18. Chapter 18 #2
Sadie’s fingers twitch into odd angles as she begins to circle me.
Fiercely focused, she hasn’t blinked since her eyes opened.
At least this rider doesn’t talk; that’s the only improvement compared to Liz, who I’ve been seeing more of lately—the countess comes out of her shell around certain men.
I had a run in with her the other day—vile woman.
Woke up with her sitting on top of my stomach wearing Sadie’s naked body.
Pale hair covered her tits, tickling the skin of her ribs where flesh prickled with goosebumps, and her rosy nipples teased my gaze with faint glimpses of the hardened points.
I made the mistake of reaching for her, running my heavy hands up her bare thighs to her hips littered with bruises I’ve left there.
There was no telling at the time that Liz had taken over, not until she spoke.
“Sh…shit, Sadie. If you don’t stop rocking your hips, I’m going to come like this.”
“Mm, eager as ever, base fellow.”
I didn’t catch it at first, caught up in how fucking good she was making me feel and the fact that she made the first move.
Helplessly wrapped around her fingers, I sat up with her still straddling me. My coiled arms held her hovering a few inches over my cock as I kissed the earthy taste of morning out of her mouth.
I was already nudging her pussy when it hit—base fellow.
Forcing myself to stop, the anticipation swelling in my stomach soured when I looked into her beautiful face and saw hatred staring back.
She rolled onto her back and snickered at me once I threw her off.
Just to fuck with me more, she skimmed Sadie’s curves with her disgraceful hands, touching what wasn’t hers to caress—assaulting the body of the woman I’m obsessed with.
We went around and around that day. I set my phone up to record after getting to my pants and yanking them on.
I wanted to log something to show Sadie, let her see what they were doing with her while she wasn’t coherent.
Also, so she can see she’s not always ripping things apart and leaving a path of destruction; instead, the demons violate her for any bit of leverage.
I didn’t tell her about Liz trying to use her against me. That would have destroyed her.
She was embarrassed, horrified, and distraught when I showed her the video—letting her witness Liz’s assault.
I promised not to show anyone, but now she knows: Kate kills, Liz defiles, and they leave her to pick up the pieces.
She deteriorated afterwards. Wondering if she’s ever harmed someone else in the same way.
After a lot of convincing, she let it go.
I’ve stalked her for five years; I’d know if she was with anyone else and she hasn’t been. There’s no way she’s made a move on me, either—I thought she understood that, but looking at Kate wearing Sadie like a venetian mask…
I’m the enemy. A threat and a meal all in one—I’m the prey.
Changing directions, Kate growls. Inching forward, she eats up the safety between her body and mine, one jittery step at a time. Malevolence melting off of her in blobs.
I don’t know why she has a personal vendetta with the living—supposed existing is enough to warrant malice. Then, at times, I wonder how she managed to invade Sadie without killing her.
Disregarding her growl, I shift the other direction. Pausing gives her the opportunity to attack.
“Whatever happened in therapy isn’t worth damaging her. I had to stop you. If you continued, you’d have killed her, and would’ve died too.”
It’s a shot in the dark. Hopefully one that sticks, but the way her face contorts tells me the revelation pisses her off.
Lurching, I react by dropping into a defensive posture—hands lifted to protect and stun if needed.
At a standoff, her head jerks to one side then back to the other.
She tilts her head back and reaches for her throat again.
Kate's claws scrape angry red lines from below her mandible down to where the chain of her necklace sits. Hell bent, I rush her when blood beads at the surface, seeping out of the gouges to drip down her thin neck.
Explosively, I capture her wrist and yank them away, slamming them to the small of her back. Damage scored into my girl’s neck an uncanny reminder of how close we’re getting to no return…
“Keep hurting her and I’ll hunt down every holy man from here to the Vatican to split you open and pry you out of her as painfully as possible.”
“Do it.”
Two gravel churned words pinch my brows together. I’ve never heard her speak before, it’s always animalistic yowling and haunting cries of abuse. Speechless, my hands compress her wrists tighter, half thinking she’s about to do something shady and make me hurt Sadie instead.
“Cat got your tongue?” Kate yanks as repulsive words spit free from Sadie’s chapped lips.
“Kiss her goodbye, maeter. I’m going to eat her from the inside out, starting with the soft matter of her succulent brain. After that, I’m going for the very eyes you get lost in, fantasizing about a future with a girl who won’t live past twenty-five.” She jeers.
“Did you know eyes pop like fresh-picked grapes when teeth break past the sclera, filling your mouth with nectar? I’ll make my way down each tender bit of her until there’s nothing left except bone, and then I’ll turn her into the prettiest hair combs and ivory buttons.”
Sadie told us, every time the therapist gave her a new pill or someone brushed off her madness, her mind wasn't her own. I’ve always believed her, absorbed everything she’s shown me, but hearing this shit straight from the horse's mouth is terrifying.
She’s nothing like her uncle, even if she thinks she’s a carbon copy. He had religious delusions, obsessed with categorizing people as sinners or saints, only to change the definition when it benefited him.
Emotionally and physically abused by the church, he made sense of the world through crucifix-shaped glasses. While it was all a lie, it gave him purpose and direction. Where he had frayed structure, she’s anarchic with nothing left to keep her battered pieces together.
If this…thing…thinks it’s going to take all that’s left of Sadie, it’s sorely mistaken.
It may have beaten her mind and body into submission, demanding free reign to come and go as they please, but one thing’s for damn sure.
Her heart is mine, and I’ll send this bitch packing if it’s the last thing I do.
Lunacy is the only way I can describe what overcomes me—my crazy’s devoted to protecting hers.
A low rumbling laugh creases my stubbled cheeks when I look her over and lick my lips.
“I’m going to burn you out of her.”