25. June #2
“Shut up!” he growled, pinning my wrists above my head with one hand. His other hand went to the hem of my top, the fabric tearing with a sharp rip as he yanked it upwards.
I thrashed beneath him, my legs kicking wildly, trying to hit his shins. I bit down on his palm, tasting dirt, and he let out a scream of pain, striking me across the face. The world tilted. I felt my skirt being hiked up, the freezing air hitting my thighs as he fumbled with his belt.
“Please,” I sobbed into the dirt, my voice a broken rasp. “Please stop.”
“You know you want it,” he whispered, leaning down to bite at my neck.
I closed my eyes tight, the smell of cigarette smoke and his sweat filling my lungs. I waited for the final violation, my soul withdrawing into a tiny, dark corner of my mind where the twins couldn’t find me.
A sudden thud cut through the air, instantly followed by the heavy weight of Billy collapsing forwards against me. His body jolted violently, his back arching in a grotesque, unnatural way as a choked gasp tore from his lungs.
Through the dim shadows, I saw the handle of a hunting knife protruding from the base of his skull—thrown with such terrifying, pinpoint precision it had stopped him instantly.
Before I could even process the hit, Billy’s weight suddenly changed again. He was ripped off me, hauled backwards by an unstoppable force. I scrambled back, my eyes flying open to see a shadow towering over us, blocking out the stars and the dim glow of the moon.
It was Julian.
He looked like a demon summoned from the blackest part of the woods, his eyes completely devoid of humanity.
He didn't hesitate. He grabbed the handle of the knife embedded in Billy’s skull, ripping it free with a sickening squelch, before burying his fingers deep into his hair to yank his head back.
With a slow, deliberate movement—the kind of hyper-calculated focus that made him look entirely unhinged—Julian dragged the blade across Billy’s exposed throat from ear to ear.
I watched in frozen, shocked horror as the skin parted like wet paper.
A vicious, wet spray erupted, hitting my chest and face.
It was warm. Unnervingly warm, smelling heavily of iron as it drenched me and the dead leaves around us.
Billy let out a wet, gurgling sound as his hands clawed feebly at Julian’s arm, but Julian just stood there.
He remained entirely still, watching the light fade from Billy’s eyes with cold detachment.
He waited until the gurgling stopped and Billy’s body went limp before he shoved the corpse off me as if it were nothing more than a piece of trash.
I scrambled back on my elbows, my breath coming in short, panicked gasps. I was covered in it. Billy’s life was smeared across my skin, hot and sticky.. I hit the base of a tree and curled into a ball, my body shaking with such violence I thought my bones might fracture.
“June! June, look at me!”
Julian was on his knees in front of me in a heartbeat. He reached out, his hands stained a terrifying shade of red, and gripped my shoulders. I was too far gone to answer, my eyes fixed on the puddle of blood growing beneath the dead boy.
Then, a second shadow stepped out of the trees.
“What the fuck happened?” Cain’s voice sliced through, cold and sharp.
Julian didn’t look up. He didn’t let go of me. He just tightened his grip until his knuckles were as white as the bone under Billy’s throat. “You were supposed to be fucking watching her!” Julian growled at him, the sound vibrating through my own body.
Cain stood at the edge of the clearing, his arms crossed, looking at the scene with that same clinical, detached expression he had for everything.
“I knew I couldn’t fucking trust you to keep her safe,” Julian spat, his voice rising in a venomous, blood-soaked rage. “Too worried about yourself to give a fuck about anyone else. What’s new?”
“Shut the fuck up,” Cain warned, his voice a low hiss.
“She was nearly raped!” Julian roared, finally looking up, his face a mask of gore and fury. “And you sit laughing and drinking by a fire only a few meters away!”
The air between them was electric, a decade of resentment and rivalry exploding over my head. I couldn’t take the noise. I couldn’t take the smell of Billy’s blood anymore.
“Stop yelling… please,” I whispered, my voice sounding far away. I reached out, my fingers trembling. “Julian, take me home. I want to go.”
“It’s okay. I’m here. Nobody can ever hurt you,” he said, his voice a low, vibrating rumble that cut through my hysterics. He currently looked like death in human form.
Looking at Julian, every ounce of suppressed emotion from the time we’d spent apart—the hollow ache in my chest, came flooding back with a violence that rivalled the murder I’d just witnessed.
I missed him. I missed him so fucking much.
The sobs racked my body, raw and real. In that moment, I didn’t care that he’d just killed someone. I didn’t care about the warmth of the blood covering us, or the knife still clutched in his hand. I reached out, burying my face in his blood-soaked shirt.
“Julian, take me home,” I choked out through the tears. “Please… just take me home.”
“I’ve got you, June bug,” he whispered, his own voice cracking as he pulled me into the gore-stained sanctuary of his arms. “I’ve got you.”
Through my tear-blurred eyes, I looked past Julian’s shoulder, searching for the other half of my nightmare. Cain was still standing there, draped in shadows. He stood frozen and silent.
Just watching us.
His expression was so pathologically cold, that it disturbed me more than the murder Julian had just committed.
There was no remorse in his eyes for the girl he’d almost lost, and none for the brother he’d just betrayed.
There was only a hollow, narcissistic void—a look that told me he wasn’t finished with me yet. Not by a long shot.