I turned away. They were so gory and b.l.o.o.d.y. I felt sick to my stomach.
"Op Wraith is gone," said Silas. "So is the serum."
"What makes you think Operation Wraith is gone?" said Wolfman.
"I"ve been there," said Silas.
"I helped destroy it," I said.
Wolfman grinned. "It moved." He went back to the phone. "I think this one. I"ll text, "How do you think Leigh will like this?" Okay?"
Moved? What? I gulped. "Do you have the serum?"
"Wolfman is indestructible." His eyes gleamed. He pressed b.u.t.tons on the phone and then tossed it on the bed. "There. That"s done. Griffin will like the picture. Now, what game do the little pigs want to play?"
There he was saying play again. I didn"t think I wanted to find out what he meant by that.
The phone rang again.
Wolfman leapt up and answered it. "h.e.l.lo, Griffin."
Silas elbowed me.
What did he want?
"Oh, she"s right here," said Wolfman, "all in one piece. At least currently."
At the same time, Silas whispered, "I"ve got something that can saw through the rope. Keep him distracted."
Oh G.o.d. I had to distract Wolfman?
Wolfman knelt down in front of me. He stroked my cheek. "Pretty piglet."
I could hear Griffin"s voice through the phone-angry. His words were too distorted to make out what he was saying, though.
Wolfman chuckled into the phone. "Don"t worry, Griffin. No matter how much I cut her, she"ll heal right up." He hung up.
My insides clenched. Jesus Christ. I didn"t know if I could handle that. He was going to torture me. For fun.
I could feel Silas" hands moving next to mine, feel the cold of something metal brush my skin occasionally.
Wolfman leaned around me. "You"re awfully quiet, little pig."
Oh! I had to keep him from seeing what Silas was doing. "He"s upset after what you did to the girl," I blurted.
Wolfman looked past us at the girl.
I squeezed my eyes shut.
"She"s so pretty, though," said Wolfman.
"What did Griffin say?" I said. Maybe if I kept him talking, he"d only pay attention to me, not Silas.
Wolfman looked back at me. "He"s mad."
"I bet he is. He doesn"t like it when people hurt me."
"That"s what we"re counting on, piglet. He"ll want to protect you." He giggled. "He"s going out of his mind right now."
As if to prove his point, the phone rang again.
Wolfman turned it off. He popped the back off and took out the battery and the SIM card. "We"ll let him suffer a little bit, okay?"
"He"ll kill you," I said.
Wolfman laughed. "I highly doubt that, piglet. He"s Griffin. I know him too well. I know his insides. His weak, squiggly, frightened insides."
There was a soft, snapping noise. One of my hands was suddenly free. Silas was making progress!
I wiggled it. It tingled as blood rushed back in.
"What was that?" Wolfman got up and walked around me to look down at Silas.
s.h.i.t. We weren"t out of the woods yet. "Why"d you put a heart on her forehead?"
"Heart?" Wolfman was still looking down at Silas.
"Yes," I said. "Come tell me all about it. You said it was a special secret and that it was okay for me to know. You want to tell someone, don"t you?"
Wolfman eased down next to me. "The heart stands for inner beauty."
"Oh," I said. He was close to me. I could feel his hot breath on my neck.
He leaned close, his lips brushing my ear. "I brought out the beauty. Like an artist. She was my canvas."
I fought down a grimace. I could barely breathe. "You do that a lot?"
"Not a lot," said Wolfman. "It wouldn"t be special if it happened all the time."
"Is that what you"re going to do to me?" My voice was threadbare.
I felt the hot slickness of his tongue against my temple. "Is that what you want, piglet?"
I shivered in disgust and fear.
He let out a low chuckle.
And Silas snapped the other piece of rope, and both my hands were free.
Silas jumped to his feet. He drove a fist into Wolfman"s face, then aimed a kick into his midsection. Silas had bare feet, but he still managed to connect and cause damage.
Wolfman oomped. He was on the ground next to me.
I crab walked away from him as far as I could get.
Silas pulled his foot back for another kick.
Wolfman caught his foot, yanking it out from under him.
Silas fell on his back.
Wolfman got to his feet, yanking the gun out of the waist of his pants.
"No," I shrieked.
But I was too late. Wolfman had already pulled the trigger.
It caught Silas in the chest, and he went dark again.
Silas would be okay, but he wouldn"t wake up for several minutes.
I was on my own.
Wolfman turned to me.
I uttered some kind of keening noise, like the battle cry of a savage, and I threw myself at him.
Like before, I tackled him to the floor and landed on top of him.
Unlike before, I didn"t give him much of a chance to react. I clawed at his face, still screaming. I dug my fingers into his eye sockets.
He yelped.
I pressed my advantage, scrabbling with my other hand for his gun.
I grasped the barrel.
We wrestled over it for several seconds.
He was stronger than me. He was going to get it.
I brought up my knee. I was aiming for his crotch.
I missed that. Instead I drove it into his stomach.
It was enough.
His grip on the gun loosened. Just a hair. Just a little bit.
But I got the gun from him.
I got it, and I turned it on him, and I pressed it up to his head, and I pulled the trigger, and then I pulled it again, and then I pulled it again.
And he was dark.
But he wasn"t dead.
No. He"d said, "Wolfman is indestructible." Somehow, the psycho had the serum.
I padded him down until I found his knife.
I rolled him over onto his stomach.
I sliced deep into his neck.
Blood spurted all over my hands, my arms, my torso. It was slippery work, but I got it done. I killed him.
He was dead.
I sat back, shaking all over.
That was when I realized that the sobbing noise I kept hearing?
I was making it.
Silas pried the knife out of my hand. "Leigh? Leigh, are you with me?"
I was still shaking all over. I couldn"t look at him.
"Come on, Leigh, say something for G.o.d"s sake."
"He"s dead."
"Yeah," he said. He helped me get to my feet. "Yeah, he is."
My hair was in my face. I reached up to brush it away. My hands were covered with blood. I whimpered.
Silas" voice softened. "You"re okay."
I bit down on my lip. I tasted blood. I shuddered. "I killed him."
"Why don"t you go back to your room and get cleaned up?" he said.
"Alone?" Terror coursed through me.
He looked around. "I"ll walk you over and lock the door behind you, okay? Don"t open the door to anyone but me."