Fight, Flight, or Freeze: The Healer's Story
Chapter 135: Killing Me

Chapter 135: Killing Me

"Not a chance in hell," laughed Rip, the stress and worries that had been weighing him down lately all of a sudden leaving him. "I wouldn’t piss on you if you were on fire. You can just stay there and give my Little Bird whatever she needs to keep that look on her face."

"Killing me," pressed the Reaver as he dropped even more. The only part of his body not resting on the floor right now was the arm I was still holding.

"You are acting like you weren’t planning on doing the same thing to her," shrugged Rip as he got comfortable on the bed. "As far as I am concerned, she can do whatever she wants to you. I’ll even help her hide the body."

I watched the Reaver gasping for air, his chest hardly moving as he forced the oxygen into his lungs. Every gasp and wheeze made me that much happier, but I could feel his energy starting to slow down.

I had to make a decision. Should I let him go and watch him walk away, or should I keep taking his energy until he had nothing left to give?

Ha! There was no question about what I was choosing. I would no longer let people walk over me or try to kill me. The Wang Tian Mu from before, the one that tried so hard to please others, was dead.

She died the second she was brought to this camp.

No, I was a fucking phoenix, reborn from the ashes... and I was going to take back everything owed to me.

I pushed my magic harder, wanting to take every last drop of his energy. It was like sipping from a straw, but oh, was it so sweet.

When the last of the Reaver’s energy entered my body, I released his arm and watched as it fell to the floor.

Rip stood up and stood behind me, wrapping his arm around my waste. I was still as skinny as I was before this whole shit show... but inside, I was completely healed.

"We’ll still have to keep up with appearances," whispered Rip into my ear as the two of us watched the body in front of me dissolve into nothing more than ashes.

"You just want to carry me all over the place," I chuckled, rolling my eyes.

Rip smiled smugly and shrugged his massive shoulders. "What can I say? I like you in my arms at all times. Now, I need to go grab a broom and dustpan. At least your kills are easier to clean up after."

I tilted my head back and laughed, enjoying the feeling of being in his arms like this... as an equal, not an invalid.

I reached back, sunk my fingers into his hair, and pulled his head down to my level.

He was easily over two feet taller than me, but as he moved to obey my silent command, I felt like the most powerful woman in the world.

When he was at a good height, I went onto my toes and kissed him on the lips, my tongue parting his lips so I could taste him.

He tasted like heaven.

His hands gently gripped my hips. Strong enough that I could feel them but not so much that they would leave bruises. Even lost in a kiss, Rip made sure to look after me.

I slowly pulled back, not wanting the kiss to end, but I was starting to get a bit cold.

"Get back under the blankets while I get rid of the mess," smiled Rip as he laid another kiss on my forehead.

I nodded, letting out a sudden yawn. My body was practically humming with the energy I had just gotten, but it was still not enough. I got into bed and pulled the blankets up to my chin.

"I’ll find someone else to bring over... someone whose absence wouldn’t be noticed for a while," continued Rip as he walked over to the pantry and pulled out a broom.

Surprised, I looked around the cabin for the first time ever.

The kitchen was right in front of a set of windows overlooking the trees behind it, and I could kind of make out the ice-covered lake. In one corner stood the wood-burning fireplace, with stacks of wood between it and the kitchen cupboards, while the pantry was in the other corner next to the ’bedroom’. My cage was between the fireplace and the couch, and the ’living room’ was located across from the cot I was currently lying on.

The space might not be much more than a 60x60 foot space, but it was tastefully set up so it still felt big while having all of the conveniences that someone would need in order to live here year round.

I actually really liked it. It reminded me a lot of my family’s cabin in City D, the one that I had made the bunkers beside. My cabin might have been a lot bigger, but the feeling was the same.

"Are you talking about bringing people for me to kill?" I smirked as I adjusted the blankets on the bed. "I mean, it sounds a bit serial killer-ish... but romantic at the same time."

Rip smirked at me as he deposited the dust from the reaver in the kitchen garbage. "I don’t see anything wrong with it. You need food, and I aim to please. Just consider it delivery and enjoy it without a second thought. Besides... calling Reavers people is stretching it a bit."

"I don’t know, you were a Reaver," I pointed out as I watched him walk over to the couch.

"I am still a Reaver, and I don’t consider myself human anymore. What I am is yours," he continued as he took out a book and started to read it.

The silence lulled me back to sleep, knowing that Rip was there to look after me.

But the smile on my face, knowing that I was more than capable of looking after myself when I needed to, never disappeared.

I didn’t even have a nightmare for the first time since I fled the hospital.