barely, and I grasp her arm to hold her back.

“Don’t,” I hiss.

Theo turns, blood pouring out of his eye and running down his face. He’s finally got his hands on the shard, yanking it out in a single motion. He’s not even bothered that his eyeball’s still on the tip, attached only by the optic nerve.

“You should listen to him,” he murmurs, examining his own eyeball before ripping the entire thing out with a twitch.

His fangs are bared, but he surprises me as he turns, pacing slowly toward Ruby instead of us.

“She’s fading,” he taunts as he kneels down beside her, dipping his fingers into the pool of blood gathering all around her. “Look at that head wound. Ooh, she might even have a broken neck. Bad luck.”

He turns to us, a crimson waterfall rushing from his now vacant eye socket as he pops his blood-soaked fingers into his mouth and licks them clean.

“Should I turn her? Or maybe just let you watch while she bleeds out?”

He bends down for more and licks the blood off her forehead.

Sofie charges toward him, taking wild shots as she runs. Theo laughs, leaping into the air and tackling her, not caring that a couple of bullets make their way into his chest before the gun hits the ground beside her.

He picks her up by the hair and wrenches her head to the side, his fangs glittering like knives. I let out a roar and rush him, and he breaks his grasp just too late to stop me from flinging him across the room.

Theo slams against the wall, putting a brutal dent in it before he crumples to the floor. His eyelids flutter as I sprint over to him, the sound of Sofie struggling toward Ruby in the background of my mind.

I grab Theo by the scruff of his shirt, my fist connecting with his face before he can recover, over and over again without taking a single moment’s pause. His skin is torn and pulpy, his remaining eye rolling back in his head as his skull crumbles beneath my fists. Fury pulses through me as I hear him try to speak, only managing a pathetic gurgle as I continue, each and every blow brutalizing him even more. With every strike he twitches less and less, and soon my anger gives way to overwhelming grief.

I’m losing the one final constant in my life, the single thing I’ve depended on since we were children. My mind flashes with images of the two of us growing up together, playing in the fields in County Clare, drinking until we were howling with laughter in between vomiting fits, chasing girls, and then coming to America to chase evenmore girls. And then money. And power.But always together.

Always.

We could have built an empire.

Finally, Theo’s body lays still, and I grab what’s left of his head. I press my cheek against it, tears streaming down my face as I can already feel him start to move again, his body slowly knitting back together.

“Brothers,” I whisper.

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