Page 26 of Divine Violence
Fairytale endings were nothing more but stories for little kids, too naïve and too young to know otherwise. I saw what promises of forever did to people. It changed them, took away who they truly were. I saw it happen to my mother, until the only thing she was filled with wasn’t love but resentment toward my father, my brother and me.
I saw what it did to my father, knowing that his wife sought comfort in the arms of another. I felt it on my own skin when the pillars of our ivory tower shattered, falling down in pieces, and I could do nothing to stop it.
So, no. I didn’t believe in forever, and least of all with these three.
The women who came before me were never found. Young girls filled with a need to be loved, to be cherished even if it was for one more night, lost their life to these three monsters because they didn’t like who those girls were deep beneath the layers they showed the world.
They didn’t like the reality of them and those poor women paid the price.
Insanity was a living, breathing thing in these three. No matter how much they wanted to believe that what they were doing was right, it was so fucking wrong. If they couldn’t see it, then they shouldn’t be a part of this world.
Dominic’s hands went slack around my throat, his thumb softly pressed against my pulse point. I hated the shivering that racked my body from the way he pressed himself to me. I hated that they affected me at all.
“So what’s it gonna be, Dom?” I licked my lips as the question softly rolled off my tongue. “Are you going to kill me now?”
“Shut up,” he gritted out. “Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!” he screamed, shaking me against the wall. My back hit the hard surface behind me, but I kept my head away from it as much as possible.
A concussion wasn’t something I needed tonight, but the rest of my body could take the brunt of injuries.
“Dominic!” Kairos roared behind him, but Dominic was lost to us. His demons had a grip on him that none of us could physically see. But it was there in his eyes. The darkness pushed forward, erasing all the light and good things that made him.
“Stop it!” Alexander butted in and threw Dominic off me. His big body hit the floor with a thud, and he groaned at the impact. I didn’t dare move from the spot where Dominic had me pinned mere seconds ago.
I rubbed at the sore spot on my neck, working my throat through the burn that had me wincing as I tried to swallow.
Alexander moved the hair behind my ear, enveloping my face with his hands. “Are you okay?” he asked, almost whispering. The torment and that soft fucking touch almost unraveled me on the spot.
But I couldn’t waver. Not now.
Pushing his hands off me, I moved away from him, going closer to the door. “I don’t need you to save me, Alexander,” I bit out. “Did you already forget what I just told you guys?”
“I didn’t forget it,” he gritted out. “I’m just choosing to ignore it. Contrary to popular belief, we aren’t monsters.”
“Really?” I huffed. “Then what do you call what just happened? Or, jeez, I don't know.” I chuckled. “The bodies of all those girls that came here before me, only to end up dead.”
“That’s different,” Kairos stepped in.
“How’s it different, Kai?” I asked him, slowly inching closer and closer to the door. I pointed at Dominic. “He admitted that he killed one of them. So please, do tell me, which part of this story makes you three saints?”
“We did it for a reason, dammit!” Kairos thundered. “There’s a reason for all of this.”
“Is that what you tell yourself at night when the nightmares are stronger than the sweet dreams? Is that what I’m supposed to believe? That the three of you are some sort of saviors?” I laughed. “I didn’t come here tonight to be just another number, you idiot. I came here for a reason.”
In a split second, Kairos was in front of me. “You don’t want to mess with us, Echo. Pretty little things like you shouldn’t mess with big, bad wolves.”
“Oh, darling,” I murmured, lifting my hand toward his face. A five-o’clock shadow covered his jaw, and my fingers tingled as I brushed through them. “Your wickedness never scared me. I knew what I was getting into when I agreed to come here tonight.” I looked at Alexander and then at Dominic who was still sitting on the floor, fuming.
I lifted myself on my tiptoes, reaching his ear. “But mine,” I breathed out, “should terrify you.”
His entire body stiffened, and I knew that if we were in any other situations, if he wasn’t so distracted by everything that was happening, he would’ve seen me gripping my Swiss pocketknife. He would’ve noticed that a lamb wasn’t a lamb at all, but a wicked wolf.
He would’ve noticed me lifting it as I whispered those soft words.
My hands were steady as I gripped the back of his neck with my left hand, playing with the strands of his hair. His chest was close to me, almost plastered to my own, and I knew I couldn’t finish it all here.
I needed reinforcements. I had to alert Athanasya that it was time.
Moving back, I looked up, right into his eyes.
