Last Night

Part 31

I stared straight ahead at the counter that hid my secret weapon. There wasn't any time for hesitation. This needed to work and it needed to work now. Once I reached the kitchen cabinet, I took a deep breath and tried to hold in the wailing and fear that thrashed about inside me. Never in my life would I ever have thought I'd be here. It was surreal even in my frantic, petrified mind. Something felt so wrong about it and yet, it had to be done. No one else could do it for me. I'd probably be scarred for life, but that's par for the course when planning what I was about to do, when planning to kill someone.

I just had to think about the fact that this creature was a monster. I'd seen his murder board, what he enjoyed doing, what he'd done to Lisa. She might be dead by now for all I knew. Janiel would probably be next and Leo as well even if I didn't turn.

Patrick-that monster-couldn't be allowed to continue living, un-living, whatever.

Hugging myself tightly, I took another breath of hesitation.

Would I go to Hell if I killed him? Did I believe in Hell anymore? Should I believe in Hell more now that I knew creatures like him existed?

I shook my head. Enough rambling. I was psyching myself out. As I crouched down behind the cabinet door for cover, I carefully pulled away the plastic bag and removed my ace: the lighter fluid.

All of Ian's fears and frustration over me not locking my doors and windows had come back to me and given me hope. Maybe they really were weak against fire. It would've been nice to test this out, but even though whatever-Ian-and-I-were went up in flames, I couldn't wish that on him. He'd still helped me out more than he needed to. He hadn't owed me anything.

My hand closed around the bottle and I slowly withdrew it from the cabinet. The air in my lungs trembled as it blew in and out. Tears seemed to well up in my eyes. I couldn't stop. With a little extra force, I stood up and exhaled again. Little yellow and black dots appeared in my vision. Prickling sensations covered my feet as my balance faltered. This was it. I was reaching my physical limit.

While I focusing on my breathing to ease the dizzy spell, I didn't hear the doors open, nor the footsteps on the hardwood. It wasn't until cold fingers danced up my arm that I knew I'd been caught.

Patrick's free hand reached over and yanked the bottle out of my grip. "Your sixty seconds are up."

He looked over the container before tossing to aside. His fingers continued to stroke my left arm. "And here I thought we were finally starting to get along. Looks like you need another lesson in what happens when you act out."

Slowly he turned me around to face him and reached a hand up to the side of my face. His eyes glowed brightly and a sharp pain pierced my skull. The floor wobbled. My vision blurred. I could hear someone. Words were crashing against my skull like waves, but they were incoherent over the pain. Something was trying to wrench my head apart from the inside.

"No," I whimpered, writhing under his touch. "No, no. Make it stop."

He let go and the pain ceased immediately.

My whole body trembled and tears flowed freely from my eyes. I blinked and I tried to step away, but his fingers encompassed my right arm. A cold grin met me before he turned back to the bedroom.

I latched onto the corner of the counter, desperation setting in. My nails scrapped along the marble as he continued to drag me away. The hand that was closest to him swatted and thrashed in an attempt to loosen his iron-clad grip.

"You're just making this harder on yourself. I tried to warn you. Now I have to turn you and set you loose on the building as punishment." He glanced back at my pitiful struggle. "Sure, you won't see it as punishment at first, but after a few years you may recall it in a different light, maybe."