Don’t Let Me Break by Linda Verji

 

 

CHAPTER 33

 

Jasper came alive with bloodlust already sizzling in his veins. Who do I need to kill?

He did not care how long he’d been gone. He did not care what day it was. He did not care where he was. In fact, he did not even care who he was here to kill. He just knew that he was here to kill, and that was all that mattered to him.

When he found himself hanging over someone’s shoulder like a sack of potatoes and tasted blood in his mouth, he realized that his target was the person carrying him.

“You killed him,” the guy carrying Jasper kept muttering as he walked. “You killed him.”

Jasper immediately recognized the voice as that of Zion.

How did he know Zion? Well, though Jasper had never fully emerged after getting rid of Gary, he sometimes had access to Marley’s thoughts. Sometimes, without her knowledge, they existed in the same space and time, and Jasper could see what was going on in her world. Usually, those times were when she was being bullied.

He was the murderous thoughts that lurked in her brain during those times; thoughts she didn’t even know were there. He was the one who would’ve stuck a knife in her enemies with a cold smile if she just let him come out.

Jasper had furiously watched as she was picked on in middle school and high school. He’d ached to be let out so he could kick their teeth in. He’d watched their grandmother take them to exorcisms and itched to poison that witch. The doctors who poked and prodded Marley had made Jasper’s kill-list quite a few times too.

But Marley had never let him out.

Ever since Jasper had killed Gary, she’d chained him in her thoughts.

Recently, a lot of people had gotten on Marley’s nerves, which meant that Jasper had been allowed to peek into her life quite a few times. He knew about the three witches, and he knew about Leslie too. However, from everything Jasper had seen, Zion had seemed to be a friend, not a foe. He was always on Marley’s side when she was dealing with her bothersome coworkers.

A normal person would have wondered why Zion was trying to kill Marley. But Jasper wasn’t normal. In fact, even calling him a ‘person’ was somewhat incorrect. He was a weapon. His only function was self-defense. Zion’s reasons for doing this were of no consequence to him. He. Did. Not. Care.

The only thing that mattered to Jasper was that Zion was now trying to hurt them, which meant it was time for him to die.

Despite the blinding pain on one side of his face, and the sharp pain in his stomach courtesy of Zion’s bony shoulders, Jasper began to plot. How do I kill this guy?

“You killed him,” Zion kept mumbling. “You killed him.”

And I’m going to kill you too, Jasper mentally scoffed even as he assessed his situation. Because he was hanging over Zion’s shoulders, he could only see what was below him. Directly below him was the hard, cement floor. However, tucked into the back of Zion’s waistband was a delightful surprise. A gun.

Bingo. Jasper smiled coldly.

He kept his body lax to keep from alerting his attacker that he was awake. Then when he was ready, he swiftly reached for the gun, yanked it from the Zion’s waistband then lurched backwards, putting all his weight into the movement.

Of course, the action caught Zion by surprise.

“Hey!” Zion instinctively let go of Jasper’s body.

The moment Jasper’s feet hit the ground, he shoved his whole body into Zion’s. Zion immediately staggered several steps back then fell to the ground and landed on his ass.

With zero hesitation, Jasper raised the gun.

Immediate fear flashed in Zion’s eyes. “Marley, please, please, please. Don’t. Don’t. N-”

Unencumbered by sympathy, Jasper aimed for the man’s heart and pulled the trigger. Unfortunately, it had been a while since Jasper had shot a gun and its kick caught him by surprise. It almost jerked his arm clean out of its socket. Because of that, he missed Zion’s heart and instead caught his shoulder.

“Aaah!” With a piercing scream, Zion flopped backwards to the ground and clutched his shoulder. Blood oozed from the spot where the bullet had entered, staining his fingers red.

Jasper kissed his teeth in irritation, rolled his shoulder to ease the small ache there then aimed for Zion’s heart again.

However, before he could pull the trigger, a loud slam forced him to turn his head. The door at the far end of the rooftop had been flung open. A man suddenly raced through it. Tall, athletic, dark hair, tanned, good-looking, dressed in a suit… Jasper didn’t recognize him.

But obviously, the man recognized Jasper because the moment he saw the unfolding scene, shock took over his expression and he yelled, “Marley, don’t!”

The man’s yell came with the entrance of two more men into the scene. From their uniforms, it was easy to figure out that they were security guys.

“Marley, don’t!” The man yelled again.

Jasper frowned. Who the hell was this guy to stop them? Jasper cracked his neck then turned back to Zion. Zion was still lying on the ground. His torrent of howls had weakened to pained snivels, but his hand was still over his bleeding shoulder. His face was contorted in pain, and his eyes were silently pleading for mercy.

“Marley, put the gun down,” one of the guards’ yelled as they raced over, “or we’ll shoot.”

At those words, both guards pulled identical guns from the holsters and aimed at Jasper.

The guns didn’t spark any emotion in Jasper. He was incapable of fear. Only self-preservation drove him.

But the man in a suit was different. Immediate concern had him raising his hand to stop the guards. “Don’t! Don’t! I’ll stop her.”

How? Jasper wondered. With an icy smirk, he aimed at Zion’s heart again.

“Hazel, Hazel,” the man in the suit called out. His voice lowered and his steps slowed as he got closer. “Hazel, don’t.”

Jasper’s attention snapped back to the man. Who was he? Jasper tilted his neck to observe the man. Why did he know Hazel? Was he Marley’s new therapist? No, Jasper would have met him before as Marley often had murderous thoughts about her therapists. Still, it was quite obvious that this man was important enough to know Marley’s secrets.

“Hazel, you can’t do this.” The man in the suit moved even closer. “Marley, wouldn’t want you to do this.”

I’m not Hazel. I’m Jasper… like the friendly ghost, Casper, just not as friendly. And Marley wants me to do this. That’s why I’m here, Jasper thought. However, he didn’t say the words aloud. He’d never spoken in his life and didn’t intend to start now.

Jasper turned his attention away from the suited man and back to Zion. Determined to finish what he’d started, Jasper put his finger on the trigger.

“Marley, stop her,” the man in a suit yelled before Jasper could shoot. For some strange reason, Jasper’s finger immediately popped out from the trigger-loop.

What the hell? With a frown, Jasper tried to fit his index finger into the loop again, but his finger stiffened as if it was trying to defy him.

“Stop her, Marley,” the man yelled again.

By sheer force of will, Jasper fit his hand into the loop again. But his finger refused to pull the trigger. Worse, his whole arm began to tremble and get heavier by the second. Before Jasper knew it, his arm was going down. It was almost as if he was possessed.

Was Marley doing this? Jasper looked at his arm askance. Why would she try to stop him when she was the one who’d brought him here? She wanted Zion dead. Zion had to die for them to live.

It’s because of him. Jasper turned his head and scowled at the man in a suit. It’s you. You’re making her stop.

For a split second, Jasper considered turning the gun on that guy, but he dumped the idea swiftly. As annoying as that guy was, he wasn’t threatening Marley’s life, which made him a no-touch zone. The only one who was going to die today was Zion.

Jasper turned his attention back to Zion.

In the back of his head, Jasper could hear the suited man calling for Marley and telling him he couldn’t do this. He could hear the guards yelling at him to stop or they’d shoot. He could hear the man in the suit begging the guards not to shoot. But Jasper was too busy fighting Marley’s will to care.

Jasper forced his arm up again. He even managed to point the gun at the still-sniveling Zion. But just as he readied himself to pull the trigger, his sight became hazier. Where there was one Zion before, three more Zions appeared, and it got harder to identify which of the Zions was the real one.

Still, Jasper was determined to shoot.

He picked a Zion and pulled the trigger.

And the moment he did, he crumpled to the ground and the lights went off.