Page 80 of Hellbound

“XccceerEE—XXCEEIT—AAAEL—”

Static exploded in her ears as Marian shoved the blade into Roman’s belly. Hot blood gushed forth, pouring over her hands.

Roman spasmed violently, then stilled. His remaining intact eye rolled forward, revealing a familiar green iris. He collapsed on top of Marian with a wet gurgle, convulsing so violently that loose flesh slapped her hard enough to bruise. She screamed and tried to throw him off, but every part of him was scalding to the touch. Bones snapped. His splintered fingers grasped desperately for her, no longer hurting, just holding. Like he was trying to anchor himself to her.

A shockwave passed through her, bringing with it a pressure like the moment before a lightning strike. Marian braced herself for whatever was coming.

Fuck. Oh, fuck.

Roman’s jaw went slack, his eyes wide. He looked down at Marian, his expression utterly lost and confused. Another memory hijacked her thoughts.

A small boy, not unlike her, the butt of every joke. Passed from family to family with none to call his own. A burden, alone and hurting. Waiting to mean something to someone. Yearning to be strong enough to need no one. He was soft, once. But no more will he live as an open wound.

The thought ended as Roman’s body exploded in a cloud of flesh and mist, coating Marian’s face in a fine sheen of gore.

Then he was gone, the Remnant evaporating along with him, leaving Marian to gape at the window, gasping for breath. A metallic tang on her tongue made her stomach roil. The weight of the knife dissolved between her fingers, relieving her of the pain in her arm. Shadows darted across her vision before disappearing entirely.

Light leaked in from her right as twilight glowed through the motel room window—just the way they’d left it, minus a working floor lamp.

Marian couldn’t move, couldn’t swallow–she didn’t want to. Someone else’s blood mingled with hers on her tongue. A dead man’s blood.

She barely registered the sound of Tori crawling to her side, calling her name. Tori’s stricken face floated into view as Marian’s vision blurred.

She needed sleep. Years of it. She stared at the sky and willed the clouds to absorb her and take her away from this place, this moment in time. Marian didn’t know how to exist in it, or how to live with what she had seen. Or done.

The clouds out the window parted as if in response to her silent plea and revealed a sliver of empty night. Not a single star greeted her. They never did anymore. And yet their absence made her heart ache.

The traveler spoke to her in urgent whispers, but Marian didn’t understand a word. All she knew was that she wanted to be far away from here, somewhere safe. Home.

She just didn’t know where that was.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

Consciousness hit Marian like a freight train. Everything hurt. Why did it hurt? And where were the lights?

The answer fell on her like a bag of bricks.

Roman happened, and Marian killed him.

She opened her eyes to a coconut-scented cloud tickling her nose. The sounds of the city came through muffled and distorted. The cold hard ground dug into her back as she threaded her fingers through blades of damp grass at her sides. A few strands of her own loose hair fluttered against her cheeks in the salt-tinged breeze. Tori must have brought her outside, but where?

Tori pulled away, giving Marian an unobstructed view of the cloudy night sky. A pair of stars had appeared, twinkling brightly in the firmament despite the light pollution. Marian blinked. Both stars blinked back.

“C’mon, stay with me,” Tori’s anxious voice broke through the roaring sound in Marian’s head. “People are coming. We gotta go.”

Marian ought to have panicked just then. Too much had happened. How would they cover their tracks? Roman had exploded. Surely someone heard what had happened in that pocket of Hell on Earth. But Marian couldn’t bring herself back down to reality long enough to think through what needed to be done.

A shuddering breath creaked out of her. Hot tears streaked down her temples. What was happening to her? Marian didn’t cry. Yet she was being cleaved in two.

“I killed him. I killed him.”

Because you’re a killer.

“Hey, hey, no,” came Tori’s shaking, but fervent reply. Two delicate hands clasped her shoulders and gave her a little shake before pulling her up off the ground. Tori’s blurry face filled her vision as Marian realized they were in the sprawling field across the street from the motel.

“Roman would have killed us. I don’t understand what I saw, but we’re alive and that’s all I care about right now. You saved us.”

Had she? How many times had Tori pulled her out of harm’s way?