“Fucking bitch! I’ll kill you…I’ll kill every last one of you!” Miriam howled and raised bloody fingers.
I could feel their blood, feel their disease. It was in the air, on my skin. It was bearing down on me, crushing me from the inside.
Kenya coughed bloody spittle into the air. Desperation howled, burning through my veins. I wasn’t friends with this woman. I owed her nothing more than a warm meal and a place to rest…and yet my feet refused to move, grounded by her side. “I don’t want to fight you, Miriam. I have nothing you want. Leave Kenya alone, and we’ll walk out of here. You never have to see us again.”
“You have everything I want,” Miriam snarled. “Your pretty face, your perfect fucking skin…your life—how’s that? I want your life, you fucking bitch.”
My heart lunged, slamming against the inside of my chest. The hum carried like a nerve wound tight—a nerve that was wrapped around my soul. The Calling filled me, blinding me with exploding stars in my eyes.
My fingers trembled as Miriam turned to her friend and smiled. “Let’s kill this bitch, Sara.”
Sara said nothing, turning dark beady eyes to me, and then lunged. Her fists were fast and hard, bare knuckles finding my ribs.
I blocked, stumbled, tried to shove her arms as she swung. Miriam slashed, driving the shiv through the air. Pain lashed my arm, the cut savage and deep.
Don’t let them trap you.
Miriam swung once more. I shoved my hand, fingers wide, palm in, shoving the knife away.
On the outside, Harlow. That’s it, honey.
Sara came from my left, swinging wide. She aimed for my face as I windmilled my arm, blocking the blow, and then I wrenched my foot high. Stars danced, the glow stealing the faces of the crowd as I lashed out, driving my boot through the air and into her knee.
Fight, Harlow, Dad snarled inside my mind. Survive anyway you can.
The crunch was sickening. Sara buckled, fell to the floor, and reached for her knee. Her wails pierced my head and echoed in the dark. My breaths were raw and heavy, tearing from my chest as Miriam let out an unmerciful scream and leapt into the air.
Her body smashed into mine, knocking me backwards with her weight. Fire lashed my side, and again, down low…biting like wicked fangs before she wrenched her hand high. Blood coated her hand, fresh and real…my blood…that’s my blood.
Instinct was in the driver’s seat, reaching out to grasp her shirt. One yank and she was falling. Heat flared once more in my thigh as she smashed into my body. I left the pain behind.
I left everything behind as I rolled, straddled her thighs—pinning her underneath me and drove my fist into her face. My knuckles crunched, blood spilled as her lip split.
“Kill her!”
The crowd screamed behind me, but I was too far gone to care—deep within the pain—swallowed by the hate of this world. I wrenched my fist back, my muscles screamed, tendons wound tight as I unleashed again.
Her eyes widened, a second before the blow. Her teeth cracked, buckling under the force. The sound of my heart was all I could hear—the thunder consuming, stealing the cage, stealing her.
She was nothing…no one. Just a woman—just a hateful woman. I lashed out, punching once more. She was this world, this day, any day…three years of days. She was loneliness.
She was the end.
I stilled, sucked in hard breaths and stared at her face. She was unrecognizable, a mess of cracked teeth and a bloody pulp. I saw her then, saw what I’d done—saw what I was capable of.
My legs wouldn’t work, slipping from under me as I tried to stand. I shoved again, forcing my knees underneath me, and stood.
They were everywhere, fingers gripping the cage walls. Faces filled with hate and lust. Revulsion rolled my belly. I lifted my head, staring into the murky light, and felt the room sway.
Movement captured my eye. He strode along the back of the crowd, hood pulled low, his face hidden…all except for his lips…and his chin.
I stared, watching his slow stride. Turn your head. Turn your head and look at me. The hum inside grew, buzzing through my veins, slashing lightning through my head.
He never turned, never once looked inside the cage.
My fingers danced, trembling, as the Calling raced.
Blood dripped from my fingers, screams came from the shattered woman at my side…and yet in that second, he was everything.
“Well done!” Miles screamed, his roar carving through the cheers. “We have a winner.”
The hooded stranger stepped behind the crowd, and he was lost…lost to the darkness…lost to the hate.
“Harlow…”
A whisper came to my right. I spun, bloody knuckles raised, ready to hit, ready to defend.
“Harlow.”
Kenya blinked and stared at me. Her fingers trembled as she lifted her hand. My knee buckled, pain bit deep, making me weak, and I crumpled.
Tears blurred. I owed her nothing, and yet I reached for her, grasping her hand and her shoulder. She was heavy in my arms, so very heavy.
“Need to listen…”
Her lips moved. I couldn’t hear, couldn’t do anything but hold her, feel the weight of her body, feel the warmth of her skin. “It’s okay…you don’t need to talk.”
“Listen to me.”
There was no plea, only determination—only need. Her brown eyes darkened, lips trembled. A sheen of sweat masked her face. She looked different under the harsh yellow lights, not the woman I dined with…not the woman I followed.
“The clinic…the one where I made you wait…in the wall—” she winced, her breath hard, choking. “The wall…there’s a hole.”
“You don’t need to…” I started.
Her fingers clenched, fisting the hem of my shirt. “In there is a book. I don’t know which one. I don’t know who he is. Chuck. Kris…Damon. You need to save them…you need to find him. This time it’s different…not natural…”
She stilled, her breath froze. Tendons tightened along her neck as her spine bowed. A whimper slipped from her lips. “Not natural…not naturalnotnaturalnotnatural…nnnnnnn…”
Her words were fast now…just a jumble of desperate noises.
Until she stilled. Silence settled in her brown eyes, the kind of silence I’d heard before.
Her fingers relaxed, her hold no longer needed.
I lifted my hand, touched her brows and skimmed her lids.
I once buried my mother, and my sister, and now…
My throat tightened, like a fist rammed deep.
Now, I’d buried my friend.
12
“Are you Pestilence?” Miles murmured. His voice deep and husky, moving closer. “Are you this goddamn disease?”
His breath brushed my cheek, warming my ear.
I didn’t want to meet that gaze, didn’t want to see the filthy thoughts that danced in his eyes as he whispered. “Are you the end of this hateful goddamn world…or are you the beginning?”
“Fucking bitch!” Sara howled as she rolled and clutched her knee. The angle was all wrong, kinked to the side… “You don’t want her, Miles. You have me…you have us!”