Hidden in the Heartwood {sapphic paranormal}

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

15. || shrike.

"Pointing at someone with their own gun?" River slowly unclipped themself from the line, keeping their eyes on the rifle as they dug their toes into the limestone. "C'mon Jed, that's low, even for you."

"Gimme one good reason why I shouldn't blow your skull out and let ya rot at the bottom of this shaft."

River shrugged a little as they tightened their grip on the ledge. "You'd probably miss."

Jedidiah jammed the cold tip of the muzzle against their throat and wrapped his finger around the trigger. There was no doubt he'd pull it, he's wanted to for the last twenty-some years, but for the moment at least, the safety was still on. Glancing downwards into the dark void below, River looked for the woman, but the glow of the lantern couldn't be seen. Either the battery finally died or she was smart enough to have turned it off.

Trusting that old safety, River grabbed the muzzle one-handed and rammed the stock into Jedidiah's shoulder as hard as they could. It caught him off-guard enough that he stumbled backwards into the cluttered shed wall and River pulled themself up and over the edge, rolling back onto solid ground. As they dashed towards the door, a blast tore through the wood next to their head. Evidently, he'd found that safety.

"Gonna need ya to turn around," Jedidiah snickered. "Make it look like self-defense,"

River kept their back to him, hand at their belt where both the knife and the hatchet were sheathed. "Ain't ya curious 'bout what I was doin' down there?"

"Boy, I don't give two flyin' fucks. Far as I'm concerned, you're fair game now that Blaire's finally come to her senses."

"They're not too happy with ya, Jed..." River drawled. As they peeked over their shoulder, Jedidiah's eye twitched behind the rear sight and he tongued the chew in his lip. Turning back towards the door, River smiled to themself. "Ya know this land here's hallowed ground and still you've gone and desecrated it."

"I don't believe in that queer hippy land shit," he spat. "No Christian man in their right mind—"

"The ancients don't care what ya do or don't believe or how many crosses ya hang in your home or that ya ain't never missed a Sunday at church. And your Christian God may forgive ya every week, but the ancients remember the innocent blood of two little girls and their mama that seeped into their soil for years. Soil, you seem to think ya own now, leasin' it off to them flatlander frackjobs."

Jedidiah was quiet so River ventured to turn around. Anger burned in his icy blue eyes, but the barrel of the rifle trembled in his hands with fear. Guilt. He lowered it a little and spat a mouthful of chew towards River. "It was Blaire's idea to let 'em use the pit to store their equipment. The land's still hers, afterall. Seems she's finally growin' some brains in that dumb head of hers."

River tried to ignore their own anger flaring inside as their fingers tightened around the bone handle of the knife.

Seeing it in their hand, Jedidiah raised the rifle back up. "Ya know, Blaire and her mama forgave me long ago, as her sister woulda done if she was still here, God rest her soul. But since you're so set on rememberin' the ugly past, I seems to recall our beloved Blythe disappearin' somewhere deep out in your woods."

"Her body was found in my woods," River corrected.

"And ain't you the lucky sombitch that found it? Stripped of her clothes, beaten..." Jedidiah's anger started sounding far less angry and more like a deeper deflection. "They found a man's DNA on her, if ya remember? But they never swabbed you, now did they?"

River almost laughed. "You are a damn fool, Jed."

"See, you ain't the only one that remembers stuff." Lowering his eye to the sight, Jedidiah aimed straight for their chest. "Well, I'll be sure to have Sheriff Holden check yours this time, right after I send ya straight to hell my—"