The Boogeyman #2
Jo, Phillip, and Sloan all had weapons out, ready to dice the asshole to pieces.
The first time all three had something in common was ironically their death-to-Eros expressions as they rushed to intervene.
But something exploded from inside my chest, the elusive power finally waking the fuck up, and then everything froze.
Time stopped.
I freed myself from the Fae’s murderous hold and rubbed my neck, the feeling of phantom fingers still assaulting my throat.
For a second, I wondered, as the world stood still and my companions rushed to slice this formidable killer down to the bone, why my intuitive power chose frozen time and not hellfire—or anything else I was capable of doing. Why did it always come to a pause with this bastard?
Of course, I’d take whatever chance I was given. I’d failed to kill the snake-bastard last time, and I wouldn’t this time. I’d rectify my mistake. I’d snuff out a life that had destroyed thousands, probably tens of thousands.
Vindictive V was here for vengeance, for vindication, for violence, for victory, and I’d make it resonate and ripple.
Send the message to our enemies, to the ones waiting for their chance, that no one, not this killer, not the next, would ever overcome me.
I was V. I was a badass motherfucker, and I’d make damn sure the world knew it.
That Lux and his Seven-whatevers boyband knew it.
Looking down at my own daggers, I took a second to breathe through the feeling in my head, the world going topsy-turvy as it always did when time froze. Nausea slammed into my stomach, but I fought through it and jerked my eyes over to Blood Slayer.
Phillip’s stare was the most homicidal I’d ever seen them, save a few other times in the clutches of Eros.
I wished I could give him this moment; let the other Hunter be the final blow to the bastard who’d taken good people from him.
But I couldn’t risk it, not with the world’s future resting on my shoulders.
Stealing the sword from Phillip’s clutch, I let loose another shaky breath that expelled a lifetime of pain and heartbreak.
My shoulders tensed, body poised, and I didn’t waste another second.
With a rageful cry, I sliced straight through Eros’s thick neck.
At the very least, it’d be Phillip’s sword that delivered justice for every life this bastard had stolen from him.
I let that thought guide my hand as I stabbed it into the asshole’s cold, black heart, then cut it down until the metal blade struck violently against the stone floor.
The air shuddered and time moved again.
Before anyone could reach him, Eros’s eyes widened and the light in them died and dulled.
Blood spilled out of his body, pouring onto the floor.
At least, I thought it was blood. The color was far from human.
It was pale-blue with a pearlescent sheen, and it gave me the heebie-jeebies.
Somehow, I hadn’t noticed the color the last time I got a hit on the asshole with a few arrows, but it was hard to miss with it pouring like a fountain out of him.
Phillip’s eyes shot over to me before slowly sliding down to Blood Slayer in my grip. He lifted his tattooed hands in confusion, and then stared at me for answers. Answers he already knew.
Sloan was quickly yanking me away from Eros’s reach, but the Hunter couldn’t say anything before the Dark Fae collapsed in on himself, body suddenly consumed in magical blue flames. Then the bastard who’d haunted my nights was gone, the blood on the floor the only evidence he’d ever been there.
It was silent for a few moments before Cassius sighed loudly, combing through his hair with a smile.
“Oh, good. I was really worried there for a second we were all done for.” Our group’s eyes were on him, and his Adam’s apple bobbed, eyes flicking from one person to the next.
“What? I’m just saying what we were all thinking. But also, um, what just happened?”
Jo was near me, her face removed of all emotion. “You can move through pauses of time?”
“Say what?” Cash squealed, his comical reaction lost on me when Jo’s words registered almost as accusatory. “You mean to say she’s a Time Mover?”
Time Mover? Guess whoever made their names didn’t have a great imagination. A high schooler could’ve come up with something better.
Suddenly, my body was made of jelly, and my legs gave out from under me. Sloan moved like a flash of lightning and saved me from an ill-timed “Well, hello there!” with the floor.
“V needs rest,” was all the Brit said before scooping me up into his arms in a princess hold that instantly brought color to my cheeks.
I didn’t need to look over to know Phillip’s face and body were probably saying a lot of angry and homicidal things right about now, but I also didn’t have the strength to do anything about it.
It was a chore just to hold my head up, and honestly, I really didn’t.
I let it fall onto Sloan’s shoulder after a few seconds of trying.
I hated how much my heart responded to the beautiful Brit’s touch, and how a little part of me wished it’d never stop. Wished he’d hold me in his arms forever so I could breathe in his masculine scent. Let the alluring fragrance wash over my body and paint me in Sloan’s aroma.
Would I smell like him after this? Something about that gave me butterflies in my stomach, and I combatted my urges for one while the other looked on, unaware my head was cheating on him already.
Fuck.
It was another reminder that now that the nasty business of killing Eros was finished, another beyond uncomfortable moment was in my near future.
But I’d heed Jo’s words. I’d live messy and apologize to no one. Okay, so I’d apologize, but only for being a confused mess of a woman who was probably putting a spell on everyone, definitely a shameless sex addict, and apparently attracted to anyone with a pulse these days.
I was hit out of nowhere with a dizziness rivaling one of those playground merry-go-rounds from my childhood. You know, the ones that probably killed and dismembered children in the eighties.
Sloan’s hold on me constricted before the world faded away to darkness, and I sunk into the deep abyss of sleep.