Total pages in book: 159
Estimated words: 149301 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 747(@200wpm)___ 597(@250wpm)___ 498(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 149301 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 747(@200wpm)___ 597(@250wpm)___ 498(@300wpm)
“This is a war you will lose, Kage. You will lose. You will lose. YOU WILL LOSE!”
“What’s so crazy about all of this is that you know how I roll, but you keep thinkin’ that if you send more folks, different folks, bigger folks, catch me off guard, do it in the daytime, do it at nighttime, afternoon tea-time, whatever time, that somehow, I’m just gonna fold and let the shit happen. I’m a gotdamn survivor.”
“You should have taken the offer. Now you’re a dead man walking.”
“They tried to kill me. I would’ve been dead anyway. I know plenty ’bout the dead, and I’m comfortable with it. You’re troubled at the thought of death. That last breath. I’ve known that for a long time, old man. I been half dead for most of my life. Death don’t scare me! How’d you think I got out of the brain drain hospital that final time, huh?” Grandpa was quiet, but breathing hard. “I used my skills. When you’re not ’fraid of death, but others are, when they see the sandman in your eyes, they run… I am the Grim Reaper, old man. For some strange reason, you think I’ll have mercy on living demons. I don’t even know how to spell mercy, man. You thought I’d buckle because you threatened to take my land and have me locked back up in a funny farm.”
“You’re an evil, dark, twisted soul. If you won’t let me save your soul, then I’m gonna have to take you out, Kage. You were born in the month of Hollows Eve, and grew up by a damn funeral home, and graveyard. Your mother is into that devilment, and your father was a mass murderer without a conscience.”
“Ohhhh, granddaddy, don’t be superstitious and silly. I tell you what, do this test: Put me in a strait jacket, wrap a cinder block ’round my ankle and toss me in the river. If I float, then I’m a warlock. A witch like my mama.” He cackled. “If I sink, then you’re still screwed. ’Cause my ghost is gonna come back and kill you…”
“You’re going to slip up, Kage, and when you do, I’ll be waiting. I will destroy you as soon as I get the opportunity.”
“I’m fully aware of the livin’ hell you can make my life. You’ve got the money, the connections and the power. You’re already doing it, but what I won’t do is cower down to you. I ain’t no rookie to this shit. No amount of money can buy me, and no amount of scare tactics can make me kiss the ring. I ain’t nothin’ but a walkin’ gun with an axe to grind. That time I spent in that mental institution on account of you, bein’ abused, overly medicated and mistreated, well, guess what? It turned me into the fiend that I am today.”
“You were crazy before that!”
“You put the final nail in the vampire’s coffin. The final bolt in Frankenstein’s monster’s head. You thought you could use that to your advantage, break me down to make me bend to your desires, but it backfired. It’s alright as long as I’m doing dirty dealings on your behalf, but when it ain’t for you, and is instead aimed towards you, then you’ve got scriptures to quote, and reprisals for days. I had left you alone, but now you’ve woken the wolf from my den. I’m up now, you son of a bitch, and ain’t going away. Now, you’re gonna pay for what happened to me, motherfucker.”
“You were sick! You deserved to be in there, or be killed! Your mama was—”
“All it’s done is give me more fuel to destroy you… You know exactly why I wanted to kill you when I was a kid, old man. People have their theories, don’t they? And I could never prove what I knew to be true, but you and I know the truth.” A chill black silence rested between them. “You thought I was a monster before I went in that hellhole hospital, Grandpa? That was child’s play. Motherfucker, you ain’t seen shit yet.”
“You’re going to pay… and you’re going to pay good. I’m gonna skin you alive, like you did those men. I’m going to make you eat crow! Your mama’s feelings be damned!!! Kage… you hear me, boy?! KAAAAGE!”
He set the phone down on top of his truck, the speaker on, and reached for the lighter in his pocket. Lighting a little torn piece of fabric from that sleeve, he set it on fire. Then, he picked up the other half that he’d torn in two, and did the same.
“…Please… no… please… no… I have a wife, man! PLEASE!” one of them blubbered. The other one seemed to be going in and out of consciousness.
“I used to have a wife. She’s dead to me now, too. I used to have a lotta shit owed to me, a life I coulda lived but lost out on, all on account of that man who goes by the name of Cyrus Wilde. Ain’t a bone in my six-foot-seven inch body that gives a holy hot damn about you or your family, boy. You sure as hell didn’t care about mine when you were tryna kill me earlier today, now where ya?” he taunted as he looked down at his prey. “I got folks that care about me, too. Now, you two make sure you tell them foul goblins you’ll see in hell soon: goodnight for me. Keep the torchlight on for the old man. I reckon he’s on his way to join you one of these days.”