CHAPTER SIX

REAPER

I’m still laughing when I reach the garage. Her screaming at me was fucking beautiful, and I know it’s going to get worse. She didn’t want to be left alone. Living dead girl prefers my company over being on her own. She has an effect on me I did not expect. My cock has been hard as a rock, since I looked into her eyes as I killed the fucker who touched her shoulder. I have no problem getting an erection, but I don’t normally get hard from simply looking into a woman’s eyes. Usually, I’m far too busy choking the life out of them. I’m not planning to fuck her though, not yet anyway. I need to break her down a bit. Show her she doesn’t have a fucking choice in anything. Her life is mine. Once she begins to understand, I’ll let her make her choice. Be mine or die. If she takes option two, I’m prepared to kill her after I take her eyes.

Grabbing a bag, I pack the supplies I’ll need. My drill, drill bits, chain, hitching ring, shackles, and a glass jar to fuck with her. I chuckle to myself as I add windshield wiper fluid to the jar, and put it in the bag, along with a hunting knife. Do I know I’m going to scare the fuck out of her? Oh yes, I do. In fact, I’m hoping she screams, cries, and attacks me, although fighting me is going to be a challenge, since she’ll be chained to the wall.

I’m slightly out of my element, because I’ve never felt so drawn to a woman before. Not once before have I considered letting someone live. It was her eyes. They drew me in, and the thought of never seeing them again isn’t a settling one. I know she won’t like the options given, but there’s really only one choice. I’ve learned through the years there is little a person won’t do to save their life. Once I decide someone will die, from me choking the life out of them, it’s done. There’s no amount of begging or crying that will change the path. I’ve been offered money, information, and even fucking houses. I’ve never wanted anything other than death. Until her.

I zip up my black duffle bag, filled with everything I need, and head back to the house to play with my living dead girl.

“Fuck,” I mutter under my breath when my phone starts ringing in my pocket. I pull it out and see Bones flash across the screen. Rolling my eyes, I answer with a huff.

“What?”

Immediately, he growls at me.

“Watch yourself, Reaper.”

“You aren’t my boss. Remember? You can order everyone around except for me. I’m busy. What the fuck do you want?”

I can picture him rubbing his temples, even though I can’t see him. I know I have that effect on him.

“Let’s try this again,” Bones says with a long drawn-out sigh.

“Hello, Reaper. How are you, brother?”

I stand outside, staring at the house, itching to get inside. The tingling crawls down the base of my neck. The same one I get just before I end a life.

“I’ll call you back later. I have a girl here.”

“Alive or dead?” he questions me, and it’s my turn to get annoyed.

“Fucking alive, alright. It’s the girl from the cemetery.”

I can imagine the look of disapproval on his face, but he doesn’t say much.

“I need you in my office tomorrow, Reaper. And this is not a fucking request.”

“Yeah, yeah,” I respond and disconnect the call.

My brothers don’t really have a problem with my extra-curricular activities, but Bones worries that I’m going to attract unwanted attention, and cause headaches for the family. There’s pretty much nothing we can’t get out of legally, but of course, he’d prefer to not have to deal with it. I guess I don’t blame him, because I kill easily, but still struggle with getting rid of the bodies. We are a close family, but I’m the black sheep. I know they don’t approve of the things I do. Not because they’re against killing people. That’s something we all do, but because I’m drawn to it in a different way. Bones is known for breaking the majority of the bones in someone’s body before killing them. Almost always, they have wronged him, in some way. That’s the case for all my brothers, as it was for my father before he died. Although I have killed people for fucking with me or my family, that’s not why I do it, generally. I like it. No, I fucking love it. I know there’s something wrong with me, and that normal people don’t do what I do. I went three years without taking a life. I fought the urge until it won out, and I couldn’t refuse the compulsion for a second longer.

Walking inside, I go straight through the kitchen to the stairs, taking me back to the bedroom with my living dead girl. She sits cuffed to the bed, with pretty tears running down her face. The room is smaller than my room, and it’s never really been decorated. It’s got the same white walls, and light brown carpet, it had the day I bought this house. Placing my bag on the floor, I open it up and set all the items on the foot of the bed, while she watches me quietly. I put the jar, and hunting knife, on the dark-colored dresser beside the bed, and gaze at her wide eyes. Fuck. She’s gorgeous. I can imagine her pounding heart in my own ears.

I pull my shirt over my head and toss it to the floor. Do I feel her eyes on my chest? Unfortunately, but I choose to ignore it, because my dick is straining against my zipper enough as it is.

I grab the drill, and attach my drill bit, before picking up the hitching ring and, using the lag bolt, I secure it to the wall. After I fasten the chain to it, she finally speaks.

“What are you doing? ”

I don’t respond. Instead, I keep working until I finish the job. Once I’m done, I place my drill back in my bag before removing her handcuffs.

“Thank you,” she says as she rubs her wrists.

I shake my head at her while I laugh.

“Don’t thank me yet, living dead girl.”

She jumps onto her knees, and shoves me in the chest, with a glare in those pretty eyes.

“Stop fucking calling me that. My name is Bella.”

I grab a fistful of her hair and yank her down onto her back. Leaning over her, I press my face to her neck, and inhale the scent of her skin. Fuck. If I have to kill her, I might need to keep that too.

“I will call you whatever I feel like, baby. You hold zero power here. The sooner you get it through your head, the better off you’ll be.”

Letting go of her hair, I move my hand to her throat and squeeze. Her eyes widen in response and the tingling is back. Like a separate physical force in this room. Real and visceral, the need to kill her is strong, and I don’t know if I can fight it.

I want to keep her, but I also want to watch her die.

Grabbing her hair again, I pull her off the bed with me, while she screams and tears once again spring to her eyes. Dragging her to the wall, I shove her to the floor. She lays there helplessly, her beautiful gaze on mine, as I hold her down with my foot on her chest.

“Hold still, or I will cut your fucking eyeballs out right now, and end you.”

Her breaths come out heavy and harsh, I can feel them on my bare foot, and fuck, it gets my dick so hard. Pulling the shackle from the floor, I motion for her arm and she gives it to me willingly. I’m not completely delusional. I do know if she had a choice, she’d be on her feet running from me. Again.

Once I have the one restrained, I nod for her other and do the same. I remove my foot from her, and she scrambles up with her back to the wall. Her blonde hair is a mess, blue eyes wide with panic, cheeks flushed, and her chest rises and falls quickly with shallow breaths. She couldn’t look more alluring than she does right now if she tried. I squat down in front of her, taking in every fucking gorgeous feature. Too many to count.

She reaches up with one of her shackled wrists, and brushes her messy hair from her face.

“You have enough length to go to the bathroom, and even look out the window, if you choose to view the outside world through bars. You won’t get further than that. As bad as you might think things are right now, don’t fuck with me, baby. Things can, and will, get a lot worse.”

“I understand,” she says, but clearly she doesn’t, because in her very next breath, she swings her arms up and wraps the chain around my throat, pulling as tight as she’s probably capable of. I smile as she cuts off my air, because how fucking beautiful is this?