“You’ll have to do better than that to stop me from killing you.” Ragged breaths forced his chest up and down. Sevastyan could hear her call for him, but the blackness lured him deeper, teased him with the fresh blood of his enemy, and he was thirsty.
Heat burned through him, and the monster clawed its way to the surface. He tore across the small distance and sank the blade of a knife into the other man as he threw him to the ground.
Satisfied with the taste of his enemy’s pain on his tongue, Sevastyan retreated again as he kneeled over Dimitris sprawled on the ground. Water mixing with his blood in a murky puddle.
He gripped him by the throat and squeezed, loving the gurgling sound. “Let me help you out since you’re finding it a little hard to speak at the moment,” Sevastyan gruffed, his own vocal cords having a hard go at it with the need for vengeance riding him hard. He had no idea how long he could keep this up but he wasn’t nearly done, that much he did know.
“I kill you, only another one like you will pop up? Do I have that right?”
Dimitris looked around wildly as if help was coming.
“You have no idea. This snake has more than one head. Kill me, da, okay, one that you find next, and one after that still isn’t the one you’re after. You’ll never find him. He’s a ghost, but right under your nose.” Beady eyes turned glassy.
“Tell me who your puppet master is and maybe your life won’t end so painfully.” Sevastyan buried his fingers deeper into the man’s throat when he only laughed. “Looks like you’re losing a little blood. You don’t have long.”
He glared up at him. “You would never believe me. Go ahead, sink into that blackness with me. Kill me. It calls to you, doesn’t it? Power. Da. You’ve had a taste for blood and she won’t be able to save you. You’re like every other Volkov I know.”
“Sevastyan.” Rhia closed the distance from his left. He snarled at her and she stumbled back but didn’t retreat. His woman held her ground, both hands up, but she didn’t back down.
He roared through the pain, kneeling in the rain. Air came sharply through his lungs and he was fucking tired.
“You’re wrong. This is exactly who I am.” Rage seethed through him, dripped from the air he exhaled, and fueled the heat in his body. “You don’t know me. What I’m capable of. The death I bring to those who wrong me.” He pushed to his feet and prowled closer to Dimitris and the snide smirk he wore like a weak shield wouldn’t protect him.
Sevastyan would wipe it off his face like he would clean the earth of his filth. His brows pulled low and he considered the beaten man at his feet. Black soulless eyes peered up at him, still refusing to acknowledge he’d lost.
He cocked his head. “Why should I give this monster mercy, Rhia?”
She stood with hands at her side now, her face full of understanding. “It’s not mercy you’re giving him. But a future to us. You kill him for vengeance’s sake and you kill us. Don’t let the darkness win. Lucian, he’s been hurt. We need to go to him. Leave this man to the police. They can deal with him.”
Rhia stepped in front of him at the same time Dimitris raised his hand.
“Come back to me. Look at me, hear me, and follow my voice. Don’t listen to the whispers.” Her eyes glittered with the love she had for him, and he knew at that moment she spoke the truth. Killing to protect and killing for vengeance were two different monsters. He held both inside but one he needed to control if he wanted a life with her.
Distracted by his revelation he failed to see Dimitris move until it was too late.
Rhia took a knife to the back.
His vision turned red. Bile filled his mouth. He rolled, took his enemy’s neck in his hands and he twisted. The snap of bone was all he wanted to hear.
“Sevastyan!” Rhia screamed her eyes wide in horror.
Then he returned to Rhia and gathered her body in his arms. Rain poured over them, and the skies echoed the sorrow tumbling through him with a powerful rumble. The relief he sought at the death of Dimitris did not come. He only felt rage at not having another chance at ridding this earth of his stain for a second time.
Matteo fell to his knees beside him. A string of Spanish fell like curses from his lips. He took her hands in his and he dragged the back of his knuckles over her soft skin. The red dress she wore clung to her body, revealing the fragile woman beneath.
Sevastyan shook his head vehemently. Kneeling on the ground, her weight draped across his lap, Rhia’s eyes refused to open.
Her heartbeat weakened while his heart nearly seized inside his chest. The beast in him howled, roared with pain. He had to do something. He couldn’t lose her.