Page 46 of And Twice as Twisted
I was goddamn petrified. For once in my life, I couldn’t sayhe wouldn’t hurt me. I was near certain he needed to hurt me, to cross that line he knew there was no coming back from.
“Pl-please.” Sienna Agostino was dead and buried. In her place was a scared little girl who had gotten in way over her head. I’d begged for this, for him to lose control. And he finally gave it to me.
I’d never regretted anything more in my life.
And then he was gone. I was suffocating. I was a tortured soul, unable to be fixed, and everyone just needed to let me go. He slowly started to disappear into the trees, but I couldn’t tell myself to go after him. Bears. Bears sounded like something I could deal with more than him. To be caught in a metal cage with him like this, no thank you. I waited a few minutes, allowing myself to calm down before brushing off the dirt from my ass and following in his wake.
I took a few deep, calming breaths and got my head on straight. I just needed to get back to the city and then this was over. I was going to start on my own, maybe take Alexei orRomano up on their offers. Disappear into a new life, one far less complicated than the one I’d been given at birth.
“Motherfucker!” he roared in the close distance.
Only… he wasn’t alone. I heard more voices cursing, feet shuffling, and what sounded like a fight at the street’s edge. I charged through the clearing of trees, watching three men circle Apollo, who was heaving like a rabid beast. A fourth man was at the driver’s side door, trying to jimmy it open.
Lovely. A carjacking on top of an already shitty day.
“Lookie what we got here, boys.” One of the dead men laughed, staring at me. “So pretty.”
They fucked with the wrong car, the wrong passengers. Their mistake was going to be their death. Apollo glanced at me before rolling his shoulders and returning his attention to the men.
“Come here, honey. We’ll give you a ride home.” The one idiot reached out a hand, turning his back on Apollo—a fatal mistake.
“Don’t touch her.” Apollo grabbed him by the scruff of his neck, throwing him to the side like he weighed nothing. “Sienna.” He pointed to the spot next to him and I moved to follow his command.
The guy breaking into the car managed to get the door open, the screaming alarm barely noticeable over my hammering heart. He stepped forward, approaching his three friends as they regarded him.
“Not so fast.” One reached out, tugging my back to his front and placing a knife to my throat. “This could’ve been easy if you would have just let us take the car. Now I’m gonna hurt her… and make you watch.”
“What did you just say? Say it louder,” I told the idiot holding me. “You just signed your own death certificate.Riposare in pace.”
“No, honey. Your boyfriend’s dead, and you’ll wish you were.” He laughed, sniffing my hair.
“Hey,” I whispered so he’d bring his ear closer. “He’s not my boyfriend. He’s the fucking reaper.” I pulled my head forward, then back, crashing it into his.
The sickening crunch of his nose echoed with his bellowing agony. I rammed my elbow into his side and charged forward, except I tripped, landing painfully on my side behind Apollo. I rolled over, only able to sit with my jaw slacked, and watched the horror movie unfold in slow motion. Apollo didn’t just kill them; he maimed them.
Limbs were broken, the flesh on the inside hanging out. He wedged his fingers into another’s eyeballs before turning their own knife on them—gutting them from throat to groin. There was so much blood, terrifying screams, and mutilated body parts. I felt my stomach turn before I twisted and released the contents on the pavement. Apollo was a raging animal. I half expected to see him chewing on their bones.
He stopped for a moment, ripping off his blood-stained shirt and throwing it to the ground. It made no difference; his chest was soaked with their blood and entrails. He watched me in silence, his chest heaving as I wiped the spit from my chin. He took one step closer, but I crawled backwards, unsure if he would hurt me too.
“Freeze!”
I turned towards the sound. Two highway patrol cops stared in shock, looking between the dismembered corpses, Apollo, and me. They were barking commands at him to raise his hands and drop to his knees, but he didn’t move. The twitch in his shoulder told me he was hyperfocused on me, as I pushed to my feet and forced my palms up towards the sky.
“Ma’am, are you all right?” One officer motioned for me to come to him. “I said freeze!” he shouted at Apollo when he started moving.
“Stop right there or I’ll shoot!” the other screamed, but his terror made him hesitate. For just a moment. But it was long enough for Apollo to tackle him, throwing him into his partner. All three of them clattered to the ground. Mace was sprayed, commands were barked, and Apollo just kept grappling. He was going to kill one of them if not both, so I had to do something.
He had the officers on their backs, one on top of the other as he held them in place, attacking with his meaty fists. I saw a large branch to the side and moved towards it before quietly stepping up behind him. It took two strong swings against the back of his head to have him stumbling enough that they were able to take control. They got him onto his stomach with is hands cuffed behind his back before he snapped out of it.
“Apollo, enough.” I stood in front of him, hands raised in surrender, to keep him calm.
“Ma’am.” One of the cops gripped my arm, tugging me behind him.
Big mistake.
Cuffs be damned, Apollo charged at him, ignoring the taser that was pinned in his back. They fought with him for a bit before I picked up the branch once more, this time standing in front of him so he could see me.
“Want another?” I asked, my words finally giving him pause. He stood tall, one of the cops dangling from him with a hand around his neck. “Get in the car. I will call Lucky.”
