Page 89 of Pareidolia

“Dead little dove, lost in the forest.” It’s a lie as I snarl it, and Ewan grabs the knife from the table beside Aspen and drags it to his chest so he can free the gun to point it at me. “I⁠—”

A loud pop pop pop tears through the room and I look down.

Pain again.

Pain and blood.

The bullet holes leave black liquid sluicing down my chest, and I can’t focus to make it stop. Everything I am is flooding to Aspen.

Everything he suffers is flooding back into me.

I bleed so he can breathe. I don’t fight so he can fight to stay alive.

“Stop, Ewan. Leave him alone.” Aspen’s voice comes out strained, pained, but I can hear beneath it. The fury that burns in his chest is tantamount to death… but fury doesn’t make a mortal invincible, and the knife twisting to stab into the center of his chest would stop even the bravest of men.

Aspen stills as Ewan’s eyes turn to him. They aren’t fractured like his son’s, though I have to assume he’s seen me, at least in passing, to be this crazed.

Have I damaged the entire town this way without knowing, or just this family? It doesn’t matter… I’ll tear them apart a thousand times over for every cut on Aspen’s skin. I’ll⁠—

“You knew?” Ewan sounds betrayed as he looks Aspen over. “Were you helping it?”

“I—”

“I ate your son while he was screaming. What use would I have for the help of a mortal?” As I ask, I drag Noah’s body around beside me. “Let’s let them both go, and I’ll show you exactly how.”

It’s a bargain… a gamble.

One I lose as the knife twists deeper, and I let out a low, vicious snarl, starting across the room before another shot rings out.

The center of my chest aches where I’m connected to Aspen, and I don’t know anymore if it’s his pain or mine.

“You’re together,” Ewan hisses. “Fucking monsters, both of you.” His eyes turn desperately to the limp body I’m holding, searching to see if his son is still breathing.

I want to tear out Noah’s throat just to drink Ewan’s misery, but he has a gun… and I’m not sure that even my shadows could heal that kind of wound if he turned it on Aspen.

I’m not a thing made to heal—I’m meant for death. It’s no wonder I’m struggling so hard to keep Aspen alive.

“Rory’s dead, Ewan. Killing me won’t bring him back.” Aspen tries to offer logic when there’s no room for it. “It might get your other son killed, though.”

It will. They’re both dead already, and they just don’t know it.

Ewan’s eyes are wide, though, desperate as he looks between me and the man slowly going limp as I strangle him. “If you don’t care about Alex,” he twists the gun and points it to his head. “I’ll shoot him now and we can be done with this.”

“Get off him.” Possessive. Demanding.

Obvious.

Ewan smiles.

“Monsters like you can want something, huh?” Knife and gun. I can’t bring Aspen back from it.

“I’ll tear your son’s heart from his chest and make you watch as it stops beating.” It’s a promise I intend to keep.

“Or you let him go and I put a bullet into your head instead of Alex’s. What do you think?”

Even as he says it, he twists the knife a little deeper, and Aspen groans as he shakes his head.

“Nox, don’t.”