Page 5 of The Heart of Midnight

What a waste indeed. Still, the threat sends a chill up my spine, because although I don’t believe this man wants me dead, I’m under no illusions that he isn’t a monster. Who knows what monsters are capable of in the dark?

I almost refuse the water he offers me a second later. I know it’s laced, and even though I know he doesn’t have a choice but to leave, I still hate knowing I’m going to fall back to sleep and then wake up as if this never happened.

At least this time he left me with tiny reminders all over my body. I’ll have them to keep me company tomorrow.

Five

Scar

That went fucking sideways.

Pacing my living room, I have to wrestle with the urge to go back over there as Scar, not the psycho who comes to her at night. She needs aftercare, she needs comfort. I cut her this time.

Fuck!

God, I was so fucking close to taking it too far. Anyone else would’ve been six feet deep by now, but I promised myself I’d never hurt her. I nearly slipped. The urge to keep cutting was so strong it was almost impossible to stay the course, but what if I can’t stop myself next time?

I should stay the fuck away from her, but I apparently can’t now. What kind of person blackmails a rapist to get him tokeep coming back?

What the hell am I even supposed to do with that? I stay away and she lives, but I go to prison or get the fucking electric chair. I keep going back and I stay out of jail, but I might fuck up and kill her.

Goddamnit. Why’d I have to pick her? It would be so much easier if she were like the rest. A little slice here, a little pressure there, and I could’ve fucked her body and buried her, never to be heard from again. But no, she had to be the one woman alive who could actually handle me. Who could actuallyenjoyme.

Tangled webs, I guess.

Tangled fucking webs.

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My resolve to stay away from Avery Valentine lasted a whopping 13 hours. Here I am, sitting outside her office in the demon mask I reserve for Muerte. It’s broad fucking daylight.

I’m starting to think Iwantto get caught.

But I have to see it again, that cut. The taste of her blood was so intoxicating, the sight so beautiful that I don’t want to wait until it’s too scabbed over or just a scar. I need to see it again while it’s fresh.

Unfortunately, if I get too close to the building, someone else could see me. And then what? I run from the cops, maybe get away, probably get caught, and all of this is for nothing. All I want to do is scare her badly enough that she needs me again tonight.

So I wait. And wait. And wait.

It takes nearly an hour before I spot her walking to her car. She doesn’t have any of her things, so I know she’s just here to grab something, but I get to watch her entire body go rigid when her eyes land on me.

She’s too far away to see what I need to see, but even from this distance I can taste her delicious fear. I can’t hear her words, but from the look of her mouth, she’s mumbling “no” over and over as she slowly backs away toward her building.

One twitch of my fingers has her spinning on her heels and running back inside, filling me with such an adrenaline rush that I nearly forget to back the fuck up.

Don’t call the police, Avery. Please.

Only a moment after I’m securely hidden in the thick brush next to the building, I see Avery and her coworker Janet staring out the window. They’re looking right at the spot I was just in, but the glass is too dirty to see their faces clearly.

Fuck, does she have her phone up to her ear or is that just her hair?

I listen hard for sirens and don’t hear any. Instead, I hear laughter coming from two of her coworkers as they walk outside and look around the parking lot like they’re bored. “Muerte has all these bitches paranoid,” one jokes, making the other laugh harder.

“Avery was already crazy anyway. There isn’t anyone out here, and even if he was, he’s gone now. Too bad he didn’t snatch her—”

Their voices trail off as they enter the building again, but it’s too late for them. I’ve committed both of them to memory and they will both die for that.

Just not today.

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