Page 46 of Shattered Souls

Hyde

Seek thumps the clown, Damien, down on the metal table. The back of his head is bleeding with a nasty, but not fatal, wound. The metal leash is wrapped around my wrist as my pet on the other end mopes into the room, her eyes averting from the scene before her.

“Why is Damien here?” Seek is beyond used to our form of communication, not even needing to look at me fully to see my signs anymore.

“He touched her.” He states, not bothering to sign. “I’m not going to let another man touch her without consequence.”

“I’m not yours to claim.” She snaps at him, looking anything but intimidating with the pink strap around her neck and the metal hanging from it, pulling her into the room.

“You’re wearing a fucking leash,” he laughs. “I promise you’re ours to claim.” Something tightens in my chest as I watch her try with every fiber in her being to stay strong.

Seek strips himself of his costume, leaving himself in just his boxers and the black face paint that has long since started dripping. Rayvn watches him, her mouth slack with awe. He slides a butcher apron over his head before walking over to Damien and slapping our guest awake.

“Mmm,” Damien groans, his head lolls to the side. His eyes slowly open and land on Seek. “Oh, man. Thanks for getting me out, Seek. There was a crazy woman that attacked me.”

“Did not, you fucking freak.” She crosses her arms over her chest and pops a hip out.

“What the fuck?” Damien tries to look at her but is blinded by pain when his eyes move.

“Nasty head wound.” Seek mentions from his side. “I would try to avoid moving your eyes as much as possible. Especially since this is the best you’ll feel all night.”

Seek spins on his heel and walks over to a cabinet in the corner of the room, the one that houses the majority of our equipment. He rummages through the contents before coming back to Damien with a bottle of water.

“What is he doing?” Rayvn leans in and asks me. Her eyes are still shining with fear that I want to figure out and exploit.

“He’s relaxing after a long night of hunting you.” I sign, knowing she doesn’t understand my language. Seek walks back to the cabinet and grabs a goosewing axe. The sheath of the blade is handmade by a friend of Seek’s, as the axe was originally a gift for me to split meat with ease. Little did the gifter know that it would be used for a different kind of meat.

“Is our little scarecrow still watching?” Seek points the covered tip of the axe towards the leashed woman. Her face pales as she looks at the weapon. The things I would do to hear her piecing together what’s about to unfold right before her eyes.

“Seek—” Her words stop short as Seek pops the buttons on the sheath open. “Please.”

“Please, what?” His head cocks to the side, obviously pleased with himself. “Should I let this man walk out of here and go back to work after he touched what’s mine?” The fear seeping off of her skin sends my blood straight to my cock.

“He didn’t do anything!” She tries to move away from me, making it maybe one step before the leash pulls taut and stops her. Damien takes long and greedy sips from the bottled water, not bothering to listen to the conversation that could change his fate.

“You can’t just kill someone because they barely touched me.” Her eyes are wide now. Like she’s finally seeing the man before her for the murderer that he is—that we are.

“You don’t think I will?” The sheath is tossed to the floor, the handle grasped firmly in his dominant hand. He walks over to his victim, placing a hand on his chest while the other raises above his shoulder.

With a gasp from my pet, his hand comes down fast and hard, the weight at the tip of the axe propelling it downward faster. The axe meets skin with a wet sound that immediately calms my nerves.

A shrill, blood curdling scream comes from my left. It mixes with the pained and panicked screech of Damien as his hands desperately try to control the bleeding from the large gash in his gut.

His hand hardly has time to apply pressure to the wound before the next strike of the axe, catching three of his fingers. This time, Seek has to push on Damien’s chest to withdraw the weapon from his stomach. The blade breaks free, dripping in thick, red liquid. Hiking the axe over his head again, blood splatters the walls and ceiling with the next downward slash.

“Please!” Rayvn lunges towards Seek, desperately clawing at her neck to free herself of the restraint. “Please, stop!”

“You think I won’t fucking kill for you?” Seek raises his voice at her as he spins to face her. His face is covered in splatters and drips of thick, hot blood. She sees this and stumbles to the ground. She crawls backwards, towards me, never taking her eyes off the predator before her.

“You may think you can escape,” he lifts the axe once more. “But I’m going to show you just what’ll happen if you ever leave us.” Her back presses against my legs. The moment she feels me, she stands and throws herself at me, wrapping her arms around my middle and burying her face in my chest.

I run my hands through her hair as she sobs into my shirt. Her body’s vibrating as the fear and exhaustion leak down her reddened cheeks. The room is filled with the familiar and welcoming metallic scent, mixed with a hint of piss, as the newest victim's blood pools onto the concrete floor.

Even knowing she can’t understand me, I sign. “Your fear does nothing but fuel my desire for you.” She looks up at my face, brows scrunched in confusion.

“I-I don’t,” She trips over her words. I find it adorable that she can so easily forget that she watched me pierce someone’s eye with my hook on the night we met.

Seek looks over, no doubt feeling left out, and huffs in frustration at her lack of awareness. He hikes the axe up and brings it back down once more, another round of wet suction noises bouncing off the walls.