Page 80 of Burn Me Down

Asher. I needed Asher and the police.

Adam tackled me to the ground as I hit unlock on my phone. It flew out of my hand and skidded under the microwave stand.

“Ah!” I screamed and thrashed under Adam. His eyes were not human, or if they were, they were pure evil. I thought I’d seen it all. I thought I’d seen it in Derek, but this was what true evil looked like.

His lips pulled up to show off his teeth as he licked them with his tongue. “You are so pretty,” he said, and I spit in his face.

“Fuck you!”

He blinked as the gob of spit slid down. “What happened to all the nice girls in the world?”

“Oh, we’re still nice. We just don’t get intimidated as easily anymore.” He raised himself off my body enough that I could pull my knees up to my chest, and in one fast, hard movement, I flipped Adam off of me.

“For fucks sake,” he snarled as he landed with a thud.

Screaming like a banshee, I kicked at him over and over as I reached for my phone under the rolling cabinet.

“I’ve had quite enough of you,” Adam said, grabbing my leg, and like some creature, he crawled up my body and grabbed my throat. I tore at his shirt and left long red lines on his arms and neck, but he was so much stronger than he looked. I was running out of steam as I gasped for air and tried biting him instead, making him laugh. His laugh was more disturbing than his voice.

“I really wish I had more time to play with you, Vii-oo-lett,” he said emphasizing my name, and my stomach rolled. “I would love to slip inside your skin and wear you around.”

“Spare me you wanna be Hannibal Lector. You’re nothing but a pathetic old man who wishes he could’ve been that great.”

He lifted his hand, and like he pulled the fucking thing out of his ass, he had a knife in it. “I’m going to start with your tongue.”

There was a loud moan from the living room, and I knew Beck was waking up. “Fuck. Time to go. I’ll visit again. This has been rather fun.”

Adam smiled and lifted his fist. The first punch made me see stars as the pain burst behind my eyes. The second one dazed me, and all my limbs went weak. Then everything turned dark.

DEREK

I slipped out of the truck and ran for the back door of the aquarium. There were no other cars in the parking lot, and I couldn’t see anyone lurking as I put my key in the lock. I hit the security code on the pad inside the door as it slowly closed behind me, locking me in with the darkness.

The dark never bothered me. It was where I’d always felt most comfortable, but this was different. It felt like I needed the light to vanquish Adam back to whatever plain of hell had birthed him.

I moved through the employee area and checked every room, but there was nothing. The security room was locked, but with a hard turn, the knob snapped off, and I pushed the door open. They didn’t have much in the way of cameras, but there was one for each area of the aquarium. I spotted something in the middle of the floor in Room A, which housed the small sharks and rays. It looked like someone sitting on a chair, but it was hard to tell.

I palmed my massive knife and debated walking into whatever trap this was or not. There was no choice. I just wish I knew where that fucking piece of shit, Adam was. I pushed open the door to the visitor side of the aquarium, and the soft sound of water moving and the glow of the tanks didn’t have the same relaxing effect it usually did. It was eerie.

A small Blacktip Reef Shark swam past as I walked the twisty path to the large room where I’d stood and watched Beck swim so many times. The performance tank was black. No lights were needed when there was no show, but it wasn’t the tank that interested me. It was the chair placed in the middle of the room. Nothing moved, and as I stared, I realized it was a woman with long dark hair. She was slumped over, hiding her face from my view.

I gripped the knife harder and looked around to make sure that no one was sneaking in behind me before closing in on the person in the chair. I circled them at a distance, noticing that their hands and feet were tied. Gripping a handful of the hair, I pulled back and sucked in a shuddering breath as I stared into eyes that I knew.

Crystal was one of the girls from Foxy Rail and had served me food a few times when she wasn’t dancing. Her brown eyes were covered with grey contacts, the color exactly like Beck’s, and her long blonde hair was again dyed to make her a brunette. She’d been dead a while. Her skin was cold, and rigor mortis had already left the body.

“Shit, I’m sorry, Crystal,” I whispered.

How long had this asshole been watching me? It bothered me more that I hadn’t noticed him. He was a lot better at blending in than I ever gave him credit for at the asylum. I plucked off the envelope pinned to her chest and opened it.

A rumbling growl left my lips as I stared at Beck in her nurse’s uniform. This was taken from inside the hospital, and I would bet that he took it the day he was there pretending to be a patient.

The note on the back of the picture read.

So we meet again.

I didn’t think that this would be the way, and I’m only mildly disappointed

that I’m going to have to kill you now.