Page 23 of Diamond

The sick cracking sound feeds my rage, but not enough. Getting on one knee, I drive the dagger from my boot into his chest, slicing through until the blade disappears into him before dragging it straight across his long torso.

His shocked face. It gives me a grim satisfaction, but it is not enough. Not nearly.

My hand moves faster than my brain as I butcher him, his dirt-colored blood spraying on my face and body. Every blow carves deeper; creatures like him do not deserve any part of them to be looked upon with a single shred of dignity.

I don't realize when my second knee comes down until it makes his head roll off.

Triumphantly, I kneel on his mutilated corpse, his blood soaking me, and I wish I could bring him back to life just to kill him again.

His severed head squishes in my grip as I lift it, driving my bloodied dagger into one of his shocked eyes. A barking cry leaves my lips as I yank the blade out and stab it into the other eye.

I throw the head aside and scream again—a raw cry of victory. I have carried out my mission and protected the human like I said I would.

I look down at the pieces of his bloodied body; every slice for a woman he has taken advantage of—predators like him don't just start hurting those they should protect.

My hearts are thumping loudly, almost like the cheers of my kin back home. There would be a feast in my name; I can almost hear Samke's playful laughter, teasing me how I cannot escape the donor ceremony now that females will flock to me, eager to make a titled protector their donor.

Thinking of females, I recall the reason I came here in the first place. To rescue the human.

I look down to find her dragging herself backward, desperately trying to get away from me. Her face is a ghostly mask of fear, as all the color is washed away from it, her bottom lip quivering and tears falling from her eyes.

I turn swiftly to check if there is something else behind me or if the male has magically risen from the dead, but there is nothing there.

When I take a step closer, her wide, pale eyes grow even wider and she scurries farther away from me, confirming my suspicion.

Confused, I wonder if I misunderstand the entire situation. Was all this consensual? Did I interfere when I shouldn't have? I swear I heard her scream out in pain. While I don't know much about the union between males and females, I know that doesn't sound like one is being attacked. I even saw him hit her a few times, so why look at me like that?

A cold dread settles in my gut; I might have upset a female for a reason unknown to me. I take another step and offer my hand to help her up.

She shrieks and collapses to the ground, her white hair falling over her face.

I reach out a hand to reassure her. "He can't hurt you now."

She grunts, wincing in pain as she tries to speak. "N-no, please."

I stand still and stare at her, unsure of what to do.

14

Rin

I brace myself for another hit from Tehlmar, my eyes tightly shut, but his body is suddenly ripped away from me. I collapse to the ground and suck in a breath, feeling pain in my stomach as I am heaving.

Directly in front of me, a big, dark thing doesn't give him a chance to struggle, grabbing Tehlmar by the hair and smashing his neck against the ground in one brutal, swift motion. He's dead before I can process what I've just seen.

I don't have time to process what I have just witnessed or even to scream. Frozen, shivering on the ground, wide-eyed as I stare at Tehlmar's lifeless form. My mouth opens, but only broken sounds come out—half-formed words stuck in my throat. I choke out a gasp, unable to look away as the monster pulls something from his boot and uses it to cut Tehlmar's upper body into chunks at a dizzying speed.

There's an animalistic look in his eyes as he does it, with a singular focus. Like a butcher at work on a piece of meat that he absolutely hates. He separates flesh from flesh in quick and fluid slashes of the blade.

Knees onto the ground, one hand still wrapped around Tehlmar's bright green hair, he separates the head from Tehlmar's neck.

At first, I thought he was just kneeling there doing his grisly work, but I realize he is making a low sound with every hit. It scares me; even with Tehlmar dead he continues to tear the body apart, ripping it into small pieces.

He looks as if he is carrying on a brutal ritual. I have never been more terrified in my life.

Tehlmar's brown blood bathes him, some of it spraying on me. It is a horrifying view from where I sit on the grass, frozen and watching.

Then it gets worse. He lifts the severed head and pushes his blade into one of Tehlmar's dead eyes, letting out a long cry when he pushes it into the second one.

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