Soulless (Book #2 of Hunted)

The Two of Cups

She spun around and made to sprint up the stairs, but before she could ascend even one step, I reached my arm out and tripped her. I did it before I could think to react in any other way and before Keegan could even turn his head to tell me I should stop her. Her leg knocked into my arm and she fell, bracing her hands out in front of her to break her fall. I grabbed onto her leg and wrenched her down the three steps we occupied. She landed painfully on the basement floor and looked up at me in utter terror.

"What the fuck is going on?!" she shrieked frantically. "Are-are you guys like devil worshipers? Is that why that freak is chained up? Is he a demon? Are you feeding my bestie to a demon?!" she yelled in horror. Both Phoebe and I stared at her for a moment and then I started laughing. I couldn't help it, it wasn't even funny. This girl was terrified that she was going to die, but what she said just seemed so absurd compared to what was really going on.

"Really?" I asked between gasps of laughter. "Devil worship?" I squeaked around giggles. "That's your first conclusion? What are you some born again Christian?" I asked still roaring with laughter. Kathryn glared at me with tears in her eyes and she said, "My daddy's a preacher! I know the devil when I see him!" That just made me laugh harder and even Keegan was cracking up still watching Zane drain the life out of poor Rachel.

"He's gonna kill 'em both, right?" Phoebe asked somberly. Kathryn's eyes widened and she was suddenly grabbing at the hem of my jeans.

"Pl-please don't kill me! I can help you! We can get all of you some help. I know I'm not Catholic, but I'm sure we can find an exorcist for the boy—"

"Ha! Exorcist!" Keegan exclaimed trying to pry Rachel's body away from Zane. "Anton was Catholic back in the day, my father was a priest. He thought dear Dumitru had the devil in him long before we became what we are now," Keegan muttered. "Used to go into rages and scream so loud it would wake the dead. He's had about four exorcisms to date and three of them were when he was human—God damn it, Anton, the girl is dry! Let her go before you chew her fecking arm off!" Keegan snapped.

Kathryn stared as Rachel's lifeless body flopped over to the side. Keegan reached out to her with a leer and said, "Your turn, sweetheart." Kathryn tried to scramble back up the stairs, but Phoebe and I were blocking her way just by sitting there. I looked up at her and said, "You had your chance. You should've never gone to that bar, you backwoods, underage whore. Had you refused him, had you not thrown yourself at him..." I trailed off and smiled at her. "Nope, this probably would have still happened. You should've stayed home tonight," I said. Phoebe stared at me in disbelief.

"Lor," she whispered. I looked at her and said, "Stupid people piss me off." Keegan laughed and grabbed Kathryn's arm. Zane was raring to go now, yanking the chains to their fullest extent and sputtering nonsensical half sentences like, "Gimme that cup! It's my cup! Such a pretty cup. I need a drink. Is the cup full? Of course it is! Why wouldn't it be?" He stretched out his arms and his fingers clawed at the air.

"Don't spill the cup, Keegan!" Zane suddenly shrieked loud enough to make my ears ring.

"I won't spill it, Anton." Keegan replied though I had no idea how someone could possibly reply to a statement like that. Zane pointed at Keegan and cried, "God is angry at you for spilling all his cups! You'd better not spill this one or he'll hurt you worse!" I tried to understand, I really did, but those words didn't click in my brain.

"Oh God can go wipe a nun's ass with his damned cups!" Keegan exclaimed throwing Kathryn within Zane's reach. He was on her in an instant, pinning her to the ground and she screamed. Zane slammed both of his hands over her mouth and nose and muttered, "Such a noisy little flute." He leaned over her and ripped out a chunk of her throat spilling blood everywhere before clamping his mouth over the gash and sucking her dry. Keegan glanced at the blood on the floor and covered his face with his hand.

"Such a waste," he mumbled before walking over to us. I stared at him awe.