Page 851 of Coal Hearts

I didn’t bother to fake my way in.

I merely looked down the street, grabbed him by the throat, and shoved him inside before kicking the door closed.

He begged.

I remember that.

He fought and tried to run, but...that was the thing about a man fighting for their life and a man who’d lost his. My strength came from hell. My power from the ever after.

He was no match.

I dragged him into the kitchen.

I used the closest blade.

His fountain of blood stained his dog as it ran around barking.

As the man lay gurgling on his own fluids, I wondered briefly if I should’ve asked for his name.

But I didn’t care.

I’d sank below caring.

I’d never been so cold.

Besides, his eyes had told me.

The same eyes as all the rest.

The same eyes as mine.

As his dog tried to lick him awake, I stole his cellphone and prowled through his house. I found his bedroom on the third floor.

I noticed his safe behind an ugly portrait of Aphrodite.

And just like fate had delivered me here, it paved my way with yet another golden carpet.

The safe sat open as if I’d interrupted him.

Inside rested a gun, cash, notebooks, and a little screen showing a girl gagged and blindfolded on a bed. A single key hung on a hook.

I snatched everything.

Pocketing the cash and tucking the gun into my waistband, I took the live feed video with me and opened every locked door in that townhouse.

I found her on the seventh try.

I untied her. Ungagged her. And bundled her in a blanket.

The poodle came in and sat beside her.

I placed the rapist’s phone in her hand and left.

* * * * *

The next on my list didn’t live far.

Perhaps they were friends.