Page 10 of The Carnage We Keep

Dark viciousness sparks in her crystal blue eyes.

“Don’t call me that,” she hisses.

The building booms with another explosion, but this time neither of us flinches. We just stare at each other, glaring, teeth bared as the building beside us groans and pops with internal explosions and flames.

I could ask her again what the hell she’s doing here, but I don’t think I have to. I think it’s clear that she’s here for the same reason I am, which is very interesting.

But before I get a chance to unpack that little factoid, Murder Muppet lunges at me again with that fucking knife. This time, I'm able to grab her wrist, twist sharply, and grin at the yelp that bursts from her dark lips as the blade falls from her grip.

“What the fuck!?” she yells as I kick the knife across the pavement, sending it skittering and skipping into the fiery open doorway to the building.

Her big blue eyes stab into mine.

“You owe me a fucking knife, asswipe!”

I give her an ultra-sarcastic thumbs up. “Oh. Yeah. Definitely.”

We glare at each other as orange light flickers dramatically over our faces.

I’ve never really paid attention to Bella. She’s two years behind me, is a member of The Reckless, and…well, that’s it.

I definitely never knew she was…this.

My mind flashes through a replay of the last fifteen minutes: of the guard with the hacked-out throat. Of Carl, bound and gagged, tied to some elaborate acid-vat dipping setup. Of the way this girl clearly knows how to handle a blade.

Fucking hell. I’ve spent my entire life honing my skills of perception, of reading people and seeing past their masks, and I never once noticed the other hunter on campus. The other me.

I frown as the firelight ripples over her full lips. Her slightly upturned nose. Her big, crystal-blue eyes with full, dark lashes, and the adorably furrowed brow as she glares up at me.

Fuck. I never noticed how gorgeous she is, either⁠—

My thoughts are cut off by a bloodcurdling scream. Bella and I jerk away from each other, yanking our gazes up just in time to see the flaming body of a man come plummeting out of the sky from the top floor of the building to land with a loud, messy SPLAT on the pavement not five feet away.

“Holy shit!”

I turn to stare at her.

Was that…glee I just heard in her tone?

I lock in on her face in the flickering light of the fire.

She’s grinning like a kid on Christmas morning as she stares at the pulpy mess on the ground.

Yup, that was glee.

Fuck me, how did I ever miss her?

A thunderous sound booms out as the building erupts into flame. My faint smile fades as my eyes darken.

Murderpixie just fucked up months of planning.

Carl, piece of human trash that he was, was only one head of the hydra. The world is a fucked-up place, and there are way too many “Carls” out there. Cut one down, and two more take its place.

The secret is to find the monster above the Carls.

That monster’s name is Kasper Sorel, and that’s what I was here for tonight.

Sorel runs a heavily funded child trafficking ring that operates across Eastern Europe, parts of Asia, and the US.