Body Tox (The Bodies duet #1)

Chapter 7

I tracked the female in Alaska’s darkness. She had been bouncing around between different bars. We were nowhere near her cushy, affluent area. This was deep in the city and where the trash typically took itself out. Needles and homeless people littered the streets and alleys.

I walked into a few bars, trying to locate the Little Wraith. I didn’t know why she was here in this kind of place, but her looks definitely didn’t belong.

Smoke and the smell of booze filled the bar as I moved toward the bartender. He was a kid from the streets, but good for him for getting a job and trying to get the fuck out of here.

This place was my hometown, and I knew from personal experience how hard it was to free yourself of the cage your birth placed you in. Even when you finally got free of the chains that held you there, the stigmas and brand of hate followed you until death.

“Hey, man. Have you seen this girl?” I flashed her image on my phone, and recognition sparked in the young man’s eyes before he lowered his gaze.

“Nah, man. Sorry,” he said.

I fixed my gaze on the bartender. The man’s eyes bounced around different places and landed on a drink a few chairs away—a drink without an owner.

“You sure?” I glanced at the pink drink left abandoned on the bar. “Who was drinking this?”

Picking up the glass, I sniffed the liquid concoction. It had a slight green tint floating at the top. Frowning, I dipped my pinky finger and popped a taste into my mouth.

Salt water. This drink had been roofied.

A drunk man walked over and frowned at the empty barstool, scratching his head and looking around the area. “Awe, man, that bitch wasted my pill.”

“She went to the little girl’s room, my dude.” I narrowed my eyes at the man, anger blooming in my chest.

How manly of you to drug someone.

The guy grinned evilly and walked to the back where the restrooms were. I followed him on his heels and closed the door behind me, locking the bolt in place.

The drunk man kicked the stalls open, finding them empty, and stared angrily at the toilet of the farthest section.

“Fucking hell,” he cursed.

I was a shadow behind him, and he was too busy cursing and rubbing his face to notice me. I walked forward, grabbing his greasy hair and slamming his face into the dirty toilet water, bubbles forming and spilling over the cracked porcelain with his desperate attempted breaths.

“You’re disgusting,” I said, firmly holding his head down. “You deserve worse. I hate having to settle for just watching you struggle for a few seconds. A pathetic waste like you who has likely caused countless hours of suffering.”

The man struggled, writhing and bucking as I held him down.

My fucking shoes were getting covered in this murky water.

Growling, I pushed him down even further in the filth. His struggles started to lessen and become slower. Eventually, the final bubbles popped on the surface of the water, and the man became still.

“A befitting end to scum.” I spat on him. “Rot in hell, bastard.”

When I finally made my way back to the bartender, my shirt was soiled, and my shoes were leaving a wet trail of footprints. He stared at me and then back to the stalls I’d left.

A small trickle of water was leaking from under the door. I shrugged.

“You don’t happen to remember where the pretty lady went, do ya? Anything jog your memory?”

The bartender swallowed, watching the nasty water drip off me onto the ground below my feet. Without a word, he raised a shaky hand and pointed at the door to the alley in the back.

I walked out of the bar, definitely not wanting to be there, when other people noticed the asshole’s piss water nap.

I cut around corners to find where the Little Wraith ran off. She had to be feeling the effects of that drug. She had downed about half the glass, and I needed to get to her before someone finished my fucking hit for me. It was my job to end her life.

The alleys were colder than the dark crevices of the city. The spaces lacked light and heating. A creepy chill shot through me, making goosebumps rise all over my skin. Looking down, I dodged the open needles and drugs scattered around the ground, coming up to a loud alleyway.

The sounds creating the noise were ones of grunting and laughter. I kept to the shadows and rounded the corner of the alley, hiding behind one of the overflowing dumpsters.

“Stupid fucking girl got too far from home, hadn’t she?” More laughter and a soft groaning were coming from over there.

I emerged from the shadow of the dumpster, letting a crack of moonlight light up my body so the man in front of me could see.

He had my target in his grip, straddling her with her tights pulled halfway down her legs and her shirt in disarray on the concrete. The man fumbled with his belt, yanked his pants down, and his pathetic dick flopped out.

“Hey!” the dickhead shrieked, shielding the female under his drunken body. “Get your own!”

I looked down at the woman. Her eyes were open but unseeing. She was making soft noises that sounded an awful lot like the fucking word “No.”

Even incapacitated, this woman fought?

I thought about how easy it would be to end the target right now. Put the Little Wraith out of her misery and bring her head to the Debt Collector…but what kind of hunter went after weakened prey?

There was no honor or challenge in that.

I sighed exasperatedly and walked over to the man, cracking my knuckles.

“Smile, shithead.” I grinned, smashing the fucking jackass across the jaw. He tripped over his pants, which had pooled by his feet, and fell onto the ground a few inches away from her, his feet splayed over her legs.

Pulling the female away from his grip and pulling my hoodie over my head to place it over her body, I saw a golden reflection glittering in the moonlight.

Frowning, I narrowed my gaze on the unusual object.

Was this what I saw in the video?

I snagged the item. It was a golden dagger shining even brighter under the light of the moon.

The woman moaned, a drizzle of rain starting to fall. The droplets collected on her thick lashes, falling onto her pale cheeks.

“You like to play with knives, Little Wraith?” I chuckled and looked over at the disgruntled man, trying to get back onto his feet.

“So do I,” I teased her, walking over to the man.

Normally, I killed from a distance. I didn’t tempt myself like this, but seeing this dirtbag try to disarm a fighter made me want to eviscerate him.

Closing my eyes and praying the rain would block the smell from me, I slashed the blade in a smooth swipe, the man’s entrails falling into his hands before spilling to the concrete in a soup of guts and…blood.

The sight of the crimson rain made me ache to touch it. Bathing in the remains and tasting the death of the monster made my body hum.

I walked forward slowly, intent on doing just that, but then the sounds of the female broke the spell. She was whimpering, her teeth chattering from the chill the rain brought. I cursed and turned my head from the sight, biting my tongue until I tasted the familiar metallic tang.

Goddamnit, I am not strong enough to resist this…

Walking over to the woman, I stared at the blade in my hand. She was open…easy, and quite ready to die.

I could end this task right now.

I raised the knife over her heart, intent on giving her a quick end. But then her icy eyes slowly met mine, her mouth forming one word: ‘No.’

A single tear fell from her unblinking eyes, sliding down her porcelain cheek.

I cursed, sighing and staring at the unmoving dagger in my hand and those haunting eyes of hers.

With a growl of frustration and annoyance at my own idiotic self, I pocketed the dagger and scooped her up from the ground, cradling her floppy body in my arms.

I was…protecting my target.

I kept walking, not understanding that or the weird hum in my body at the feel of her skin on mine.

“Not today, Little Wraith. But you will bleed for me. Soon. I won’t hunt the weak anymore, but I am no hero. I will take your life. It is mine now.”