Page 110 of Villains Never Die

“Fucking hell. That’s what this is about? A mishap? You could have grieved her and gotten on with your life, but now I’m going to have to kill you and leave your body for the Council to find.”

“I killed six people,” he said, inching forward. The distance between us was narrowing. If I could just get my hands on him, I could pulse death into him. Rook would be here soon if I got woozy. He could help me with the body.

“Bravo,” I told him. “How many do you think I’ve killed?”

He lurched forward, swinging the syringe upward toward my neck. I dodged just in time. He was faster than I expected. I cast a curse toward his chest, but he moved and it bashed into his ankle instead, snapping the joint. His nasally roar assaulted my ears, like a pained war cry. The next time he threw himself at me, he caught me around the waist and I went down hard, that needle missing me by inches. The punch I landed in his face crumpled his nose again and blood spattered on my forehead and cheeks from it. A wave of dizziness washed over me at the feel of those slick red drops on my skin. He raised his hand and aimed the needle at my neck again.

“I know about you,” he gritted out. “You and Rook. I figured it out. You don’t deserve him.”

It’s water. It’s not blood, it’s just water. I tried to convince myself as I swept my sleeve across my face and refused to look at the scarlet that had seeped into my shirt. I rolled him so that I was on top of him and wrapped one hand around his throat, summoning the power of death inside me to unfurl into him.

He kneed me in the balls and I fell back, clutching myself and dragging distance between us. Charles had lost all sense to homicidal fury, and he launched at me again the moment I was on my feet.

Fuck this.

I grabbed the nearest weapon—the knife I’d spelled to kill Death—and swiped it across his throat in a great arc. Blood burst forth, soaking me, the floor, and the furniture. The syringe fell from his hand and he clutched loosely at his throat as the life burbled from it. Moments later, he fell.

Then he was gone.

A not-so-worthy adversary.

The next moments were slow and distorted, bending and warping around me in strange ways as I realized just how much blood coated the room. I counted breaths, over and over again until I had the good sense to pick up my phone.

Rook would know what to do. He’d come, and he’d help me. I didn’t have to clean this up alone.

I dialed his number, but he didn’t answer.

“Where are you?” I asked, my voice hoarser than it had been earlier. “You should be here by now. I took care of the issue with Charles. I need help with the mess.”

Austin: Care to hurry up? I have a problem.

No answer.

Austin…

A single spirit’s voice. A whisper in the dark. It had been so long since I’d heard them, I wasn’t sure it was real at first.

“What do you want?” I snapped. Between Rook’s tardiness and the literal puddle of blood I was standing in…

You need to go now. He’s running out of time.

“Who is running out of time?” The chill ached in my bones, dropping degrees and making goosebumps unroll across my own skin. If there were any heat in the room, I couldn’t feel it anymore.

He’s going to die, Austin.

No. This was over. I won. They weren’t talking abouthim.

You have to hurry.He almost made it here. He tried to warn you.

I jumped to my feet, clutching my phone. “Show me where.”

I felt the ticking of seconds at the base of my skull, and with each one, he slipped a little further away from me.

***

He had been so close, within sight of my building. He lay now on the pockmarked pavement of a side alley, where he was dying like someone unremarkable they’d find in the morning.

But they wouldn’t because I couldn’t let him die.