Page 95 of Virgin Sacrifice

“She disappeared upstairs, with Aaron Croft.” The other woman’s voice quivered as she spoke, but she held her head up and answered with as much surety as she could muster. The redhead spun around to face her, the look of betrayal forming across her face, and I briefly wondered what lie she had been concocting in her head.

It mattered not.

Turning away, I marched toward Ali who had been joined by an expectant-looking Nixon.

“She went upstairs with Croft and disappeared,” I bit out furiously.

“I didn’t see either of them upstairs,” Nix said, his voice thick with irritation.

“Then let’s look again,” I snarled as I went for the stairs, climbing them two at a time.

I didn’t trust the Croft bastard at the best of times. I sure as fuck didn’t trust him with a drunk, possibly drugged girl and I’d let Nixon burn this house down with everyone in it before I trusted him with my girl.

The twins and I made quick work of searching the upstairs. Room by room we flung open doors and swept in, sending those occupants still sober enough to flee running down the stairs.

Still, no Starbright.

I stormed over to the final door and kicked it open with a righteous fury, interrupting what looked like had started out as an orgy but had since devolved into a similar state as downstairs.

“What the fuck, dude?” one guy whimpered from beside the bed where he was seated, buck fucking naked and cradling a trashcan.

“Where the fuck is Croft?” I roared, removing my hands from my pockets as I stalked over to him, kicking his equally naked buddy passed out on the floor on the way. Nixon and Ali followed in my wake, walking in perfect unison, as one of the two girls huddled over in the corner started to cry.

“He . . . he . . . took some chick in there,” he stammered, waving his hands toward the door at the back of the room.

The twins were on it instantly, Nix breaking down the door with a single kick before Ali stormed inside first, while I continued to stare down the quivering fool at my feet, the scent of piss filling the air.

A sharp whistle broke the tension. “You’ll want to see this, Ever,” Nixon called out.

I was through the door before he even finished speaking.

The room was a mess, glass everywhere and snow and wind whipping through the space from a shattered window. The wall behind the futon was cracked, as though something heavy had been thrown against it, and there was a distinctive red smear of blood.

More distressingly, there was no sign of Luz.

“She’s not here . . .” Ali said as his brother swiped at the blood on the wall with his finger and then licked it.

“And he hurt her,” Nix added, sending my blood rage wild as the need to inflict pain started to consume me. Fighting for reason, I strode over to the broken window to inspect the snowy yard below.

Of course, they weren’t there, I thought, smashing my fist into one of the hanging shards of glass in front of me. My knuckles sliced open, and I watched indifferently as my blood fell to the ground below, dotting and sprinkling the fluffy white snow that covered it. The wind whipped the falling flakes into flurries, obscuring my vision one moment before clearing the next.

That was when I saw it. A path in the snow made up of two sets of footprints, with spots of crimson scattered about. My Starbright had left us a trail.

“Don’t worry boys, our girl’s got some tricks up her sleeve,” I said as I climbed out onto the fire escape, eager to begin my pursuit.

It didn’t take long for the three of us to follow the prints to the woods at the back of the campus. The snow made for easy tracking. Luz’s footprints were smaller and set wide apart, indicating that she was running away from Croft, whose footprints chased behind her, closer together but sloppy and inconsistent, as if he was staggering to catch up with her.

The woods were dark and formidable at this time of night, and the twins and I pulled out our guns and flicked on the small mag flashlights we all kept on ourselves. When you lived in the dark like we did, it was always best to be prepared.

This end of campus was quiet, and as we followed the tracks deeper and deeper into the woods, the heavy snow absorbed all sound as a sinister silence enveloped us.

That was when I heard it. The distinctive squelch of flesh slicing open followed by a harsh shearing sound, like nails on a chalkboard, and finally, the sharp crack of bones breaking.

Usually, it was music to my ears, but tonight it shocked and unnerved me.

“This way,” I barked out as we started to sloppily make our way through trees. The snow was up to my ankles, and I’d undoubtedly ruined another pair of loafers, but I wouldn’t stop until I found her. We’d lost the trail of footsteps now, but we didn’t need it anymore as the gnashing of bones called out to us across the snow and trees.

And then, as suddenly the grisly noise started, it stopped, just as we broke through into a clearing amongst the trees.

The scene in front of me was nothing like what I was expecting. It was everything I could have ever hoped for and more.

Glowing like a specter in the waxing winter’s moonlight, bathed in blood from crown to heel, and standing over a dead body like the avenging angel of my nightmares was Luz.

Her carefully styled hair had fallen loose, hanging around her blood-splattered face like a halo. Her arms were soaked nearly up to her shoulders in blood, her pristine manicure now stained red, her stunning dress now ruined.

In one hand, she casually held a set of heavy-duty bolt cutters, which were covered in bits of viscera and gore. In her other, she held the still-steaming heart of Aaron Croft.

Sweet goddess, I was in love . . .