Chapter 19
Chapter
Nineteen
There is something freeing about running through the forest, snow crunching under my boots, and knowing that for once I am the hunter instead of the hunted. I relish the sound of my prey crashing through the undergrowth ahead of me.
Krampus hangs back, following closely but not too close. He trusts me to catch our prey.
Louis may be a bit clumsy, but he’s fast, his long legs eating up the distance much easier than mine, especially with the weight of the crossbow in my arms. But I know he isn’t built for this. The man has never struggled or sweat or bled in his life. He doesn’t have the grit that I do.
As I expect, he tires out first. His sprint slows to a jog, and then a walk, and then a stagger. When he trips over a snow-covered tree root, he struggles to get up again. And all the while, I am following him, slower but far more relentless.
And when he does get to his feet, he makes the mistake of heading for a clearing. Maybe he thinks it will help him run faster, but it also gives me a clear line of sight.
I stop at the tree line, lift my crossbow, and take aim. My numb fingers close around the trigger, and the bolt shoots out.
Louis falls to the snow with a cry, the bolt sticking out of his leg.
I grin, tossing the crossbow aside, and walk toward him. He writhes in the snow, wailing in surprise and pain.
“I’ve got him,” I call.
When Louis sees Krampus emerge from the trees, he tries to crawl, dragging himself across the ground. But the monster plants a hoof right on Louis’s lower back, pinning him in place.
“No,” Louis gasps out, fingers scrabbling uselessly against the snow. “Please—”
Krampus grabs one of his arms and twists it. He clamps a shackle over Louis’s wrist.
“No, no, no—”
Krampus flips him over with one hand and shackles his other wrist. They’re bound in front of him now, and Louis is helpless and terrified in front of the monster. Krampus removes his hoof from his back, grabs the other side of the chain, and begins to walk, dragging Louis behind him.
I follow them deeper into the woods, smiling all the while.
Louis shrieks and cries as Krampus drags him through the snow. His boots kick uselessly against the ground. His weight doesn’t even slow the huge monster down as he treks through the forest.
I follow a few paces behind. My stomach is in knots with both fear and anticipation. I’ve been waiting for this—dreading it, craving it, I don’t even know anymore—all night. Krampus will decide what Louis deserves. Whether he will die here with the rest of his family or not.
And after that, I will be the only one left to be punished. My time is running out. Every time I think about it, the knot in my stomach winds tighter. It’s a feeling of both terror and anticipation. Standing at the edge of a precipice again, and this time I’m going to let myself fall.
Deep within the woods, Krampus stops outside of the rocky entrance to a cave. But instead of taking us inside, he grabs Louis and drags him up to his knees in the snow. Then he rakes massive claws down his back, shredding his shirt and leaving his torso bare.
I slowly step forward until I’m standing right in front of Louis, with Krampus behind him. Louis looks up at me, his beautiful blue eyes filling with tears.
“Diana,” he whispers. “Help me.”
I reach down and cup the side of his face, watching a tear trek down over one cheekbone. Behind him, Krampus is lifting his birch rod.
“No,” I say to Louis.
The rod comes down, slapping hard against my fiancé’s exposed back. He cries out, tears flowing freely now.
Another crack of the rod. I keep my eyes locked on Louis’s face, refusing to look away from him.
I watch as he flinches and cries with every crack of wood across his skin.
After a few hits, Krampus flicks blood off it, splattering red against the white snow.
Krampus was really holding back with me.
He has no such mercy for the man who betrayed me.
With every crack of the rod, my back stings with remembered pain, and heat slowly unfurls in my lower belly. It isn’t just the triumph of well-deserved revenge. There is something else, something wicked in me that delights in seeing his pain.
When Louis’s eyes slide shut, I slap his cheek, and he opens them and refocuses on me. He’s panting and gasping, his once-perfect face a mess of tears and snot.
“Why?” he asks, staring up at me.
I cradle his cheek. “You know why.”
Krampus pauses, the rod drawn back in preparation for another blow. “Tell her.”
“What?” Louis’s lower lip trembles. “I don’t, I’m not—”
Krampus hits him again, and he sobs into my palm.
“Confess your sins,” Krampus orders. “Tell her why you deserve this.”
“I don’t,” Louis cries. “I don’t deserve—”
Another blow, and he cuts off in a cry of pain.
“I’m sorry,” he gasps out finally. “I’m sorry, Diana. I’m sorry for bringing you here, for lying to you—”
“For letting your brother and father drag me to the door like an animal?” I press, my nails digging into his skin as I hold his gaze. “For being willing to let me die because your family said so?”
“Yes,” he gasps. “All of it. You didn’t deserve any of it.”
I search his expression. Red-eyed and whimpering on his knees, his back flayed open by Krampus’s rod, he looks like he means it. And it’s surprisingly good to hear him say it.
I lean down and press a kiss to his forehead. His skin is hot beneath my lips. He shudders, leaning into my touch.
“I forgive you,” I whisper, and pull back. Then I look over his shoulder and smile. “But it’s not my decision, I’m afraid.”
Krampus doesn’t stop until Louis’s eyes roll back in his head and his body slumps, limp in the snow. Blood paints the white around him and oozes from the gashes crisscrossing his back.
But when I kneel in the snow and lift his head by a handful of blond hair, he’s still breathing. Just unconscious from more pain than he could handle.
Good. Those marks on his back aren’t going to fade. I hope every time they twinge in remembered pain, he thinks of me.
I let Louis’s head flop back down and look up at Krampus from where I’m crouched.
He stands with his head back and his eyes shut.
With his birch rod hanging loosely from his hand and snow falling on his face, he looks almost peaceful.
But after a moment, his eyes slide open and fix on me.
As our gazes lock, I’m sure we’re both remembering that his work for the night isn’t yet done.
He drops both the birch rod and the chains, and steps around Louis’s limp body. My heart begins to race as he approaches. When he steps behind me, I rise to my feet but stay in place.
Both of his large hands settle on my waist, entirely encircling my torso. His hard chest presses into me, and a hot exhale ruffles my hair from above. I shiver, tilting my head back to look up at him.
“You enjoyed that,” he says, like an accusation.
“Of course I did.” I try to control my breathing as one of his hands slides over my stomach and down, down. “I told you from the start that I wanted revenge.”
“That was not the only reason you enjoyed it.” His hand slides down between my legs, cupping me. Palming the damning dampness between my legs. “Wicked woman,” he murmurs, his mouth against my ear.
I press my ass into him, and a hard length meets me. I whimper.
“I’m not the only one who’s wicked,” I whisper. “You pretend to be above it all. To hand out justice for the sake of justice. But you do it because you like it.” I grind back against him, drawing a deliciously low groan from his lips. “Because it turns you on.”
“I never denied I was a monster,” he says.
“I guess I’m a monster too.”
He growls in response, two thick fingers sliding under my panties to rub over the wet heat of my core.
I try to turn my head to meet his lips, but his other hand grabs me by the chin and jerks my face forward.
He forces me to gaze down at the bleeding, unconscious body of my fiancé.
The man we just tortured together. He makes me face just how messed up this situation is as he starts to fuck me slowly with his fingers.
“What a wicked little thing you are,” he says, his voice a low growl.
I swallow hard. “Yes,” I whisper. When I admit it, he lets me look up at him.
His eyes are black with lust as he gazes down at me.
His nostrils flare as he breathes me in.
He uses his grip on me to drag me closer, and leans down to press his nose into my neck, inhaling again.
His hot breath sends goose bumps rippling all over my body, and I tilt my head back, surrendering my neck to him.
He growls again, and it vibrates through me.
“Your sin smells so sweet,” he says, pulling back to meet my eyes. “I don’t know if I will be able to hold back.”
“Then don’t try.”
His lips peel back, revealing sharp teeth in an expression that’s half snarl and half grin. “You’ve seen what happens when I don’t.”
He’s right. I’m fully aware of what those teeth and claws can do, the massive strength he wields. He killed the family I was almost a part of. That should frighten me, but… it doesn’t.
“I know you will give me exactly what I deserve,” I say. “No more and no less.”