Chapter 29

Graham Dempsey sputtered on the ground as I walked around, trying to find something to end his life with.

I hadn’t put any thought into it on the way down because my only concern was for Elijah.

Now, I had to face a problem that I wasn’t prepared for, but I knew I’d find a way, and then I’d be able to climb back out of Hell into the arms of a fallen angel of my very own.

I scratched the side of my face, then reached down and pulled at my shorts near my crotch. I’d have to find a way to get the dull pain to stop sooner rather than later. While it would have to wait for now, I knew it couldn’t wait forever.

I had been close to giving up and considered strangling him to death, when something caught my attention.

It was small, sharp, and I knew it would do the trick if I put enough force behind it.

Crouching down, I picked it up and made my way back to Graham, who was doing his best to move away from me.

Where did he intend to go?

Inside the cave?

Little did he know just how ideal that would be. There are bound to be scavengers in there that would be able to take care of what would be left of him.

The scent of blood would draw them quickly, and I knew that I’d have to make a mess of things to ensure they wouldn’t let me down.

Wounded prey always draws the most feral of beasts.

I went back to where Graham was trying his damndest to scurry away from me with broken limbs, and I grabbed him by an arm. With a violent tug, I pulled him onto his back, then dropped down onto his chest.

“You were nice,” I said to him in a soft tone. He closed his eyes tightly, then opened them again and looked into mine with a pleading shine to them. “But you stopped for the wrong strangers.”

“Why?” he shouted, his voice strained and agonized.

I used the edge of the sharp rock I found and simply pointed toward the ledge he stumbled over with a little help from Elijah.

“He’s been through enough,” I tell him quietly. “Now, be still and I’ll make this as quick as I can.”

Before Graham could spit out another plea for his life, I used the sharp end of the rock to frantically slash at his throat.

This is going to take forever, I thought as I turned it around to the dull side. Wiping my forehead with a blood-stained hand, I decided the best thing to do would be to smash his throat in.

And I did, with a ferocity that I had never experienced before. I almost felt as if I were in a daze each and every time I brought my hand high above my head, then brought it crashing back down.

But the longer I spent trying to kill him would be less time spent with Elijah, and we had already lost enough of that over the years.

“Hold still, Mr. Graham,” I grunted as his hands flew to his throat.

It wasn’t his fault.

The human body always wants to fight when it’s time to die. No matter how horrific the life that it would lead being crippled and grotesque, it’s the will to survive that always shows the true measure of one’s soul.

This is taking too long, I thought irritably as he sputtered again.

I pushed myself up to my feet, then moved around to stand behind his head. No, this won’t work either. Feeling even more frustrated, I moved to the left side of Graham, then smiled when I saw the blood flowing steadily from his neck.

I could let him bleed out and die, but the chance that someone else hiking this damn way might find him presented too much of a risk.

Pursing my lips, I raised a foot and balanced myself on the other as I measured the distance.

“Hey, Mais?”

The shout came from above me, and when I looked up, I saw Elijah leaning over the edge, watching me with a curious grin on his face.

“You coming back up?”

I nodded and motioned for him to get back to whatever it was he might be doing, then put my foot on the ground.

“Sorry, Mr. Graham,” I said softly. “Maybe if you pray hard enough, God will come save you. He never helped me, but he might help you.”

As his eyes widened, I raised my foot again then began to ferociously stomp against his throat. It took a few tries before I heard the melodic snap of his bone breaking, and then one more furious crash of my sneaker against his flesh before a guttural, long-winded sigh escaped him.

It reminded me of the sound of dry leaves being tossed around in the wind and it made me feel warm inside for some reason.

But that had only been half of the battle.

I walked to the other end of Graham and leaned down to pick up his ankles. With a grunt of effort, I began to slowly drag him toward the mouth of the cave.

Sweat began to stick my shirt to my back, and the harder I strained, the more it seemed like I’d never be able to take the damn thing off later.

I stumbled. A few tugs later and after I almost lost my grip on Graham, I had finally managed to pull him to the mouth of the cave without even realizing it.

Guess being angry comes in handy sometimes, I mused to myself as I dropped his ankles.

Sitting down on the dirty, rocky ground, I took a moment to breathe. Something that I rarely ever gave myself the opportunity to do these days.

And it was all because of Mr. Mike and what he had stolen from me.

I had been running on overdrive ever since, because I desperately wanted to reclaim what Elijah had given me.

My gift.

The only thing he had ever been able to give me that he didn’t have to steal, and while how he got me gifts never mattered to me, this one was so fucking important.

Getting back up to my feet, I started to tug Graham’s legs again, and pulled him as deeply into the cave as I could before I decided that I had spent more than enough time on him.

I had to get back to Elijah.

We still had a ways to go before I would be able to reclaim what had been stolen from me.