Page 94 of Dead Vengeance

This is Archer’s house.

This is Archer’s room.

And that funny feeling I had about Archer this whole time slams home.

He’s not about to be my boyfriend. He’s about to be my killer.

That’s why Archer’s house is full of ghosts.

He’s a murderer.

He’s a serial killer.

He’s a killer, and he’s killed all of them.

And I need to get the fuck out of here.

twenty-eight

An Even Worse Discovery

Archer

Irip the stake out of Fabian, coating myself in a spurt of warm blood in the process. I’ll have to remember to change my shirt before Liam sees me because this is not the look of a prospective boyfriend.

“Another chicken?” I whisper at Edgar, possibly a little too harshly. I can tell he’s pissed when he breaks the thing’s neck without even a squawk of protest.

He’s right. Three deaths in three days? Where’s he supposed to keep finding things to be killed, especially at such short notice? And yes, they were due for the chopping block anyway, so…

I grasp the animal, and honestly, I’m thankful it’s a big one. Fabian’s heart is all torn up, in every sense of the words by the looks of it. I can barely see a thing for blood. I have to fix bones again, and fuck, I’m so bloody tired going into three days of this.

But there’s no way in hell I’m letting Liam see him. I need to be fast.

Pressing my eyes shut, I slam a hand down on him, and visualise it—the healing, the knitting, the blood creeping back into his body, crawling back into the arteries, ready to pump fresh through him when his heart finally bursts back to life. The bones crackle into place with crisp finality, and beneath my hand, the skin bounces plump and whole.

Yet the toll is on me this time… I feel it from the first touch, that life essence draining from me when I already didn’t have enough. When I haven’t had time to restore since the last two deaths.

Overwhelming weakness flows alongside the life energy of the bird. I want to take that energy. Keep it for myself. Take enough from this animal to make sure I’m going to wake up from this too. To get back to the front door where Liam’s waiting for me, because if this bastard wakes up and kills himself again, it’s over. I can feel it. I don’t have enough fight left to do this one more time.

His heart slams against my palm, and I wrench my hand away, my entire body following, my back landing hard against a wooden beam. That’s going to bruise, but I don’t have the energy to care. I don’t care about much of anything but Liam. Not until Fabian sits up, looks around, then cries out, “Again?”

I force my eyelids open just long enough to say, “Get the fuck off my property. And don’t come back.” My eyes roll back, a wave of darkness coming for me.

“Kraa!” sounds in my ear. My eyelids snap back open with reeling shock and fresh fear of the predicament.

I scan the area, but Liam still isn’t here. Some warning rings in the back of my brain telling me that’s a little odd. I’m not sure I’d wait there on my doorstep that long, but I guess I did make it clear it’s pretty important. Didn’t I?

I roll to my side, leaning against the post to get my balance as I climb to my feet, but two voices dizzy me before I can get my wherewithal.

“If you do it again, Archer’s going to be pissed. And when Archer’s pissed, Archer shuts gateways, and I don’t get to see you anymore.”

Simon’s voice. Simon being weirdly… helpful?

“He can’t keep us apart,” Fabian argues vehemently. “Nothing can keep us apart now.”

“Dear boy, I hate to tell you,” Simon replies, “but it’s not Archer keeping us apart right now.”

Still grasping at the rough wood, I lean a little closer to hear Fabian’s shocked, “What are you saying?”