Page 71 of The Blue Rose
Another step closer. “Yes. It took me many years, and a couple… mistakes to become him.”
“Are you going to kill me?” she breathes, as she rips the weapon off the wall, swinging it at me.
I grab the hammer and she pinches her eyes closed, backing further into the tool table. My hand caresses her cheek. “My little vixen, I could never hurt you. I wanted to show you my sanctuary. I wanted to show you we are connected.” I drop my hand. “Look at me, Serena.” She shakes her head, refusing to look at me. “Please?” I beg, my hands grabbing hers. She slowly opens her eyes, tears forming and clinging to her lashes. “You said you loved your dreams, you said they were beautiful.”
Her hands shake and tears cascade down her cheeks. “That's when I thought they weren’t real, that they were only dreams!”
I kiss the tear falling down her face, tasting the salty bitterness. “Can’t you see you’re like me? You’ve been dreaming about me long before we ever met. We were always supposed to meet at that bar. You and me are one in the same.”
“I don’t kill innocent people, Aster,”
How can she react like this?I don’t understand. She was supposed to be happy. She was supposed to understand.We are connected. Why doesn’t she see that?Anger bubbles up, but I shove it back down knowing I dropped a major bomb, and I need to be patient.
She whispers, “Was I going to be another one of your victims?” I look away, unable to look her in the eyes and tell herthe truth. Anger rises in her voice, knowing my answer without me voicing it. “Is that why you called me little lamb at first?!” She shoves me, pushing me back into the table. “Answer me!”
“Yes!” I yell, regretting it the moment it leaves my lips. She stumbles back, tears streaming down her face. “You don’t understand, my little vixen. At first, yes, you were my little lamb, destined to lay on my table.” I motion behind me, a nearly indiscernible tremble in my fingers.That's never happened before.“But I couldn’t do it. I didn’t know why at first, then I started breaking all my rules for you!” I seethe pointing at her.
She jumps, startled by my voice echoing around the room. “Rules?” she whispers.
I don’t want to scare her, but I need to make her understand. I need her to see I won’t hurt her. I need my little vixen back. I can tell by the way she's hugging herself she is terrified, and that is not what I wanted.
I pace back and forth, pushing my hair back. “Yes. Rules, all of them.” I start counting on my fingers. “One: killing a man, I’ve never killed a man before, but after I met you I killed every single one that looked at you wrong.”
She lowers her trembling, her eyes still guarded. “What are you talking about? What men did you kill?”
“Only two, that bartender and Tyler.”
She throws her hands in the air, anger making her body shake. “The Tyler that went missing? The one who the fucking police questioned us about?!”
Anger I can handle.I shrug my shoulders. “One and the same.”
It’s my vixen's turn to pace.
She stops once I start talking again. “When I saw you with another man, I was so enraged, Ineededto kill your date. When I saw him trying to kiss you, I decided my lips would be the only ones to touch any part of your body. Something inside mesnapped, and I needed to have you. So I broke the second rule: fucking my victims.”
“Wow, I should feel sospecialI was the only victim you ever fucked. Fuck you, Aster!” She flips me off, anger rolling off her in waves.
This went a lot better in my head.
“Can I continue?” I ask, trying to be patient.
“Can you continue telling me why you didn’t kill me? Sure, why the fuck not.” She waves her hand in front of her, her body tense. She went from scared little lamb, to pissed off vixen fast. Her anger and spark to stand up to a serial killer has me smirking.
“Rule three: bring you back to my house, but by then I knew I was never going to kill you.” I walk closer to her, attempting to grab her hands. “By then I had already fallen for you, and when I saw the fox necklace and you told me when you bought it… I realized that you knew what took me too long to realize.”
“Do you know why I stab my lambs in the heart?”
She shakes her head. “No, but the media spectated it was your signature along with the rose.”
I look around the room, chuckling to myself. “The media and cops got it wrong. So wrong. They think I’m a surgeon or artist, not some entrepreneur.”
“Why do you do it then? What is the real meaning behind everything?”
I stare up at the ceiling, glancing back down to meet her curious eyes. “I stab them in the heart as a representation for the heart I don’t have. The rose is the last gift they were given before the grim reaper came and took them.”
She uncrosses her arms and looks at me, and when I go to grab her hand she lets me. “This heart,” I say, jabbing at my chest, “has never beaten for anyone. I didn’t know I was even capable of feeling until I met you.” Her lips start to tremble, “Youawakened things in me I thought died the night my parents were taken. A heart that never beat started pounding for you, little by little, and-”
“Everything was a lie!” she cries.
