Page 50 of A Broken Promise

That unquenchable monster within her was out, yet so casually dressed in cheerful tone and movements so human, except for those eyes. Her copper eyes were like windows to hell—open and ready to devour him.

“It was a different life, Priya, you must understand that. I wish…I wish I could change things.”

“Oh Jonah... But I don’t.” Priya paused picking her nails and finally she looked at him. “See, I don’t wish to change a single thing.” A verdict.

He didn’t cry, he didn’t beg. She ran the dagger across his chest, pausing occasionally. I watched them silently, unable to put the pieces together. Priya never mentioned him or Mel. She never mentioned her past or who she was. In that moment, I realized I knew more of Nadine the Butcher than of her. But just a few glances at them and an undeniable past was laid in front of me, though completely unreadable.

A past. This was as close as Priya would let me be a part of her life.

Priya pulled out a hair-thin pin, longer than a needle. He flinched as she stabbed him in his neck, precisely in the large vein pumping his blood tirelessly.

“I do have my procedure to follow, as you might have heard. This will paralyze you to the point that you won’t be able to even blinkor scream.A luxury I wish I had so many years ago. But don’t worry, I will keep you alive until I am done. But she—” Priya pointed at me with her dagger, grinning in satisfaction. “She will do the killing for me today.”

Molten adrenaline caressed my veins as if lava, yet my body was still, my mind was perfectly clear.

“You are going to be her first kill, you know. I hope you appreciate that. You never got to be first.” His eyes widened a little, and Priya’s smile got bigger. “Oh yes, I remember. Take it as my gift to you. After all, we are friends, aren’t we?” She patted his cheek.

Priya’s face lit up with a deathly thrill as she ripped the buttons off his shirt, exposing his chest wide.

“To remember me by even after you die,” she whispered into his ear. His eyes still wide open, unable to blink, were tearing up with large, murky tears dripping down his cheeks.

Small strips of skin fell off as Priya fileted his chest until a large S appeared. Blood trickled down his stomach, catching in between his gray body hair.

The image of the similar scar flashed in my mind. Priya’s. Herburned scar in the shape of an S on her stomach. It was the only connection I could make from all of this.

She pointed her dagger up, holding up a freshly sliced piece of his skin. Priya looked at it with the same devouring look, as if she craved it; as if she would eat it right now to satisfy that hunger that ran wild through her. The drops of blood ran down the blade in slow motion.

“You know what comes next now, don’t you?” She heinously smiled at him. Her eyes filled with wicked happiness. I wasn’t shocked or scared, no, what I felt was more a feeling of reverence. Priya was a force of nature. A tsunami wave; powerful, wild and so free. A shiver went through my body. Destructive. Yet each of her movements were filled with a hunter’s thrill and determination.

She slowly unbuckled his belt and tugged his pants down just low enough to fully expose his manhood.

“You know, years after years, and I have yet to find one that looks decent or even remotely appealing. I seriously don’t know what women find attractive aboutthis?” Priya spoke to me, as her dagger sliced through that most sacred part of a man in one fluid motion.

There was no screaming, no twitching or twisting. Even his breath now slowed down to almost nonexistent. Blood pooled quickly under him, dripping down to the worn-out rug.

Priya turned to me with a satisfactory grin on her face.

“Your turn, Freckles.”

Every night I’d been thinking of this moment; since my training began, since Priya told me she was taking me on my first kill. I spent hours pondering what I would feel, what it would be like to take someone’s life. Would I take it slow or be one and done? Would I want to say a few words or just be silent?

I thought about this pristine moment so many times before.

And yet now, my mind was empty. The ever-flowing sea of thoughts dried up. The room was quiet. There was no chirping from the previously loud birds, no heavy breaths shared. There was just deep, utter calmness. The depth of it felt so unfamiliar, and yet so welcoming.

I didn’t say anything as I pulled my crossbow, loading it with ashort arrow. My mind and body turned into a well-oiled machine, precise and careless.

His heart or his head? That was the only question that mattered to me then.

Arrow to the head was the most practical, I decided. I wanted to see the strength of my crossbow; the quickness of the arrow’s blade as it pierced through the bone and flesh deep into his gray matter.

I didn’t take a pause to breathe as I pulled the trigger.

His eyes finally blinked from the impact as my arrow sunk deep into his head, leaving just the metal tip poking through the other side.

I lowered my empty crossbow. My eyes trailed the dark red stream of blood running down his face.

A line crossed. A life gone. Taken by me. His blood to forever stain my soul.

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