Persie Merlin and the Witch Hunters - Bella Forrest Page 0,70
best friend for as long as I could bear. There, standing where the Fear Dearg had been, was the man who’d kidnapped me. He might not have had a bandana covering half his face anymore, but it was undoubtedly him. Brown eyes had replaced the fiery red, one hand running anxiously through his dark curls. He had a handsome face, all rugged and chiseled, but he might as well have been a troll or a banshee. To me, there had never been anyone uglier than him at that moment. I didn’t know when he’d morphed back to his human form, and I didn’t care. He’d killed her.
I saw red. “You bastard! You evil bastard!” Laying Genie down as gently as my trembling hands could manage, I ran at my kidnapper like a woman possessed. My fists flew without hesitation, pummeling his chest, his face, his stomach, anywhere that I could land a blow. I felt him try to fight me off, his hands gripping my wrists, but my grief made me powerful. I wrenched free of him and pounded harder, blind with rage, and battered the living daylights out of him with everything I had. Blood trickled out of his nose and I felt my knuckles cracking, sending a jarring pain through my right hand, but I wouldn’t stop. I couldn’t even see through the stinging tears, but my fists never slowed. I couldn’t speak except to hurl the worst kind of expletives at him—sharp bursts of pure aggression, words I’d never used in my entire life.
“WHY?!” I screamed, driving my knee into his thigh. “Why? Why did you do this? You KILLED her, you evil son of a bitch!” He wasn’t doing anything to defend himself or fight back. I took advantage of his defenselessness and smacked my forehead into the bridge of his nose. Searing pain ricocheted through my skull, sending me staggering backward in a dizzy mess. His hand grabbed me around the arm, keeping me upright, but I wrenched away once again. I didn’t want him to touch me; he repulsed me. I didn’t want him anywhere near me, not unless he was in a body bag. A murderer like him wouldn’t get an ounce of my mercy. I couldn’t have stopped myself from beating the crap out of him, even if I was thinking straight.
“I didn’t mean te,” he repeated, ducking another blow to the face. “I’m sorry, Persephone. I… didn’t even know I could do that. I’d never… kill... I don’t know what happened.”
I glowered at him through foggy eyes, my head throbbing. “I’ll tell you what happened. You murdered my best friend, and I’m going to throw you off this friggin’ cliff if it’s the last thing I do!” I lunged for him again, but he twisted out of the way.
“It were an accident, I swear!” he protested as I whirled back to attack again. “I saw that fella over there meddlin’ with stuff, talkin’ to himself. I thought… he were the one who cursed me, ‘cause he seemed te know what he were lookin’ for. As soon as I had that thought, I lost it. I just lost it!”
“You think that’s an excuse for what you’ve done?” My face contorted into a mask of disgust as I leapt for his throat, intent on squeezing the life out of him. An eye for an eye might make the whole world blind, but I couldn’t have cared less. I wanted him to pay for what he’d done to Genie. I wanted him to suffer.
He managed to feint under my flailing hands and take a few steps back, his palms raised in surrender. “It weren’t my fault! It were yer kind what made me like this. I don’t have any control when I change into that thing. I’ve tried te control it, but nothin’ works!” He was pleading, his hands shaking. “I didn’t mean te hurt that girl. I’ve never wanted te kill a soul. That ain’t who I am. I really didn’t mean for this te happen. Please, I’m so sorry. Ye have te believe me.”
“I don’t have to do anything. And I’d say those jumper cables you tried to use on me show me exactly what kind of person you are!” I spat, ready to hurl myself at him again. Kicking the hell out of him gave me the vain hope that it might stop my heart from shattering into a billion jagged shards. Anything to avoid having to look back at Genie