Nightstruck - Jenna Black Page 0,109

wasn’t just my hands and arms that were shaking now; it was my entire body. I was drenched in sweat despite the cold, and I could hardly get enough oxygen into my lungs. Every detail of that terrible night was burned into my memory forever. Most of the time, I was able to shove the memories away into a dark corner, but not tonight. Not with Aleric hammering at me.

“All because Piper wanted you to come play with her,” Aleric finished, with some satisfaction.

He’d poked and prodded and pushed me to the breaking point, but I like to think I wouldn’t have gone over without the final, unbearable nail he drove into my coffin.

A scream split the night. A scream of terror and pain. A scream I could not fail to recognize. The scream of my father dying while I stood at the window and watched.

I didn’t decide to pull the trigger. It just happened.

And there was another, entirely different scream.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

My nose stung with the acrid scent of burnt gunpowder, and my ears rang. Piper’s eyes were wide and startled, her mouth open in shock as she looked down at herself.

The bullet had hit in the center of her torso, right around the base of her sternum. She clapped both hands to the wound, and blood overflowed her fingers, steaming in the frigid air.

The gun dropped from my nerveless fingers, and I stifled a sob with both hands as I blinked to clear the tears that were blurring my vision.

I’d done it. I’d shot her. Shot Piper, my best friend.

She shuddered and staggered, her knees visibly shaking as she tried to stay on her feet. She turned her gaze not to me, but to Aleric.

“Why?” she asked, then made a little sound of pain as her knees gave out and she dropped to the pavement on her butt. She was still staring at Aleric in shocked disbelief.

“I lied,” Aleric said, with no hint of regret in his voice. “She wasn’t fully primed to become one of us yet. She needed another push.” He looked at me, his face glowing with satisfaction and the thrill of victory. “Think about this, Becket: Why did you shoot her?”

I wouldn’t have answered him even if I’d been capable of speech. There wasn’t a whole lot of light, but I could see that Piper’s coat was getting drenched with blood despite her attempts to stanch the flow. I could also see that her face was ghostly pale and that her eyes were no longer that unsettling, inhuman shade of green.

“Did you shoot her when I pointed out she was a threat to those around you, as you planned?” Aleric continued. “Nope. That wasn’t it. When did you pull the trigger, Becket?”

“Shut up!” I snapped. I found my feet moving me forward, toward Piper, who looked so pale and shocked and frightened. I had no idea if that bullet wound was fatal or not, my knowledge of anatomy not precise enough to know if I’d hit anything vital, but I knew it didn’t look good. And although I couldn’t help being glad to see Piper’s eyes turn back to normal, I also couldn’t help thinking that was a bad sign.

“You didn’t shoot in some noble, selfless act of sacrifice. No, you pulled that trigger when I reminded you what happened to your father. You killed Piper not to save the lives of others, but in anger, in fury, as revenge for what she’d done. There’s nothing even remotely noble about that.”

“Shut the hell up, Aleric!” Piper said. Her eyes met mine, and I saw nothing in them except the old Piper, the Piper who’d been my best friend for years. “Run, Becket,” she urged. “Get inside.” Her face twisted in a grimace of pain.

I’d been so numb I hadn’t even noticed my feet moving, but now I dropped down to my knees beside her, putting my hand over hers and pushing. “Put pressure on it,” I said in a raspy whisper. “That’s what you’re supposed to do, right?”

Piper shook her head and made a weak effort to pull away. The effort cost her, and she groaned. “Forget about me,” she said when she could find her voice again. “You have to get inside. Now!” She sagged down to the pavement, hands still pressed to the wound as she curled her body around it.

“We have to get you to a hospital,” I said. Ignoring the blood that now coated my hands, I felt around in my