S.H.A.D.E. [{ Completed }]✔ (#Wattys2018)

The Sound of Bone

Warning: Graphic violence in this chapter

20.

I leave my heels back in Gregson's room, deciding my bare feet would be most advantageous for moving around. Stealth is the key. I don't want all three guards coming for me at once.

What happened back in Gregson's room has set something off in me, a fiery feeling in my chest, but I am under a cold kind of calmness.

"Where's the first? Can you see them?"

"A Demoness... fuck, she's just around the corner. Wait until my say so, I want you to approach when her back's turned. Use the fire poker."

"Okay."

It's a few tense minutes before Copper gives the go ahead.

I hold the fire poker like a baseball bat, moving quietly around the corner.

There she is. I only have time to register that she is blonde and wearing a dark suite before I feel the expected burst of adrenaline and ram the pointed side of the poker into the back of her neck. As it goes through, I hear the sickening sound of bone snapping, her vertebrae severed.

She makes a wet croaking noise, dropping to her knees, hands coming up to the poker protruding out her throat.

She grabs that end of the poker and pulls it through so viciously that it is pulled from my hands.

She pulls it through her neck, standing back up to her feet, turning to look at me, her throat torn and bleeding down her chest.

She's pissed.

She lunges at me, swinging with the poker. I dodge, but it still clips my bare shoulder, and I suck in a breath through my teeth.

Copper is right there, blocking my pain receptors, because the sting is gone instantly, though the skin is welting.

I duck out of the way of another swing that connects with the wall, going right into it.

I bring out my knife as I roll away, coming up and slashing behind her knees.

She stumbles forward against the wall, and I come up again and stab her twice in the back. She howls in anger, and I jump back, waiting for her to turn around. When she does, I whirl around, just like I practiced many times, and bring my leg up to strike her perfectly in the neck.

She wobbles, then drops to the ground with a thud. Her eyes stare up at me, sightless.

I huff, backing up against the wall and lowering my head. I can't believe that just happened. I can't believe I did that.

"The other Demons heard you, they're coming your way!"

Apart of me wants to just stay here and let them get me, but my will to survive is stronger than that.

I crouch down over the body, searching her. I find a gun and a key pass that will no doubt give me access to the entire building.

I suck in a breath and run down the hall into the stairwell, waiting. I peer out the door into the hall and watch for my pursuers. They come around the corner, immediately shocked to see that one of them has fallen.

I see the biggest one reach for his radio to alert the security below. 

Bursting out the door, I fire two rounds at him that hit him in the head and then the chest.

The other one hisses and reaches for his gun, but I fire quickly and hit him in the leg and shoulder.

He falls over, but pulls out his gun, and I must dive back into the stairwell to avoid his shot. The bullet collides off the railing with a high-pitched ping and I cover my ears.

I move around and fire quickly. He's an easy target on the ground, and my shot hits him in the neck this time, causing him to jerk spasmatically.

Both are still alive on the ground, and I want to leave it at that.

"You have to finish them."

I know I do, because if they signal the others, this is over. I have to kill them all before the alarm goes off for the evacuation.

I run up to their bodies, reluctantly picking up the knife I left at the Demoness' body, and slice both of their throats. They writhe, but eventually, their bodies still.

I'm not supposed to feel remorse, or horror, or anxiety, but I know that even though I'm numb for now, these first three kills will haunt me forever onward.

I will never kill this way again. This brutality makes me just like the Demons. Next time, it will either be my axe or nothing.

To ensure this, I grab the guns from both of the corpses. I will leave them on each floor just in case I am chased or run out of bullets.

I close my eyes for a second to retrieve my senses, then head towards the stairwell, running down to the next floor. I feel the adrenaline Copper is pumping into my system, feel the steadiness of my heart.

"Where are the next ones?"