Page 109 of Snag
That’s better.
“It’s not like I can choose where I fall,” DeVille grumbles, brushing himself off as he gets to his feet. He’s wearing sweatpants that I assume Reck generously got on him afterhe passed out from transforming. “Every fucking bone in my body hurts.”
Presh launches herself toward him, practically skipping. Beaming.
With a bare moment of hesitation, he sweeps her up in his arms, twirling her around on unsteady feet.
Presh throws her arms around his neck. “You should see your tiger!”
“A tiger?” DeVille shouts. “What the fuck? But my mother is a —”
“A sabertooth tiger!” Presh squeals. “He’s so sweet.”
DeVille blinks at her.
She slaps at his chest. “Put me down, you oaf.”
DeVille, now completely confused, lowers Precious to her feet, then runs his hand through his hair, looking to us for confirmation.
I nod helpfully. “Big, scary.”
“Total ass,” Reck mutters.
DeVille’s gaze drops to Shaw’s mutilated corpse. His brown skin visibly pales as he raises a shaky arm to point at the body. “Did … that …”
“Don’t worry,” I say blithely. “Muta had already killed him. You just made that death come a little quicker. And probably less painfully.”
“Less … painful …”
DeVille bends over at the waist and throws up. Hunks of bloody flesh spatter the ground and his bare feet. “Oh, fuck. No!” He throws up again. Presh rubs his back, keeping her feet well away from the spew zone. “What the fuck is … that …”
“That would be bits of Shaw,” I say.
“Really, Zaya?” Reck snarls.
Before I can respond, Bellamy takes that moment to keel over.
Presh abandons DeVille, racing toward her sister. Reck intercepts her, grabbing her around the waist and yanking her off her feet.
“Enough of this shit,” he snarls. “We’re completely exposed out here. It’s past time to fucking leave.”
Bellamy starts convulsing, seizing.
I cross to her, somehow already rolling her onto her side before I’ve even decided to move. She stops trembling under my hands. I touch her chin, angling it and wondering if I should find something to put between her teeth.
Presh flails in Reck’s hold, landing a well-placed kick to his groin, no doubt inadvertently. He grunts, pained, and drops her to her feet. She stumbles.
Muta suddenly appears next to Bellamy’s head, flicking his forked tongue in her direction.
“Oh, now you step up,” I grouse to the death god.
He ignores me. Of course.
Presh scrambles away from a still-cursing Reck, coming down on her knees next to her newfound sister.
Bellamy cranes her head back to look me in the eye. The light lavender of her iris has expanded and deepened slightly in tint, leaving only a thin ring of dark purple on the edge. As if Presh’s healing has also cleansed her essence.
Those eyes are wide and unseeing, though.
