Page 100 of There Are No Saints

The air freezes all around me. Sweat turns to ice on my skin.

I can’t speak. I can’t draw breath. I can’t even blink.

He could kill me in this moment . . . I’m too scared to move.

Instead, he turn and walks away. Leaving me there alone.

* * *

27

Cole

Shaw knows.

The look of triumph on his face was unbearable.

He had no idea she was still alive.

He’s been out wilding the last few weeks, not paying attention to me, his work, our mutual acquaintances, or anything else that should have tipped him off.

That’s what happens when he goes on a frenzy: he disappears from the art world until the madness passes. Until he’s ready to act sane again.

He killed two girls. That means there’s one more to go.

He’s never satiated until he takes the third. Then he goes quiet—sometimes for months at a time.

That’s his cycle. I’ve watched it happen.

He’s predictable. I’m afraid I can predict exactly what he’ll do next:

He’ll try to take Mara as his last kill.

He would love the symmetry of that—he was the one who gave her to me, and he could take her away.

He might do it just to see how I’d react. To see if he could truly make me snap.

I don’t know how the fuck to stop it from happening. Even I can’t watch Mara every minute, every hour. If Shaw is determined to hunt her, how the fuck can I keep her safe?

Especially when she’s reckless and stubborn, determined to get herself killed. I saw the look in her eye—ordering her to stay away from Shaw only makes her want to defy me.

So I terrified her on purpose.

She thinks she isn’t scared of monsters? I’ll show her a fucking demon out of hell.

And it worked. She didn’t come to the studio yesterday, or today either. I know how scared she must be if she stayed home when she’s aching to work on her painting.

She’s home, but not actually alone. I’m watching her right now through the telescope. Watching her lay in bed, reading.

She finishedDracula.Now she’s startedThe Butterfly Garden.I’m not familiar with that one, but if it interests Mara, I want to read it. I want to know everything in her head.

I’ve been following her continually. It won’t be enough.

Alastor won’t give up that easy.

I could kill him.

That eventuality has always loomed between us.

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