I stab the syringe into his neck, pushing the plunger down. The liquid seeps into his bloodstream. He blinks once, then stills.
I bind his ankles and wrists, then I throw him in the back of the van. He’ll be unconscious until we get to the resort, and then I can enjoy myself.
It’s been a few days since I’ve killed a man.
In the underground parking garage, I scan my ID badge. The gate lifts, and I take the ramp down to my basement living quarters. The scent of fermentation hangs in the air, and it brings me joy. Bacteria can create something delicious, and a beast like me can find joy in violence. It’s the only truth I’ve ever known.
Yet, Lily brings something else out in me. I don’t know what it is. It’s strange. And I don’t want it to stop.
I slam James onto the stainless steel table, remove the bindings, then strap his limbs into the cuffs. Right now, I don’t want the chase. I want his death.
I glance at the jars on the metal racks, bobbing with eyes like buoys on the ocean. I have a special jar for the eyes of men who have hurt Lily. I used to think it was because they had disrespected me and interfered with my ability to control her life and death. Now, I know the truth.
I didn’t like the way they looked at her. They saw an ordinary flower, easily plucked and discardable. They didn’t see the power inside my lily of the valley.
As I pry my fingers in between James’s eye and his bony socket, he stirs awake, a scream shattering through his mouth, his body twitching like an overturned insect. I dig deeper, using the technique I’ve harnessed over the years. Tomo taught me to use my rage. To replace fear with anger. To remember that I’m always in control now. That I get to decide how others pay for their crimes against the Endo-kai.
This isn’t about the Endo-kai anymore, though. It’s about Lily.
I rip out his first eyeball. Blood vessels and nerves dangle from the fleshy orb, and James gargles on his own spit and blood. I remove the other eyeball too. My lips twitch, and warm blood trickles over my hands.
I told myself that I only wanted his death. I could shoot him right now, but it wouldn’t be enough. Not when he upset Lily.
I take out my pocket knife—the same one that I used on Lily the other night—and I cut his stomach down the middle. He cries like a fly trapped in a spider’s web.
I scoop out his intestines. They hang from my fingers like limp sausage links, hot and slippery.
Then it’s quiet.
Copper hangs in the air, swallowing me in its comfort.
James deserved this.
The basement door swings open, light flooding in from the hallway.
Lily stands in the light, dressed in her typical post-shift sweatpants and hoodie. Her eyes widen and her jaw drops, gaping at the dead man on the metal table.
Ronin crashes into the wall after her. He pulls out a cigarette, then crosses his arms, his missing pinky exposed in the dim light.
Ronin and I make eye contact, then he leaves me alone with my girl.
CHAPTER11
LILY
The world spins around me,my vision muddled with streaks of gray and black. Dice stands at the center, like a king amused at the torture of his prisoners.
Except he’s not a king. He’s an enforcer. And we’re alone now.
Blood thumps in my ears like a drum. Dice’s hands are soaked in blood, and the scent of iron is concentrated in the air. He picks up the eyeballs from the table, then plucks through jars on a metal rack. Some of the jars are full of eyeballs, and my chest tightens, squeezing the air from my lungs. Did he kill all of those people?
He finds the biggest jar, then plops the eyes inside. The jar is nearly full.
He selected that jar specifically. It must mean something.
Is it a jar forme?
I gasp, my stomach full of shock. Dice is a killer. He told me that. It’s clear he’s been killing for a long time. And now, I’ve seen proof.
