Fuck. He’d turned his back on the man dying without checking to see if he was alive or dead. Lighting the match and setting fire to Alan, he’d not waited around to see if anyone went inside the building or came out. It was his mistake.
His body started to feel sluggish as the lack of sleep finally caught up with him. Rubbing a hand down his face, he looked up at the ceiling, thinking of ways to stay awake.
Don’t fall asleep. Stay awake.
Zero glanced down staring at her shocking red hair. She really was a beauty. Was there a man waiting for her back at home? When he visited her after The Darkness attacked him she hadn’t been with anyone. Much could change in over a year. He hated the thought of another man being in her life, meaning something to her.
Surely Prue wasn’t dating anyone.
Why wouldn’t she be dating anyone? She’s a fucking beauty.
Jealousy spiked through him at the thought of any other man touching her. Prue was never supposed to be with anyone.
Closing his eyes, Zero could not hold sleep off any longer and drifted off to sleep with Prue in his arms. His guard was down to anything but the feel of her back with him. Peace.
****
Heat surrounded Prue making her feel comforted for the first time since she’d lost her parents. Opening her eyes, she felt sluggish, and the pain was no longer there. She looked across to see Zero passed out beside her on the hospital bed. Everything that happened last night came crashing through her. Jerking up, she gasped as the sudden jolt sent a hard pain through her chest where she’d been shot. Fuck, she’d been shot, and Alan had been here.
“Prue, honey, what’s the matter?” Zero asked, waking up.
Tears filled her eyes as she stared back at him. “Alan’s back.”
He sat up, climbing off the bed. “What do you mean? I know he’s the one who shot you, but do you mean he’s back?”
She nodded, wiping the tears from her cheeks. Her glasses were gone, and she was struggling to see without them. “Yes, he was here last night.” She’d never have dreamt something so disturbing. Alan was in her room, threatening Zero by using her.
“In your room?”
“Yes, he was here last night, Zero.” She recalled his touch with disgust. “He’s a monster.”
“I know.”
“No, you don’t. He said he’s waited ten years, and now he’s going to enjoy playing this game. Why wait ten years, and why is he playing games? Why doesn’t he just kill us?” The words filled her with dread even though she had to say them.
“He was inside your room last night?”
“Yes.”
“Fuck. Blaine didn’t even have a clue anyone was in your room until you were screaming.”
“Why wait all this time?” Prue asked.
“I don’t know. He said something about playing a game?”
“Yeah. The game of cat and mouse where we’re the mouse.”
“I’ve not got a clue, Prue. I don’t know why he waited, and I don’t know what he’s got planned.”
“He’s scarred, Zero, and scary.” She swallowed at what he’d done. There had been nothing she could do to stop Alan’s touch.
Looking up at Zero, she saw the anger in his face. “What did he do and say?”
She told him everything that happened from the touching to the words. She didn’t leave anything out even as Zero cursed, slamming his fist into the wall. Looking at him, she saw his knuckles were bloody and bruised. There were no bruises on his face though, and he gave no sign that he was in pain.
“Why are your hands cut up?” she asked, feeling nervous.
“I got into a fight last night.” He lifted up his shirt to show her some of the bruises. They were hard to make out as his stomach and chest were covered in ink. He was like a walking talking advertisement for tattoo parlors. Where there was tanned skin, she saw the purple bruising. “He’s going to play a game?”
Swallowing past the lump in her throat, Prue nodded. “He’s going to kill us, but he’s going to make it last so you’re hurting, Zero. This is going to be nothing more than a game to him.”
Lifting her hand to her neck, she stroked the pulse at the side. Alan had cut off her air supply so easily. He could have killed her last night. She knew whatever he had planned was going to hurt a lot more than last night ever had.
“I’m not leaving you alone,” he said.
“Good. You posted a guard outside, and it didn’t stop Alan from getting inside.”
“He’s scarred?”
“Yes, you really messed up his face. When you told me what you did, I didn’t think it was that bad. You really went to town on him, didn’t you?”