Page 74 of Virgin Sacrifice

Oh, she was beautiful, all right. Juicy-looking lips and apple-shaped cheeks that had me wanting to take a bite out of them. But it was her brilliant amber eyes that captivated me. Even at a distance, they sparkled like dark champagne sapphires in the sun. Gorgeous but canny. I got the distinct impression that those little peepers caught everything going on around them.

I let out a groan, my cock stiffening rapidly as I imagined what sort of cunning Starbright was capable of. I was going to find out for myself soon, even if the twins didn’t like it.

Taking my now stiff cock in hand, I imagined her standing in front of me dressed all in red, dripping from head to toe in nothing but beautiful, beautiful blood and those wily, witchy eyes staring me down.

What was one more mess for the cleaners?

Chapter thirty-four

Luz

Nixon’s introduction to Autumn, Aaron and Melody had a ripple effect on our little group that extended beyond that day in the library.

Autumn, predictably, was more scared of the Blackwells than ever, and convinced that I had barely escaped death at Nixon’s hands. No matter how many times I tried to assure her that the loquacious twin was all bark and no bite (something I didn’t entirely believe, myself), she continued to beg me to stay away. As if I was the one chasing after them.

Melody, on the other hand, seemed to have rewritten the entire episode in her head. Her infatuation with Nixon had grown stronger and she had started hanging around us even more, I suspected in the hopes that he would pop up again. A development I didn’t care for.

Mercifully, both of the twins had returned to stalking me from a distance, making her efforts for naught.

The most dramatic change, though, was in Aaron. Something about his showdown with Nixon (or lack thereof) seemed to eat away at him. Masculinity was fragile like that. He spent the days after our encounter alternating between stewing in anger over how “bastards like Blackwell get away with whatever they want” and living in jittery paranoia over my safety.

“It’s not safe for you to be wandering around campus, Luz. Can’t you see he’s fucking obsessed with you?” he shouted angrily at me, slamming his hands down on the weathered dining hall table, attracting more than a few concerned stares.

“I think he enjoyed getting a rise out of you, and I was an easy means to his end,” I replied coolly.

If Nixon wanted me dead, Aaron wasn’t going to be the one to stop him.

Aaron continued to sputter and rage, mostly to Autumn who was sympathetic if not distracted. She was still withdrawn and quieter than usual, and I was starting to worry that I shouldn’t put off finding out what was going on with her for much longer.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t going to happen today. I had been summoned back to the station by Detectives Marques and Denver. I was surprised it had taken them this long to reach out to me given that I had received a heart, and now they had dead girls with their hearts ripped out popping up all over the place. But I guessed the good detectives had been busy.

“Once again, Miss Torres, you have no idea why anyone would have targeted you at the beginning of the semester?”

The Shady Harbor police force was, if nothing else, consistent. Thus far, my meeting with the detectives was more of the same questions as before, over and over again, as if the sheer monotony and repetition of it all might get me to crack.

“No, Detective Denver, I don’t know why anyone would have left an animal organ on my door.”

I suppose I could have told them about the stickers. Maybe even the sheep. But the reality was that the more information I gave them, the more questions they would have. And the last thing I needed was the two of them digging deeper into my past and finding out about Penelope.

The police, like the rest of the justice system, weren’t interested in the truth. Their practice was limited solely to evidence and the law—neither of which had anything to do with reality or even right and wrong. If they found out about my history, what Mami and I had done, they wouldn’t hesitate to arrest me and I had no intention of becoming a casualty of their investigation.

As before, Detective Denver remained unimpressed with my lack of useful information, and he muttered something under his breath to his counterpart before abruptly standing up and stalking out of the room.

Marques, who looked more tired and run-down than the last time I’d seen her, looked at me with a weary smile before letting out a quiet sigh.

Oh goody, it was time for “girl talk.”

“Sorry about that, Luz. He’s feeling the pressure—hell, we both are—to bring this monster to justice,” she said, her eyes crinkling warmly as she worked to establish mutual sympathy between us. “We need to cover all of our bases to make sure we aren’t missing anything, you understand, right?”

I offered her a supportive looking smile and nodded along. She brightened up visibly at my apparent compliance.

“Thank you so much for your assistance with all this. We have a couple other questions for you that are more delicate in nature. That’s partially why Detective Denver stepped outside.”

Right, because my secrets are safe with you. Girl code.

“Luz, are you a virgin?”

I was taken aback by the question, and for once I didn’t work to school my natural reaction—I was pretty sure anyone would be caught off guard in my situation.

---