Page 20 of Virgin Sacrifice

“And if they were related, what was the girl’s connection to it all?” Nix followed up.

I had started to investigate her after last night. When I watched her dart away from the door, I was already reaching for my phone to look her up, having filed the image of her face in my mind. I would have chased her down at the party, but we had been meeting with Miles Andover, one of the self-proclaimed party kings of Hollow Oak, to discuss the drugs infiltrating campus.

The Blackwells didn’t personally engage in any of the more illicit trades outside of killing. The peddling of petty vices—guns, drugs, and women—was beneath us. But you couldn’t build an empire on blood alone, you needed power too.

For centuries, all criminal trade along the northeastern seaboard, minus New York City and New Jersey, which was Cosa Nostra territory, paid a surcharge for the privilege of operating under the domain of the Blackwell empire.

So, when rumors started circulating about new, cheaper drugs flowing into Hollow Oak, being offered at a price point far below what we permitted, it was a direct insult to our family.

As a result, Nix and I had been forced to attend more parties than usual in an attempt to sniff out the bastards. So far, we had struck out, and the fact that these interlopers had managed to evade us was only adding to my frustrations. There was enough on our plates already with the disappearances. We didn’t need the peasants getting rowdy. Now this heart incident?

“Do we know anything about her?” Nix tried again after it became clear I wasn’t going to respond to his earlier question.

“Luz Torres,” I said, savoring the feeling of her name on my tongue. It was the first time I had spoken her name out loud, and something about it satisfied me.

Nix snorted. “I take it she’s not from around here.”

“Texas, mostly. Her mother moved them around a lot until she died last year.”

My twin didn’t question why or how I already knew so much about this girl whose name we only received a couple of hours ago when one of our many scouts on campus texted to let us know what had happened. Knowing was my job, and no one would think twice about how quickly I had managed to learn so much about her.

It wasn’t hard. I had unrestricted access to the university’s records. There was no one on campus I couldn’t identify. All it took was a couple of minutes of quick scrolling through the incoming class to find her. There was no way the doe-eyed girl I saw last night was anything other than fresh meat.

The news this morning only fueled my need to know more about her.

Luz Torres wore her innocence like a well-crafted shield. She was trying to deflect attention from something, but what? Was it the righteous fury I saw simmering in her that very first day? Or maybe it was whatever drove her to spy on us last night.

It wasn’t just the lust in her eyes that attracted my attention, although I would have bet good money that her pussy was dripping with sweetness when she spied on my brother. It was the mischief in them, the thrill she was visibly riding from playing voyeur, and then the violent, shuddering wanting that filled her gaze when she saw my brother finish and spit into the mouth of that girl.

“I take it she only arrived in time for orientation.”

I nodded. He knew that if I had thought she was a viable suspect in the disappearances I would have told him right away.

“Think someone followed her here then?” he drawled, placing his empty beer bottle on the coaster next to him before stretching out his legs on the leather ottoman at his feet.

“It’s more likely than someone meeting her on campus and escalating that quickly,” I said, theorizing out loud.

That was all I had at this point. Theories. Because despite everything I had pulled together on Luz Torres so far, I still didn’t really have anything that told me who she was.

I knew that she was smart, that she dressed conservatively but stylishly with a European flair, and that she was Puerto Rican on her mother’s side. Her father was unknown. There wasn’t even a name on her birth certificate, which was something I needed to look into further. I knew that she was eighteen years old and that her birthday was November second, All Saints’ Day.

Ever let out a low whistle, breaking my train of thought, his pale blue eyes taking on a starry-eyed look that was absolutely terrifying on him. “Either way, there must be something about her,” he said with a disconcerting smile.

Fuck. If we weren’t careful with how we handled things, he was going to wind up obsessed with this girl just because some other psycho found her first.

“You’ll continue to look into her, Ali,” Nix quickly said, not so much commanding me as trying to change the subject to avoid encouraging Ever.

I tipped my head in agreement.

Still, the lunatic had a point. Even if she hadn’t wound up with a heart nailed to her door, I would have continued to investigate her.

What was it about this girl that drew killers to her like moths to a flame?

Chapter ten

Luz

The first couple of days after the incident were a blur. You might think that having a bloody heart nailed to your door would give you a pass on attending class for at least a few days. And most of my professors were surprisingly accommodating. It was something I was grateful for because between speaking with the police and university administrators, attending mandatory counseling sessions, and calming down Autumn, I barely had time to breathe, let alone study.

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