“Fred actually thought we should get rid of your sister, given her state. But honestly? I thought that would be a waste. I thought she sounded interesting. So I told Chanchai to find a way to bring her to me. I wanted to meet this zombified little girl. Maybe I could help her.”
Livia could feel the dragon, its ears flattening, its eyes glowing, its breath getting hot.
Not yet. Not yet.
“And Chanchai, good man that he is, knew it was the least he could do following the momentary lapse of professionalism that had caused the problem in the first place. So he brought Nason to me. And I entrusted her to the care of Matthias.”
“I think you’ve told her enough,” Redcroft said.
“No,” Livia said. “Please. What happened to Nason? Please.”
Lone smiled and glanced at Skull Face. “Chanchai, she really does want to know, doesn’t she?”
Skull Face nodded and looked at her, his expression burning with hate. “Yes. She wants that. Yes.”
“Well, is there anything she could do that would persuade you to fill her in on the rest of the story?”
Skull Face smiled. “Yes. I think so.”
He stared at Livia. “You were so fun on boat. So fun. Maybe you be fun again, we tell about your sister.”
Livia shook her head. The dragon was struggling now, straining.
Skull Face raised the gun and pointed it at Livia’s face. “No? Two choice. You be fun now. Or I fucking kill you.”
Lone gave her a sad smile. “Why don’t you make him happy, Livia? You know what happens when he gets angry. And really, I think he missed you. The way he talked about you… you were special to him. I want to see what was so special. I want to watch. And then, if you make him happy, I’ll finish telling you about Nason.”
The dragon was practically screaming inside her now. She’d never felt it so huge before. So undeniable.
Skull Face pointed the gun at the carpet, then aimed it at Livia again. “Knees,” he said. “Like on boat. You so fun on knees.”
Livia got to her feet. She was trembling. Skull Face saw it and nodded with satisfaction. He thought it was fear. In fact, it was effort. She was doing all she could to hold back the dragon. She didn’t think she could contain it much longer.
She stepped closer to him. This would be her best chance yet, maybe her only chance, for a disarm. Just a little closer.
But Skull Face retracted the gun, holding it closer to his body. He knew her too well, and she’d hurt him too badly. He wasn’t going to take a chance.
Skull Face pointed to the carpet with his free hand, his gun hand keeping the pistol trained on her. She didn’t have a move. Not yet. She was going to have to do this.
She got on her knees. She could see how hard he was. He moved closer and pressed the muzzle of the gun against her temple.
“Pants,” he said. “You open.”
In her peripheral vision, she could see both Lone and Redcroft lean forward in their chairs. Probably out of anticipation and interest. But with Redcroft, the posture would create quicker access to the waistband holster at the small of his back.
It didn’t matter. She couldn’t fight the dragon any longer even if she wanted to.
And she didn’t want to.
She opened Skull Face’s pants. He pressed the gun harder. The muzzle bit into her skin.
He moved aside his underwear, exposing himself.
“Mouth,” he said. “Mouth. Like you did on boat. Like your sister did.”
Livia took him into her mouth. Deeply. As deeply as she could, the way she knew he liked.
He moaned. The dragon saw its chance. It spread its giant wings and filled its lungs with fire.
Skull Face grabbed the back of her head and thrust deeper, wanting to make her gag, to make her choke, the way he always had on the boat. It was all right. She wanted him to. She let him push as deeply as she could stand.
And then, in a single blur of movement, she shot her palm up into his gun hand. Jerked her head down.
And clamped her jaws together.
Skull Face shrieked. The gun went off inches from her ear. She barely heard it. She grabbed the barrel and torqued it toward the ceiling and bit harder, screaming, roaring through the clod of blood and tissue in her mouth. Skull Face shrieked again and shook, unable to pull away, frozen by shock and pain. Livia pushed the gun hard to the left and tore her head viciously to the right. The gun came loose. So did the rest of him.
She fell to her back, bringing the gun into her right hand on the way. Redcroft was already moving offline, his hand going for his gun, but she’d anticipated the move and tracked him easily, firm grip, front sight on the target, just the way Rick had taught her.
She pressed the trigger. The first round caught him in the side. He twitched and continued to fumble for his weapon. She shot him again in the side. Tracked up. Shot him in the neck. He fell to his knees. She lowered her sights. And blew his jaw off. A geyser of blood erupted from where his lower face had been. His hands went spastically to the wound as though he could somehow arrest the damage, and he looked at her for a moment, his eyes wide, as though imploring her to explain how this possibly could have happened. Then he pitched forward onto the carpet.
Livia stood, keeping the gun on Redcroft. She spat the bloody chunk of meat from her mouth onto the carpet. Lone watched wordlessly, frozen in his chair, his face a mask of shock and horror.
Skull Face was on his back, shrieking, writhing, his hands clasped uselessly over his crotch, blood flowing through his fingers and saturating his pants.
Livia pointed the gun at Lone and said, “Stay.” Then she walked to where Redcroft lay and put one more round in the back of his head. She pulled the gun from behind his pants and threw it to the far corner of the room.
She knelt next to Skull Face and patted him down, keeping the gun on Lone. Skull Face continued to shriek and writhe. He was clean. He’d only had the SIG, and now the SIG was hers.
She stood and walked closer to Lone. “The bedroom,” she said. “Move.”
“I’ll tell you about your sister,” he said, panting. “I’ll tell you everything.”
She spat out another bolus of gore and wiped the back of her wrist across her bloody mouth. She smiled at him.
“I know you will,” she said. “I know.”
64-NOW
She handcuffed Lone to the bed, the same way he had handcuffed the girl, making sure he could see into the living room. Then she went back for Skull Face.
He was still shrieking. She set down the gun and scooped the bloody remains of his cock off the carpet. She could taste his blood, smell it everywhere. She dipped her head and looked at him for a moment, letting him see her, letting him know what was coming.
He cried out and rolled to his stomach, his hands still covering his amputated crotch, then started twitching away from her like an earthworm.
She moved in, grabbed him by an ear with her free hand, and dragged him onto his back. He shrieked, “Mai! Mai!”
That much Thai she remembered. It meant “No! No!”
She gripped his hair in her left hand. Put her left foot behind his head and planted her right knee in his throat.
He kept his mouth shut and tried to twist away. She pressed harder with her knee. He struggled for another moment. She pressed harder. His mouth popped open. She shoved his severed cock into it, clamping her palm down over his mouth and nose to hold it there.
“Mmmmmmphhh!” he screamed, the sound muffled by her hand and what was under it. “Mmmmmmphhh!”
She was crying now. “You so fun!” she shouted, staring into his bulging eyes. “You so fun!”
She gripped his hair and bore down with her hand and knee while he choked and twitched and struggled. He grabbed her wrist and tried uselessly to pry her hand away. Then he began to vomit. She pressed harder. His body convulsed. She stared into his agonized eyes until they went vacant, until his twitching body lay still.