Micah gripped the length of the metal cross in his pocket. “Choke on Satan’s cock,” he spat, pulling it out and jamming it as hard as he could into the man’s side, right beneath his ribs.

Ren howled.

Micah took the opportunity to wiggle out from underneath him. Before he could get all the way to his feet, however, Ren had him by the ankle, fingers digging mercilessly into the exposed flesh of Micah’s rope burn as he tugged him back down onto his knees.

Micah watched in fascinated horror as Ren pulled the bloody crucifix from his side. The wound was probably only about three inches deep, but red quickly began seeping through his white dress shirt.

But that didn’t stop Ren from lunging at Micah.

They tussled on the floor. Micah kicked with his feet and threw punches and elbows with his good arm, but he was weak from lack of food and water and being tied up for so long, and not even Ren slowly bleeding out from a stab wound could make up for the fact that he only had one working arm.

He ended up right back where he started: pinned under Ren. Except this time the man had learned his lesson and had Micah’s wrist restrained above his head. They were both breathing hard as Ren’s eyes flitted over him. He wasn’t sure what the other man was looking for, or if he was just categorizing all the new damage. (Micah was a bruised, bloody mess – his only consolation being that Ren was too.)

To Micah’s surprise, the longer Ren looked at him, the more his eyes lost their frenzied edge. He almost seemed resigned by the time he finally addressed Micah. “You stabbed me.”

If Ren was expecting an apology, he was about to be disappointed.

“You kidnapped me.”

Ren nodded, his gaze finally meeting Micah’s. “I’m sorry.”

Micah blinked. “For holding me against my will?”

“No. I’m sorry that I cannot save you.” He lifted his heavy gaze from Micah, staring somewhere out into the distance. “I thought I could, but the devil’s claws are too deeply embedded in you. You’re beyond my help. There will be no glory for you in heaven, only eternal suffering in hell.”

It took less than a second for Micah to work through the flowery bullshit to realize Ren intended to kill him, but even that was too long. His eyes widened. “Ren, wait-!”

Ren didn’t wait.

One second, Ren’s hands were pressing his wrists into the ceramic tiles of the kitchen floor, and the next, they were wrapped around his neck, squeezing.

Micah fought.