Page 47 of Burn For Me

Hand twitching for the kill that was to come, the monster that fed my soul what it needed—encouraged me to walk in and take the risk. My boot stepped across the threshold, and as it did, a cool breeze rose the hair on my arms like a spirit had just passed through me. I sucked in a deep breath, comforted by its presence, and could picture Adalyn standing beside me.

I pulled the hunting knife from my belt as I sat the duffel down out of the way. The shadows that lurked in the corners were part of me. They were an extension of my black soul, the cloak that wrapped itself around the monster on the throne in my mind.

I’d been in graveyards that had more noise than this place. There was no fan or creak to be had—it felt like I’d stepped into a bubble of silence or a different world. As I crept along the hallway to inspect the rooms, I half expected to see the strange ghost thing of my father come crawling out at me. The eerie sensation was enough to make my hand tighten on the blade I held.

The knob of the first door turned as quietly as everything else in the house. Pushing the door open slowly, I scanned over the room's nautical-themed decorations. The only thing that stood out was a row of dolls that sat on the window’s ledge across from the door. I moved a little from side to side, and I’d swear the things were watching me.

Fucking freaky.

I turned to make my way to the next room when something large tackled me around the waist and drove me to the floor with a crash. The knife banged as it fell from my hand and then slid under the bed. Fists rained down on my head, and I lifted my arms to protect myself from the heavy blows.

“You fucking prick, you won’t get me.” Jason’s angry voice penetrated the silence.

As Jason lifted his arm for another swing, I gave his side a hard jab and pushed against his chest, but the man was like a damn squishy boulder. I didn’t remember the man being this strong or heavy.

“Ahhhhh,” he yelled as my fist made contact with his kidneys for a second time, but the little victory was short-lived as his elbow crashed down onto my nose.

“Fuck,” I bit out as my vision went black from the initial blow.

The fury that fueled me soared up from the pit of my stomach and filled me. We were a mass of arms and legs as we each landed punches on our opponent. Like a pair of fighting octopuses, we rolled around on the floor. We crashed into the wall, and the creepy dolls decided to dive-bomb us as they fell off the shelf.

Two crashed, their faces breaking on impact, but one was left with part of a face and a creepy eye. That shit right there was right out of a horror movie. The third one smashed Jason in the back of the head and had him swearing. I laughed until a fourth of the eerie suicidal dolls cracked me in the forehead.

Fucking demon dolls.

Having enough of this entire situation, I pushed Jason off to the side, his back slamming into the bed leg. Rolling onto my side, I brought my knee up to try and stand, but in Jason’s haste to get the upper hand, my knee drove right into his ball sac. I snickered as his body went slack and his hands grabbed at his junk. Any wrestler would be proud of this show we were creating. I stood and then dropped a knee down onto his chest, and the man gasped for air as he clutched at his sternum.

Standing upright, I growled as I brought the heel of my boot down onto Jason’s jaw. An overwhelming frenzy erupted in my chest as my boot found one soft spot after another until Jason was a whimpering mass of human flesh.

Grabbing the man by the collar of his shirt, I dragged his fucking heavy ass out of the small bedroom door, slamming his head into the frame as I went.

“No,” Jason suddenly said. Taking me by surprise, he grabbed my leg mid-stride, and with a yell, I fell forward and slammed off the round kitchenette table. My face crashed into the wood along with my side, and I knew that was going to leave a mark. The two chairs skittered across the floor and clattered onto their sides. My weight flipped over the table and had it rolling away. I jerked on my leg, but the fucker was hanging onto me like a damn ball and chain.

“You brought this on yourself, Jason.”

“I never intended to hurt her.”

“And yet you did.”

Jason glared at me from where he clung to my jeans, his fists balled up into large fists. “You’re not killing me, you crazy piece of shit.”

A snarl lifted my lips like a hellhound had invaded my body as the words ‘piece of shit’ rang in my ears.

“Big fucking mistake, dad,” I hollered as my foot found my father’s face again and again. Panting hard, I collapsed back on the floor and made the decision to listen to my instincts next time.

Fuck, that hurt.

I touched my side, and it was definitely going to be badly bruised after this.

Groaning, I yanked my foot away from the prick’s grasp and limped to my bag. I glanced behind me as Jason rolled over onto his back. I had to give him credit—he’d given me way more of a fight than I’d expected. Reaching into the duffel bag, I grabbed the black zip ties and made my way back to Jason.

He tried to pull his hands away from me, but I’d had enough of this shit and zip-tied him like I was hog-tying a cow. I did the same thing to his feet in record time.

“You know Jason, I didn’t even know who the fuck you were until you showed up in my room that night. The few times you’d been forced to take me from my room, you always seemed like you didn’t want to do it, and I gave you a pass in my mind. This really didn’t have to go down like this, but what you did was unforgivable. You raped Adalyn, Jason. You say you didn’t want to or didn’t enjoy it, yet you managed to get it up more than once. So don’t you fucking lie to me.”

My hands were shaking as I turned around, holding onto a small propane tank with one of the bricks of C4 attached to it and a roll of silver duct tape.

Blood was running down my face, so I wiped it off, wincing as my arm ran over the cut above my eye. It was probably going to need stitches, but what the hell did it matter if I had one more scar when you had a face like mine.