Page 95 of Presence

“If we break him enough,” my demon replies. “Or if he lets us take him willingly.”

Him letting us take him willingly… I like the sound of that. Playing games is not what I want. As a human, I’ve been the subject of too many of them. I want the man’s surrender. But I want to see Echo break this man first. I want to watch him hunt.

“Breaking it is, then.” I get on the floor with my knees, twisting my body so that I hover above the man just slightly. The taste of his fear is electric in the air. Running a sharp nail through his restraints, I pop them slowly one by one. “Run,” I whisper to him, then.

For a moment, he just stares at me, confusion and terror warring in his eyes. Then, with a surge of desperate energy, he scrambles to his feet and bolts into the maze I’ve created.

I watch him go. His fear is a living, breathing thing that wraps around me. I rise slowly.

The hunt has begun.

26

The Declaration

The reflections on the walls capture fleeting glimpses of the man’s panicked face as he stumbles through the darkness, each wrong turn amplifying his despair. It’s a spectacle I can’t tear my eyes away from. His sweat glistens on his forehead, his face flushed from the ragged breaths he keeps drawing, his nostrils flaring with each gasp. I lick my lips, trying to control the hunger that’s reaching its peak.

“The longer we wait, the better he’ll taste,” Echo murmurs beside me, his hand gliding up and down my arm with slow, sensual strokes. I can feel his delight—relishing a prey that’s purely a victim.

I was an anomaly to him; I see that now. The fact that he let me live for so long, playing with me when he could have devoured me instantly, meant he saw beyond the need to feed.

As much as it warms my already cold heart, I could never become like him. Whatever allure he found in my human self wouldn’t be as enticing to my demon self. I was the perfect prey—already resigned, yearning for escape.

But I’m glad things turned out the way they did. I cherish Echo’s companionship, even in this very moment. I don’t ever want him to leave me, and I don’t want to leave him either. We could complement each other perfectly. Him, hunting in the night. Me, hunting in the day.

“I want us to taste him together,” I murmur, shivering as his shadows wrap around me. This isn’t love—I don’t think either of us is even capable of that. But it’s the closest we’ll ever get, in our own fucked up way.

“Demons don’t share,” he growls.

“Demons do what they want,” I hiss back.

He can say whatever he likes, but the fact that he brought me here says it all. Echo wants me by his side. He fears being alone as much as I do. And this... This seals our bond. Are we a couple? No, it’s deeper than that. We’re partners in crime.

“Alright,” he says at last, a wicked grin spreading across his face. “Let’s make him feel our presence. Make him afraid.” His laughter is dark and velvety.

He doesn’t have to tell me twice. One day, we’ll do things differently. I won’t hunt like him. I’ll hunt alongside him. But that day isn’t here yet.

So, I move through the maze with a predatory grace, shadows clinging to me. With each step, I feel the man’s fear intensify, his desperation growing as he realizes there’s no escape. The reflections in the walls taunt him, showing him visions of his lost life, his failures.

It’s cruel. It’s beautiful. It’s macabre. Just like Echo.

I can understand what he meant when he talked about corsets before. There’s just something incredibly alluring in tearful elegance.

“You can never escape us, human,” I whisper, my voice bouncing off the glassy surfaces, making it seem like I’m everywhere and nowhere at once. “Just give up already.”

The man freezes, his breath hitching as my words take hold. His eyes dart around, searching for me, but all he sees are cruel reflections. In one, his wife glares at him with disgust. In another, he sees his own grave, lonely and unmarked. Another shows him with a bottle in hand, dark circles under his eyes, and a stained t-shirt clinging to his frail frame.

I glide through the maze after the human. Each wrong turn deepens his despair, and I drink it in, savoring the sweet, intoxicating taste of his terror. The hunger inside me roars, demanding to be sated, but I hold back, relishing the anticipation. The longer I wait, the more delicious his fear becomes. Just as Echo told me.

“We are always watching,” my demon purrs into the darkness, his distorted voice sounding exactly like the one he once used on me.

He’s keeping me on my toes, shadowing me, watching me as I stalk our prey, but never interrupting. He lets me be in the driver’s seat.

“Do you see now?” I continue talking to the human, my voice soft. “How much of your life you have wasted? How you’ve ruined all your chances?”

The man collapses to his knees, fingers clawing at his hair as if he could tear away the nightmare by sheer will.

“Please,” he begs, his voice raw and broken. “Please, stop this.”

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