My Dark Knight (Kings of Hell MC 2)

Knight rushed over and kneeled behind Elliot’s back, about to pull him closer to make all the bad things Fane must have said to Elliot go away. But then his gaze trailed over the red-stained sword that had been drawn out of the silly cane, and all his senses rang in alarm so loudly he couldn’t think anymore.

“Elliot?”

Elliot gasped, as if only now he could breathe in, and he looked back very slowly. He was covering one eye with his hand, but Knight could already see something was horribly wrong. The pale face was smothered in blood, and Elliot moved his lips, trying to speak, but seemed unable to breathe in enough air to produce a sound.

Cold fear trickled down Knight’s body and sank into his bones as he squeezed his fingers on Elliot’s shoulders, unable to utter a word either.

The light moved, and when its bright beam flashed straight into Elliot’s face, the extent of the damage to it emerged from the shadow. Elliot moved his hand away, grasping at Knight’s cut, and he finally managed to form words.

“He s-stabbed me. He made me stab my eye,” he said in a voice made of broken glass.

“Fuck!” Beast hissed. “Quick, we need to get him out of here.”

Knight stared, completely stiff and with his stomach squeezing so tightly it felt as if all his insides were folding into each other. “Oh, no, Elliot... I’m gonna fucking kill him.”

Elliot’s voice came out of his lips changed. Confident and deep, as if from another person’s chest. “You can’t. I’m already dead.”

“We’ll see about that, you sick motherfucker,” hissed Knight and shot to his feet with Elliot’s limp body cradled against his chest. He found Beast’s eyes, too frantic to do anything but hold Elliot close. “Drive us?”

Beast nodded and led the way as they rushed into the corridor, and sped out of the basement. Knight wished he’d never allowed Elliot to even see this part of the house, let alone summon Fane’s ghost. Despite his size, Elliot was like a bleeding baby bird in his arms, clutching at Knight’s clothes and seeking comfort. His body trembled, and seeing the bloodstained hands and face filled Knight with such rage he was ready to take on a pact with seven different devils just to have Fane out of Elliot.

“I’m sorry. I’ll never leave you alone with him. Never,” he promised, pulling Elliot even closer as he ran up the stairs and to the nearest door. Breathless, he was taken aback to see someone walking toward him, and even though something in his mind told him to brace himself for attack, it was only Laurent.

“Christ! What happened?” Laurent approached, wide-eyed.

Beast shook his head. “I will tell you later. Stay away from him.”

“Did Fane do that?” Laurent asked, following them nevertheless.

Beast wasn’t having it. “Stay away, Laurent. I will not be repeating myself.”

This time Laurent listened and stopped in his tracks. Getting to the garage was the only thing on Knight’s mind. The way there was a blur, but soon enough he helped Elliot into the backseat as Beast took the wheel. The blood dripping down Elliot’s cheek begged to be avenged. For once, Knight wished Fane did have a body, just so that he could kill him all over again.

*

Knight didn’t know minutes could stretch so much, but as he paced back and forth along the corridor while the doctors took care of Elliot, every sixty second period turned into an hour, and each movement made Knight’s comfortable, well-worn clothes pull at his flesh. He couldn’t cope with this kind of stress. Violence, fear for his life, or those of his brothers—that was familiar, but witnessing the torment of Elliot, a guy who couldn’t possibly defend himself, who was gentle and sweet, was turning Knight into a bundle of anger and grief. He should have been at Elliot’s side at all times, and he’d failed. It was because of him that Elliot lost his eye. All his fault.

He kicked the vending machine.

“Sir? Please don’t do that again, or you will be asked to leave,” a harsh female voice reprimanded him from the other side of the corridor. The nurse glared at him and disappeared in one of the rooms.

Knight shook his head and looked down, to the matte stains left behind by blood. They were at the front of his cut where Elliot had so desperately grabbed him, so defenseless, looking for help Knight could not provide.

It was going to drive him insane.

The sound of quick footsteps made him turn his head. Jake raised his hand in a silent greeting. “I heard what happened…”

Which was most likely a made-up story, since Jake wasn’t even allowed to know about all the dark magic shit going on in the building, let alone exorcisms and William Fane’s ghost.

Knight nodded nevertheless, glad to have company. Beast went to talk their options over with Laurent, and the silence left behind by his absence had been slowly becoming unbearable. “It’s a fucking mess.”