Water’s Edge (A Series of Sharp Edges #1)

17. Ripp

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

ripp

L ightning bugs dance off in the distance, the only creature willing to stir in my presence. Mattie’s eyes flutter, heavy with sleep. Her breaths deepen as she drifts further into unconsciousness. Tendrils of shadows dance along the veins in her arms underneath her skin. I knew better than to mate with her again, but I couldn’t keep myself away. Besides, she ran—I had to chase her. I wasn’t lying when I said I’d ruin her, even if she wasn’t completely aware of the terms.

I let my thumb smooth across her forehead, curling strands of hair behind her ear. Wind crosses the lake to make the loose wisps dance around her head. Her face is still streaked with mud and flecks of inky black magic from her teeth tearing my skin. The beat of her heart thuds gently in my ears, slow and even. Bruises shaped like my hand paint her throat. Seeing my mark upon her flesh stirs something inside me. My magic itches beneath my skin. Mattie is a gorgeous fucking creature, and I’ve marked her to be destroyed. I cradle her against my chest, as if I could keep her from this fate, and carry her down to the water’s edge. Without placing her back on the wet ground, I wash the grime from her skin until the water runs clear.

I think about rutting into her again, but I’m not sure if her fragile human body could sustain it. Cruelness and a softness, only for her, war inside me. I sigh and head down the trail to carry her back to the cabin. I have another mess I need to clean up tonight anyway.

The moon places a spotlight on the worn-down wood of the cabin, my gift still prominently on display. My face twists, thinking back to my little bug’s reaction. She wasn’t pleased, even though I’d left her favorite part undone—disposal. I side-eye the shell of a man, wasting away with his mouth agape, as I move past him into the cabin. The devil traps made from knotted branches hang just past the entryway and sway gently in my presence. I reach out to twirl one with my finger.

I carry Mattie down the hall and gently lay her in bed, pulling the blanket up to her shoulders and folding the sides beneath her. It’s a human gesture I remember well from the days I used to enjoy scaring small humans at night, one meant to protect them from anything that goes bump in the dark. I chuckle, sitting next to her on the bed, and trace my hand down the curve of her back. She feels far away in her dream world, walking in a different plane of existence while she sleeps, even though she’s right below my fingertips. I’ve been watching her each night since I left, but so many pieces of her remain a mystery.

The man from the bar had been scum stuck to the floor, begging for someone to remove it, and I had—for her. His soul had been disgusting and sour, but it still itched the urge to fucking kill something. To kill someone . One of my eyebrows shoots up, and I look down at Mattie again. Maybe she didn’t appreciate my gift because I misunderstood her ritual? Her joy is found in the hunt, in the kill, not in sending them out to their watery resting place. Oh, little bug, how could I have missed it? I saw her darkness mirror mine and still underestimated it. Underestimated her . I brush my lips across her brow and adjust her necklace so it hangs loosely on her chest. “I won’t disappoint you again, little one,” I whisper into her ear before leaving her to sleep tonight off. Her feet twitch, stirring the blanket just slightly before she’s still once more.

My magic strains against my skin, but I don’t transform before hauling the dead man away. Halfway to the lake, I regret my decision and the choice I made to not just fucking eat him. I want to finish this the way she would have, though. I want to feel closer to her in any small way I’m able to. At least this small action won’t stain her soul any further.

The gravelly sound of dirt churns up behind us as this bloated asshole’s boots drag against the ground, annoying me enough that I resort to carrying him over my shoulder. My human muscles complain under the weight and are relieved when I’m finally able to toss him at the edge of the lake. Water laps at him hungrily, ready to take the body down to its depths. My efforts are finally appreciated. I impatiently stare at the small waves waiting for them to wash the evidence away. My teeth graze against my bottom lip until a thin layer of skin tears away—fucking fragile human bodies. Does Mattie really drag all her kills to the middle of the lake in that dingy little boat? She must, because the water still just rises and falls over the body. The water is clearly unwilling to appease me.

I glance back at the tree line, where a large lump sits hidden. Mattie left the boat under dark green tarps, casually littered with broken branches and other foliage. It might fool others, and luckily for her, I’ve never seen another human out here. I was going for the full experience, but this seems like a waste of time when I can easily swim the body to the bottom of the lake.

The air shifts around me, making the shore of the lake seem infinitely darker once my true form swells from the shadows. Taking the vile human husk between my jaws, I dive below the water’s surface. We swim deeper until no moonlight reaches us and the water clouds with silt. I release my jaw, and the body floats down, releasing another burst of dirt. Using my claws, I poke several holes in the chest cavity. Air escapes in bubbles that rush to the surface. I don’t need my unwanted gift making a reappearance. Mattie was disappointed enough the first time.

My limbs stretch to push back to the surface when my rear legs hit something hard. They’ve hit a block, one of the same I saw Mattie tie to the other man. Interesting. I spin and swim along the bottom, letting my inhuman eyesight take in the graveyard I’ve stumbled upon. Oh, Mattie, you’ve been a busy bug. There are at least ten other bodies down here, a few just skeletons with various stages of decomposition, hanging on by threads of tendons or muscle. The barely attached pieces float through the water like morbid seaweed. One body, though, I recognize. It’s the one from the weeks before, the one I watched her sacrifice to the lake and call me in. Part of his lip is missing, torn away or eaten by fish, leaving him with a permanent sneer and revealing a silver tooth. I reach out and snatch it between two of my claws. Content with my prize, I head back to the surface.

My antlers emerge first, and I wait for the shadows to coat the surface of the lake before allowing my body to rise. I use the same shadows to walk back to the shore, wondering if the sight of me walking across the lake would frighten Mattie or ready her with desire. The thought of both her scents, fear and lust, mixing into a delicious nectar makes my shadowy cock twitch.

Before I make it back to the seclusion of the woods, a noise rings out from further down the mountain. The suddenness of it crashes through the normal veil of silence that surrounds me. The discord, a mixture of screeching sirens and panicked yelling, stirs up enough curiosity that I follow it down one river running off the lake.

It takes seconds for me to cover several miles until flashing lights burn my eyes and the stench of several humans fills the air in a noxious cloud. A group of them huddle at the bank of the river, calling to those not in their circle. I climb up into the overhang of the nearest trees, desperate for a glimpse of what’s holding their attention. They scurry around like ants until finally there’s a break in their formation. I see it, just as one man from downstream calls, “Lawd help us! There’s another arm down here.” In the mud below me, a human arm, half rotted flesh and half bone, sits amongst the chaos.

My little bug is in trouble.