𝐃𝐀𝐑𝐊 𝐋𝐀𝐖𝐒 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐏𝐑𝐈𝐌𝐑𝐎𝐒𝐄𝐒

𝐅𝐈𝐕𝐄

𝐊𝐈𝐋𝐋𝐈𝐀𝐍 𝐂𝐑𝐀𝐖𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐃

"They're watching me."

The knife went in over, and over, and over.

Her words—the fear in them—made me want to watch someone bleed. The blood before me just didn't do the work. The man screamed in agony until he couldn't, the blade piercing sharply through his neck as fountains of crimson splattered everywhere. His face was unrecognizable, his body lying in a glistening carpet of red.

"Where are you?" I rasped, my fist tightening around my pen as I closed the video's tab on my laptop.

"My place," she muttered through the phone.

I was silent for a moment. If she had pushed past her pride and called me, it must've meant she was really scared. The wicked part of me wanted to terrify her more than she already was. Pity I was trying to not seem cruel.

"Do you feel safe?" I drawled out slowly, my thumb clicking on my pen as I awaited her answer. Testing her.

A moment of silence passed and I heard her exhale shakily. "No," she whispered, "I don't."

"Any new messages?" I pushed.

"Lots."

My voice lowered an octave. "Stay there. I'm coming."

With that, I ended the call and in less than a minute I was already exiting through the building's doors. I left my suit jacket behind, my briefcase, everything except my phone, wallet and keys.

As I got in my car, my heart was thundering in my chest. Not with excitement or fear, but with the satisfaction of having my ego heightened. So wrong of her to make me her knight in shining armor, yet I loved it.

Poor girl.

A hunter doesn't take his eyes off his prey even as it runs.

In less than ten minutes, I had arrived at Amara's apartment complex. I parked my car just by the lobby's entrance and grabbed my phone, sending her a quick text. "I'm here. Should I head upstairs and escort you down to my car?"

I was just being nice. Would've scared her off if I didn't do what I loved doing: teasing.

It wouldn't have made a difference though. I was a stranger in her eyes.

My fingers thrummed against the steering wheel as I let that thought sink in. They tightened around the leather as I realized that... At least I had a place in her eyes. I could be the Devil himself and I'd still be pretty fucking satisfied.

Amara didn't respond to my text. She left me on read and after a moment or two I saw her come out of the complex, spotting my car immediately. I was already out of my car by that time.

Fuck my ego and the way it had been stroked when she called me.

I felt my muscles tense as she approached me, her face pale and her hands applying a horrible amount of force onto her coat as she held it tightly around herself. Her eyes were glossy and the edges red, as if she were holding back tears.

For the first time since she had returned from London, I felt... dread. The look in her eyes, lost and tear-filled, was the exact same one that haunted me for the past five years. It had been the last thing I had seen from her when she left, and now she was coming back with that same look in her eyes. Tormenting me, mocking me.

My subconscious gnawed at my insides as I took in her state. Scared, scared of someone watching her like a doe in a hunter's scope. Truth be told, five years ago I had been the one pulling the trigger, and the sound of her cries the day she left still resonated within me on my darkest nights.