~
“MALACHI!”
My eyes fly open, body trying to move. Nothing happens. I’m smothered by something. Lights flash in front of me, colours fucking everywhere. I heave, move, push at whatever’s holding me down until it gets the fuck off me. A crash sounds out somewhere, a yelp coming straight after.
What the fuck is that?
I stand and pant, eyes casting around the room. I don’t even recognise where I am for a few moments, and then I see Alice on the floor. She’s tucked into the corner, head turned away from me.
“What the fuck is going on?” I mutter, looking around again. She sniffs and looks at me, her body quivering under a robe. “What?” Snatched glances have me walking out of the bedroom when she doesn’t answer again, gaze searching for something worth shouting about. There’s nothing that I can see. It’s just the lounge area, a fire still roaring, the smell smoke, and nothing else.
I storm back, hands reaching for her. “What the hell is the matter?” She scrabbles sideways and gets up before I get to her, wild legs running her away until the bathroom door slams behind her.
Stupid fucking woman.
My hand goes to my head, fingers pinching in on my brow, and I look at the door, confused. It isn’t until I feel my fingers on my face that I realise they’re wet. I look at them and find they’re covered in blood, as is my other hand when I look at that. A quick scan over my own body shows me exactly where it’s come from. Both my wrist are bleeding, as if somethings ripped the stitches and glue off the slice marks.
Sighing, I sit back on the bed and keep staring at the door. Fuck knows what’s gone on, but I suppose seeing this on me, out here in the middle of nowhere, might have proved frightening.
“Alice?” I call. She doesn’t answer. “Did I hurt you?” My lips tip up at the thought. They shouldn’t, but something about that imagery is as satisfying as the look of the blood on me, especially considering my memories flooding back about my mouth on her pussy.
Still no answer.
My thumb smears over the gashes now open and bleeding again, eyes focused on the one part of it that oozes crimson stains. It’s not going to kill me, but it is as mesmerising as it usually is. “I didn’t mean to hurt you if I did,” mutters out of me. Not this time anyway. “Come out of the bathroom.”
Nothing still.
I nod and stand after a while longer, respecting her need for solace if nothing else, and pull some jeans on to move out into the lounge. She can come out when she’s ready. Presumably seeing someone shredding their wrists open in sleep isn’t something she’s seen before. For me, it isn’t unusual, so I get about cleaning it up slowly.
Whatever I was doing in my sleep isn’t something I’m feeling now I’m awake. Life isn’t for ending today. I glance outside at the thought, watching the low sun sitting far off in the distance. Dark, murky grey skies cling to the air like a fucking shroud, as if the moon is dragging what little heat there is away. Night again soon. Darkness and memories.
I’m best in that.
Or at my worst in it.
“There you are,” Gray suddenly says, walking into the room.
I frown and stare at the fire, pushing my bracelets over the congealed blood on my wrists. “Where else would I be?”
“I don’t know. We’ve been searching for you.”
“I went elsewhere.” Elsewhere so no one could find us. Just me and her, that’s all I wanted. Old rooms and old times and memories that have nothing to do with anything but me and my grandfather’s morals.
“You couldn’t answer your phone there?” I look around for my phone, realising it isn’t anywhere in sight. Not that I give a damn. It’s been nice to not have it making a fucking noise constantly. “They couldn’t find you on tracking either.”
Hmm. I threw my necklace. I should retrieve that. “I didn’t want finding for a while. What’s the problem?”
“It’s Faith.”
I sigh and head for the drinks tray, then choose the button for the maid instead. Coffee might be more applicable. Maybe the smell will help my Alice come out of her hiding spot. “I couldn’t care less about Faith, Gray. As you should know. Certainly not at the moment.”
“You should. She’s dead.”
I don’t know what to feel about that statement. Shock, annoyance, happiness - near fucking joy actually. The sensations all tumble around inside me, making me stare at the fire’s flames for inspiration as to how I should behave. “How?”
“Stab wound. To the heart.” A smile touches my lips in my chaotic thoughts, and I keep staring at the flames. Maybe my little Alice did some hunting of her own without me last night. “Nobody saw anything. Damien found her in one of the tunnels. Said she was already dead when he found her.” I turn to look at him, remembering Alice’s frenzy and the amount of pills I gave her. She would have hunted anything in that mood, fought anything that dared get between her and her goal of finding me. “It would have been quick. She wouldn’t have suffered,” he says.
“Shame.”
