34. Thorn
CHAPTER 34
THORN
“I’ll call Soul.”
I nod at Mark before racing to the front porch of Tamara’s old house. Knots form in my stomach as the familiarity of the place mixes with my fear of what I’m going to find when I get inside.
“I’ll go around back,” Abyss says.
“Fine, but I’m not waiting to go in.”
“Wouldn’t ask you to.”
When I reach the front door, I find it unlocked. I twist the knob and shove it open. My nose fills with the scent of musty air, but that’s not what gains my focus.
The sound of a struggle comes from upstairs, and with each thud, my need for vengeance increases exponentially. I race up the steps, and the noise intensifies.
“You fucking bitch!”
Following the shout, I reach Tamara’s old bedroom. Without hesitation, I lift my leg and kick the door in. Delaney blocks a blow from Shawn and bends to sweep her leg to take him to his ass.
I whistle, pride swelling at her ability to take a monster down.
Delaney twists to look at me, and that’s when I notice her torn shirt, the teeth marks on his flesh, and bruises covering her face.
“You’re late,” she says calmly. “I had to start without you.”
Using her distraction, Shawn rolls to his stomach and pushes to his knees. I lunge forward and stomp on his head, knocking him unconscious and pinning him to the floor.
“Don’t remember telling you to move,” I snarl before returning my attention back to Delaney. “Are you okay?”
“Perfectly.”
I narrow my eyes. “Bullshit.”
“Do you really wanna do this now?” she counters, hands on her hips.
“No, but don’t think for a second that I’m gonna let you get by without having Abyss check you over.”
“Fine,” she quips. “Once we’re done with him.”
“Damn, brother.”
Delaney and I turn to see Abyss standing in the open doorway.
“Welcome to the party,” Delaney says matter-of-factly.
“Welcome, and goodbye,” I snap. “We’ve got this.”
Abyss stares at me for a moment before nodding. “I’ll be outside with Mark.”
He leaves, and Shawn starts to moan as he comes to. He thrashes beneath my booted foot, and rather than kick him again, I bend to haul him to his feet. Yanking him close to my face, I grin.
“Who’s the victim now, bitch?”
“And it only took you ten years to catch me,” he sneers.
Delaney moves to stand next to me and reaches up to wrap her fingers around his throat. “But it only took me five.”
“Doesn’t say much about you, Kyle, does it?” Shawn taunts. “Your little slut is better than you.”
My fist connects with his jaw, and the sound of crunching bone is intoxicating. I drag him to the chair in the corner, and Delaney begins securing the manacles around his wrists.
“What’re ya gonna do?” he slurs, his face swelling.
I shrug. “For now, we’re just gonna talk.”
“Talk?”
Shawn and Delaney speak simultaneously.
“Yeah,” I confirm. “I want some goddamn answers.”
“And when we’re done talking?” Delaney asks.
I smile at her. “We purge.”
She stares at me for a long moment before her lips curve into a matching smile. “Works for me.”
Shawn kicks his feet out like he’s getting comfortable. Idiot doesn’t even have the sense to be scared.
“Why Tamara?” I ask, deciding to start at the beginning.
He tilts his head. “Why not?”
I grip his chin, and he inhales sharply. “Answer our fucking questions, and maybe we’ll go easy on you.”
“I think it’s fitting that this all happens here, don’t you agree?” he counters. “I mean, this is where I became a man, and based on the rumors in high school, it’s also where you became a man.”
“What the fuck happened to you?” I snarl. “You were a nobody.”
“That’s what happened!” he shouts, spit flying from his lips. “Everyone treated me like I didn’t exist, so I had to make myself known.”
“And Tamara? What did she do to deserve your wrath?”
“You seriously don’t know?” When I shake my head, he chuckles. “Her sin was loving you. It’s your fault that I did what I did.”
I rear back as if slapped. It shouldn’t surprise me that this deranged monster is laying blame at others' feet, but I’ve blamed myself enough over the years for Tamara, and I don’t need him to rub it in.
“Hmm, hit a nerve, did I?” he taunts. “Now you know how I felt every time someone walked by me like I was invisible!”
“And Daphne?” Delaney asks. “What was her sin?”
“Wrong place, wrong time.”
Delaney thrusts her palm into his nose, and blood spurts. “So, what? She was just there, and you thought that meant she was fair game?”
“That’s sorta how it works.” Shawn levels his gaze on me, dismissing her. “Maybe if Tamara hadn’t been so devoted to you and responded to my advances, all those women would still be alive.”
“You can’t keep it in your pants, so they had to die?” I grit.
“I know what you think of me, what society thinks of people like me,” he begins. “But I didn’t show up to that party with the intention of killing. I ju?—”
“And raping,” I seethe.
“Yeah, yeah,” Shawn grumbles. “The point is, I didn’t set out to hurt Tamara. But she didn’t respond to my lustful advances, and that pissed me off.” Delaney begins to pace, but I remain focused on Shawn. “Ya know, I’m not a bad guy. Hell, you and I are exactly alike.”
Delaney stops in her tracks in front of him before kicking him in the balls. “You’re nothing like Thorn.”
“Really?” he asks. “Because I’ve been keeping an eye on your fuck buddy since that night, and what he does isn’t all that different from what I do. We both screw, we both kill, and we both get off on it.”
“I take out people like you,” I snarl. “Not innocent women.”
“They weren’t all women,” he corrects. “Don’t forget about Mr. Barker at the bookstore.” Shawn slides his stare to Delaney. “He begged me to stop while I was banging his wife.”
She gasps and slowly turns to face me. “Please tell me you brought my purse with you. I could really use some of my weapons right now.”
I shake my head. “Sorry. But…” Bending, I grab my knife from my boot. “Here. Use this.”
With lightning-quick movements, she grabs the knife and thrusts it into Shawn’s crotch. He wails in pain, and his screams get louder as she twists the blade before yanking it back out.
“You bitch!”
“That’s gonna be hard to cover up,” I say, pride in my tone.
Delaney shrugs. “Sorry.”
“No need to apologize, sweetheart,” I tell her. “Do whatever you have to. We’re damn good at making things appear like something they’re not.”
“B-before you do your worst,” Shawn starts. “Don’t you wanna know about the others?”
“We know all about them,” she says.
“Sure about that?”
I stiffen. “If you’ve got something to say, spit it out,” I demand.
“Ten years is a long time, and I had to get through it somehow.”
“But the map…” Delaney narrows her eyes, her hand going to her mouth.
“Haven’t you figured it out by now? You only know what I wanted you to know.”
“How many more?” I bark.
“Victims?” I nod, and he continues. “I lost count.”
“You’re pure evil,” Delaney hisses.
“I’m human,” he snaps. “There’s evil in all of us. Take your boy, Kyle.” He nods at me. “He killed that girl in Vegas. Doesn’t that make him evil?”
“I had nothing to do with that, and you know it!” I shout.
“That’s not what the evidence at the crime scene says.”
“Yet here I am, not in jail,” I remind him. “If you were gonna set me up, you should’ve done a better job.”
“So it wasn’t exactly the coup de grace I was going for. Everyone makes mistakes.”
“Are we done here?” Delaney asks impatiently. “Nothing he says is going to make sins go away, it’s not gonna bring Tamara, Daphne, and the others back.”
I stare at the man who tainted my life for so long, the prick who sent me down a dark path. I wouldn’t change the last ten years for anything because it all led me to Delaney, but if I could, I’d go back and stay to help Tamara clean up after the party.
“Thorn?” Delaney prods.
Ignoring the sinner in the chair, I yank Delaney toward me, careful of the knife she’s still holding, and fuse my lips to hers. The kiss is passionate, heated, and full of promise.
“I love you,” I say when I break contact. “I’m so sorry about your sister, but I can’t be sorry that it brought us together. Does that make you hate me?”
“Hate you?” She shakes her head. “I could never hate you.”
“Isn’t that sweet?” Shawn teases, far too happy for a man in his position.
“Please let me purge him,” Delaney begs.
I’ve wanted a piece of the Phantom for years, and I’m finally in a position to get what I want. Problem is, I can’t get the words out of my mouth to deny Delaney a damn thing.
“Go for it.”
She grins before spinning on her heel and moving closer to the chair. “Any last words? Deathbed confessions?”
“And give you the satisfaction of not having to always wonder what, or who , you may have missed?” Shawn snorts. “No.”
I fully expect Delaney to thrust the knife into his chest, but she surprises me when she tosses the weapon to the floor and takes a step forward. Rage rolls off her in waves, adrenaline fueling her every move. Shawn kicks at her, but she endures every blow as she lifts him with one arm and wraps the chain around his neck with the other.
Damn, she’s impressive.
Delaney takes a step back, admiring her work. Shawn struggles, but it only tightens the chain. The life drains from his body slowly, and I savor every second.
“Sweetheart, there’s one last thing,” I tell Delaney, grabbing her hand and threading my fingers through hers.
“Okay.”
“Repeat after me,” I instruct, and she nods. “Go forth sinners’ souls, from this world.”
“Go forth sinners’ souls, from this world.”
“May you suffer in darkness.”
“May you suffer in darkness.”
“May your home be in Hell.”
“May your home be in Hell.
“And may the Devil fuck you with his horns.”
“And may the Devil fuck you with his horns.”
Shawn takes his last breath as we finish the purge prayer, and Delaney releases a loud sigh.
“It’s over, right?” she asks.
“It’s over, sweetheart.”
She turns in my arms and presses her cheek to my chest. “Thorn?”
“Yeah?”
“I love you, too.”