Page 478 of Evil Hearts

The moment the realization hit me, he inhaled deeply, his breath lingering in the air as he twisted strands of my hair toward him. With a slow, deliberate motion, he leaned back, a look of pure arrogance settling on his face.

“You’re a demon,” I deadpanned, crossing my arms. This couldn’t be happening. Who summoned him? Was it one of the family members of my victims? I wasn’t stupid enough to not be aware of the witchcraft that existed in this world. I narrowed my eyes at the thought. How did they find me?

But the heat of his gaze, the presence that suffocated me like an oppressive shroud—it was much too real to be ignored.

The body beneath me began to moan and I kicked Mr. Hawkins to make him quiet down.

“You don’t belong here,” I muttered, though I wasn’t sure if I was talking to him or myself.

He took another step forward as if there was any room left between us, and the air seemed tostiffen, like the very fabric of reality was being warped by him. The lights around us flickered, dimming until only his sinful smile was burning through the darkness.

“You think you are the only one who hunts on Halloween night?” he whispered. “There is a darker game. A deeper hunt. A place where suffering never ends. Would you like me to show you.”

To show me? Why me out of all the other people in the world? Was this a sick game? I wanted to reject him. To tell him to go back to whatever hole he crawled out of. But I couldn’t. I could feel it, a draw, a pull inside me that I’d never felt before.

The fog thickened around us, swallowing the sound of the city, until all that remained was the whisper of his voice, the glimmer of his smile.

“Come with me,” he said, his voice wrapping around me like velvet, “And I will show you a world where death is more than just a costume. Where the hunt never ends.”

I should’ve laughed at him. I should’ve slashed the knife across his throat, claimed my victim, and walked away.

But I didn’t.

For the first time in my life, I didn’t know if I was the hunter... or if I was the one being hunted.

And that thought alone was enough to both terrify me…and intrigue me.

I glanced down at Mr. Hawkins’ body, still sprawled lifeless on the ground, a faint sheen of blood staining the earth beneath him.I didn’t think I kicked him that hard.

“What are we going to do about him?” I asked, my voice uneasy as I gestured toward the body. “We can’t just leave him here for someone to find. That would be... well, problematic, to say the least.”

Belraxas didn’t seem remotely fazed by the presence of the victim laying between my legs. He looked down at Hawkins with mild indifference, as though the mortal’s life had never mattered to him in the first place.

“Ah, the body,” he said, as if the thought had just crossed his mind. “Well, it would certainly be inconvenient, wouldn’t it?” He glanced back at me, his demeanor twinkling with mischief. “But leaving it here is hardly an issue. You humans tend tocareabout such things, don’t you? Bodies, evidence, traces of your existence... But to me, this is an almost insignificant inconvenience.”

I raised an eyebrow, not quite sure where this was going. “And... what do you suggest we do with it?”

Belraxas’ grin widened, a long black tongue slithering across his teeth. “We could leave it for the animals. A little scavenger feast, perhaps. A gift to the forest,” he said with a shrug, as though the matter were as trivial as throwing a piece of trash into the wind. We were in the heart of the city. Forests, let alone its creatures, were much too far away for his suggestion. “But I have a better idea.”

I narrowed my eyes. “Better idea?”

He nodded, a strange glint in his eyes. “We simplyerasethe evidence. Make it disappear. One flick of my hand, and it will be gone.” He waved his hand in the air lazily, his fingers barely moving. “As if Mr. Hawkins was never here. No mess. No body. No trace.”

I stared at him, momentarily speechless. “You can just...make him disappear? Like that?” I snapped my fingers for emphasis.

Belraxas gave a small, amused nod and chuckled. “Such a small payment, wouldn’t you say? My powers are quite... extensive.” He took a few steps back, his expression suddenly becoming more serious. “I could also leave him, but if you’re concerned, I suggest we get rid of him before someone else shows up andwonderswhy Mr. Hawkins seems to have taken a little dirt nap in the middle of an alley.”

I watched him closely, unsure if I should be more disturbed by his casual attitude toward murder or impressed by his ability to make the evidence vanish. Both feelings swirled in my chest, creating an odd mix of discomfort and reluctant awe. If he wanted me curious about him…he was succeeding.

“Well,” I said, glancing down at the man once more, “If a body is a simple payment for whatever is happening here, I suppose you’ve got it under control. Let’s get it over with then.”

Should I be disturbed by my own nonchalance? Perhaps. But I was going to kill him anyway, wasn’t I? Why not work smarter and not harder if Belraxas was offering his services?

The demon simply nodded and with a flick of his fingers, the air around us seemed to waver, the fabric between realms ripping. The ground beneath Mr. Hawkins’ body rippled, like water disturbed by a stone, and in an instant, the body was gone. Just...gone. There wasn’t even a trace left, no blood, no sign of where he had fallen.

I felt my stomach lurch, and for a moment, I almost thought I might pass out from the sheer surrealness of it all. I peeked at Belraxas from beneath my lashes. He said he was curious about me. But what happened when that curiosity ran its course? What other price would he demand once he had gotten what he wanted? Would I be left to pay in ways I couldn’t yet imagine, just to be free of his gaze?

His expression twisted into one of smug satisfaction. “Does it intrigue you, little mortal?” he mused, his gaze sharp and calculating. “I can see it in your eyes, the way your thoughts churn beneath the surface. The way you can’t help but think of...me.”

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