Sieged

Chapter Twenty-One

As flies swat my face as if I'm being peppered by sleet, and as I cut through the fetid haze, I know the horror that awaits but I must see it with my own eyes. I need to. 

I can't believe this has happened. 

And shuffling past the bed, sheets scattered all around, I see her, it feeling like I'm discovering Fey's body anew. 

My tormentor has struck again. And he's been as cruel to her as the rest. Too fucking cruel. 

Unable to control my emotions, I wail and drop to my knees beside Trin's mangled legs. I hover my hands over, wanting to comfort her as I did with Fey but I resist. Instead, ball my hands into fists and start smashing them into the floor until my blood fuses with hers, until pain overwhelms my broken heart. 

It's my fault that she's dead. I shouldn't have asked her to assist in my investigation. She'd still be alive if I hadn't. 

'I'm sorry,' I yell, not caring if someone may hear. 'I'm fucking sorry. Please, please forgive me.' 

My mind flashes back to the last victim, the one found inside the park by the lawman. 

Had the Night Cleaver stuck around after Trin had chased him? Had he followed her home on the same night and killed her then? 

He must have, for Trin's body has long since started to decompose. 

And whomever did this was strong, for Trin was a great fighter, someone who could dispatch many soldiers with ease. Unlike my attacker. If I could dispatch of him, as I did, so could Trin. I'm more than sure of it. So then could my attacker and the Night Cleaver be different people after all? 

Unable to think about it any further, my mind aching at the sight before me, I wipe away my tears and stumble back to my feet. 

I should do something with her. Bury her. She deserves the dignity and the honour, but I have no means or time. 

Instead, I grab a blood stained sheet and place it over her, sending more flies into the air. 

'Please forgive me, Fey,' I mumble, catching my mistake, before raking my gaze around. 

I see no clues in the despair. Nothing that would point to the identity of the demon. 

With nothing left for me to do, I leave the bedroom and Trin to hopefully rest in peace, the thought of her and Fey getting together in the heavens and beyond the only glimmer for me in this rapidly expiring world. 

I should check the rest of the house for leads to this crushing riddle but I don't. And in my rush to escape the terror, to escape outside, I forget to depart the same way I came. 

As I open the front door of Trin's house, I'm confronted by a confused face that quickly turns to a penetrating one. 

Trin's lover. 

Shit. 

'What are you doing here?' she snaps aggressively as if she's just uncovered a tryst between Trin and I. 

She doesn't know I'm a wanted man. Not yet. And I can tell she has deeper feelings for Trin. Poor young woman. Poor creature. I ache for her. It's not easy to lose a loved one. 

'Where is she?' the woman adds. 'Is she hiding inside? Hiding from me?' 

I'm lost for words, and my first instinct is to say that nothing has taken place, for her to not worry, but the air from the bedroom soon answers the woman's questions, it wafting outside like haar from Fury Fell. 

Trin's lover covers her nose with her hand and mumbles, 'What's that?' Her sharpened features then turn to accusatory and she barrels past, thumping into my shoulder.