Page 10 of The Hellkeeper

My angel.

She’s hiding under her blanket as if that could protect her, as if it could keep her safe from the monster lurking just beneath her bed.

Me.

Her breathing is laced with terror.

Poor thing.

My gift scared the shit out of her.

I didn’t mean for that. Well, maybe a little. She needs to understand and know that she isn’t meant to be treated like trash by men who don’t even deserve to look at her.

That’s why I had to kill him.

I saw the way he spoke to her. The way his face twisted in disgust. How he slammed his hand against the table like she was some dog meant to cower at his feet.

I wanted to break him right then and there. But he didn’t deserve a quick death.

So I followed him.

Dragged him into the shadows and made sure he understood what it meant to disrespect her. What it meant to make her cry.

He begged.

He screamed.

He choked on his own fucking blood.

And when I took the knife and sliced out that useless tongue of his, I thought of her. I thought of how soft her voice is, how she stutters when she’s unsure, how she tries so hard to please, even when people don’t deserve it.

He didn’t deserve her words.

Didn’t deserve to speak to her.

So I made sure he never would again.

And now, she’s here. My beautiful girl, so terrified she won’t let her hands or feet dangle over the side of the bed. As if a monster might snatch them up.

Leaving her at night is impossible. I tried. Walked three blocks before something inside me snapped. I turned around like a fucking rabid dog, crawling back to her.

She needs me.

She just doesn’t know it yet.

I don’t sleep; not really. Not when she’s this close. Instead, I listen. To her breath. To the occasional soft whimper she lets out. Sometimes, she mutters words I don’t understand, the sound like extravagant prayers. I want to know everything that goes on in her mind. I want to dismantle her. Instead, I settle for reaching out from under the bed to grasp the end of the blanket. Just enough to feel closer to her.

She belongs to me now.

And very soon, she will know it. Worship it.

My angel will crawl to me in the darkness, in the trenches, and play with her monster. Her devil.

Fuck.

The vibration in my pocket rips me from my trance, from the sick pleasure of being this close to her.

A job.

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