AllFreeNovel
Share Us
When I finally made it back home a half-hour later, Slash was still carving into a man who was long dead and unrecognizable. The man I knew and loved was far gone as his machete methodically cut and dug into human flesh, a devilish grin on his lips as he worked to his own internal music.
I had watched Slash lose it a few times, but this? This was a new level of fucked up.
“Slash.” My usual one-word command did nothing to rip him from his kill. “Slash!” His shoulders tensed but that only slowed his movements. I only had one resort left and as much as I didn’t want to steal this from him, I knew it would be the only way to drag him out of his head.
Swiping one of my tools from the side tables, I chucked the blade with terrifying accuracy at the head of the victim. His head cracked backward with the force of my throw before the body slumped, Slash growling that I had stolen his kill.
He whipped around and charged, not seeing me, just a man who had taken this bit of stress relief from him. When he was within reach, I caught him around the throat and thrust him against the wall, snarling in his face to tear him from his demons.
His blade pressed against my throat but his amber eyes were slowly clearing. “Samael? Fuck.”
“Yes, fuck. Everything will be alright.” I pressed a soft kiss to the bridge of his nose, waiting for him to withdraw his blade. It took him a few moments, metal bouncing off the floor when he dropped his hands to his sides. He let me drag him upstairs for a shower, thoroughly washing him off before I shoved him onto my mattress.
Slash remained quiet, observant but silent as I slid in beside him. As much as I wanted my answers, I couldn’t watch my family fall apart. Not like this. Slash told me bits about Casey and Finn – our apparent fanboy, but it was difficult to understand between the shaky voice and mumbled words.
And now, nearly twelve hours later, Slash was still cuddled in my arms, shivering against me. Neither of us had slept, Slash continually waking from his nightmares and me soothing him back into a peaceful rest that never lasted long enough.
My phone vibrated again, and I neglected to answer Chief Matthews’ thirteenth call of the morning. He wasn’t going to get an update from me. Not now. There were more important things. I hadn’t checked in, but the chief wasn’t my priority.
When the vibration picked up a few seconds later, I moved to chuck the device against the wall until I saw Killian’s name pass over the screen. I answered it, but only silence reached my ears. I slipped my arm from under Slash’s head, careful to leave him asleep. “Killer, what’s going on?”
More silence reached my ears, and I thought it might be a butt dial for a moment until Killian’s voice slipped through the earpiece, “I… I don’t know where I am.” The kid sounded frightened, something I hadn’t heard in a while. He got lost in his head often enough that I was sure he ended up in weird places, but his alters always spoke with each other.
“What? Where – what do you see?”
Panicked breathing met my words, and I was terrified that someone had Killian or that he had officially lost it. I wasn’t sure which was worse. “I can’t see anything. I just… it’s cold.” I opened my mouth to respond, but the call ended.
Fuck. I shuffled to my feet, throwing on whatever clothes I found as I stomped into the hallway, yelling for Brent. He appeared seconds later, and I pointed back at my bedroom door. “Slash is to go absolutely nowhere. Do you fucking hear me?”
Brent nodded, his lips pulled tight. He knew better than to ask when I was in this state. Slash wouldn’t go anywhere, though. He was basically catatonic after I dragged him upstairs, his thoughts running a mile a minute. I was more worried about what happened after the catatonic part of the equation. Slash needed time to process, then he got a little… murdery. And he wasn’t selective. Anything and everything that pissed him off died. Slowly and with precision. I wanted to be nowhere near him when he snapped because that step was inevitable.
I just fucking hoped we found Killian before then because if Slash found out that the kid was missing? God rest the soul of whoever thought taking him was a good idea.
KILLIAN
I blinked. Once. Twice. Three times. Everything kind of hurt, but I wasn’t sure how I had stumbled into… whatever this place was. I faintly remembered a phone shoved at me and Samael’s voice on the other side as I told him it was cold. I wasn’t sure why.
And I still didn’t know where I was.
I blinked again, internally yelling at Dark and Daemon to figure this shit out. Radio silence met me where they usually were; for once, I was alone in this dark, mundane world. A normal person would have rejoiced. Me? I felt… empty.
I struggled a little, my wrists and ankles chaffing uncomfortably against… was that rope? I bit my lip and stilled my movements, forcing myself to view my surroundings. It wasn’t as dark as I thought it should have been. My gaze fell on a lanky form clad in black. Only his eyes showed through the mask, goldish hazel rims staring back at me. Like mine. Well… one of mine.
The barrel of a gun was also pointed at my forehead, wavering slightly. Which… didn’t make a lot of sense.
Whoever this guy was and whatever reason I was here, kidnapped – that’s what was going on, right? – he seemed a little shaky, unsure of himself. But the person who murdered Jenny and one of my guys’ stepmoms, as I had come to find out somehow, couldn’t be the same person before me. The images didn’t match in my head.
I yelled out to Dark and Daemon again, but still nothing. It was unnerving.
The man stepped closer and then crouched before me. Even through the fabric, I could make out the wildly unstable grin on his face as he tapped the edge of the gun against my knee.
An embarrassing groan fell from my lips when pain shot through my limbs. I had to have been out for hours not to remember the pain.
Or I had just compartmentalized it in that darkness that I kept scratching at.
My tongue darted out to lick my lips, and I stilled again, wondering why my mouth wasn’t duct-taped. It seemed like part of the whole thing, but had this guy forgotten, or had I given up screaming?
Why was I not screaming now?
