Honorbound Read Free Page B

and another wailing sob. My good foot came up and slammed the door, tearing the chain off its mounting and ripping a chunk from the frame. I didn’t know I could do that.
    Her dad eyed me as I stomped back into the living room, blade in hand, and he laughed.
    “Oooh, the big man went and got a knife. You gonna cut me big man?”
    “Don’t touch her.”
    He sneered.
    “Or what? You gonna stop me? I know you. You ain’t got the balls.”
    My eyes met Sarah’s and her dad started laughing again.
    “Besides,” he said, “she’s my property. I brought her into this world, and I can take her out.” He snatched the lamp off the other end table and lifted it over his head. Sarah cringed, waiting for the blow. It never came.
    My shoulder slammed into him first, then the point of the sword slid between his ribs. Our momentum carried us into the wall. When we hit, the sword kept going until the guard met his chest. I let go of the hilt and jumped back. My heart was pounding. What had I done?
    Her dad was still breathing, barely. The blade had gone completely through him pinning him to the wall. The red stain on his shirt crept larger and larger. Sarah pulled herself up into a sitting position. I yanked hard on the hilt and her dad slid to the floor as the blade came free. I couldn’t explain it, but the blade was clean. Not a drop of blood on it.
    He started laughing again, between ragged gasps.
    “I guess you did have it in you. And all for what? For that?” He glared at Sarah. “You’re the reason she’s dead. You know that? If it weren’t for you, my Allison would still be alive.” He spat blood at her. “I wish you were never born you disgusting little bi—”
    I didn’t let him finish. My swipe opened his throat clean back to his spine. Blood splashed across the wall and dotted the couch and ceiling. He didn’t laugh after that. I dropped the sword on the floor and went to Sarah. I wrapped my arms around her and held her until she stopped sobbing.
    What had I done? Sarah had stopped sobbing, but now I was shaking.
    I had murdered someone. What was I going to say? I was protecting Sarah? It wasn’t me it was this cursed sword of mine? I was going to spend the rest of my life in prison. I told Sarah to wait there and ran down the stairs to our apartment.

    I slammed the sword back into its sheath and threw the whole thing into the back of my closet. I would’ve tossed it into the dumpster then and there, but if the police dug through it they would find it. I’d do it later. My chest was heaving by the time I was back in Sarah’s apartment.
    She was standing over the bloody body of her dad, kicking it as hard as she could. I grabbed her and spun her around and she latched on to me again.
    “Thank you,” she whispered into my shoulder. “What are we going to do now?”
    I went over the story I had come up with. We would call the police and tell them that we were here when a man broke in.
    “He attacked us,” I told her, “he beat the two of us and tried to drag you off. Your dad tried to stop him and the guy pulled out a knife and… did that. Then ran off.”
    Her little brother would be home soon, so we went through the details of our story as much as we could before we called the police.
    “Wait,” Sarah said as I was getting ready to call, “you don’t look like you got in a fight.”
    She was right. I picked the fallen end table up off the floor. I had to do it before I lost the nerve. With a deep breath I slammed my face into the table top. I always thought cartoons were kidding when they show characters seeing stars. They aren’t.
    When the room stopped moving, I called the police.
    The killing had taken seconds, but it felt like hours. The rest of the night was a blur. The police and the paramedics came. They treated our injuries and questioned us. Mom was called, and she sped back from wherever she had been. Maybe it was just because I knew I had done it, but it didn’t seem like they