On the Prowl (Bad Things #2)(54)

Simon lurched upright.

Oh, shit.

“He’s still alive!” Rose screamed.

“No…” The muse had stopped chanting. Her hands fisted around the bars of her cell. “That’s the problem. He hasn’t been alive, not really, in a very long time.”

Simon stared down at the knife in his chest. Then he looked up at Rose. “You bitch.”

“You bastard!”

He grabbed the knife and pulled it from his chest.

She’d stabbed him in the heart. She knew she had. But…he was rising to his feet. He was walking toward her. His shirt was drenched with his own blood but he was walking.

He brought that bloody knife to her cheek. “Got a secret to share with you.”

She didn’t want to hear any of his secrets.

Her left wrist was almost free. The metal had bent, and if she could just slide her hand free…

“I don’t have a heart. I cut it out myself, a long time ago. Because it hurt too f*cking much to keep living without her and feeling so damn much.”

Her gaze dropped to his chest. And…

Oh, sweet hell. How was that even possible?

Simon smiled at her. “But, unlike me, you won’t keep going once your heart is gone.”

“Bend to break,” the witch chanted. “My magic to—”

“Shut the f*ck up!” Simon bellowed. Then he spun away from Rose and rushed toward the witch. “You think I’ll stop with you? I’ll go after your coven. Every single one. I’ll burn those witches to ash. Say one more word. Utter one more chant, and I’ll send my stone beast after them tonight.”

She stopped chanting.

“Should have f*cking thought…” Simon tapped the blade against his forehead. “I locked her magic down so it couldn’t leave the cell, but you get enough creatures of power together…and you made a new circle, didn’t you? A circle with just enough juice to bend those metal straps that hold my vampire.” He laughed. “Clever, but the fun’s over. Utter another word and everyone you all care about—” His voice boomed. “Will suffer! I will give them such agony you can’t even dream about the hell they will face.” He laughed. “Your precious husband, witch? I will make him scream. He will bleed and scream and the pain will not end.”

The witch backed away from the bars of her cell.

“That’s f*cking right.” He whirled from her cell and rushed toward the angel—the angel who retreated with a sharp cry.

Rose jerked against the straps. The metal didn’t feel as strong and she was sure she could break free, if she just tried hard enough.

“Got to have more…” Simon was snarling. “Because of the vamp…she made me weak…”

She’d wanted more than him weak. She’d wanted him dead.

He put his index finger to the keypad near the angel’s cell, scanning it, then he typed in a quick code. The cell sprang open.

“Leave her alone!” It was the muse who’d yelled. “You’ve hurt her enough! Just leave her alone!”

But he yanked the angel out of the cell. She fell to her knees and he lifted his knife. Her wings flew out, covering her.

And he stabbed them. Again and again.

“No!” The muse screamed. “Stop it!”

Every time that a feather fell from the angel’s body, a flare of bright light shot toward Simon, as if power were running straight to him. His chest stopped bleeding. The wound sealed up.

He kept stabbing the angel’s wings.

“Stop it!” Now the witch was screaming, too. “You’re killing her!”

Simon laughed. “That’s the point, isn’t it?” But he took a step back. The angel lay huddled on the floor. “I need all the power from her wings if I’m going to get my Helene back. An angel’s wings for magic. A muse’s eyes for inspiration. A witch’s lips for spells. And the undead’s heart for life.”

The strap on her left wrist snapped free.

Rose immediately grabbed for the metal straps that held her torso down. She would get free and he would die.

“No one can stop me now.” He laughed and in a blink, he was at Rose’s side again. He grabbed her hands and jerked them over her head. Then he pinned her wrists there, holding her easily with just one hand. His strength was incredible. Terrifying.

And he’d gotten it from an angel’s wings?

How many feathers had he cut from the angel?

Simon leaned toward her. “Humans don’t have to stay weak. We can take your power.”

The wings…the feathers…that was how he’d been able to use a compulsion, one that hadn’t broken without her blood to dilute his power. And now he was super strong, amped up on the magic of those wings like an athlete on steroids.

“I’ll take that heart of yours,” he said. “Right now.” Only he wasn’t using his knife. He drove his right hand straight into her chest.

Rose screamed in agony as she felt his fingers against her heart.

The door crashed in. A panther roared.

“What the hell?” Simon yelled as he let her go and whirled to face the new threat. “Why didn’t my guards kill your ass? I know that was what I told them to do. Why is it so hard to find good help?” Her blood was on his fingers.