Page 112 of Five for Silver

Blood filled the air.

The smell and the taste infected Chad’severy breath.

It ran down his face, soaking into the topof his t-shirt.

The feel of it made his skin itch.

His eyes stayed shut, and he kept up hismantra of sorry even though he couldn’t hear himself and Lucy couldno longer hear him, too. His shoulders were up, so tense a fierceache grew a fire in his muscles.

The gunshot had deafened him, leaving behinda loud ringing. Chad was thankful for it, without the ringing hewould’ve heard other sounds, soft wet ones, a pitter-patter offalling blood and the heavier dull thud of Lucy hitting theground.

Chad didn’t hear it, but he felt Lucy fallfrom vibrations through the concrete and the sudden sunlight on hisface. It was warm, but her blood was hot, and sticky in hishair.

He’d killed her.

He told himself he had to, and maybe Chadbelieved it, but the detective didn’t.

The detective was in a state of shock atwhat he’d done.

He was supposed to protect thepublic, not blow them apart.

“Chad!”

The heavily distorted voice belonged toRomeo. He sounded far away, muffled beneath the ringing and underan ocean of white noise.

But it was Romeo, and he was calling forChad.

He shuffled to face away from Lucy beforeopening his eyes and looking at Romeo on his knees. Romeo’s handclutched his bicep, stemming the flow of blood, but it didn’t gush,it trickled over his fingers.

His lips moved with the shape of Chad’sname, but it took longer for the sound to penetrate through theringing, and even longer for Chad to understand. Romeo’s eyes werewide, wider than Chad had ever seen, and for the briefest ofseconds Chad was disappointed they weren’t darker, and full ofhunger for him.

It was Romeo’s fantasy, Chad killing, butthe reality didn’t match. Instead of exciting Romeo, he lookedstricken. Shuffling closer on his knees, he abandoned clutching hiswounded arm, and reached a hand out for Chad.

Chad didn’t know whether Romeo wanted him topull him up, or Romeo planned to pull him down, but he didn’t takehis hand.

“Don’t touch me.”

He hadn’t meant for the words to leave himsounding harsh and cold, but he suspected from Romeo’s flinch theyhad been. Romeo didn’t lower his hand, but his fingers twitched,dropping blood from their tips. He said Chad’s name again, but itdidn’t match the movement of his mouth. His name registered inChad’s brain delayed and slowed down.Chad lookedat Romeo’s injured arm. Three dark puncture wounds leaked blooddown his bicep.

“Chad … it’s okay. Just come here.”

There was a war raging in Chad’s head to thesoundtrack of a ringing gunshot, but both detective and Chad agreedon one thing, it wasn’t okay.

“Please, Chad.”

Romeo’s eyebrows flexed. He lookeddesperate, still reaching for Chad with his bloodied hand. Hisknees had sunk into the dirt, and Merc pressed close to his side.Merc’s tail didn’t wag. He looked like he was shivering.

“She would’ve killed us.”

And yes, Chad knew that, too—the detectiveknew it, but the detective would’ve accepted that fate. He had whenhe put his body between Romeo and the gun. The detective chosedeath.

They were damned after all for what they’dbeen doing, condemned to eternal suffering after they died, butLucy had been innocent. Before she’d met Chad, she’d been innocent,but Chad had twisted her untrusting nature, made her volatile, thenit only took four words from a monster. James Poole was dead. LucyHastings was dead. It was Chad’s fault, and the detective hated himfor it, the detective kept him frozen in place, looking down atRomeo.

Romeo’s eyes darted, focusing somewhere inthe distance. There was noise, it warped, and whined, and it madeRomeo gasp and crowd closer on his knees. Chad backed away a fewsteps, until his heels hit something solid.

“Listen to me, Chad. She was going to killus—”

“I could’ve apprehended her. I could’ve gotthe gun from her.”

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