Page 55 of Beneath the Watching

Colette set the china down on the table. “You monsters must leave these women alone.” Stefan gave a barely perceptible start at her words. “You cannot change fate. Or your species,” she proclaimed.

“You’re wrong, siren.” He took a step toward the woman.

She crossed her arms. “You’re a holy man, you wouldn’t hurt an old lady.” Her features transformed into a more matronly woman, rather than the middle-aged countenance I’d just spent time with.

“Perhaps,” he countered, taking another slow step.

The air was charged with electricity and my gaze flicked between the two. “The ten commandments. Thou shalt not kill. You have to obey your own words for the sake of the people,” Colette insisted.

“The people would’ve perished and died out ages ago if anyone had complied with a single edict of the scriptures you refer to,” he remarked, leaning down to pull a long blade from his leg.

I backed away from the table and glanced at Stefan. His eyes burned bright, and the aggression in the air built to near intolerable levels. When Colette lifted an arm toward Stefan, the pot she’d been holding dropped to the floor and I jumped backward, hitting a shelf. Trinkets fell to the floor, and he lunged forward, plunging his blade into her heart. Luminous red liquid poured from the gash, and he yanked the knife out, letting herbody drop. “Too bad you weren’t an old lady,” he said. “Now who’s the imposter?” he growled.

Colette fell in a heap on the floor, her body and clothing liquifying into some form of slime before the ooze slipped through the floorboards and disappeared.

Stunned, I stared for several seconds and then I lifted my head. “You killed her?”

He took the edge of the tablecloth and wiped his blade clean. “Nothing here ever seems to die,” he spat bitterly. He tucked the knife away and crossed the room, stopping in front of me. “Why are you here? I told you to stay at home.”

“So, she’ll come back to life?” He held out his hand and I took it.

He paused, appearing to listen for something. I pictured the woman rematerializing in whatever dirt lay below the floor and figured he was anticipating her return. “She will. Answer my question and don’t look back.”

He hustled me out of the cottage, down the path, and through the gate before I looked backwards. The small home had vanished as if it’d never been there. In its place, trees, flowers, and low bushes stood as if they’d always grown from the forest’s floor.

“Where’d the house go?”

“I told you not to look back. It’s not safe to make eye contact with those kinds of witches when they’re in their base form. I’ll explain everything later.”

Stefan moved me to face him, gripping my shoulders and I let out a gasp at the sudden, stiff contact. “Why did you leave?” he demanded.

My first thought was of his men. “You didn’t hurt Benjamin or Jack, did you?”

“Why did you leave?” The pressure of his fingers increased while he stared at me with his swirling crimson eyes. “You needto start speaking up, I need you to talk to me. I can’t help you if you don’t let me in.”

“Lucian made me feel uncomfortable, something was wrong with him.” I thought for a moment. “It was probably just the voice.”

His eyes narrowed. “Explain.”

I shook my head. “It's probably just me trying to get used to being here. Where were you? You were gone a long time.” I glanced toward where the little cottage once stood again. “Where’d that lady go?”

“It would seem she’s gone, for now, sucked into the dirt.”

Everything was quiet and still. “She won’t come back?”

“She would’ve already. She still might.”

Stefan scanned our surroundings before he turned to me. He looked at me with such desire my knees weakened, and I grabbed his arm to keep from collapsing into the mossy dirt. I’d missed him. A lot.

Another emotion flickered through his eyes. Something had happened while he was gone, something important and something bad. He looked as if he feared losing me.

The next thing I knew, he’d shoved me up against a tree and grabbed my neck and thrust his tongue into my mouth. With his body pressed against mine, he curled an arm around my lower back, tilting my hips to meet his and kissed me deeper.

My mind went blank until all I could do was feel him, everything was erased and only he and I were present in these dark woods. Stefan took my lower lip between his teeth and pressed down, drawing blood before licking it away while his hand traveled lower to squeeze my ass and pull my body against his.

I was delirious from his kisses, one hand tangled in his hair while the other tugged his shirt from his pants. “Do you needsomething from me?” he asked, his voice low and husky as I ran my nails across his abs.

Something was different about the man, but I couldn’t place what it was. His eyes seemed like they had a different light to them, the energy around him felt unfamiliar. It was still him, still my mysterious dark lover, just enhanced in some way. I didn’t voice my thoughts.

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