Bound Book 2

Chapter 11 - Hooded Figure

Hooded Figure

Not even one tear shed. I look over at Skylar, her beautiful face emotionless as she stares at the body lying in front of her. Poor Chris. She didn't even remember him. The body had been sucked dry, all essence and power absorbed by me. I would certainly put it to better use. Chris had been useful until his affections, his so-called love for Skylar, started making him a liability. His initial belief in the plan wavering as he became more invested in her well-being, and concern about what I would do to her started setting in. Rightly so I suppose. Was I, too not a little obsessed?

Considering my relationship with Chris, proof of the lengths I would go to just to see the Legend to fruition had surely now been conveyed. Had I not been tested on numerous occasions already. The worst being when that dirty Lycan took her virginity, a necessity I had to allow when Chris would not or could not unbind the curse himself. My constraint tested to its limit as I watched them from a distance, the look of ecstasy on her face as she came undone under him enough to drive a weaker man to madness.

The only satisfaction was the look of horror on her face as all memory of her precious mate vanished, her gorgeous face which moments ago moaned in ecstasy, cried out in fear and confusion, her memories sealed in the pendant hanging around my neck. It was a pity that of all the objects for her memories to latch onto, it would pick the necklace gifted to her by Dmitri. 

The necklace that Dmitri thought had been singed to smithereens when Skylar had burst into flames shortly after their coupling. Dmitri momentarily stunned as he was thrown back from the burst of energy gave me the small opening I needed to teleport in and out unnoticed, necklace in hand. With her memories and feelings safely tucked away in this necklace, she would never remember Dmitri, maybe never feel the way she did for him before. That thought makes me smile.

Only Chris as the original curse caster and Dmitri as her true mate could withstand the flames, their impact on my body yet another sign of my dedication to the cause, the orange flames that had kissed my skin as I retrieved the necklace leaving lasting scars over my right arm, the right side of my face, and my torso.

Chris tried to trick me with his herbs, removing her rose scent to make me think she was already defloured. Telling me that as she had not unlocked her powers after losing her virginity and to her mate no less, it must make the Legend false, that we were mistaken. Hoping I would back down and leave her alone.

If only they knew what she was, they would probably lock her up in fear. Isn't that what always happened with the unknown? I had seen it first-hand. The horrors that could befall those that are different. Only I would remain where the others would leave. Soon she would see their censure and welcome me as a safe haven. If I had known at the time what she was, I would not have sent Chris in my stead to curse her all those years ago.

I only found out after ten years that Chris had been watching her from a distance, shielding her so that hunters didn't find her. His behavior became erratic the older she got until he finally told me the truth. The truth about Skylar and the Legend. A Legend he only found out about after he cursed her. His foolishness in not questioning the witch Selinah, the creator of the curse which Chris had ignorantly cast without question, resulted in our current situation. Hindsight at having the information sooner would have never had us cursing her in the first place.

That was the start of my obsession. But instead of only watching her from a distance I would enter her dreams, preparing her for a time when we would meet.

After everything I've done for her already, she should be grateful. I recall when she first moved to Willow Falls and opened her shop, Sky's Naturals, she struggled to get customers. The locals were not open to newcomers, and she was on the verge of giving up, I could tell. But then I whispered in the baker's ear, Mr. Adams, about her magical balm, his remembrance of me uncertain as if like a dream. Once he found success with her product, his long-standing and respected opinion in the community coupled with his vibrant ability to gossip, was just the nudge people in the community needed to start trying Skylar's products. From there, her shop flourished.

I watched her for months, lurking outside her house on the outskirts of town, hoping to one day reveal myself to her when the time was right. Hoping she would accept me. But once Dmitri came into the picture, and the useless hunter had been killed near her house, all chances of me getting closer to her vanished. Dmitri hovered around her like a fly on shit, the patrols around her house making my night-time visits a thing of the past.

My thoughts are interrupted as the witch Raina's head swivels in my direction, her eyes squinting as she looks at the shadow absorbing me. Her protective barrier on the town proved formidable to penetrate, but yet again I had succeeded, my magic coming from a place she was too afraid to access. Her attention wavers as her partner talks to her quietly, giving me a chance to pull further back into the shadow, my eyes moving back to Skylar.

I tried finding her after the setup had been arranged with Savannah as Dmitri's mate, but Chris did a good job of hiding her. Even the Lycan had struggled to find her though she was only a couple of towns over in Fairville. Chris made sure to keep Skylar close. He told me afterward how he sabotaged all her chances of finding accommodation elsewhere whenever she tried to leave him, going so far as to poison her aunt when Skylar said she might move back in with them. Whenever Skylar tried finding an apartment, Chris threatened the owners, making them take the rental off the market, forcing Skylar into a position where she needed him. He thought that would make her love him but look where that got him. She wasn't even crying.

The Lycan walks over, his hand moving to her shoulder making my hands shake in rage. One day I would kill him. His dirty hands would be cut off and fed to the pigs. Maybe one day I would make her kill him, even more fun than doing it myself.

I think back to her power both at the ball and that night I sent the Hunters to Dmitri's house to retrieve her. The words others used to explain what she had done had not fully prepared me for what I saw after Dmitri fucked her. The way he had been flung back and the way the flames engulfed her was magnificent.

Word spread so far and wide after the Annual Gathering incident that I was forced to broker a deal anonymously with the High Council Elders, convincing them to sweep that incident and any future incidents concerning Skylar under the carpet in exchange for the hunter's headquarters takedown. Which I gave them shortly thereafter. What the Elders didn't know was that wasn't the headquarters and only one of many locations across the globe, the extent of the hunter's network increasing to such a point that even I was starting to become concerned. The deal would also only hold so long before the Elders started wondering why anyone would go to those lengths.

By that time I hoped to have Skylar by my side. We would rule this pitiful excuse for a world and for a change supernaturals would walk freely and openly amongst the humans. We may even take them as slaves instead of killing them all as I initially planned.

I look over at Skylar who is whispering something to Dmitri, his expression full of concern as he starts looking around the room. Now that I had Chris' power, I could easily teleport her and myself out of here in no time, my ability before only allowing me to move myself between places. But for now, I would leave her here, leave her to feel the rejection that would come as people started seeing who she really was. It would make her more accepting of me when the time was right. Sensing my time is up, I give Skylar one last look before I disappear. Excitement for what is to come makes me chuckle quietly as I leave.

Please don't forget to comment and vote!

This chapter certainly ties up some loose ends from the first book, don't you think?

Visit https://www.patreon.com/greenwitchwrites (search for me in google as Adult rated accounts won't come up in the Patreon search in app) for early access to one or two chapters and other arbitrary posts.