Total pages in book: 93
Estimated words: 90268 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 451(@200wpm)___ 361(@250wpm)___ 301(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 90268 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 451(@200wpm)___ 361(@250wpm)___ 301(@300wpm)
The second was far more alarming…
* * *
All the proof I had on my cell phone was gone.
Chapter
Eighteen
Onyx: You cannot change what you refuse to confront.
I followed Hennessy again that morning of All Hallows’ Eve. She didn’t know I was behind her. For the past month, in my free time, I stalked her through the woods, to and from school, even on campus and wherever else she thought she was alone.
I don’t know what happened, maybe I was lonely or maybe I just wanted to test fate, but Belladonna’s poison had infected my blood without one fucking kiss. It was actually insulting how easy this girl stirred through my vein’s.
Day after day, I thought of nothing but her. She put a spell on me and I didn’t put up a fight for one second of it. Instead, I leaned into, seeing where it would take ahold.
During that time, I learned everything there was about her. What made her smile, laugh, cry… how much she loved to dance to her Peruvian music under the night sky. The way she fed all the birds every day, making the crows shit all over our estates. The songs she listened to, the same ones she hummed out loud.
The mythological, folklore books she read, the magazines she’d skim. She was quite the researcher. I studied the rituals she repeated every day. She loved talking to Mother Nature and would often have conversations with her outside by herself. The birds loved her as much as the wild animals did. She fed raccoons, squirrels, and deer. I swear, I saw her trying to make friends with the wolves, coyotes, and bears.
The girl had no fear.
She spent most of her time outside, reading in the trees. I learned her habits, her mannerisms, the way she giggled just right. She was easy prey, never knowing I was there. Stalking her quickly became one of my favorite things to do. She was fascinating, and I couldn’t help but be drawn to her. There was only one person she reminded me of, especially when she watered all the plants on the property.
She actually told the staff she could do it. She had a smile on her face every single time. It was her peace. It was crazy how much she knew about them, taking pride in each new leaf that grew from her nurturing hands.
Even then, as I watched her on my computer screen in my bedroom suite, she was swimming in the pool most nights. She’d take a quick dip, coming in all hot and sweaty from dancing outside. Her white bathing suit clung to her body in all the right places, with her tan skin radiating off the moonlight.
She looked like a goddess.
I also caught her swimming in the river behind the estate a couple of times. She wasn’t scared of what might lurk beneath the glossy dark water. She even added a fucking tire swing she found in the garage. She was quite the little swimmer and tree climber.
Her bedroom floor was covered with books upon books of information on mythology and occult history. She was proving to be quite the little witch indeed.
I never interrupted what she was doing. That wasn’t the point. When she had first arrived, she was a job like every other one I was ordered to take on. Somewhere along the way, between learning who she was inside and out, I got addicted to her. I was looking forward to the next time I’d be able to follow her without her knowing.
You’d be surprised what you could learn about someone by just observing. I believe it was better than asking questions. People lied. This didn’t give her a chance to, and I conjured up my own conclusions about her. I was never wrong, having her right where I wanted her.
She craved me as much as I did her.
It was becoming harder not to feel possessive over her. The pressure to keep her at arm’s length no longer existed.
Now it was time to work my way in…
It was late by the time I walked into the Halloween party the next night. I was dressed as a Huntsman, with my crossbow slung over my shoulder.
The Legacy Council was doing what they did best on this night: sacrifice. It was a full moon, one of the most powerful evenings of the year for rituals. I didn’t partake. I wasn’t asked to. They knew what today signified for me. Having to numb my mind was the only thing on my itinerary tonight.
The demons were hanging off my back, heavy, demanding, and loud as fuck.
Shaking off the thought, I wasn’t much for dressing up. This was the extent of my costume: black slacks and a black button-up I often wore. If it weren’t for my crossbow artillery strapped across my chest, you wouldn’t know what I was. It was the only thing I needed to fit the part.