Page 53 of Virgin Lust

“Do you know how to play UNO?” she asked randomly.

I quirked a brow. “Yes, but how do you?”

“Don’t look so surprised. My mom was a human once. She made sure we were all introduced to the things she loved growing up.” Prudence placed the blanket around her shoulders and materialized a deck of cards before facing me with her legs crisscrossed. “Now, my soul reaper, you can look at me. Let’s play.”

All I heard wasmy soul reaper.The rest didn’t matter. Being with her did.

Fourteen

Prudence

Dreaming always led me to Shepherd and places I shouldn’t be…

Sometimes bad choices become equally bad habits. My hunger for slipping through people turned into a compulsion. I didn’t know what I was or why I was slaying anyone, but I craved the slightly sweet tang of euphoria that quivered my shadowy form after each kill.

Every few days, I visited Tiffany and witnessed the bad choices she kept repeating. She held out on a college education and worked full time at the diner. Her life was at a standstill, and I hated the reason why.

Slipping through the trailer door, I found Tiffany at the table with her laptop open. Looking over her shoulder, I would have smiled and patted her back if I could. Open on the screen were several tabs for colleges. Her phone beeped, and she smiled as she scooped it up.

Pick one. We’ll go anywhere. We’ll leave this town tomorrow.

The text was from her boyfriend, Drake. She’d been seeing him for the last six months. He was a good kid. I didn’t have to get rid of him like the one before. And I would have if I needed to. Finally, someone was trying to get my sister out of that shithole. I was happy for her.

“What are you looking at?” I backed away quickly, careful not to touch our dad when he walked up behind Tiffany.

“Nothing.” Getting flustered, Tiffany tried closing the laptop, but he stopped her.

“You’re looking at colleges?” he asked.

“Yeah, I am.”

Dad scratched his chin and sighed. “You ain’t going to college. You’re too much like your mother. She was all beauty, but not much for brains. Your brother was the same way. Why do you think he chose the coal mines instead of getting an education? He wasn’t smart enough.”

I didn’t care what he thought of me, but I never liked how he badmouthed Mom.

“Dad!” Tiffany yelled. “Why are you always saying mean things? Mom loved you! And Shepherd…” Tiffany rose to her feet and whirled around. “He chose the quickest way to make money, so we could leave!”

Dad cackled. “Right. He got out of town and left us all alone. Stop speaking so high and mighty of someone who abandoned his family.”

“That’s not true,” she whispered. “You know it’s not.”

“Stop it, Tiffany! They never found a body. Your brother isn’t dead. He left us.”

“Wrong! He wouldn’t have destroyed the bike he worked so hard for. Something happened to him, Dad, but I can’t get anyone to help me find out. So, I’m going to do what I know he would have wanted, and I’m going to leave.”

“Say whatever makes you feel better about abandoning me.”

Tiffany stepped back, but her foot caught the chair leg, tripping her. Her tears finally spilled over her cheeks. Dad didn’t offer her a hand up. He just shook his head. Rage built inside of me. Hot anger rippled my form, bunching it erratically like a black pulsating cloud. I wouldn’t let his demeaning words change her choices.

Rushing forward, I slipped through my father. He gasped and slumped to the ground beside Tiffany.

“Dad!” she screamed as she shook him. Flipping him on his back, I watched her confirm he was dead.

Only then did it hit me what I had done. Oh, fuck!Right in front of Tiffany, too! Panic overcame me as I moved backward.

“Hello, Shepherd.”

The male voice caught me by surprise, and I turned around. I had never seen the cloaked male in my life, but instinctively, I knew exactly who he was. The Grim Reaper. My urge to flee intensified and my form quivered.

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