Hiraeth {Book 3 in The Emerald of Annihilation trilogy}

(14). Serial Killer to Assasian

A/N: Start music at * * * * * * * :) 

Lily's POV.

My eyes lifted from Ethan to the events occurring outside window. A man stood outside. His long brown bangs hung low over his enticing hazel eyes. His faintly pink lips trembling as breath escaped in a white mist.

'Dylan.'

My heart throbbed as my eyes washed over his outfit. Long black jeans. Black hoodie under a jean jacket, the hood over his head. Ethan gripped my forearm like a drowning man grips a lifeguard. For dear life.

Dylan lifted his head, looking around. He turned in our direction and stared into my eyes with such a cold gaze that the hairs on the back of my neck stood up, making me shiver.

His face held a look that was not.....him. He looked savage. Merciless. Mysterious yet murderous. Fresh blood was splattered on his face. His hands gloved in a red, slick liquid. His eyes seemed to soften the longer he looked at me. Like his mind was in conflict. Like half of him remembered or at least recognised me.

The body beneath him caught my eye for a second. The woman's throat sliced with a wire. The wire still in Dylan's grasp, dripping warm, fresh blood. "L-lily...?" Ethan whispered as he pressed himself closer to me. 

I swallowed hard, tightening my grip around him. "It's ok, Ethan. He's not going to touch you..." A sudden crack of a gun sounded just as Dylan took a step to the cafe. Through the glass, his scream travelled.

The scream was not just a scream of pain. But also a scream of anger and frustration. Clutching his now wet, red side, Dylan turned and ran off, leaving a trail of dripping blood as Viper agents shot after him.

I pulled Ethan down out of sight as the Viper agents ran by. His fingers still clutching my fabric jacket so tight his trembling knuckles were turned white. I sat back against the wall, trying to comprehend what I had just witnessed.

"Was that...the serial killer?" Ethan asked, his voice almost as weak as my quivering legs. "I-I...Yes....I think it was......" Ethan shivered even though the room was growing in heat rather than lowering in temperature.

"Let's go home, Ethan." I stood shakily, taking his hand in mine. "We're just going to leave? What about the shop?" I turned to him, fire in my eyes. "Do you think anyone wohld come here when Dylan had murdered someone in front of the cafe?!"

I clamped my hand over my mouth as soon as I realised what I had done. "Dylan....? Wait..." Ethan pushed himself away from me, hugging his body as if he was his own messiah. "Y-You know him.....?"

I didn't speak. The pain was too much. "Ethan....I-"

"You do! You do know him! You lied to me all this time!" Tears flowed down the young boy's face as he inched further and further away from me like I was a ticking grenade ready to go off at any second.

"You're working with him aren't you?!  You pretended to be my friend just to get me killed like my grandfather!" Ethan's voice trembled and shook.

My dream replayed in my head. "Its all your fault!" Dylan had screamed at me. "You could have saved them! But you didn't!!"

I grit my teeth and set my jaw as Ethan yelled at me. "Ethan.....please listen to m-" "No! Not after this! You probably lured him here to kill me, didn't you?! I trusted you! You were like a mom to me! The one person I had finally opened up to!" He turned. "I don't want to see you ever again!"

I winced at his words. He glared at me, though his eyes held fear, betrayal and hopelessness.

"Ethan.....kee-stay in the apartment. I won't go near you. I give you my word." I promised. Ethan turned to look at me. "I hate you." With that, he ran out past the body of Natalie and down the street. The cold atmosphere returned, chilling my bones as I slumped back down, crying my eyes out.