Chapter 32 #2
“I even asked Teague to bring me her heart,” he whispers conspiratorially in Cairo’s ear. “I thought about eating it while you watch, right before you die.”
Three things happen at once.
Cairo lunges and Tyler grabs for him, a grin on his face that tells me he was expecting it.
But my temper snaps at the sight of his claws going for Cairo’s chest, and I’m moving before I can stop myself.
And Hattie lunges backward, moving away and disappearing instantly.
She’s not my concern, however. I tackle Tyler to the ground, my fangs on display as I pin him under me and a long, low growl leaves my lips.
“Fern?!” he gasps, just as Cairo echoes the sentiment and struggles to sit up.
“I have some bad news about your friends,” I sneer. “They didn’t make it.” He surges upward, and I let him, tossing him away from me while raking my claws into the skin of his stomach, going for what my instincts tell me would be the softest.
“Fern…” Cairo pants, trying to get his balance on the logs that give a little under him.
“Fuck…” When I turn to him, his wide eyes show surprise and utter shock.
“ Little bird ,” he purrs, with both approval and surprise.
But then his face falls, and he lets out a hiss, wrapping his arm around his body.
“Don’t turn your back on him,” he pants. “Don’t underestimate him. I know you’re strong. I know you feel invincible. But he’s been alive a lot longer than you.”
“He hurt you.” I start towards him with the single-minded intention of checking him over, but Cairo shakes his head.
“I’ll live…unless he kills you. Stand up , Fern,” he growls with an authority that has me on my feet and willing to obey him like it’s second nature, which is something to look more into later.
Tyler snarls a laugh as I turn on him, and he gets to his feet to wipe blood off of his torso. “That bitch !” He laughs. “I should’ve known she had a plan. That she wasn’t willing to stay out of this like she promised.”
“Don’t insult yourself,” I sneer. “For you to realize that would’ve required a lot more brainpower than you’ve ever shown around me.”
Shock causes his eyes to widen, and the open indignation makes me snort while Cairo lets out a rueful snicker. “You little bitch. You’re too cocky for what you are, and I’ll rip you apart while he watches.”
He lunges for me, but it’s not like that night at Bluebone Ridge. I can see his movements now, like he’s just any other human, though realistically I know he hasn’t slowed down.
I’ve just gotten faster.
I meet his lunge, though Tyler manages to score his claws down my arm, sending a white-hot shock of pain through me that has me stumbling backward in surprise. His experience lends him an advantage, and he keeps coming, knocking me to my back, his teeth bloody as he spits his fury in my face.
This is going to hurt , my brain tells me in a cool, detached way. I lift my arm up between us, knowing it won’t help, but the rush of paws and a loud, furious snarling have both of us looking back over his shoulder, just as Moro tackles him off of me.
It allows me to roll to my feet, and I do so, one hand on the ground and fingers sinking into the dirt.
The longer this goes on, the more Tyler can use his experience against me.
I’m not afraid to kill him, though the lingering pain from the claw marks in my arm is sharper than I could’ve anticipated.
When Moro leaps away from his grasping hand, I move in again, gripping his arm and breaking it soundly.
He howls, but it doesn’t put him on the ground, even though the pain must be severe.
His other hand moves in a blur, and Tyler grabs my hair to spin me around and slam me into the front of a cabin.
The wood splinters against my face from the blow, and I can feel the trickle of blood as I shove backward and headbutt him in a graceless, slightly desperate move.
“ Bitch ,” he spits, stumbling back with one hand over his face to guard his freely bleeding nose. But it’s like he’s forgotten about Moro, who closes her fangs around his leg and tears backward before dancing away to avoid his kick.
“I want to know why,” I pant, rounding on him. My heart pounds with hate and adrenaline, and my focus on him is something I’ve never experienced before. “Why do you want to kill him so badly?”
Tyler scoffs and spits out a mouthful of blood that lands near my foot.
“It’s really not obvious to you, is it? You really don’t get it.
” He feints left, and I react, making it easier for him to snap his hand out and rake his claws down my neck, tearing through my shirt.
I hiss at the hot pain of his claws in my skin, and feel blood welling to soak into the ruined fabric.
The pain doesn’t make me want to run away, however.
It only fuels my anger, and a sort of rage I’ve never known.
Cairo is mine .
The possessiveness surprises me, and it’s my good fortune that Tyler is too preoccupied with my question to take advantage of my momentary distraction.
“They respect him. They follow him,” he sneers.
“He doesn’t even have to try. And yet he doesn’t want it!
” The last words are thrown at Cairo, who is somehow on his feet, glaring sullenly at the cursed between us.
“He could have everything—he could be like Agatha, but he doesn’t just take it.
What’s wrong with you?!” He sounds desperate, and at his wit’s end.
“Why won’t you just take what you could have? ”
I don’t feel like playing fair, and when he looks at Cario again, I lunge forward, eyes fixed on his throat.
But it’s clear I’ve miscalculated when Cairo snaps a warning and Tyler’s hand comes out quick as lightning to grip my throat, his claws sinking into my flesh in a way that would’ve killed me twelve hours ago.
“Stupid little bird,” he parrots, his eyes dark and full of hate. “Stupid, stupid little thing. You could’ve had her. You could’ve had everything.” When Moro tries to nip at him, he shoves her away, easily sending her sprawling, though she gets to her feet, wary of him and panting.
My heart races as his grip tightens, and I struggle in his grip as my feet leave the ground. His claws are sharp, and the pain is blinding as he digs them deeper and deeper into my neck, making it clear what his intentions are.
“But now you can watch her die, and we’ll see if that kills you too.” My eyes find Cairo’s, and I see his hand tighten on the worst of his wounds, his eyes are desperate and pleading. But full of a dark kind of acceptance.
He won’t make it.
He can’t save me.
Suddenly, Tyler is no longer holding me, and I drop to the ground when he is thrown to the dirt beside me. Hattie screams in his face, slashing wildly at him.
“You promised! ” she hisses, tears streaming down her face. “You promised you wouldn’t hurt her, that you wouldn’t hurt me!”
Horrified, I watch as she swipes at him, and at how Tyler’s surprise and affection for her make him slow to respond.
“And you promised me you loved me!” he screams back, getting his leg between them to kick her away, causing her to land in a shuddering, sobbing heap at Cairo’s feet. He helps her to stand, even though it must pain him to do so.
Seeing all three of them there makes something click in me.
The broken girl who’d been so betrayed.
My dog, who’s saved my life now so many times, I owe her a century’s worth of filets.
And Cairo.
My body moves automatically, and I barely think to question it.
In seconds I’m pinning Tyler to the ground, one hand around his throat and sinking my claws into his neck the same way he did to me.
The blood is cold in my veins, and when I open my mouth, the sound that comes from between my teeth could never, ever be human.
But then again, I’ve never felt like this before.
Like a monster .
“ It’s time for this to end ,” I breathe, the words trickling from between my lips as my throat works in an unfamiliar way.
I don’t sound like myself, and he jerks back from me, eyes wide and staring.
Tyler tries to surge upward, but I push him back down, slamming him into the dirt so hard he sinks into it a couple of inches.
“This is for Hattie.” Without warning, I plunge my hand into his chest, feeling his ribs snap under my fingers as I reach for what I’m searching for. “For what you did to her, knowing she couldn’t understand.” He squalls like a wounded animal, fighting and bucking against me. But I’m immovable.
“This is for my dog .” My fingers curl around his heart, and I’m still holding him down with my other hand as I drive my claws into his heart, piercing the muscle as easily as if it were butter. “My dog , who you almost killed for protecting me.”
“This is for Cairo.” I twist like I’m pulling weeds from my dad’s vegetable garden, severing the vessels, the nerves, and the connective tissue. “Because he is mine .” My claws in his throat have nearly met, and he tries to gurgle a response, but blood just bubbles on his lips.
“But most importantly, Tyler?” I lean forward until my face is just above his, our lips nearly brushing.
My lips part in a grin, and somehow I know that the smile on my face is unnaturally wide, and bearing more of my teeth than should be possible.
The horror reflected in his eyes certainly tells me as much, but all I feel is a sick, dark joy at his fear and his pain.
“This is for me.” With one quick jerk, I rip upward, pulling his heart out of his chest and crushing it between my fingers. The pulpy, gory mess leaks down my fingers while he watches, and his struggles get weaker and weaker.
I’m so close to him I can feel it as he dies.
I can feel his breath escape his ruined body for the last time, whistling through his teeth.
And I know I will never forget the way his eyes darken, going blank, as Tyler finally lies dead in the dirt beneath me with his heart and blood leaking from my hands.