Haunted by you

part 3# Stranger

Present

~Cecelia~

I approached my friend Rose. Her back was faced to me and I made sure my steps were as silent as a mouse.

When I was close enough I grabbed her shoulder. "Boo." I said and she gasped loudly before smacking her hand over her chest.

"Cece you scared me!" She yelled. "How did you even get in?"

"Milner let me in." I said referring to her butler. "And it wasn't that bad you just get scared too easily."

"Ugh you're exhausting." She said before hugging me.

"You have no idea how grateful I am for you lending me this book." I said squeezing her.

"No worries. It's in the library." She said. "I'll just clean up here and then I'll meet you." She said gesturing to the painting she had been working on before I got here. Yep , my best friend was an artist.

"Sure." I said before walking to the library.

It was just down the hall from Rose's art studio but it felt like I was walking forever. Her house was eerily silent and the slightest step echoed on the wooden floor. The library door softly creaked when I opened it. I walked in and the door shut behind me.

Walking straight to the drama section I looked for the book that I needed for my literature class. Skimming through the titles I finally saw the one I was looking for.

"Got you." I whispered out loud before going on my tip toes to reach it. I grabbed it but not without accidentally pulling the book next to it. The book fell, just narrowly missing me and landing on the floor with a thud.

I bent down to pick it up but I froze when I saw movement out of the corner of my eye. My hand stopped inches away from the book as fear rushed through me. Am I seeing things?

I picked up the book slowly before beginning to walk out and again I saw someone move from my peripheral vision. Yeah that's my cue to get the fuck out of here. I picked up my pace almost running at this point as the library seemed to swallow me whole. I cast a glance behind me but before I could turn my attention forward again I slammed in to a wall. And by wall I mean a wall of muscle. Cold liquid splashed all over my shirt and I gasped loudly as the persons glass fell to the floor.

"Fucking moron!" I shouted in frustration before realising that probably wasn't a very nice thing to say.

"Harsh words for someone so beautiful." A deep male voice teased and I immediately looked up. When I did I froze. Dark hair and eyes met mine and my lips parted slightly.

It wasn't the fact that his eyes were black that made them dark, no , it was the fact that they were completely empty. They lacked any emotion or traces of a soul. Everyone always said that eyes were a gateway to a persons soul but him? He looked completely devoid of one.

"And you are?" I asked trying to seem unbothered and failing miserably. My voice was strained and my body rigid.

"That depends." He said narrowing his eyes slightly. "Who the fuck are you?"

"You ruined my shirt." I said looking down at my now drenched white shirt. At first I thought the clear liquid was water but now after inhaling it I know that it is pure vodka.

"You're the one who ran into me baby." He said and I narrowed my eyes at him.

"I'm not your baby." I all but growled. "And by the way you're giving serious creeper vibes so you better tell me who the fuck you are."

"You were the one running through a library." He said with his expression never changing. He looked almost bored . "Seems pretty suspicious to me."

I opened my mouth to say something but it was cut off by Roses loud squeal. We turned our attention to where she stood by the entrance of the library and his face softened slightly. But still he didn't show any sign of human emotions.

"Niko!" She squealed before running towards him and he opened his arms catching her when she leaped at him. He spun her around and she hugged him tightly.

"There's my girl." He said with a slight grin whilst hugging her.

"What are you doing here?" She asked him with a bright smile on her face when he put her down.

"Just business." He said with a blank expression but his body had now relaxed at the sight of her.

"Wow look at you Mr big business man." She said with a huge smile and he smiled at her but it didn't quite reach his eyes. It wasn't intentional though. It was almost as if he physically couldn't express emotion. Interesting.

"Oh I'm sorry Cece this is my uncle." She told me and my jaw dropped.

"Uncle?!" I asked unable to hide my shock. Either he was a vampire or I had just misheard her.

"Yeah." She said with a small laugh. "He's my mom's little brother but he's only 27." She said casually.

"Well you're lucky to have me." He told her. "Otherwise who else would let you get away with all your sketchy shit." He said and she grinned at him.

"He's only 5 years older than us cause my mom was getting down and busy while he was still a kid." She explained and at her words his face pulled up into a disgusted scowl.

"Ew Rose I don't wanna think about my sister having sex." He said with obvious disgust and it was the first emotion I'd seen him express.

"Yeah yeah." She said rolling her eyes. "Oh this is my best friend." She said pointing at me. "Niko, meet Cecelia Odessa Thorne." She said before pointing at him.

"Cece this is Christian Nikolai Maddox." She told me. "But I call him Niko because I couldn't pronounce Christian when we were younger."

"Thorne?" He asked me. "Like Thorne jewellers?"

"Unfortunately." I said boredly and his head tilted slightly with curiosity.

The way he tilted his head almost reminded me of... No. It's not your ghost Cecilia. He's gone.

"How long are you in New York for?" Rose asked him breaking me out of my thoughts.

"I'm not sure yet." He said looking at her before his gaze briefly swept over me. "But it seems I've missed the city." He said and she smiled at him.

Her eyes moved to me and she frowned. "Oh no Cece your shirt is drenched." She said before grabbing my hand. "Come on let's get you out of that shirt."

"Actually I was just about to go home anyway." I told her squeezing her hand slightly and trying to pretend like the man next to her wasn't currently staring into my soul . "I'll see you tomorrow ok?"

I kissed her cheek before turning to walk out. When I reached the door I shot one last smile at her and allowed myself another glance at her uncle.

"See you, Thorne." He said and I swallowed the sudden lump in my throat before quickly turning around and leaving.

Only when I was in my car did I let out the breath I was holding. The sooner he was gone, the better .

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Heyyy guysss

What do we think so far? I'm kinda loving this book so far ngl. This was honestly exactly what I needed to get the creative juices flowing again yk?

Love you guyss
MWAH 💋