Page 135 of Darling Wildfire
My jaw clenched as my breathing picked up. The man pressed the barrel harder against my temple, reminding me of my place.
“That was not rhetorical,” Vetticus said.
He walked back over to me and his hand snapped out and grabbed my neck. His thumb brushed across my lips and he stuck it into his mouth, sucking off the blood he’d smeared it in. A soft moan escaped him and his eyes lit up with a fiery lust.
“What. Did. I. Say?” He rumbled.
My jaw clenched. “You’d torture them—in front of me,” I growled.
Vetticus nodded and shoved me away. He motioned for two men who moved towards Nyx.
“No—” I barked.
Preacher shouted obscenities but he was in bad shape and wavered on his knees, looking pale even in the light from the cars. Nyx yanked and jerked in their grasp, but it did nothing to stop the men from dragging him to a tree stump near the cabin. They knocked him to his knees and while one man held him down, another stretched his hand out flat. My gut twisted savagely in dread.
There were only a few yards separating us and I didn’t realize I’d tried to get to him until the butt of the gun slammed into the side of my face and sent me to my knees. The threat of the gun was no match for how strongly I needed to get to Nyx.
Nyx was cursing violently, fear and anger warring in his eyes.
Vetticus strolled over and crouched down opposite him.
“I always did enjoy you Reaper,” he said cheerfully. “You made me laugh more than any of the others. It’s a pity you have to take the fall for your friend here. I did warn him.” He shrugged. “This little debacle can’t go unpunished—no one is getting out of this unscathed, that’s for sure.”
Vetticus pressed his knife against the base of Nyx’s pinky finger. Nyx’s chest heaved as he tried to get his breathing under control. I was cursing,shouting at Vetticus to stop along with Nyx’s protests and Preacher’s growled threats. But Vetticus just chuckled and pressed his knife deeper until Nyx’s eyes shuttered and the lines of pain etched themselves into the crease between his eyebrows.
“Here’s the thing—you don’t need your pinky to shoot or do anything really so I don’t think you’ll miss it,” Vetticus reasoned. “It’s more of the principle of the thing.”
He put all his weight into the knife and Nyx cried out as Vetticus sliced through skin and bone. Nyx moaned as blood poured from his hand, his face pale and glistening with sweat as he leaned against the man holding him, eyes tightly shut.
“Patch him up so he doesn’t bleed out.”
The men dragged him off the stump and wrapped his hand tightly while he sat trembling in the dirt at their feet. When they were done, he clutched his hand to his chest, slumped forward over it. I was vibrating with rage.
Vetticus wasn’t done.
“Kraven, what did I promise you about Preacher?”
I hissed in displeasure and rage, my heated glare tracking Vetticus’ movements as he stepped towards Preacher. He spoke to me over his shoulder but when I didn’t answer, he turned to me fully.
“I’ll just remind you—I said I’d enjoy making himscream.”
Preacher was restrained, his fight weak from the blood he’d already lost. Vetticus grabbed his hair and yanked his head into a beam of light. He put the blade against Preacher’s cheek, his eyes lit up with a sick pleasure at our pain.
“And I will enjoy this,” Vetticus breathed.
His knife dug into Preacher’s eye and Vetticus’ word rang true as Preacher’s scream cut through my blood like ice, sending a shiver down my spine. His screams echoed in my ears long after Vetticus shoved him away. Preacher clutched at his face, sobbing and writhing on the ground. The desire to kill Vetticus was so overwhelming I nearly choked on it as I watched him look around at us, clearly satisfied with the night’s festivities. Vetticus took a breath and looked at me, a deadly smirk pulling at his features. He pointed his bloody knife at me.
“Don’t you dare think I’ve forgotten about you,” he sneered. “I’ve got something extra special planned.”
While Vetticus disappeared back in the house, I looked around as the dust settled. Nyx was clutching his hand to his chest as he leaned against the steps. Atlas was still slouched against the bumper and Preacher had gone limp where he lay at the edge of the light, probably passed out from shock.
The door of the cabin slammed and I turned.
“No…NO!”
It couldn’t be. There was no way.
A cry escaped my lips and I was on my feet, disregarding everything, even the gun to my head. I made it a few feet before I was knocked to the ground but that didn’t stop me. I went feral, kicking up so much dust it threw the clearing into a haze.
