“Here, stab wherever you want, get it all out. She won’t get to you.” I grab both of her arms and twist them behind her back so she can’t swipe him. I heal, he won’t.
He hesitates for a moment before darting forward and cutting along her exposed stomach. It’s a small cut, but it starts to bleed before healing. I watch, letting him get it all out, since it’s what he needs. He’s the same as I was, bottling it all up, and it eats you up inside until you snap.
I did and people died. Bad people, people who deserved it, and I don’t regret it to this day. It helped heal me. I took my pain out on their skin until their touch no longer hurt me and I was free of them. He needs that, needs to see that she can no longer harm him.
That he is free and powerful.
Not a victim, but a survivor.
He lets out a grunt, swinging the dagger again, this time crisscrossing cuts over her body, faster and faster, watching the blood flow before it staunches and heals.
I see the moment his restraint snaps, the moment he realises she can’t hurt him. He lets out a scream, one that’s so fucking raw and ragged it will haunt me, and plunges the dagger into her stomach, twisting before pulling it out and doing it again and again.
The nightwalker wakes up and starts to struggle, screaming and snapping at him, but he’s in a rage, unleashing it all on her body until he sags back into the bed, observing his work, breathing heavily and still clutching the knife. Blood coats him now, like clothes, and when his eyes meet mine they have more life in them than I saw before.
“Feel better?” I ask over her snarling, and he nods before a smile breaks through and he directs it at me.
“I do,” he whispers, his voice raw.
I drag her from the bed, pulling her down the stairs to see Ciar working his magic on the second girl. I quickly rip out this one’s heart, throat, and head, and then leave her in the body pile before heading back upstairs. The young boy is pulling on a shirt, and already has some trousers on but no shoes. He looks at his feet then me. “I couldn’t find any,” he whispers, sounding so sad.
“We will get you some. For now, go downstairs, my friend is there. I need to clear these other rooms,” I advise him. He looks frantically at the stairs and then me, his eyes flying wide.
“Can’t I stay with you?” he begs.
Fuck.
Glancing at the remaining doors, I know this is a bad idea, but I can’t seem to say no. “Fine, stay behind me, and don’t stab me or lose that,” I warn, gesturing at the dagger in his hand. He tightens his grip, nodding and looking fierce.
I unwrap my chain around my hand again, this time without fire, and walk to the next door. “You know if any of these are full?” I inquire, not bothering to lower my voice, knowing everyone up here will have heard me by now.
“I don’t think any more…customers, but there might be a few of us left up here. They lock up the ones who are most likely to escape or people’s favourites so only they can visit them,” he spits.
“How long have you been here?” I thought they tossed their victims?
“A year,” he whispers brokenly. “That...that thing was obsessed with me and she was the main guy’s plaything, so he let her keep me. Usually the others either die or get wiped and removed.”
I leave him to his pain. Nothing I will say will make it better, so instead I kick down the door, breaking the lock and taking in the scene. I wrap my chain back up when I realise the room is empty and move on to the next, breaking down that door. This time the room isn’t empty, but I sure as fuck wish it was.
A girl, no older than twelve or thirteen, is huddled up in the corner of the room, her eyes locked on me and swimming with tears. Big baby blues take up her whole face, her lower lip is trembling, and her dress is ripped at one shoulder. She has a bite mark on her neck from what I can see.
She only cries when I pick her up and troop downstairs, her little body shaking with the force of it until I can’t handle it anymore. I sit her down with Ciar and he takes her hand, instantly talking to her in a low voice. She sobs and throws herself into his arms. He starts to sing, his tone soft and low and filled with pain as he rocks her.
It’s so beautiful, I can’t watch, so I turn away and walk to the pile of parts over in the corner. It’s nasty, but even with their heads off and hearts out some nightwalkers can survive, so you have to burn them, I know that.
So I burn the pile. I set it alight and watch in glee, but the small victory doesn’t make up for knowing they hurt that little girl, but it’s all I can offer her. I have no songs or kind words like Ciar, it’s just not in me, but I can give her safety. To know they will never hurt her again.
That is more than enough, Bella, Ciar whispers gently in my head.
Grunting, but feeling better, I head back upstairs and clear the other rooms. I find a woman’s cooling body, but other than that no one else is left for me to kill or save, so I head back downstairs and stand there, feeling useless as he wipes their memories.
“I have called a friend, he will get them home and safe, and I will make sure they are taken care of and never hurt again,” he whispers, knowing I can hear him.
“Good,” I reply but then Scott steps down, closer to me.
“I don’t want whatever he is doing to them,” he snaps, shaking again as he watches each sobbing woman transform into a peaceful, blank person before going to sleep.
“It doesn’t hurt, it will only take a second, and then you won’t have to live with all this.” I wave around, turning to him.
“I’m not worried about it hurting, I can handle pain, they made sure of that. I don’t want to forget. This is who I am, scars and nightmares and all. If I forget, I won’t know why I feel like this.” He smacks his chest. “I don’t want that to go away, I want to know what hides in the dark, I want to remember everything I did to survive. I want to have the right to choose that,” he finishes fiercely, staring me down. I feel Ciar moving to my back, obviously done with the others and sensing the boy’s raising anxiety.
“You understand what you are asking?” I reply calmly. “You will remember everything, but you’ll never be able to tell anyone.”
He nods, looking only at me. “You said you understood, I saw it, you knew the pain I’d been through. Don’t ask me to let you take that away. Did you keep yours? Would you let anyone make you forget?”
“No,” I admit with a sigh. “That pain and horror is what made me me. It’s my past and my reminder, it’s a part of who I am.”
He nods. “Exactly. Please, Isabella, don’t take that from me. It’s the last choice I have.”
Sighing again, I look over at Ciar. “Can you give him the same deal, protect him but don’t wipe his memories?” I plead.
He glances from the kid to me and inclines his head. “He will be looked after, do you want to go home?”
Scott shakes his head, backing away at the mere mention. “No, my mom sold me to them. Please, I’ll go anywhere else.”
Ciar sighs then steps away, leaving for a moment. He returns quickly with a piece of paper in his hands which he passes to Scott. “Go here, it’s my house, it will be safe and stocked with everything you could want. Make yourself at home, use whatever, keep an eye on the place for me, will you?”