Page 57 of The Black Lotus
“Finding out she was not only crazy, but also a killer,” she claps her hands together, a manic grin twisting her face, “Wow! You really know how to pick them.”
“Shut your fucking mouth,” I warn with the threat of a deep menacing sound rumbling from my throat.
“I don’t think I will.” She bends over, her eyes level with mine. “Do you ever think that if she’d never met you, she’d be none the wiser to her truth? That she never would’ve been a serial killer? Have you even asked her if she likes killing or did you just assume that she did and then throw her into it?”
My face falls as a twinge in my chest has me aching to cover it. Sure, Serena has killed before, and seeing her in her element when she killed Bradley to protect me was fucking priceless, but she’s right, I never asked her if she wanted to. She was thrown into the life of murder because of my mother and her connection to me..Does she… does she evenwantto?
“Ah! I see I’ve struck a nerve.” She walks behind me, her fingers dancing along my shoulders, making me shiver at her touch as she bends to whisper in my ear. “Are you the reason for the bloodlust she now seems to carry?”
“It’s my mother’s fault. She has to kill or else she would be dead,” I grind out as she steps in front of me. I’m not the reason she is being forced to fight for her life. She isn’t being given a choice.
Kara places her finger on her lip, tapping it with an exaggerated huff. “Are you sure about that?” she asks, looking at me. “Or would you have made her your partner even without her life on the line? Would you have forced her to become a monster like you?”
I shake my head, not letting her words get to me. If it was anything else, I wouldn’t care, but because it’s about Serena I don’t know what to think.Would I have forced her to kill alongside me? What if she said no? Would I have let her go or would she have become a lamb?The thought of hurting Serena forces me to swallow down the vomit threatening to rise. No matter what her answer would have been, no matter what her choice was, I would have stuck by her side.
I know if she was given a choice, I wouldn’t get in the way of anything she wanted. If she didn’t want to be my partner in crime, it would gut me, but I wouldn’t force anything on her. If all she wanted was to paint all day I would buy the biggest gallery to display her art and watch her thrive. But that isn’t who Serena is. Serena ismy vixenand I know without a shadow of a doubt that if she was given a choice, she would choose to be my Fatal Floral Killer.
“She is who she was always meant to be.”
“Or did you make her that way?”
“No. Her choices are her own. Even if she doesn’t want to be a killer, I would respect her decisions.”
“And kill her,” she states, no question in her voice.
I lock my eyes with hers, straining against the rope as I lean forward. “Never.”
“Could you stop killing if she asked or would you do it behind her back, breaking her trust forever?”
Killing is in my bones, it’s my very reason for living. The rush of the hunt. The high of the execution.I could never give that up.But Serena is my new purpose, and I know she’d never ask me to give up the one thing that makes me, me.
“She would never ask me to,” I grind out in irritation.
“Are you sure about that?”
“She fell in love with the monster inside; she wouldn’t cage my beast. She relishes my darkness swirling around hers.”
Talking about Serena makes me more desperate to get back to her. My legs shake, the need to bounce them being restricted from the bindings. To ask her these questions and see if I really am the only reason she is tangled in my shadows.I need Kara to go away. The only way to make her leave is to turn the tables against her. To play the same mind games she’s attempting with me.It’s time to let the Morbid Monet out.
A cruel smile stretches my face as Kara’s head twitches back. “No matter how hard you try, no matter what you do, my parents willneversee you as anything more than an annoyance,” I say, causing her lips to purse as her eyes harden. “Even if I wasn’t born, they never took you seriously. They never would have trained you. You are nothing. You would just be in their way, and when Mom finds out you’re the reason for their capture,” I let out a low whistle, “You’re going to live up to your name, so be honorable and kill yourself.”
She screams, lunging for me as her tiny hands wrap around my throat. I laugh as she chokes me, dots forming around my vision. A frustrated huff fills the air as she gets up and pushes her hair back into place.
“I’ll be back.” She quickly strides back through the door, slamming it behind her.
Coughing, I stretch my neck, trying to ease the bruises I know are going to appear. I rattled the Bushi. She wasn’t expecting her psychological mindfuck to be turned back onto her, but there is one thing she failed to remember. I’m the Morbid Monet, and mind games are my favorite.
THIRTY-TWO
ASTER
Iwait a couple of minutes before biting the inside of my cheek, closing my eyes and popping my thumb out of place. I shouldn’t have waited so long to do this, but I thought Serena would have found me by now, and when Kara started talking about killing her, I knew I was out of time. I needed to act now.
The pain shoots up my arm, my head dizzy even with my eyes closed. The first and only time I had to do this was when Crumbwell forgot me in the basement and I needed to free myself. The taste of copper fills my mouth as I strain against the rope, my eyes watering as I pull my hand free.Fuck, that hurt.With my hand limp and painful, I lean down to free my feet and other hand from the rope.For someone so smart, she is really stupid with how she keeps her victims tied.
Grabbing some discarded cloth from my shirt, bite down hard and pop the joint back into place, wrapping my hand in the scrap of fabric.
Standing up too quickly, my vision blurs as my body sways. I catch myself on the chair, staring without seeing as the world slowly settles around me. I may be free, but I’m still weak. Islam my fist into the chair, my frustration from how weak I am slipping out of me.
