Page 455 of Coal Hearts

Nobody moved.

And then...whatever strings existed in Henri frayed completely.

He didn’t seem real.

Not human.

With the smoothest arc as if he were a dancer in a past life, Henri snatched the knife out of his arm, grabbed Kyle by the throat, and shoved it into his jugular.

Kyle screeched.

A fountain of red exploded, covering Henri’s t-shirt.

“Oh my God,” Mollie gasped.

Rachel moved to my side.

None of us looked away as Henri deposited Kyle almost gently on the ground, dropped to one knee as he watched Kyle’s lifeforce pump out of his throat, and then...withdrew the knife, wiped the blade on Kyle’s slacks, and pierced it directly into his heart.

The crunch of ribs as he stabbed hard.

The whimper from Kyle as he died.

The blur of Henri’s arm as he withdrew the knife and stabbed again and again and again.

He didn’t stop.

He kept going.

A blood-covered savage as he turned a person into nothing more than a hunk of meat.

Chapter Eight

...............................

Henri

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CARNAGE AND BLOOD.

Blood and death.

Nothing else existed.

Just darkness and dying and the despicable need to slaughter.

To eradicate this world of filth.

To end all life that didn’t deserve to live.

To end myself.

I lost count how many times I killed him.

How many times I drove that blade into his flesh.

It became meditative.