Page 11 of The Black Lotus
After clicking through the feed, I see him lurking around the back of the house, weighing his options on where to enter.
Nowhere is safe. There’s nowhere to run and no way of achieving your goal. His death warrant was signed the moment he accepted my mother’s hit.
I motion to Serena to go to the front door, bending down to whisper in her ear, “If anything goes wrong, promise me you will run to your kill room.”
She looks up at me, eyes wide and lips slightly parted, her brows dipping in an angry vee. “I won’t leave you.” she harshly whispers.
“Serena.” I say sternly, gripping my hand around hers, the handle of the blade digging into her palm, “You will not put yourself in any danger. If you can’t get the jump on this guy, or I falter, you will run. I won’t let anything happen to you.”
She narrows her eyes, and juts her bottom lip out. “Okay,” she says quietly.
I kiss those pouty lips I can't get enough of. “I love you.”
“I love you too.”
Her words say she’ll obey, but if I’ve learned anything about Serena, I know her eyes hold the truth.
Right now her eyes are screaming disobedience.
This girl is going to be my ruin.
FIVE
ASTER
Being stealthy with Serena wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be. During our training sessions that often turned into me fucking her when I found her, she would often give her location away by snapping on a twig or crushing the leaves beneath her. Her small mistakes led to me catching her rather quickly, but the more I hunted the better she became. Still, this level of furtiveness is impressive.
Her hand is gripped in mine as I pull us quickly and quietly through the woods. She is a fast learner, and that is something I was grateful for when we started the lessons.
I wonder who the first killer assassin is, chancing their luck with taking us out. I know their primary target is my vixen, but my mother has another thing coming if she thinks I’d let that go down without a fight. That I wouldn’t give my life to save Serena’s. She could no longer hurt the little boy she abandoned.Too bad that little boy grew up to be a serial killer who wouldn’t think twice about marking his own mother’s lips with my special shade of red lipstick and laying her to rest forever.I started painting the lips of my victims red as a testament to her and everything I came from; even when she was dead to me, she was still my mother and a small part of me hoped she would bewatching. Hoped she’d be proud of me. Now I know she is, but it’s too late. She wouldn’t be a Jane Doe. She would be the first, and only, victim with a name and face.
I’d leave my signature so everyone who knows our connection knows I killed my mother.
Sure, the cops could question me, but I’m her son, one she hasn’t ever had contact with since being arrested, and I’ll have an airtight alibi. They would never connect the dots.
I pull us behind a tree, the trunk big enough to hide us both. Turning and pushing Serena’s back up against the bark. “Ast-” I clamp my hand over her mouth and peer around her to see if our pursuer is done searching the house and level a glare at her. She bites her lip and instant regret fills me. She mouths the word sorry, making my eyes soften. I take my hand away from her mouth and signal her to be quiet. She nods once, I kiss her forehead and look back at the house.
The spot I chose for us to wait in has the perfect view point of the house. When he comes out I can see him, but if he searches where we’re at, the tree will conceal us. A wicked smile stretches my lips, Serena’s fingers flexing around my biceps as she peers over my shoulder.
The hunted become the hunters, and our prey was stupid enough to try and strike on land he knows nothing about. I could have bear traps set up all over these woods, just waiting to snap and snare. I don’t, but now that I think of it, maybe I should lay traps down. With Serena, so she knows where to avoid. Granted, if she was running from two or three killers, then if we had to split up, and she wasn’t paying attention; what if she ended up caught in a trap, I would never forgive myself. The trap could hurt her, but it could also lead to her death. That is something I don’t ever want to think about.Yep, it’s decided; no to the bear traps.
I hear Serena blowing into her hands and rubbing them together, her body shaking against mine. Looking down, I see the tip of her button nose turning red, as are her cheeks.Shit.I know we both love the cold but today was forecast to be one of the coldest, and although we both have winter coats on, neither of us had time to grab gloves before we were out the door. I grab her hands, rubbing them between mine and blowing against them. She sighs quietly, her hands warming.
“I like the cold, but not when it’s nipple painful cold.”
“Nipple painful?” I ask, quirking an eyebrow.
She giggles at my confusion. “Yes, I don’t know about other women but when it’s really cold my nipples harden to the point of pain.” She brings our hands and rubs her sensitive nubs. “Not the kind of pain I welcome either.”
I laugh, bringing our hands to my mouth and kissing the delicate skin over her knuckles.
The door to the house slams open, banging against the wall and cracking through the trees. I peer over to see the man standing at the edge of the stairs looking around with a long rifle in hand.Bastard.No serial killer worth their reputation kills with a gun, and if he thinks his name will be praised for using one on us, then this sad fuck has another thing coming.
“He has a gun,” I whisper, my eyes not leaving our prey. Her body stiffens, her hands tightening in mine. “We need to make it to the shed before he does.” Her spine straightens, ready to move on my word. We hear a creak of the worn wood and our heads snap to watch as the guy takes slow, measured steps down, stopping at the edge of the porch.
He’s shorter than me from the looks of it, and on the skinnier side now that the giant winter coat he was wearing is replaced with a tight black jacket. He may be more skilled than I give him credit for, and I’d be foolish to think I could take him just based on his looks. I have no idea who he is, how he kills, or what he iscapable of, just that his choice of weapon is a rifle.The best thing for us to do is to catch him by surprise and get him into Serena’s kill room.
We could always kill him in mine, but I want every person who comes after her to perish by her hands, in her space. To unleash her darkness in the place she will soon be most familiar with.
