Abel stumbled back from the blow, and not wasting a second, I came at him again, but he blocked the shot and shoved me hard. His hand felt like I was being hit by a small bus, driving the air from my lungs. My hands wrapped around his wrist with the knife as he drove me backward into the wall, and I screamed as the shards of glass sliced through my socked feet.

I saw the fist coming and moved my head out of the way so that he only grazed my jaw before slamming his fist into the wall with a loud cracking noise.

“Bitch, fucking bitch.”

Abel pulled the hand with the knife forward and brought me with him, and I screamed again as the glass dug deeper into my feet. I needed to pull myself together and force myself to focus. He slammed me against the wall again, but this time when he pulled forward, I used it as an opportunity to drive my knee up into his dick.

His eyes bugged out, and his upper body went slack. I drove my knee up a second time and caught him in the side before giving him a hard shove. Abel stumbled back and fell over the ottoman. His hand with the knife smacked into one of the two television screens, cracking the screen because the knife speared into it.

Abel moaned, his head falling to the side as I limped toward the kitchen. Each step was excruciating, but I needed my phone to call Cain, and I needed another weapon. I reached the knife block first and pulled out the longest knife I could before looking for my phone. I realized I’d left it upstairs.

“Ahhhhh,” I yelled as I was tackled from behind and driven to the ground. Again, the air was pushed out of my lungs on impact, and the knife flew out of my hand, sliding under the oven. I drove my elbows back, hitting any part of his body I could, and landed a few solid blows against his ribs.

“Fuck! Fuck you bitch,” he snarled as he fisted my hair and smacked my face off the floor. White spots exploded in front of my eyes, and I went limp in his hold.

“I was just going to kill you, but not anymore. Now you’re going to experience the full Abel treatment.”

His weight lifted, and I immediately rolled onto my back and began kicking at him even though the glass hurt me with every blow. “You’re like a back-alley cat, but I’ve slit their scratching throats too,” he said as he started to walk, dragging me by the hair.