Page 6 of The Sins That Bleed
“Don’t move, or I’ll kill her!”
He’s not looked at me yet, so I say nothing. Nobody will be dying today except for him, and potentially whoever made the mistake of letting him into my club. I stand unnaturally still and I wait.
Tick.
Tick.
Tick.
The noise of someone’s watch counting down this dramatic scene is the only noise in the room.
“What the fuck? Get them off me!” he shrieks as hundreds of little spiders come crawling out of the couches.
They clamber over his feet and under the hem of his jean-clad leg, under his shirt and to his head, trying to get in his mouth.
He throws himself backward, letting go of Sally before he stands and tries to whack them off him in a frenzy. Nobody else can see them of course, they will think he’s batshit crazy—after all, he did come in here brandishing a knife.
I grab Sally and get her behind me where Zyon can pick her up and get her help, while I concentrate on tormenting this bastard. Her poor heart is thumping a beat too fast for her body.
“Whatareyou talking about? There’s nothing on you.”
My lips curl into a sneer as the spiders instantly vanish. It takes him a moment to register they’ve gone before he stops trying to smack them off. He looks at me with pure hatred shining in his beady eyes, or maybe that’s just mine reflected in them because there is nothing I hate more than motherfuckers like him. Entitled gutter rats thinking they can do what they want without consequence.
“You fucking bitch! Sally’s mine, you give her back to me and nothing will have to happen to you.” His spit flies from his mouth with each word he speaks.
I chuckle at his attempt of a threat before a snarl rips from my throat and I bask in the fall of his face. As it sinks in for him that I am the only threat in this room, and he just sealed his fate.
His eyes dart behind me to the corner of the room, true fear stripping the colour from his pock-marked skin, sweat instantly beading on his forehead at the horrifying sight he sees there.
I hear the clicking sound of pincers coming together as the large black widow I conjured peels itself from the corner of the wall and prepares to strike.
“I don’t think I like your tone; you hurt a member ofmyfamily and now you will pay for it.”
He has no time to scream, only a short squeak leaves his mouth as the black widow strikes, biting and paralysing him almost instantly. To anyone else it would look like he passed out, but I know better.
“Good girl,” I coo to Arachne as she crawls back into her corner and shrinks down to a normal size.
She stays hidden with the low lighting but is always on hand for when I need her, my little spy. Of course, she’s not real, not in the physical sense anyway, but I treat her like a pet all the same.
I turn on my heel and step into the hall where the waiting security team is.
“Take him to the basement and secure him, I’ll deal with him later. I want a clean-up crew in the peaches room immediately, and then I want to know how thefuckthis happened.”
CHAPTER 3
Princess
RAI
After getting a fitful night’s rest, I walk back into my office like I never left.
All night I dreamt of those red eyes, following me throughout the building and chasing me down. The shadows morphing into beasts with wings and too many legs, scrambling over desks to get to me. Even though everything inside me screamed at me to run, there was still a part of me that wanted to stop, turn around, and face the creature they belonged to.
I shut the door behind me and throw my jacket on the coat rack in the corner of my office. I’m itching to pour over the files again and see if there is anything I might have missed last night. Tiredness makes for poor detective work, so I’m glad Nico hauled me out of here when he did. These people deserve better than a tired agent missing vital, obvious clues as to where they’ve been stashed.
I unlock my filing cabinet and grab the large folder relating to my case, carrying it back to my desk. I sink into the black leather desk chair and flip open the first page, scanning the long list of names and faces of those who’ve gone missing and are likely to have been trafficked from their homes, each one seared into my heart enough to repeat it without looking.
It’s getting worse, the list growing longer every day and, based on all the information we have so far, I’m convinced it ties back to one person. Alaric Vonbarro, a lethal and dangerous man who has earned himself the nickname of ‘The Flesh Dealer’ on the streets, if rumours are to be believed. He’s notorious for supplying high-profile people around the world with anything they want, including other people.
