Deadly by Ker Dukey Read Free Book Online

“That’s a new record Brother, usually you’ve poured the first tumbler of liquor before punching me.”
    He paces the floor and then sits back down. “Is it her?” He can’t look at me, instead he’s studying the table in front of him like it has the answers to the universe.
    “Do you know this place is more than likely riddled with bed bugs and you could take them home with you without even knowing?”
    He looks up exasperated. “I don’t give a damn about fucking bed bugs Ryan.”
    I quirk a brow. “Well you should, male bed bugs are sadistic rapists. They don’t have a cock, they have a stabbing tool which they use to stab female bed bugs in the gut. Entomologists call this ‘traumatic insemination.’ In actual fact the female bed bugs actually become less reproductive when repeatedly subjected to these violent stabbings, who would have thought such brutality is in the smallest of beings?”
    He’s staring at me like I’m crazy. His eyes are narrowed and his lips pinched tight. “Where do you learn this shit from?”
    I shrug and take the seat opposite him. “I had some time to read… eighteen years. And I’m very intelligent,” I add.
    “Is this because of Cereus?” He holds up the envelope with our new I.Ds inside.
    “Don’t pretend you aren’t tracking us on our travels Blake and keeping informed of the news.”
    He slams his palm against the table, causing the window to rattle from the force. “That’s why I’m asking is it you or is it my baby still doing things she has no memories of doing?”
    “She’s more lucid then she lets on Blake.”
    “So you let her kill?” he growls accusingly.
    “Let? You have no idea. I can’t control the body count Blake. Why do you think I need these? She’s outgrown daydreaming, her monster is tearing free and ravishing anything it wants in the process. I’m trying to make her aware of what’s she’s doing so she can be more careful, so she can gain some control over it.”
    “I should have never let her go with you.” He stands, kicking the chair across the room.
    “You didn’t let her go, she chose her own path Blake. No wallowing will change that, or what she is.”
    He points his finger right in my face. “What you allowed her to become. This is the last time, I can’t keep doing this.”
    “Doing what? Protecting your daughter?”
    “No!” he screams, “Condoning what she’s doing. Every time I do this for you I’m giving you both free rein to go on killing sprees.”
    I crack my neck, bored of this same dance, double standards was always something Blake was good at. “Don’t act high and mighty in front of me Blake. You forget I see the man behind the badge, the man who has his own hefty kill count.”
    “That was a long time ago Ryan and you can’t keep using it as an excuse to pardon your own - or hers.”
    I snatch up the envelope. “Good job we don’t need to be pardoned from a hypocrite.” I walk to the door, swinging it open before walking out. Blake’s footfalls echo my own.
    He grabs my shoulder, spinning me. “I mean it Ryan, this is the last time. I can’t do this anymore.”
    Pushing him away from me, I get back in my car and make my way back to Cereus.

THREE DAYS AGO
    Things had been tense these last few weeks after I returned from seeing Blake. There was something about his eyes that worried me, he spoke truth about these identities being the last. We needed to ditch the cling-on Georgina, and I needed for Cereus to completely embrace her nature so I could teach her to control those urges she struggled with. We couldn’t risk her killing anyone else under the dream state. I’d been told from a bartender who liked to be strangled while fucked that a fight broke out on the beach those weeks ago when Cereus returned home. Turns out some dead guy - who was currently dismembered in our bathroom - got a little grabby with my Cereus and when she defended herself he hit her.
    I roll my shoulders, trying to