Page 98 of The Prey

“Oh, Robin. You made a fatal error in judgment.”

That voice.

That terrible, thick voice trickles out of the dark like it has so many times before, the sound circling around my throat and tightening. Every moment in my life seems to be threaded with that voice, taunting me, beating me, yelling at me.

“She fucking bit me,” Robin growls and leers toward me.

I take a wobbly step back. “You don't know what you've done.”

“There are consequences for every action, and I told you what would happen if you did anything other than what I instructed you to do.”

Robin stops mid-step, his gaze falling on the man who’s behind me. “I didn’t do anything to her.”

A sharp crack ripples through the room, followed by a flash. It all happens so fast; one minute, Robin’s standing, and the next, he’s falling flat on his back, a bullet hole in his head. Paralyzing fear tightens its grasp on my throat. I have to get out of here. I have to find a way to escape because I’ll be the next person with a bullet in their head.

Dazed, I turn to face the man I've hated since I was a child and figured out what it was that he truly wanted from me.

He sits in a chair on the far side of the cottage near the small kitchen. I stare at him for a long moment before my eyes drop to the small lifeless body...no...I can't.

A sob rips from my throat, and tears flood my eyes. No. No. No. I press a hand to my mouth to stop the agony from spilling out.

“Ah, my beautiful Ely. I knew we’d get here. It took a little work, more than I expected, but we’re back to where we were before.”

“No! No!” I scream and step away from the monster in front of me.

I forget Robin’s lifeless body is behind me, and in my haste to escape, I trip over his legs. I land hard on the cracked and pitted floor, my head bouncing like a basketball against it.

Get up. Move, I scream at myself.

Black spots appear in my vision, and try as I may to blink them back, to hang onto the present, the throbbing sensation in my head makes that impossible.

“Yes, Ely. Mine. All fucking mine.” Yanov’s voice haunts me, even as the world around me goes dark.