Page 38 of Burn For Me

“Where the fuck are you going, man?” a male voice called out. I stepped deeper into the shadows behind the counter that was brimming with the assortment of candy.

“I need to take a piss. I’ll be right back, and don’t drink all the fucking beer on me,” a different guy yelled his voice echoing as he started down the long corridor toward the concession area.

“Just piss on the grass,” someone yelled.

“No, I work here, and don’t you fucking dare either, or I’ll kill you.”

The sound of feet echoed off of the cement floor. He belched and then complained to himself about the stench.

Classy.

I had no idea which of these fucking assholes had broken into Dora’s house. The only description in the officer’s notes was a nickname, Hog. I guess it didn’t really matter. As far as I was concerned, they’d all die by association alone.

A long shadow was cast out of the corridor into the hallway. When you were born into the dark you learned to blend and become one with it. He never even glanced my way, but I recorded everything about the man—the slight sway he had to his stride, the shaggy dark hair, and the chains rattling around his neck as they flopped against his bare chest. He also had a ridiculously large and gaudy tattoo of an eagle on the left side of his neck that a two-year-old could’ve colored in better.

As he moved, I moved. I was the thing parents warned their children about, the monster that hid in the dark and the harvester of souls.

I followed the piece of shit into the bathroom. He never heard me or saw me until the mop he called hair was being firmly gripped. I pressed the sharp blade to his throat. The hot streams of piss miraculously continued to land in the urinal despite the fact he was shaking. I’d always hated being the tall one in the class, the one that everyone called Big Foot or the Troll, but now being six-six had a very distinct advantage over the much smaller man.

“Do you want to live?” I whispered like a lover into his ear, and his body shivered.

I could feel his Adam’s apple move against the blade before he nodded a slight yes.“Then you’re going to tell me what I want to know.” Again, another nod. “First, put your cock away before I decide to cut it off.”

I smirked as the guy gave it a hard shake and stuffed it into his jeans.

“Good,” I growled in his ear and loved the sweat that formed on his skin.

I was tempted to fuck with him and lick it off, but I had a mission to complete. Fucking with this one pathetic piece of barbecue was only one small part. “Tell me, is your name, Hog?”

I elevated a small amount of pressure from his throat so he could speak.

“No,” he whispered, and I mentally gave him a bonus point for not trying to scream.

“Is he here?”

“Yes.”

“How many of you are there?”

“Four.”

“Very good. Now tell me, did anyone in your group rob a farm tonight?”

Before the man opened his mouth, I knew the answer. His body quaked harder in my hold. The stench of fear emanated off his musky skin as my leather-clad hand tightened and yanked his head back enough so his eyes could see mine. His eyes shimmered with terror. I wanted him to see how much I wanted him to die, and there was a silent begging in his expression that excited me.

“Yes.”

“Thank you,” I said softly as I drew the knife with quick precision across this throat.

His eyes went wide, his body thrashing in my hold as his hand gripped at the gash. Blood sprayed all over the urinal wall with every pump of his pathetic heart. He went still in my hold, and I watched his eyes dim, savoring the moment that no life would be left inside his body.Pushing the corpse away, I snickered as his body went to his knees, and his face landed in the piss he had yet to flush. I never promised this man I would let him live.

I stepped out of the bathroom and made it back to the shadows just in time. The same voice that yelled earlier said, “Hurry the fuck up.”

“Come on, man, you better not have passed out in there, you stupid fuck!” The man stomped along the concrete, and my muscles flexed as I prepared to spring.

As soon as asshole number two stepped out of the corridor, I grabbed him by his hair and hauled him into the darkness. Quickly, I wrapped my other arm around his neck like a thick python. This man struggled hard in my grasp, his hands smacking on my forearm, but his attempts at fighting back were equivalent to a human wrestling with a grizzly bear.

I could feel his resolve weakening as his air supply wasn’t re-established, and I squeezed a little harder to make sure he knew who was in control, and there was no escape. Asshole number two went limp, and I let him sink to the floor and grabbed the blue rope and the roll of silver tape.