Pain-Killer (A Miss Hyde Novella Book 2) Read online

  I looked him dead in the eye and said, “I’m going home, Kyle. And you’re not going with me.”

  “Really? I believe I bought you a drink.”

  I scoffed at him. “And you think that’s the ticket to get in my pants? Yeah, alright.” I stumbled slightly, falling into him without even meaning to. I could even hear my words slurring as I spoke. “You, sir, are one fucked up individual.” Like I had room to talk. The room spun again, but I pushed away from him regardless and began making my way to the door that led outside.

  Eyes were on my back as I walked away. Well, more like stumbled away on the heels that now felt like stilts. If I had seen myself from a different perspective, I would’ve looked like Bambi learning how to walk. I was not thrilled about this new feeling. As I pushed through the doors and met the cold air of the New York City night, I thought about the bitter taste that was in that second cosmopolitan I drank without hesitation. He had done something to it, which I was sure of. The sidewalk went sideways, and I broke out into a cold sweat. I wiped it away with my forearm and tried to get my sense of direction back just long enough to make my way home. One leg almost gave way beneath me, but I kept myself upright yet again. Hyde was trying to help me fight the effects of whatever that asshole had put in my drink, but there was only so much she could do.

  “Shit,” I whispered to myself. “Shit. Shit. Shit.” Pushing my hair away from my sweaty forehead I turned back towards the club to see Kyle standing there. He was even closer than I wanted him to be and even then I didn’t want him anywhere near me. He had drugged me and whatever he had given me was working its way through my veins faster than anything I had ever been exposed to before.

  “Where do you think you’re going?” He started to come closer. “You shouldn’t be going anywhere alone in your condition.”

  “Get away from me,” I yelled at him as I stepped to the very edge of the curb trying to flag down a cab.

  No one was stopping, and my vision was beginning to swim again, the bright lights of city living blurring as I watched each yellow taxi pass without slowing down. My heart was racing, causing the drug and the alcohol to pump even harder through my system. No wonder I could barely stand. Warm hands moved around my waist, and I turned, trying to push with every bit of strength I had against his chest. My heel slipped from the curb, and I almost tumbled, but Kyle caught me and brought me in, caressing my back with his fingers as we stood there.

  “Let’s go, Blythe. Don’t fight it,” he whispered into my ear. “Don’t fight it, baby.”

  I resisted as best as I could, but I could feel the drug pulling at me just like his strong arms, but I didn’t have the strength in my dying arms to keep fighting. It would just be easier to give in, wouldn’t it? My legs were shaking with the need to lie down, and my body felt like a lead weight that had been tossed into a pool. His face was nothing but a blurred image in front of me. All except for those hazel eyes that watched me with interest. My mind was racing, but all of my thoughts were a jumbled mess that needed a cipher to figure out. My head was shaking back and forth, but I could barely feel the movements, and I could barely feel my lips as I spoke.

  “No.” I pushed again, but he didn’t budge. It was like my resistance meant nothing to his strong form and I was a fly that he could squash against him, and he wouldn’t feel a thing as it happened. His distorted face faded to blackness and then flooded back to me in a surge of bright lights and color.

  “Give in.” Were the last words I heard before everything went dark and I felt nothing. Not even Hyde stirring inside of me.

  Chapter Two

  Images of blood and shining metal flashed before my closed eyes, causing my heart to race with fear and anticipation. Hot blood spurted as flesh was ripped, cut, and torn open. I was dreaming. I had to be dreaming. There was no way this could be real. Right?

  I came into consciousness slowly at first as the pictures flashed behind my eyelids, and then I was brought back with a rush, and everything was blurry as I opened my eyes. I was already standing, and I was somewhere I had never been before, and once my eyes spotted the bed, I knew I was in a bedroom. But whose? The ceilings were high with exposed wooden beams running across in a parallel fashion. I felt plush, wet, and sticky carpet underneath my feet and the walls of the room I was in were mossy green with a brown colored carpet lining the floor.

  There was something wet and warm in my hand and a tacky feeling spreading from my hand all the way down my body. I could even feel it dribbling down my chin from my lips. I looked towards my outstretched hand and saw something that shocked me to my core. There was a fresh, still beating heart clutched in my hand with chunks missing and bite marks all over it. That was when it hit me. What the liquid running down my chin was.

  “Oh my God…” I cried as the heart beat it my hand one final time, stilling as the nerve impulses finally died away.

  I dropped it to the floor and began to back away from it, my feet sliding through the wet carpet; almost causing me to fall down into what I was starting to see was blood. It was still hot between my toes, but I didn’t see a body. My mind was still fuzzy, and bits and pieces were beginning to come back. I met a guy. What was his name? I struggled with the name as I stood in a pool of crimson life, trying to ignore the sensation of it cooling and congealing on my skin. I wasn’t even sure how long I had been there, and all I did know was that this was Hyde’s doing. But why had she done it? There had to be a good reason. And where was the body? Then the name and an image of his face hit me. Kyle. The man with a broad chest and hazel eyes framed by gorgeous lashes that any woman would kill for. Then the cosmopolitan I drank came to mind quickly followed by a bitter taste on my tongue that I realized wasn’t the lime juice in it at all.

  “Fuck. That’s why you did it, isn’t it?” I asked Hyde. I knew I wouldn’t get the kind of answer I expected. She wasn’t another person standing in the room. She was inside of me and was deathly quiet. I wasn’t certain what to make of that. From what I could tell, Kyle’s apartment had the same layout as far as the bedroom and master bath went, simple and accessible. The double doors stood wide open, and there was blood trailing from where I stood and into that room.

  I began to follow the trail, slipping as I moved through the pool of blood. Somehow I managed to catch myself with a firm hand on the ground, avoiding a nasty swim in it. I was already covered in the stuff, but there was no reason to make it worse. My feet slapped the tile as I made my way into the bathroom, searching out for the body of the man who I had killed and whose heart I had been munching on. The thought of it made my stomach turn. Following the trail, my eyes made their way to the shower where it led. Kyle’s body was beyond the transparent glass doors, naked and cover in blood with his ribcage cracked open with his heart missing. Like I didn’t t know that already. A bloody kitchen knife lay on the shower floor, glinting at me in the overhead lights. Underneath the blood, I could see stab wounds in his gut. There were enough of them to where I wasn’t sure if it was the stabbing or the ripping open of his chest that had actually killed him. It didn’t change the fact that I, Hyde, we, had taken his life.

  My stomach rolled, and nausea crept up my throat, burning its way into my mouth. I spun and ran to the toilet, surprised that I even made it there. As I retched the acid burned my throat and left a sour taste in my mouth. I had always seen her inflict the damage, but as her way of protecting what she perceived to be my fragile mind, she always blocked out the aftermath of her work. I was guessing, this time, she didn’t care and wanted me to see what the result would be if I held her back. Well, her point made it through loud and clear. Reaching up with one hand I flushed the toilet. I did not plan on leaving any DNA behind in the toilet. The heart on the bedroom floor would have to be contented with. I didn’t even know what I would do with that yet, but fingerprints were the first thing I needed to handle.

  Hyde had never left me to clean up the mess before. I sat in front of the toilet as I tried to think up a plan
of action. There was no way I wanted this to be traced back to me. What was I going to do? A thought waltzed into my frazzled brain then. There was only one person I could ask for the answers. I stood and stumbled to the mirror, making sure not to touch anything else and leave any more evidence behind. I guess the best thing about being what Hyde is could be the fact that she couldn’t be incriminated in any crime, big or small. I just happened to be the one she took for a wild ride every once and a while. The mirror was gigantic and was a series of three mirrors side by side with the outer two turning in at an angle. I could see three of me, and that was very disturbing with the trail of blood on the floor behind me.

  Looking deep into the eyes of my own reflection I let the words come out. “What do I do?” When nothing happened anger filled me and gave way to rage, pure and bitter like acid that was eating its way through my veins. “You got me into this mess. What do I do?” I yelled into the mirror, pointing a finger at my own reflection as it pointed back at me as if accusing me too. As I watched my eyes flashed from their natural amber brown to a bright green the color of fresh cut grass on a spring day. I blinked, and my eyes were their natural color again like the change hadn’t occurred at all. Had I truly seen it? I shook my head and decided that I had and that Hyde was just playing games with me. Maybe she wanted to see what I’d do or would she finally took over if I was going in the wrong direction. After all, she could no longer kill her way through the club scene if I was locked away in prison awaiting the capital punishment.

  I took a few steps away from the mirror, not taking my eyes off of it and waiting for the transformation to take place again. Nothing. “God dammit!” I hissed. I couldn’t keep the hurt and the fury out of my voice. “Help me!” I said to my own reflection. “You’re the only one who can.” A sly and sinister smile began to spread across the face of my reflection, the eyes turning into the beautifully bright green that had flashed in them not even a moment ago. Terror gripped me as I watched the transformation. Even my skin took on a sickly hue that I had never noticed when the conversion absorbed me, my veins taking on the same gross color that reeked of violence and evil. I was evil. That was all there was to it. Hyde was attached to my very soul. That was one of the few bits of information that my parents had given me before they died. That and the fact that this side of me would find a way out one way or another, no matter how hard I tried to fight it. I should’ve known better, but there was a small part of me that was hoping I could make a difference; that I was different than the ones that came before me. Guess not.

  My hand flew up to cover my mouth and stifle a soft cry as I watched the transformation, absolute horror flooding me and nearly causing my knees to buckle underneath me. The only part of this that I had witnessed before now was the eye color changing, but this was a whole new ball game. I had no idea what else it entailed, and now the shock of it had me rooted to the spot. She was still grinning at me, tilting her head to the side as she watched my stunned reaction and her shoulders shaking like she was holding in silent laughter. Her hands were clenched into fists at her sides.

  “Now you want my help?” she asked, mocking me with her tone of voice. “The little rich girl finally wants me to help her?” She began to laugh, the musical notes of it wrapping around me like a vice and squeezing me until tears sprang from my eyes and rolled down my soiled cheeks.

  I took a few tentative steps towards the mirror, trying as hard as I could not to slip on any blood from my footprints that left a nice trail all over the bathroom floor. I dropped my hand to my side. I had something to say.

  “You didn’t have to kill him.” I said, letting the anger at my situation leech its way into my voice and making sure it could be heard loud and clear. Her amusement stopped abruptly, and her eyes snapped to look at me, something in them that I didn’t recognize.

  “I didn’t? Now, what makes you say that?” Her question would go unanswered because I knew she was going somewhere with the words she had spoken.

  I flung a bloody hand towards his body in the shower, pointing towards him but keeping my eyes on her in the mirror. “What did he do to deserve that?”

  “Besides, drug you? Us? Me!” She was beginning to become extremely irate with me, and I couldn’t say I blamed her. The answer was quite obvious. “Turn our body into a little plaything for his amusement? Rape us until there was nothing left that a man could possibly want?” She paused, her eyes darting towards his slumped figure. “If that doesn’t make him deserving of a torturous death then I don’t know what does.”

  “This is insane.” I sighed as I turned away from the mirror and could feel her eyes on my back. I was going crazy. I had to be. “I’m going insane.” I rubbed my hands down my face and let them fall to my sides with a slap. It was now that I realized one of the straps of my dress fell, and the other was torn, causing it to hang down at the front. Lovely. And I even liked this one.

  “Sorry, but this is as real as it gets Blythe. And it won’t stop until you stop fighting what you are.” I turned to face the mirror, confusion twisting my features.

  “And what exactly am I?” My voice had risen in pitch and volume, and I had barely noticed, but I was beginning not to care. All I could do was stare at my own monstrous image in the mirror as she seemed to ponder the answer like she had no idea what to say. Was it really that hard of a question to answer? Or was it?

  Her eyes settled on me, resolve and truth echoing in them as I watched her mind working. “You’re damned,” she finally voiced. “You’re damned.” My eyebrows shot up.

  “Damned? What the Hell is that supposed to mean?”

  Hyde rolled her eyes in exasperation. “Do you think now is the best time to have an identity crisis, Blythe?” Her words stung with truth that I had been trying not to recognize. Not allow myself to feel, or know.

  I shook my head and plopped down onto the tiled floor, causing searing pain to ricochet from my tailbone all the way up my spine and back down again. It was the only way I knew this was all real. All too real if anyone ever asked, which I knew no one would. I bent forward, cradling my head in my hands and feeling nothing but pity for myself. I fought Hyde tooth and nail, so I should’ve known things would’ve gone south quickly. I ended up in a huge mess because of my own foolish choices over Dax and what she had done to him. I was stupid and selfish. That was all there was to it. I lifted my head and let my hands all, landing palm up on my legs. The red of Kyle’s blood was clashing against the paleness of my skin that the starkness of it shocked me for a moment. Her voice, my voice, drew my gaze back up to the silvered glass. I could feel my brows furrowing in complete and utter misunderstanding after hearing the next words to spill from her lips.

  “You have to let me in, Blythe. That’s the only way I can help you.” My body began to tremble, and my head started to shake after the words met my ears. I didn’t want to. I knew what happened when I let her in, and it was strange and terrifying and deadly. Was I prepared to let it all happen while I watched again? Maybe I would have to be to save myself. I had been fighting her because I had seen what she did to the things I wanted in my life. Was she protecting me from everything around me that could potentially cause harm? Or was she harming what I really needed because she needed me to need her? Who would ever know besides her?

  “And if I don’t?” It was in me to rebel, so the question came out without me even thinking about it. My lips had betrayed my innermost thoughts without me even asking them to. The smile returned to her downturned lips, and I knew I had my answer.

  I rose to my feet, one ankle nearly rolling and causing me to fall but I caught myself before it could happen. Today was full of near misses with the floor. I was tired and afraid and was trying my best to keep my gaze away from the body of the man who had drugged me slumped in the shower, his life all over the floors and dripping down the shower drain. I shivered, but it wasn’t from the cold. I had actually been sweating profusely and didn’t know it until I rubbed my arms to rid myself of th
e chill. My palms were now covered in Kyle’s blood and my own sweat and rubbing them on the dress would do nothing to rid me of either of them. I did an internal shrug and looked into the mirror again, letting her green eyes meet my own amber brown ones.

  Hyde was going to be let in. How exactly? I wasn’t sure, but I had a feeling it would be easy enough.

  “Tell me what to do.” I sighed, letting my shoulders sag at the thought of letting her do anything. I wasn’t thrilled about it, but which was better? Letting her take over once again or sending myself to prison for murder because I couldn’t lose control over something for once.

  “Just relax and I’ll do the rest. You don’t have to do anything.” She was still grinning, broad and menacing. Not only was I still confused about what was happening, but I was afraid and thought I could be hallucinating. If it weren’t for the dead man in the same room, I would’ve believed it for sure, but he was definitely there. I pushed a deep breath out of my lungs; my shoulder’s sagging even further and closed my eyes. I wasn’t sure I could relax, but it was worth a shot. The ease of which I was actually able to do it shocked even me.

  Red leached through my eyelids from the lights inside of the apartment, and the floor was slick and sticky underneath my feet. Because of the tiled floor, it was beginning to get cold, and I could feel the clots that were forming between my toes. No one would’ve thought it was so hard to ease your mind in deafening quiet, but it truly was. That I couldn’t, and wouldn’t, lie about. Before I knew it, I began to feel disconnected from everything, myself included, and my thoughts were drifting away into a paradise my mind cooked up just for me. Or was it Hyde that was producing the beach in my head filled with powerful sun-kissed men, sea gulls, and drinks with umbrellas in them?