Within His Reach

Chapter 18

BRIAR POV

The atmosphere felt tight, like someone had used a giant vacuum to suck out all the air.

My vision couldn't keep up with my brain, everything was blurred and my tears burned my eyes. My hearing was none existent. Anything I could hear, I wasn't able to focus on it. The noises were like distant hums... all blurred and mixed together in a dull undertone. I could feel the girl's dead body, draped against mine and soaked with blood. And God that smell. The metallic scent made me feel sick. I didn't dare look down, not on my own at least.

I tried to move away, finally coming to a state of realization and trying to shift the corpse's weight off of me. But that was made impossible when Theo grabbed my hair, harshly forcing my gaze directly to her mangled body.

I screamed.

I cried.

And then I threw up, directly onto the floor beside me.

She'd been shot in her head and I could not handle the bloody mess of brains and bone that soaked not only the grounds around me, but also my own body.

There were fragments of gore all over my face and body from where I had been holding the poor thing. I'd told her it was all going to be okay. That was a lie. She was dead. I couldn't even stop my pathetic excuse of a husband from shooting an innocent child in the head. And I hated him more than ever before.

"Let go of me!"

I screamed at him till I'd ripped my way out of his hold, no doubt losing a few hairs in the process.

I sobbed hard, holding myself in my arms, trying to give myself any comfort possible. I looked towards Theo, he was at the other end of the room, along with the rest of his guards who all stood awkwardly, not knowing what to do.

I couldn't look at him any longer, any of them in fact. Sure, Theo was the one who pulled the trigger but if any of these men had any sense of morality then they wouldn't be standing in this room. The girl's father, my abuser, had already been moved. I could hear him screaming as he was being dragged away to God knows where.

I turned away from the murderers, lifting my gaze to the wall in front of me. And that's when I saw it. My saving grace.

The entire wall was lined with weapons. Knifes, tools, guns and all sorts of other torture devices. Anything you could imagine, was hung up on this wall. Before Theo could reach me, I launched forward and grabbed the first thing I could grab.

It was a knife, a big one at that. The blade must've been the same length as my forearm and had a light curve to it. I turned around slowly, laughing like a maniac as I aimed a knife towards the men across the room.

Theo's eyes widened and he noticeably stiffened in shock and horror. He knew that I wasn't messing around.

"Briar. Drop the knife, now."

I only chuckled darkly, completely contrasting to the seriousness of his voice. I shook my head, adjusting my grip on the knife's handle with a shaking hand. I didn't feel scared all of a sudden, I felt powerful and.... excited?

When I still made no attempt to give in and drop my weapon, Theo made a gesture towards his men who began to slowly move in on me. He tried to make it as subtle as possible but I was done with his mind games.

Suddenly I twisted the knife around so that it was aimed directly at my chest.

"Come any closer and I'll stab myself!"