Chapter 35
─────
Andrew
Hitting my knees, I rip off my shirt and shove it against the bullet hole that sits so close to Chase’s heart. With both hands, I apply pressure and pray that he hasn’t already lost too much blood. How can he look so peaceful when everything is going to shit around us? I yank out my phone to call an ambulance. It’s dead, of course. I check his pockets, nothing. Fuck.
I turn to Tessa who holds the gun in her hand as she rises to stand, there’s something akin to awe as she examines the weapon. I didn’t understand the conversation between her and her mother, or why she now looks lovingly at the gun, but it makes my blood run cold all the same.
A strangled sound comes from my throat as I watch the dragon make an attempt to escape. With surprising strength and speed, Tessa grabs a nearby lamp and slams it down across her mother’s back. Didn’t she just say she was hurt, too weak to apply pressure to Chase’s wound?
Jesus Christ. What the fuck is going on?
“Tessa, what the hell are you doing?” I bark.
She turns, half her body in moonlight, and half doused in darkness. Standing in nothing but combat boots and black underwear, the gun hanging loosely in her hand. She slides her gaze down to me. There’s a strange look in her eyes that I’ve seen before, the day she walked out of this house four years ago with a baseball bat in her hand.
Even in the poor lighting, I see enough of her body to know she’s been half starved. Her cheeks are gaunt, ribs poke out dramatically, and there are dark circles under her hollow eyes. There’s a hint of a smile playing on her lips, and I realize, without a doubt, that I have so much more to worry about than just Chase and Tessa’s junkie mother.
“What I was made to do,” is all she says before blowing me a kiss.
I don’t know who this is, but it’s not my Tessa. It strikes me that everything she said before was a load of shit, all she cared about was getting the gun for herself. She didn’t want me to finish her mother because. . . she plans to do it herself.
Fuck, fuck, fuck.
If she does this, she will never come back from it. Her mind has been through too much, there’s no way any one person could handle that much darkness.
Just before she turns back toward her mother, I swear I notice a small swell to her stomach. I shake my head. The shadows are playing tricks; I need to focus on the multitude of problems around me.
Tessa sashays across the room, stepping over her mother as she moves to block the exit. Squatting down, she places a finger in the middle of her mother’s forehead.
“Remember this, Mommy? That was one hundred percent me.”
Her laugh sends a shiver down my spine.
Without warning, her mother charges forward. She knocks Tessa to the ground and bolts up the stairs. Like a cat, she’s back on her feet in one fluid motion, eyes flashing with excitement. Like a bird watching a worm struggle to wiggle away.
She’s enjoying herself.
Marybeth, please fucking hurry with the backup.
After grabbing an unmarked bottle from the kitchen, Tessa follows her mother up the stairs, whistling a tune that sounds suspiciously like “Don’t Fear the Reaper.”
I scream out to her, but she doesn’t stop, doesn’t even flinch in my direction. She’s too far gone.
A hopeless weight settles on my shoulders. I can’t help Chase, I can’t help Tessa. I’m fucking useless and I’m running out of goddamn options.
I jolt when I hear my name whispered softly. My stomach clenches, and I utter a low curse when I turn to see my sister looking into the house from the open arcadia door, her face a mix of confusion and worry. When her eyes drop to Chase, her hands fly to her mouth in horror. Ignoring my command to stay put, she runs forward and drops down to the hardwood floor.
“You shouldn’t be here. You were supposed to stay away and get help,” I seethe.
Her glistening green eyes stare at the pool of blood that slowly grows. “I—I called, they’re coming. I heard the gunshot and I tried to stay away, but I just c—couldn’t anymore, I was so scared. Oh my god, there’s so much blood, please tell me he’s going to be okay. Please, Andrew,” she babbles uncontrollably.
“Marybeth,” I say her name, then again, louder when she doesn’t respond. “I need you to put pressure on his wound and call an ambulance. Tessa’s upstairs with her mom and I need to go get her right now. Do you understand?”
As if on cue, there’s a crash from upstairs.
My sister’s eyes have glazed over, and I’m worried she’s in shock, but she places her hands over mine. When I pull away, she applies pressure to the wound with my bloody shirt.
I pull the phone out of her pocket, place it on speaker, and dial 911. She gives me a shaky nod. That’s all the confirmation I need. I fly up the stairs and stop at the first room where the noises are coming from.
When I step inside, all my senses are assaulted by the horrific scene laid out before me.
A mutilated corpse lies spread eagle in the center of the room. Spattered in blood beside him is a chain with shackles and a half-eaten apple. There’s a bloody socket where an eye used to sit. Every inch of the man is covered in gashes, punctures, and deeps cuts. Bile rushes up my throat and there’s nothing I can do to stop the vomit.
ʢ ʢ ʢ
Tessa the Reaper
While taking another swig from the cheap bottle of vodka, I place my boot on the dragon’s throat so she stays put. As her face purples from lack of oxygen, I pour the rest of the alcohol over her clothes and hair. Reaching into my mother’s pocket, I pull out a little black lighter.
“Lucky guess.” I shrug with a smile.
“Devil child,” she chokes from beneath my heel.
I pretend to think about it, then nod in agreement. “Guess that makes you the Devil then, doesn’t it?” I cock my head. Sirens blare somewhere in the distance. Time is running short.
Retching noises come from the doorway. I turn to see Andrew heaving, his eyes glued to Trent’s body. “Oh, come now, that’s a little dramatic. He’s a rapist and a pedophile. I didn’t do anything he didn’t deserve.” I roll my eyes and return my attention to the dragon.
Lifting the bottle to my mouth, I finish off the remaining liquid and throw it across the room where it shatters against the wall. When I remove my boot from her throat, she gasps for air and scuttles backwards away from me. Grabbing the metal clasp, I slam it around her ankle and click it closed. She yanks in desperation, but the chain holds firm.
What a wonderful little twist.
“You may want to look away for this part,” I say over my shoulder.
“Tessa, you don’t want to do this. The police are on their way, she’s chained up now. Come here, sweetheart. You don’t need to kill her.”
“That’s where you’re wrong.” I hear him step forward, and with a curse I flip around and train the gun on him. “Stay. There.”
His face twists in anguish, but it means nothing. Even mad little Tessa is too far gone to care now.
Gun still aimed at Andrew, I flick on the lighter and stoop down to hold the flame against the edge of the dragon’s filthy shirt. It catches fire, the blaze traveling quickly in all directions. A scream rips through her body as flames lick at her skin through the thin material. Once she’s lit like a Christmas tree, I take several steps back to watch the fiery show. She bolts to her feet and tries to rip the clothes from her body, but it’s too late. The fire spreads much faster than I expected. Even her hair goes up like a match. An inhuman screech escapes her gaping mouth as she turns to me.
As much as I would like to leave her here to burn, tortured and writhing until her last breath. My job is not finished until I see the light go out in her eyes.
Lit like a torch, she barrels forward.
I whip the gun over to meet her. Finding my target, I exhale, steady my hand, and pull the trigger. My body kicks back from the unexpected force, and the dragon drops to the ground.
There’s a smoking bullet hole in the middle of her forehead where a cigarette burn used to be.
Her body drapes across Trent’s corpse. I watch in fascination as the fire jumps excitedly to his body, before setting the black curtain alight. As I begin to choke on the stench of burning skin and hair, arms are wrapped around my waist, dragging me away. I drop the gun and allow myself to be pulled out of the smoky room.
Ever since I was a little girl, I saw her as the evil dragon, how funny it is that flames ultimately consume her. Looks like I got my poetic justice after all.
I throw back my head, and we laugh at the great irony of the universe.
I continue to laugh until everything goes dark.