The Painter's Fate (Book 3 of The Painter Trilogy)

Obsessed

(Dahlia's POV)

"Hey! You've been staring at your drink for an hour!" Hera tapped my shoulders lightly which caused me to come back to my senses. It's been a year since Brennon died and there's not a single day that goes by without me thinking about the wedding we never had.

It's been six months since we made a deal with the witch and started collecting souls by killing people. I've some so far and I have no intention of backing out. Brennon is worth every single thing that I have in this life and life without him is no life at all. 

I looked at my hands stained with blood.

Rocksien is the 11th masterpiece. We need one more. One more and everything would go back to the way it was. Just one more life and I can bring Brennon back. Hera can bring her mother's life back and live in the country side. Jasmine's best friend can live again and they would study abroad like how they planned it to. 

Brennon and me can marry each other finally!

See? We are not just killing people for absolute nothing. Everything has a purpose. 

The thought of Brennon and me marrying, fuels the desire in me to kill again. One more life and everyone would be happy. Just one more.

"Bring me the next target." I said as I sipped on my drink. The two of them looked at me unbelievably.

"We just finished the 11th masterpiece a few hours ago! I'm tired Dahlia. Don't we deserve to rest?" Hera asked me slightly raising her voice.

"We only have two months before the eclipse! If we're not going to make it by that time then all of these are for nothing!" I shouted as I stood up and harshly pushed the table causing for it to turn over. They remain unfazed with my behavior, being with me and working with me for more than five months were enough for them to get used to my ill temper.

"Calm down Dahlia, you seemed obsessed with killing nowadays." Hera looked at me with brows furrowed.

"So what? Aren't you? We all are!" I shouted at the two in front of me.

"Jesus, calm down will you?" Jasmine urged me to sit back on my chair and calm down but my body just can't.

"You seemed so relaxed, why? Don't you want your mother back Hera?" I barked harshly at Hera and stared at her face with my piercing eyes. That question silenced her for a while. As usual, she's sensitive when it comes to her mother. Every time they disobey me I always poke the unhealed wounds, making it bleed again. And for Hera, that wound is the memory of her mother. 

"Let's just do what she wants Hera, come on. It's fun to kill anyway. My ears are itching to hear some screaming again. Rocksien's scream was so lame. It made me sleepy while slitting her throat!" Jasmine laughed maniacally. After sometime, Hera laughed along with her then she took her hands and they exited the room laughing together.

In the deal that we made with the witch, we're bound to lose our sanity. We know that and we had long accepted that fact.

My eyes followed their figure until I can no longer see them. They are starting to lose it. I too, is struggling with myself. I am starting to become restless. I am having sleepless nights. The people we've killed keeps on showing in my dreams trying to strangle me. Sometimes I hear them calling my name on the walls of the room but every time I looked at the walls, I see nothing. There are days that Jasmine looks like Lavender and sometimes I just want to kill her but I got to keep sane. I keep fighting the urge to stab Hera because she reminds me so much of Rocksien but I promised Brennon that I'll see him again. And I need those two to keep my promise.

I looked at my hands once again.

I remember our first kill. It was a lady who was working in one of the many convenience stores, not far away from the Univeristy. She worked until late hours and she goes home past midnight which made her an easy target. Our first kill was almost a failure. I remember how Hera and Jasmine trembled while holding the knife and looking at the pool of blood in front of them. They could not stand the cries of the person. Hera even cried and was awake the whole night after that kill. The second kill was easier, then the third, until killing felt good.

I came to like how the blood oozes from the slits on their throat, I came to love hearing the muffled screams they make when Jasmine stitched their lips together, I came obsessed with the expression plastered in their faces when Hera breaks their skull. I came to like the sound of bones cracking as we twist their joints. Their painful screams are music to our ears. We came to love everything about killing and most especially, I came to love the taste of blood.

To be able to continue executing the plan and kill more people, we disguised ourselves as students, not really enrolled but we go inside classrooms to pretend that we are. Hera seduced the head of the art gallery and killed him too, hid his body somewhere in the woods and the gallery had become our sanctuary not long ago making it as an excuse for roaming the campus during late hours.

After the body of the people we killed were drained of blood, Jasmine bury them in the woods at the back of the gallery. Since nobody goes there, everything went smoothly.

Rocksien was not really in the plan. She came as a blessing one day asking me to be her roommate. And who am I to decline a blessing?