Page 33 of Haunted Nightmares
“Pardon?” My brow furrows as I pause because what the hell are they talking about? Have the voices in my head finally cracked as well and started encouraging me to recycle? Am I really at this point, the one where my demons have started to considerrecyclingan option for torture or… but then it clicks. “Ah yes, break down the boxes, yeah?”
“Yes. Yes, break down the traitors. Break down the anarchists and usurpers, tear apart all who question you as king.”
“How fun.” I resume walking toward the male as my evil grin grows, his aura flickering from red to black, the trail of blood from his already missing limbs like catnip to the insatiable hunger roaring inside me.
Stepping on the intact part of his right leg and reaching for his left, my fangs begin to throb as he screams in agony.
“He loves me,” I say as I tear the limb off at the hip then grab his right arm and yank. “He loves me not.” I toss both toward the open dumpster before going for his left arm, planting my right foot between his shoulder blades while I grip tight just below his shoulder and elbow. “He loves me.”
The male vomits as I not so carefully remove the appendage with a sickening pop, throw it over my shoulder then crouch to gain better access to the final piece of my morbid puzzle. “He loves me…” My fingers dig into the sides of his head, my nails piercing flesh and bone before I twist, pull, and rip it from his neck. “Not.”
Screeching tires behind me have me rolling my eyes but I called for pickup, so I should be grateful Declan arrived when he did.Even though he’s ten minutes late. It’s getting closer to sunup after all, and since I was able to take care of my problemandhave a little snack, I can’t be all that put off by this. Regardless of how much I’d like to stay and play.
“Wraith,” my friend hollers from the end of the alley. “Let’s go, quit fucking around.”
I stretch to my full height with a sigh, toss the still gaping head to the side then turn and stroll over to the comatose troll. “Coming,dear. Just have to grab our third and?—“
“You have lost your goddamn mind.”
“We’ve established that,” I say with a huff as I grab the clubfoot and begin dragging the supposed-to-be-extinct creature behind me. “I keep providing you with supporting evidence, I don’t understand why you feel the need to keep saying it.” Declan motions to the wreckage behind me as I stop at the back of the paneled van. “None of this should surprise you.”
“I’m not surprised, just…” he says slowly as he stares, his gaze taking in the many body parts strewn about, the copious amounts of blood painting the brick walls and once grayconcrete. “Well, I guess I’m a little surprised. Thirty minutes to do all ofthatmight be a new record, even for you.”
“I have a reputation to uphold. Vampire king, Descendant, yada yada.” I snap my fingers before lifting the troll by his ankles. “Care to open the damn door, or have you forgotten why you’re here?”
My friend growls at me as he stomps over and grabs the handle, but pauses until I look him in the eye. “This isn’t for me.”
I frown. “What in the bloody?—“
“When I open this door, I want you to remember that this isn’t for me this time.”
But when Declan does indeed open the back of the windowless vehicle and I look inside, I’m momentarily transported back to a lifetime ago.
Wide electric green eyes blink at me from across the van, a terrified expression on the semi-painted face I haven’t seen since it was round, dimply, and far more innocent.
“Duke’s boy?” I growl as my eyes snap toward Declan. “Duke’sfucking boy?”
My friend ignores me as he loads the troll inside, shoving it as far from the twit as possible before trying to push me in after it. “How many Archers do you think I know?”
“You think I really paid attention when you talked about your other employer? That’s adorable but I’m sure you can recall how I didn’t know Orion’s name months after you introduced us, and that was with seeing him regularly at the damn club prior to that.”
“We can discuss how self centered you are on the way,” Declan grunts. “But we need to get moving because the sun will be rising in less than forty five minutes, and if you don’t act soon, that girl is going to bleed out even quicker.”
“You have got to be dicking my knob.” Because clearly he wasn’t kidding about the goddamn conversion even though itshould have been a bloody joke. And since I’m too pissed off to admit he’s right about the girl, I grit my teeth and turn back to the bloodbath before me.
Archer is speaking, yelling really, but I don’t hear him. No, I’m drowning out any and all noise so that I can zero in on the human female’s heartbeat.
Her incredibly slow and barely noticeable heartbeat.
She’s all but dead already.
“Tell me why I should do this?” My black eyes connect with the lad’s neon green ones—eyes I could never forget no matter how little I give a shite about the boy—searching for the answer before he says it aloud.
Archer looks down at the bruised and bloody female in his lap, pushing the matted kinky brown curls out of her face. “She’s… Sadie…” He lifts his gaze and that’s when I see his truth. “She’s my fated mate. I can’t live without her.”
“Bloody hell,” I groan as I climb in and slam the door behind me, regretting the fact that I seem to be going softer with every transfusion I do.
Then it’s all business.
