Killing Lucien

III

TW: THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS SCENES THAT MAY BE TRIGGERING OR CAUSE DISCOMFORT FOR SOME READERS. THIS CONTENT INCLUDES BUT IS NOT LIMITED TO: PANIC ATTACKS, VOMITING, VIVID IMAGERY OF GORE (INCLUDING BLOOD) AND HINTS AT MURDER.

READER DISCRETION IS ADVISED.

Please enjoy the chapter <3

III

MARIANA

Before Mariana was killed, she would've questioned every move that the three strangers made.

But nothing mattered anymore.

Only Lucien.

And how she would kill him.

But the thought of Lucien was enough to fill her with panic and make her ansty. How was she going to kill him if she was still horrified at the very thought of him?

The car stopped while Mariana was deep in thought, the sudden jerking movement of the parking brake tore her out of her reverie. She had awoken when they had entered an unfamiliar neighborhood, biding her time by watching the world pass through the window.

Now, she studied the three strangers around her, watching them effortlessly slink out of the car like they had picked up a dead girl from the cemetery before.

It would have been unnerving if Mariana didn't want to sink her teeth into them.

Her stomach ached and groaned throughout the entire ride but the slight difference in each of the stranger's scents was enough to put her off. Unlike the teenager from the party, these strangers had a specific tang in their scent, leading Mariana to believe that they were not wholly human.

It took her a minute to realize that Jules was staring at her, his eyebrows raised. There was an air of distrust hovering between the two as their eyes met. As she held his stare, Mariana found his sudden shift in attitude strange. It seemed like he had trusted her for a moment until realization slipped in when they found her near the party.

Like he trusted the girl she was.

But not the monster she had become.

"You getting out?" he asked, his stare becoming dull and exasperated.

Mariana held in her urge to snap at him, instead, unbuckling her seat belt and popping the door open. She broke eye contact first, not bothering to keep up their insignificant fight for dominance. Sliding out of the car, Mariana took in her surroundings. The house they had parked in front of was on a small plot of land covered in bushes and flowers of every type. Vines snaked up the brick walls of the house, curling around the windows and latching their claws onto the roof.

Jules waited for her to make her way to the front door, tapping his foot impatiently. Mariana was enthralled by the various flora around her, the bright colors capturing all of her attention.

"Alright," Jules hissed, grabbing her arm, "let's go."

He began to pull her inside the house, his stomping muffled by the carpet inside.

Mariana attempted to yank her arm out of his hold, but his grip only tightened.

Flashes of Lucien's slender fingers digging into her skin flitted across her mind.

So she clawed at the hand that held her captive.

She was deaf to Jules' curses, her mind occupied with the sight of black, beady eyes staring into her own. Her skin heated and ached as she recalled the way he had held her down, the sharp prickles of his nails making tears slide down her face.