Cold-Blooded Beautiful (22 page)

The sound of the gunfire cracked like thunder over the blazing fire that was closing in around us.  Sliding my hands down my body, I wait for any pain, but there was none.  I snapped my head in David’s direction. His gun was still pointed out, but it was Aurora’s body flat on the ground, half a dozen bullet holes seeping blood across her chest and over the white snow. 
Hell, he thought that was me
. He thought it was me moving through the brush and he killed her instead. From where I lay, I searched her form for any signs of breathing, any movement at all. There’s no use trying to save her, she was dead the minute she met David.

But, fuck, that, she didn’t deserve
.

My body was on the ground; face down in the cold earth, a muscle memory reflex from the military.  You hear gunfire in the open, you fucking duck, and find your enemy.  My eyes shot up to David, and his emotionless eyes fixed on mine.  “My bad.  Thought she was someone else.  Want to check her pulse, don’t you, pet?  Still have that drive to save people?” Snowflakes of fiery ash fell around us, gently floating, floating to the ground.

“David, what if she’s still breathing?” Until the day I die, I will always, always be a trauma surgeon.  I will always crave to heal people.  That’s who I am. 
Just look at me right now. This is probably the day I do die, and I want to save her someway
.

CRACK
!  I violently flinched back as he brutally blew a hole in the middle of her forehead, in the soft creamy patch of skin that separated her flawlessly groomed eyebrows.  A deep chuckle rasps up from his throat, “Well, now we know she’s definitely not breathing.  Does that stop your itch to save her?” 
Fuck, how many rounds did he let go.  Fuck.  Think.  Was it nine or ten.  Fuck, I need to find out if that gun is empty.

Oh.  My.  Shit
.  I couldn’t think straight, and all I wanted to do was run.  If I did, he would shoot me in the back,
if
he had bullets left.  Would he get a perfect shot? 
Goddamnit
, so far, gaging from the perfect hole on Aurora’s face, I’d say he was a damn good shot, and he’d know exactly where to shoot me for maximum damage.

“Ah.  Ah.  Ah.  Samantha,” he wagged the gun at me, “I see you planning some stupidity in that empty little head of yours.  Do you think you could outrun my bullets?”  A fiery branch crashed down behind him, causing sparks to explode into the air around him.  I heard my gasp, the intake of breath, the undeniable evidence of my raw fear for him to witness.  He stood there, a small distance away, with the raging flames of an inferno behind him, and I truly believed I knew then what the face of pure evil looked like. 

This was what Kade’s nightmare’s were made of
.

He stalked towards me, shoulders tight, drenched in sweat from the heat, and gun pointed right to my head.  “Point blank range, little one.  Tell me where my money is,” he hissed.

“Nope…I have to show you.  I can’t tell you. You’d never be able to get it.”

“You’re wasting your time trying to be smarter than me, pet.  You’re not.  Now, tell…”

“It’s housed in a safety deposit unit in a private storage facility in Jersey.  It needs my fingerprints, my retina scan, a code, plus another person with some kind of identification.”  No it didn’t, I was lying.  The money and all the evidence were handed over to authorities months ago, so they could build a case on him and monitor his movements, but I needed him to think that he couldn’t get just a code, put a bullet in my head then walk away.  “Why do you think I didn’t go to the authorities, David?  Why wouldn’t I tell them everything you and
my father
did?  Why would I hide in this remote place and pretend I was dead?  Think about it,
sweetheart
.”

Lunging for me, he pressed the barrel of the gun to my temple.  “You tell me, pet.”

“Two hundred sixty-five million dollars, David.  My father gave up everything to get that money.  Do you think he’d share it with you, instead of his own blood?” 
God.  Please let this work
.  Holy crap, I was making this shit up as I went along.  But it was just like dissecting the trauma. Think fast, go through all the scenarios and take the best actions for the wounds. 

“Who else’s fingerprints and retina scans do you need?”  The hand that held the gun lowered to his waist, no longer aimed at me.

Hell
yes
, it
was working
.  I smiled at him tightly, “My father’s of course.”  I slowly slid my hands along the snowy ground, searching for something, anything I could grab to smash him in the face, and then go for his gun.

“It’s so unlike you to lie, Samantha.  Might it be that you like this game we’re playing?  I’ve seem to have lost one toy,” he ticked the barrel of the gun in the direction of Aurora’s body.  “Maybe I’ll keep you around until I find another one.”  He closed the distance between us, hovering over me, taunting, and hunting.

Psycho son of a bitch.  How could we all have been blind to his madness?  My hands searched frantically along the cold ground for anything I could use to defend myself. 

Well, hello sharp rock.  Meet David’s eye socket
.

Squeezing the rock around my fingers, I kicked out my leg at the hand that held the gun and swung my arm around, slamming the jagged rock into his temple.  I saw one second of blood spurt from his head, before I slammed my other foot into his chin.  I had no idea where the damn gun was, but both his hands were empty, clawing at his eyes, so I ran.  I kept the rock in my hand.  The crunch of the snow was beneath my feet, and then the wet dark spongy earth as the snow melted immediately under the heat of the flames surrounding us.

Under the rush of the fire, I could hear sirens.  Under the snapping and hissing of the searing fire raging closer and closer towards us, I could hear…people. 
That means we’re close to a road. 

We’re close to a road
.

The skies above us clouded with thick choking smoke, and the smell of burning timber singed the inside of my nose.  I covered my mouth with the crook of my arm and started fumbling through the brush, praying to get lost in the billowing veil of thickening smoke.  Wildfires can move a hell of a lot quicker than me running.  And the flames are bearing down on me.  Soon, if the flames didn’t burn me, I’d be suffocating from the raging fire that was quickly devouring up all the oxygen.  Crackling and popping.  Smoke drifting through.  A large wall of flames rushed towards us with the deafening sound of a freight train, and I ran.  I knew nothing about forest fires.  I knew nothing about how to survive in one, so I fucking ran.  I ran toward the blackness, where the air smelled cleaner, choking and gasping for breath.  My feet hit the blacktop of a road.  A road?

Oh God, I’m on a road
. 

David’s loud panting and footfalls right behind me.

I stumbled, coughing out into the open.  I needed to get to someone before David got to me.  Through the thick smoke I could make the blue and red flashing lights of an emergency vehicle, but it was too far away.

Instantly, there was a heavy arm around my waist and I was tumbling into a shallow ditch, my face scraping against the sharp rocks and pebbles that filled it.   David’s weight crushed me. 

Then white hot fiery pain. 

I roared some kind of inhuman scream.  The pain was agonizing, unbearable.  David crawled off me laughing and shoving my body hard against the trunk of a tree. 

Looking down, my brain screamed, when I saw the hilt of that huge rusty knife David had in the cabin.  Right into my femoral artery.  A kiss of white-hot agony, my entire body felt it, as the pain screamed across every inch of my flesh.  As if I was being wrapped in barbed wire and squeezed.  Sweat burst out of every pore of my face, and my stomach clenched and heaved violently. Blood poured out of the wound, around the knife, and I knew I had about twenty minutes to live.  Fuck.  If I pulled out the knife, I’d have less.  Fuck.  Fuck.  I didn’t want to fucking die.  I wanted to see Kade.  I needed to see him. 

I can’t take out the knife, but I have too.  I have to put pressure on the wound. I have to save the leg.  I had to stop the blood flood.  I have to save the life.

But, David’s there. 
Remember?
  Tears blurred my eyes.

He slammed his body over mine, causing the knife to angle itself up, opening me more, then laughing loudly, he pulled it out and fucking
showed it to me
.  “Just think about the infection that will set in if you don’t die quickly.  Rusty, filthy dull blade.  I might have even used it on raw chicken before I used it on you.” 
God, he was still playing on my fears
.

“And…you still won’t have your money…you weak pathetic…little boy…”

Through my blurry vision, I could see a pair of headlights in the distance, and way down the road, I could just make out the flashing lights of the volunteer firefighters, trying to fight the monstrous blaze that was torching the trees.  But everyone was too far away to hear my screams.  To far away to watch as David slammed my bleeding body against a tree and break with his bare hands.  I tried to fight him, clawing at his face, with the jagged sharp rock still in my grasp. 

Yet, his hands overcame me.  Doctor David Stanton, trained surgeon, with his long elegant hands.  Hands with long, graceful, talented fingers, which once saved the lives of so many, were balled up fists of hate and malicious corrupted evil.  Not caressing or saving, but, striking, bruising, breaking, and shattering
me
. 

My brain was at war with my limbs, thinking faster and moving faster than I could physically do; all I wanted to do was find an opening.  One where I could get to skin and slice, gut him while he’s still alive.  Except I couldn’t, because I could hear my small, shallow breaths, as I tried to fight and felt the bitter agony of every savage strike against my skin.  He hovered over me, straddling my body, his weight unintentionally pressed down against my thigh, numbing the burn.  I knew he wasn’t thinking straight, because putting pressure against my thigh, even though he was punching me in the face and chest, was actually saving my life by stopping the blood flow.  Or maybe he did know, maybe he just wanted me to last a little bit longer for torture.

The shrill roar of a car sliding and brakes skidding tires along the snow exploded in my ears.  I wanted so badly to have hope, so badly, but I knew I was running out of time. 

“Freeze and put your hands where I can see them…” Through the smoke and haze, over the crackling and spitting of the flames, I heard Deputy George’s deep voice.

Then I heard one last gunshot ring out.  It bounced and echoed along the burning trees, drifted like a ghost amongst the smoke.  After a raspy breath, a dark chuckle whispered into my ear, “See, my pet, I did have more bullets,” the evil taunted.  “But it’s more fun to kill
you
with my bare hands…” Panting, and coughing from the thickening smoke, his body shifted off mine.

I wanted to look at my wound. I needed to clean it. Wrap my skirt around it. My vision doubled, my head throbbed and the trees spun around me.  Trying to lift my head, his hands were instantly at my throat. I tore, and clawed at them, the warmth of my blood poured down my leg. 
Shit. The blood ran thick and fast.  Need a tourniquet. Need pressure
.

With a singing pain that made me shriek out in agony, I jammed my fingers through my wound, applying all the pressure I could muster.

Cringing, I looked toward the body of the deputy. 
God, is he still breathing?  Where was he shot?
 

“Oh, pet.  What is going on in that stupid little head of yours?  Are you still trying to save the piggy?  I just ripped a hole in your leg, and you still want to save his life?”  Pain blasted and crashed up my spine as he shoved my body against the rough hard bark of a tree.  Hands released my throat, but panic filled it.

I look around desperately for anything.  Anyone.  George couldn’t have come here alone.  Fuck, Kade has to be here somewhere. 

“Kade!” I screamed. 

“Oh.  Ah…I see.  You’re looking for your lover? 
Lover
.  That reminds me, pet.  What did he think of my name
branded
on your skin?  Did he need to fuck you with his eyes closed so he wouldn’t see me?”

The night was black and wet. Smoke and flames stung my eyes.  David’s voice was buzzing and humming, but all I heard, all I looked for were exit strategies. 

“Ah, are we playing the quiet game, my pet?  Should I make you scream then?  I like when you scream, pet.”

Yes. Screaming.  Then they’ll hear me
.

I didn’t have to force myself to scream either, David did that with the next sharp blow.  I shrieked as I felt my skin tear, not that it mattered.

I saw my own blood. It dripped between my fingers fast and thick.  My head swam and floated up.  And I knew.  I knew. 

I couldn’t save
me
. 

My knees buckled.  I didn’t even know I had been standing until they collapsed on the wet snow.  Down. 

Down. 

Down I fell. 

But I never knew if I hit the ground.  Before I landed, I was gone.

Please don’t let Kade ever find me.  Please don’t let him see me like this.  It will destroy him
.  It’s going to destroy everything.

Then I waited for death to come.

But David’s fists came for me first.

Chapter 17