Chapter 8 #5
"Sounds so sweet when you say my name. I want you to fucking scream it," he growled in her ear.
Pleading wouldn’t work, then. Her nails scratched at his chest, and he finally pulled his head away from where he’d tucked it against her neck, meeting her eyes. His pupils were blown, the red like a neon warning sign.
"Get off of me," she demanded, but he just laughed like her fear was adorable.
She remembered how she’d tied him up, taken what she wanted. The only way to win against a predator was to become a bigger one. She didn’t have immortal strength. But she was good at faking it until everyone around her never knew how insecure and weak she felt on the inside.
"If you want me, this is hardly the place for it. I didn’t know you were so weak, Rhyden."
With effort, she managed to pull her hand away from where it had become trapped between them.
She held it up, jaw locked as red blood fell in rivulets from the cut on her palm.
"You want it? Go ahead, then. Taste it. Maybe then you’ll stop being such a fucking liability, and here I thought I was the weaker one.
Look at you, though—this whole building could collapse and neither one of us would be able to escape because of your lust for me, for this.
" She pressed her finger to his jaw, and a tiny droplet of her blood stained his pale skin.
Rhyden’s brows curved over his red eyes as pain marred his cut, severe features. He pressed his lips to her palm, and she felt his fangs threaten to pierce her skin. His tongue tickled as he swept it over the cut. He groaned again, regaining control as he pulled away.
Rhyden’s lips glistened red with remnants of her blood. "There you are. I knew you still had it in you." His voice was thick.
"What?" she forced out.
"Cunning."
Below, they both picked over body parts and pools of hot blood. Rin couldn’t believe she’d let Sabine get away—and Kit, too… Why had he just left?
A hacking cough made Rin tense, and Rhyden snapped into action, flashing over to a half-dead guard. His leg was broken at an odd angle, white bone jutting through his knee and thigh. Blood turned his black uniform into a wet, sticky mess.
Rhyden lifted him by the arm, ignoring his screams. His movements were so quick that Rin struggled to keep up.
Rhyden’s fangs were buried in the guard’s neck, drinking heavily with grotesque slurping sounds.
She grimaced, backing away until her feet hit an overturned car.
She heard a faint shuffling sound and bent, the sound of Rhyden’s feasting forgotten as she gripped her gun and crouched, staring inside the rusted car.
Wide eyes blinked at her. She gasped.
A shot rang out, missing her easily as it hit the roof above.
Rin was grabbed around the waist by Rhyden’s bloodied hands as he shoved her behind him.
Blood dripped down his jaw onto his neck as he lifted the car and flipped it on its side, reaching in to pull out a frightened man.
Blood gushed from the hand he cradled to his chest as Rhyden threw him to the ground.
It was the man with the briefcase! But… it was gone.
She stared at his hand. His fingers were missing, as if they’d been cut away.
Rhyden tugged his gun out of his holster, and with how much blood coated him—it even dripped from his white hair—he looked every bit of the feared Noctis leader as his reputation proclaimed.
"What the fuck were you doing here? Don’t you know? This is my city. Nothing goes on here without me knowing."
The man stuttered, the sound turning to a broken whimper as Rhyden kicked his gut, jostling his hand.
"I was s-sent here! I didn’t know—"
Rhyden kicked him again. "Don’t lie. You still have five more fingers on your other hand. Ten toes. I can slowly rip away each one, knuckle by knuckle. I heard it’s excruciating." He grinned, showing his bloodied fangs.
Rin stepped up, placing her hand on his chest; she was surprised it wasn’t shaking. "How do you know Sabine Blackfall?"
The man’s eyes flicked to Rhyden’s.
"She asked you a fucking question. Don’t look at me, look at her," Rhyden snapped.
"I didn’t know it was her. I got an order for more Aetherborns. I had their tag numbers and ownership papers in the briefcase. One of her fucking guards stole it from me," he forced out, face growing paler by the second. "I didn’t get my money."
Rhyden pressed the gun against the man’s forehead, watching sweat trickle down the side of his temples. "Who employed you?"
"They’re called Celestis—that’s all I know.
I swear! I didn’t know Blackfall Industries had anything to do with it!
This is bigger than you think. The Hunter’s Guild—they’re in on it.
That prissy little Academy where they train their Hunters, they’re having a gala next month.
It’s a front for Aetherborn trafficking.
" He was spilling everything in the hopes he’d make it out alive.
"Good," said Rhyden, and he saw the quick flash of relief in the man’s eyes, right before Rhyden pulled the trigger and his brains exploded.
Vesperin gasped and staggered back. "Why did you kill him?"
Rhyden holstered his gun, wiping brain matter and gore on his pants. "Did you really think he was a decent man? I did Earth a favor, trust me on that."
He wasn’t going to tell her the truth—that he was pent up and needed to fucking kill someone. The rat’s disrespect toward her sealed his fucking fate anyway.
Vesperin didn’t look at the body. Blood was splattered on the tips of her tightly laced shoes. "The gala he mentioned…"
"It’ll never work. Those high-profile events are always well-guarded. Invitation only."
"Rhyden." He looked over at her at the sound of her voice, seeing her wide eyes slowly filling with disbelief, like she couldn’t believe her high and mighty Hunter’s Guild was a facade. "I have an invitation."
"Well… fuck me."