We trail a shadow-tipped finger down Mike’s trembling cheek. His bladder lets go, ammonia sharp.
Mike backpedals into a support beam.“Donal made us! Swear to Christ! We were only joking that night.”
"Joking?" The word drips with venom, and this time it’s me, not her. "You call what you tried to do to me… a joke?"
Rage boils up inside me, and for once, I don't fight it. These men, these monsters, deserve every ounce of pain and fear they're about to experience. They’ll never hurt another woman again.
Wait. My thought trembles.This isn’t—
Isn’t you? Morrigan purrs. This is all you, child. Her presence unfolds like a spider’s legs, skittering through every memory of their hands, their laughter, their absolute certainty that no one would believe the orphan freak. She brings it all back, even as I try to shut it all out again.
Some fractured part of me wants to watch the light leave their eyes. Another part claws at the darkness, screaming. Stop this.
Mike’s scream shreds the silence first. Blood sprays across dirty and sagging metal shelves as the Morrigan drags her shadow-clawed hand through his belly. Entrails slither to concrete, steaming. I feel like I want to vomit, but my mouth floods with copper warmth. Her satisfaction.
Sean scrambles toward the exit. The Morrigan clicks our tongue.“Tsk. Men like him are always cowards. Look how he runs.”
She lets him reach the door. Lets his fingers brush the handle. Then snaps our wrist. Shadows whip across the warehouse, serpent-quick. They wrap his ankles, yank. His chin cracks against floorboards. Two teeth skitter into an oil stain.
“Please.” He crawls backward, snot bubbling over split lips.“We didn’t... Donal said you wanted it.”
The Morrigan steps over Mike’s twitching corpse. Her laugh tastes like tar in my mouth.“Boys who lie get their tongues cut out.”
She steps on Sean’s groin. Crushing pressure. His scream curdles into a wet gurgle. Darkness flood every part of me that’s left, heady and warm, and for one single heartbeat, I don’t hate it.
His begging turns to choked whimpers as shadows peel him open. Ribs snap like kindling. The Morrigan hums as she roots through his chest cavity. Blood paints our arms to the elbows. Sean’s heart bursts between our fingers.
I feel cold wetness as it drips down my cheeks. Tears.
There’s the sound of a meaty thud as Sean’s body collapses.
The Morrigan wipes our hands on his shirt.“There now. No more monsters under the bed.”
I retch as bile scorches my throat. But there’s nothing left in my stomach to expel. Mike’s glassy eyes stare up from the floor, his mouth still twisted in that final plea.
“Look at them,” the Morrigan croons inside my skull.“Justice served at last.”
“This wasn’t justice. This was slaughter.”
“Semantics.” Her laughter echoes through empty rafters.“You wanted this. All I did was offer it to you.”
A choked sob rips free.“Not like this! I’m not... I didn’t ask to become this!”
The Morrigan’s whisper curls around me.“They would’ve torn you apart. Taken you, then left you curled up in the dirt, crying and broken. And you think I’m the monster?”
No. I will not become this.“Get out of my head!”
Silence.
Then:“Oh Brigid.” Her sigh rustles through the dangling chains overhead.“You’re in my head now.” She laughs.
Ice spiders down my spine.
“But not for long.”
Chapter Eight
Tiernan
