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I couldn’t help the chuckle that left my lips. “You mean the ones you’re in love with? Those voices? We don’t combat anything. Just show him you love him.” I was pretty sure that that wasn’t going to work, but we could try.
“I need to go stab something,” Slash said, pushing to his feet. The darkness was consuming him, and I just hoped he’d call once he was finished. We couldn’t afford another body at the moment and there was no telling if Slash was in the right headspace to leave his usual calling card. Adding more confusion to the current investigation regarding Jenny would only complicate things. And yet, trying to keep Slash contained in this moment would be far worse.
Aeron threw him a small smile, pulling away to look at Slash. “Will you at least bring back dinner?”
Slash didn’t answer as he slammed the door behind him, the wood shaking on its hinges and leaving us in a deafening silence. Aeron focused on running his fingers through Killian’s hair before I had to pull his hand away, lest he rub Killian’s head raw.
“Talk to me, Aeron.”
His hand trembled in mine, a tear slipping down his cheek. His usually expressive sea-green eyes had dulled to a bland shade of grey. “I’m scared he’s losing himself to the monsters in his head.”
I felt the same way, but I couldn’t break down when my men needed me, especially when the few stories Aeron had shared about Killian’s mother made the future bleak. “We help him fight them. It’s all we can do, Aeron. Then we just have to hope it works.”
SLASH
It’d been a little while since I had unleashed my wrath on the streets of Primrose. It was time to give the people of this small city something to fear once again. I had been lax in my craft, and that was unacceptable. Someone was going to die tonight, but I was clear-headed enough to follow through with the steps I so perfectly crafted, the reason I had been gifted the name The Skinner.
I paused to enjoy the night air, lifting my head to a sky devoid of stars as I enjoyed Mother Nature’s darkness. Mumbling a silent prayer to her, I apologized for what she was about to witness.
Pent up on emotions I didn’t want to unravel, I needed an outlet. Something to kill. To destroy. To play with and then rip apart as I basked in their screams. Maybe it would help quiet the unrest in my head so that I could focus on helping Killian rather than seeing him as a threat to our perfectly structured piece of life.
Samael didn’t need to say anything but I knew he was worried I would forgo my craft and leave a crime scene that would display the true depravity of my work. He was wrong if he thought I wouldn’t follow through with my steps, including choosing a fine target.
Twirling my favorite vintage machete at my side, eyes peeled for the man I’d had my sights set on for the last few days, I relaxed against the brick wall across the street from his favorite park. The man in question—David Fraiser—had caught my attention when I heard him spouting shit about how great of a boyfriend he was. According to his sweetheart of a girlfriend, he could do no wrong. An hour later, I found him slobbering all over one of the nurses. A bit of stalking and investigation revealed that that nurse hadn’t been the only one he was swapping spit with, making him a perfect target.
He was a generally bland figure with short brown hair and sad-looking hazel eyes. Not that he looked sad, just that the way they were placed in his head made him look rather odd. David was barely pushing 5’8” on a good day, not that it mattered because he’d be dead in the next couple of minutes.
I doubted his girlfriend would see his death as a blessing, but with him gone, she would hopefully start making better choices when it came to men. Having done my research, it wasn’t likely.
I’d kill him anyway. He had an annoying laugh and every time he came in, the leering gaze that perused my nurses irked me. See? Scum of the earth and needed to be wiped clean. I was doing Mother Nature a favor even if I was going to use her woods to carry out my plan.
A new fantasy flitted through my head of Killian sharing in a moment like this, both of us together indulging in our desires. Just the thought of those beautiful eyes looking back at me, his face covered in blood as he sought my approval had my cock thickening in my pants.
I reached down with my machete, adjusting my hard on as a wanton moan slipped through my lips. Not the fucking time for this.
My gaze dipped to my watch, counting the seconds until David would appear. The man was predictable if nothing else. An evening walk just past the stroke of eight. Ah, there he is. The sad excuse for a human strolled past my location, paying the lurking danger no mind. Did he not sense my presence, or did he truly believe nothing lurked within the shadows out here?
Primrose hadn’t been safe at night for quite some time, but this average Joe strolled through the park as if he had nothing to fear.
David’s gait was lax, the man whistling some horrid tune that made my skin crawl, bobbing his head up and down as if the world was his oyster.
It wasn’t.
My lips split into a wild grin as I moved in behind him, content to see how long it would take him to notice me. A few steps later, I was bored with that idea, wanting something to truly earn my blade. I wanted more than just his dying breath. I wanted his screams, his terror, his anguish. Picking up my pace just enough to shuffle inches from his back, I leaned in and whispered one word into his ear. “Boo.”
The terrified scream that tore from his throat as he leaped off the ground and twisted around warmed my evil heart. Unfortunately, the terror didn’t last. He recognized me, his entire body relaxing. That wasn’t the reaction I wanted, so I lifted my blade just high enough for the moonlight to reflect off it. David swallowed nervously as he put a few steps between us. “Doctor… uh, Ryker, right? What are you doing?”
“What does it look like I’m doing?” I growled at him. When David still didn’t respond like I wanted, I tried a different tactic: swiping the machete through the air inches from his torso.
David stumbled back, falling to his ass, his eyes wide with shock. “Is this some bad trip?”
Was this man stupid? He thought being attacked in the middle of the night was just part of some bad dream? In a city like Primrose? The idea was laughable. I crouched down, leveling my gaze with his. “David, this isn’t any fun,” I purred. I wanted a chase. What good was catching prey when it wasn’t running?
The man didn’t budge, his hands flattened on the pavement, his breathing erratic as he just stared at me. As if he didn’t believe that the machete I was brandishing was real. As if the sinister smile slowly widening across my face wasn’t the beginning of his demise.
Oh, what a beautiful world David had to be living in.
I reached forward and dragged the blunt edge of my knife along his shoulder, relishing the way David shivered and flinched beneath the metal. He did well not to move lest he lose a few layers of skin but I was too eager, flipping the blade and digging in anyways. A howl tore from his throat as I ripped a small chunk of flesh and freed it from his body.
