Page 10 of Of Mercury and Mist

Shoving my chair back and then leaning down, I grabbed Ashley and dragged her out. She fell against my thigh and glanced up. “If you want my cock, all you have to do is ask for it,” I ground out, holding her by the chin. It was a wonder she hadn’t yelled for Karissa to help her. Had she, it would’ve been for naught as her potential savior was much too timid. On the other hand, she was likely scared I would hurt her friend in retaliation.

Ashley trembled, her jaw vibrating in my palm. She was like a little mouse—fragile, breakable, and to my delight, entirely under my control. If only she knew how badly I wanted her choking around me, her eye shadow dripping over her cheekbones, and her thighs sopping wet.

Ashley didn’t know I wasn’t human, and she had no idea how badly I could break her. She was supposed to be in bed with me, crying from multiple orgasms, not because she was on death row. Not because she’d betrayed me and caused more pain than I’d ever known.

She’d turned me into a daydreaming, mooning mess, hopelessly besotted with her, and then she’d burned my heart to ash because she was a lying, thieving bitch.

FOUR

Ashley

Using both hands, I shoved the door to my cellphone carrier’s showroom open. Micha wasn’t giving me my phone back and I couldn’t survive without one. If he took this one from me, I’d kill him. He’d dismissed me from his office after I yelled at him, and I was surprised he’d let me go.

Thirty minutes later, I had a nice new, sleek phone with a neon pink sparkly case and fresh, non-frayed charger wires. My old ones were a mess, given their age and my propensity for leaving them on the floor.

The technician was able to remotely switch over all my data—except the Ipomoea programs that were installed on my confiscated phone. He’d had some trouble connecting, if his muttering and cursing was any indication but it all went through faster than I expected. I was good to go.

It didn’t seem like Micha was going to physically hurt me. He was rough in his handling and acted like a monster, but he hadn’t actually done anything. Oh, I knew he wanted to. He probably fantasized about it round the clock. The only thing I could think of was that Josiah’s relationship with Della had stopped him. She was my best friend and that tied his hands. It was my one layer of protection as far as I could tell.

It also had me wondering—was Josiah an absolute beast to Della? I’d never seen a mark on her and when I’d watched the two of them together, he was nothing but perfect with her. She would’ve told me if there was any abuse going on. I’d have known, right? Unless she was suffering in silence.

If Josiah was a serial killer like Micha implied, the guy had impeccable manners. He must’ve been super picky and quite clean with his murder scenes. There weren’t any messes anywhere at work that I’d noticed. No screaming in the boardroom, no madmen with evil grins stomping through the halls. No crazy people running around with axes or chainsaws.

Except Micha, of course. He was definitely an evil madman. His grin was downright diabolical. But since when were homicidal maniacs so hot? Or rich. They sure dressed well. They had nice hair, too.

It was a bit different from the horror movies me and Della ate up like candy.

Whenever Micha stared me down, I swore something else was in his eyes, something behind the pure hatred. Whatever it was, it called to me, beckoned me closer. It almost seemed like sadness or longing.

But wouldn’t that be what he’d want me to see? To draw me in closer, for a cleaner kill. You needed your victim to trust you or feel something for you, so you could do the most damage.

Shaking the disordered thoughts from my head helped get me back on track. Stress could make one imagine anything, come up with flimsy excuses for another’s poor behavior. I knew my brain was reaching for a better outcome, inserting humanity and compassion into a situation where there was none. I was giving the bad guy too much credit and he was taking up too much space in my head as I drove home. It was infuriating I was so attracted to him.

When I got to the apartment, I tried calling Della. As per the usual lately, it went straight to voicemail. I shot off a quick text telling her to “CALL ME” and I scrolled through my other missed messages, suddenly remembering I was supposed to meet up with Andy, Mike, and Karissa tonight.

Karissa. Could I even look at her? I punched in Andy’s number.

“Hey, girl,” he drawled into the phone, being goofy.

“Hey. What’s up? Where are you?” I asked, rifling through my closet. Two days in the same outfit? No thank you.

Andy coughed. “Are you smoking again?” I asked.

“Yeah,” he answered. I heard bubbling water. He was hitting a bong.

I rolled my eyes. “Where are you?” I asked again.

“Vincent’s,” he said, between a choke and a cough.

“Ugh. Whyyy. You’re going to need a lung transplant. Is Karissa there?”

Andy cleared his throat. “She is. She’s with Mike. You hear she got fired?” He didn’t wait for me to answer. “All she did was lose her key card. So glad I don’t work for those assholes.”

“What else did she say? I was supposed to pick her up.”

“She didn’t, she’s just bummed. Now she’s gotta look for another job. When are you getting here?”

Relieved, I answered, “When I get there. I gotta shower.”

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