Page 134 of Requiem
Heather looks up at me then, and despite the tears filling her eyes, her expression hardens. “Go do what you need to do. I’m sorry that it has to be quick.”
I nod once, understanding precisely what she means.
Emma reaches for me, her cold fingers wrapping around my wrist as I turn back toward the mansion looming through the snowfall.
Rafe leans back against the seat with a grimace, blood loss draining the color from his face. “Take care of it,” he says quietly. “We could take him to the cabin if you’d like to take your time.”
All I can do is shake my head. If he wasn’t injured so badly…then maybe. But honestly, I want to rip Alexei to fucking shreds. So a few minutes is really all I need.
Rafe smiles. “Wish I could join you in there, but this is yours.”
I don’t answer, because if I speak right now, I might lose control before I even get back inside. My entire body is vibrating with the rage of everything I’ve fucking lost.
Emma follows close behind me as we run through the snow toward the mansion again, while the cold air tears through my lungs.
Alexei is awake when we walk through the basement door. He lifts his head the second I step inside, chains rattling against the concrete wall behind him. Blood streaks down his face from where I beat him earlier, but his eyes are still sharp, still trying to calculate a way out of this.
“Where is Vlad?” he demands.
I stop a few feet away from him, breathing hard. “I don’t know.”
Something flickers across his face.
“But your men are dead,” I continue quietly. “Every single fucking one of them.”
His jaw tightens, and the confidence falters just enough for me to see the terrified man underneath the monster. And suddenly, he looks pathetic. Which is insane, considering he was once the most horrifying thing in the world to me.
“Where’s her photo?” I ask, my voice lethally calm.
He spits blood and saliva toward me, but I step aside before it can touch me. A slow smile pulls at my mouth as I reach inside my jacket. The moment I pull the item out, both of them go still.
The mask.
White marred with flecks of dried blood. A relic from the darkest months of my fucking life.
I lift it and slide it over my face, and the world narrows like it always did. For a moment, I glance at Emma, and she flinches.
This is the thing that almost took me from her. The demon Alexei carved from addiction, violence, and obedience. The version of me that learned how to bleed and kill for other people and call it fucking purpose.
I hate what this mask represents. I even hate how easily it still fits me. But tonight, it serves one final purpose.
“Make it fucking hurt,”the distorted voice whispers inside my head.
My lip twitches. I turn back to the bastard who created it, then I drive my fist into his face. “Where. The fuck. Is it?”
That gets him to nod toward a black leather jacket slung over a metal chair. So I dig through the pockets and find that beautiful photo.
Emma tenses again.
“It’s okay,” I say softly, brushing my fingers over her cheek. “I’m alright, Em.”
She nods, checking her phone. “Fifteen minutes, and we need to be out of here.”
Fifteen minutes isn’t nearly enough for what I want to do to this motherfucker. But my best friend is dying.
I glance toward the table beside him and spot the shock device resting exactly where it had been left. The second my hand closes around it, Alexei’s composure cracks completely.
He inhales sharply, portraying genuine fear.
