Page 4 of Adam
I don’t give a shit about Alaric’s little show. I’m here for one thing only—to make him suffer.
“Adam. I see you got to work already,” Alaric says with a fake smile.
I exhale, my eyes raised, wishing to find the strength in me not to butcher them all. “Why wait when I can enjoy some old-fashioned torture?” I take out my second knife from the thigh holster. “I mean, he’ll die anyway.”
Alaric chuckles broadly, shaking his head in disapproval.
I know this attitude.
Do I care? Still no.
He walks closer, grabs my shirt’s collar, and looks me in the eyes. “What did I tell you?”
I scratch my brow with the blade. “Please, do remind me.”
He takes one step closer and tilts his head. Gosh, he thinks he can scare me. “Orders were clear. Donotkill him.”
“I don’t remember such an order. Besides, are you both blind? He’s still alive, isn’t he?”
“Don’t test me, Manson,” he hisses through clenched teeth.
I raise my hands, the blades still in my palm. “I would never.”
That’s the thing about Alaric. He runs this fraternity like a war zone. He doesn’t shout to be obeyed; he just looks at you, and suddenly everyone remembers they cherish their sorry asses.
The others think he’s unhinged when he’s angry, and maybe he is, but that’s what makes them follow him.
Me? Let’s just say I don’t give a damn about that, either. I’ve seen worse things than Alaric. Enough to know he’s not the real monster here. At least, not one that can scare me.
“Alaric, please,” Neil wails.
“You! Shut the fuck up!” I shout at him.
“I’m not gonna lie; I love seeing you in action, Manson,” Alaric praises. “But you need to calm the fuck down.”
Neil starts sobbing louder, but then the most interesting thing happens.
The pathetic cries and pleads for mercy turn into laughter. Disgusting and conceited laughter. Fucking traitor.
“Leash your fucking dog and let me go,” he says through bloody teeth.
I’ve seen a lot of people beg. Some cry for their mothers. Some promise me money, or entire kingdoms that don’t even exist.
I slam my fist into his jaw. His head snaps to the side, spit and blood splattering the floor.
“Did you just ignore me?” I lean in and rest my hands on the arms of the chair. “Didn’t you hear when I told you to shut the fuck up?”
“I did, pretty boy. I just chose to blow you the fuck off.”
Where did he find such a spine?
Everyone has a line. Limits that should never be crossed, because once they are, something breaks. That’s when they snap and let the darkness swallow them whole.
It’s the trigger to make everything human inside them disappear, consumed by the bane that’s been waiting all along to eat them alive.
How intoxicating it is to hold someone’s life in your hands? To feel their fate trembling between your fingers, knowing you can snuff them out like a cheap candle.
And this motherfucker just crossed that fucking line.
