Page 12 of Obsession

“Comfortable?” he asked, the word hanging heavy between us.

“Strangely, yes,” I admitted.

“Good.” The word sounded like it was a promise of chaos yet to come.

I should’ve been scared, should’ve been planning my next move to survive. Instead, I found solace in the eye of the storm, in the heart of the beast who’d shown me a glimpse of his human side -- a side as scarred and battered as my own. Oh, I hadn’t lived through the same horror as him, but I’d also been abandoned by those who should have protected me.

“Riot,” I started, the name tasting like a sin on my lips.

“Shh,” he cut me off, his finger pressed lightly against my lips. “Don’t ruin it. Not yet.”

For a heartbeat or two, we remained locked in that impossible moment -- two broken pieces fitting together in the midst of madness. It was a fucked-up version of peace, but it was ours, and I clung to it like a lifeline.

When I’d been told I would be the sacrifice, I’d expected to die a horrible, painful death. Instead, I’d discovered The Butcher wasn’t as black and white as I’d always thought. Instead, I’d found another soul just surviving in the only way he knew how.

A bang outside the room jolted me, rupturing the silence. My pulse jumped. Riot tensed beside me, his warmth vanishing as if it had never been there at all. He was on his feet before I could blink, his hand clamping around mine with an iron grip.

“Come.” He yanked me up and dragged me toward the door. The gentle man from moments ago was gone, replaced by The Butcher, his face a mask of cold fury.

We spilled into the corridor, the dim light throwing harsh shadows across the walls. Crash and Kane loomed like specters, their eyes boring into us with the sharpness of knives.

“What’s this shit, Riot?” Crash demanded, his lip curled with disdain. “You playing house with your little pet? You don’t even let me and Kane enter that fucking room.”

Kane stood silent, but his glare cut deeper than any of Crash’s barbs, suspicion written in every line of his towering frame.

“Got a problem?” Riot’s voice was like ice.

“Since when do you keep them breathing this long?” Crash stepped closer. “Thought you were about the kill, not the thrill.”

“Seems like you’re losing your edge,” Kane chimed in, his voice a low rumble, the threat behind it clear.

“Or maybe,” Riot countered, his tone unyielding as stone, “I’m just choosing my cuts more carefully.”

What did that mean? Was I still in danger of losing my life to him?

Their gazes locked in a silent battle, the unspoken violence hanging thick between them. I stood there, caught in the crossfire, knowing I was the spark to their gunpowder. Whatever came next, it was on me -- the girl who’d looked into the abyss and dared to reach out a hand to save the monster lurking inside.

Riot’s laughter was dark and rich. “You two are pathetic. Why don’t you go snatch up some prey of your own, if you think it’s so damn easy to keep a woman alive?”

Crash’s fists clenched, veins bulging like ropes under his skin. “We aren’t amateurs, Riot. We know the game. It’s you who seems to have forgotten the rules. No attachments.”

“Sometimes rules change,” Riot said. “So the game continues, even if it’s not quite the same as before. Are you scared you can’t measure up? Or is it something else that frightens you?”

Kane’s jaw tightened. “This little sideshow of yours better not be softening you up. Not once have you ever brought a woman here. You’ve always killed them before they could make it to the house. Something is clearly different, and I don’t like it.”

I could barely breathe, my heart hammering against my ribs. Their words were razor blades tossed carelessly in the air, and I stood in the middle, praying not to get cut. It was clear now -- my existence had tilted their world off its axis. What would happen to me if they decided to retaliate? I didn’t think they’d go for Riot. Not right off. No, I’d be his weakness, and they’d do their best to destroy me.

“Enough!” Riot roared. “She’s mine to deal with, not yours. And she sure the fuck isn’t leaving until I say otherwise.”

I realized then, standing among monsters, that I had become the linchpin of madness in Raven’s Vale, the key to a door that should have stayed shut. What would happen when it burst open? Would I be the debris or the flame? And what the hell did it mean for the townspeople?

“Your pet project here,” Kane said, voice low and lethal, “it changes things, Riot. Changes everything.”

“Let it change,” Riot said. “I’m the Butcher here. Not you, not Crash. Me. They may fear all of us, but you damn well know I’m the one who makes them all sleep with one eye open.”

The air crackled with the energy of their hatred, a perverse triangle with me at the center. I was the anomaly. The wild card. And as they circled each other like rabid beasts, I couldn’t help but wonder what my presence meant for the future of this hell we called home.

I’d thought getting closer to Riot would guarantee my safety. It hadn’t occurred to me how much Crash and Kane would resent my presence here.

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