8. Chapter Eight
Chapter eight
I couldn’t sleep.
My dreams were filled with those two creepy shadows haunting me, chasing me. I stayed in my dorm, never leaving, fearing those creeps being out there somewhere.
Teagan, my roommate, was worried. I could tell she wanted to help but didn’t know how.
I wanted to tell her about last night. I needed to tell someone. I just couldn’t shake their cold, unblinking eyes and how they stalked that woman. I needed to keep an eye on her today. I had to keep her away from those shadows.
“Uh… earth to Vivvy?”
I shook my head, looking at the cereal in the bowl. My spoon hovered near my mouth, and I tried to reboot my brain. “Yeah?”
Teagan looked at me with caring eyes. “I said, ‘Are you excited about the auction today? I know there’s a particular professor you wanted to buy for the weekend.’”
She giggled, but rage began to infuse into my veins. I couldn’t fucking wait to buy that asshole. I was going to make him feel the humiliation he inflicted on me. I intended to make him endure every ounce of what he made me feel.
I was playing with a fire that didn’t simply extinguish. It continued to burn until there was nothing left to destroy. I knew this, yet I still felt so much excitement about going into this charity auction today.
“You bet your fine ass I do. He will pay for what he did.”
Teagan kept trying to get me to tell her, but I couldn’t admit that I was left half naked, soaking wet, and mortified in his fucking office. I just couldn’t. The auction was happening at the chapel outside the university. You had to go through that ridiculous maze that was used for drunken parties and speak with the creepy priest that everyone said was a schmuck.
“Listen, Teagan, don’t go anywhere at night, okay?”
Teagan shook her head. “Not you, too. You are already buying into the bullshit legends of this place, and you’ve only been here a few days. There are no scary monster-eating students in the middle of the night.”
I forced a laugh, taking a bite of my soggy cereal. “No, not monsters, but people. Something weird is happening at this school. I don’t trust it.”
Teagan looked curious and shook her head. “Okayyy…You seem really spooked. Are you sure you’re okay?”
I thought about telling her…about the shadows, the stalking, and Charli. Everything…but she would just think I was crazier than I probably was.
“I gotta get ready for the auction. It’s weird going to church. I haven’t been since I was forced to as a kid.”
Teagan laughed, and it sounded musical. “Yeah, well, you may not want to say that out loud. This is a religious school, after all, dork.”
“Right.” I snorted. “I mean, I love Sky Daddy. He and I are on absolutely loving terms.”
Teagan rolled her eyes, smiling, and continued cleaning the kitchen.
I took a sobering shower and tried again to scrub that fucking lipstick off my body. The black smudges were still there. Though not seen, I felt the oily texture on my skin. It was like a brand—‘Divine.’
“What’s the story about Professor Valentine?” I said through the open door of the bathroom.
I had a towel wrapped around me and was using the mirror to put on my makeup.
Teagan was in the living room, but she could hear me easily. Our individual areas were super close to each other. Our other dorm mates were out, so it was just us.
“Besides the fact he’s deliciously hot and broody?” she said.
That was obvious. “Yep. Besides that.”
Teagan looked thoughtful in the reflection of the fogged-up mirror.
“I don’t know. He has a younger brother. He’s hot, too. An asshole jock type, not at all like Maddox.”
A brother…
The image of the two shadows swarmed my mind again, and I coughed, choking on my own tongue.
“You okay?”
I cleared my throat and took a deep breath. “Yeah…I think so.”
I finished getting dressed, making sure my uniform looked extra for tonight. My button-up was definitely not standard for the school. The white top was all but sheer, a corset that showed my lace black bra under it, and I pulled my skirt up a little higher than my thighs today, using a belt to keep it there. I walked out to the living area, and Teagan wolf-whistled.
“You maneater, you.”
I waggled my eyebrows at her, letting out a corny growl. “Yeah, baby. Now let’s go before I chicken out on my hoe-fit and run away.”
Teagan laughed, grabbing her purse and gesturing to the door. “What do you plan on doing to Professor Valentine? Lock him naked in the foretold tunnels under the school and make him do dirty things to you?”
I blushed at the imagery, and she laughed harder.
“I want to strip him naked, all right,” I said, seething from my memories. “But I don’t want him touching me. I want him to freeze his dick off in the cold while students laugh at him, then I want to walk away and take pictures of his sorry ass to print out and replace all that creepy torture art he has in his office.”
My friend became silent for a minute, and I realized that I’d fucked up. “His office? You’ve been there?”
I cleared my throat. “I mean, You’ve seen his socials. Where do you think he keeps all those naked women portraits?”
“I assumed a kinky sex dungeon where his inspo for those poses were created, but I suppose his office makes sense too.”
I shivered. The artwork he was known for was fucked up. Naked women contorted in painful angles, some strung up by their ankles on a tree, others laying on the ground, bleeding from their eyes and mouth. It all scared me.
“He is such a creep. He needs to be taught a lesson he will never forget. The asshole spouts about fate all the time. Well, I intend to make sure he is hated.”
Teagan smiled and shook her head. “The man isn’t winning any kindness awards, sure, but he is too powerful for anyone to hate him, Vivvy. All the people of St. Valentine bow to that man on his good looks alone. When you add in the piles of money and the delicious leering glares, you have the trifecta of a toxic walking red flag. In other words, a complete god.”
I growled. She was right. If I stripped that man naked, people would stare all right, but not in hatred.
“Sorry, girl. You have to admit, though, even you are affected by his dangerous bad-boy charm.”
I made a face, and Teagan cackled.
“I don’t have to admit shit.”
Our phones chimed in unison, and my stomach fluttered. However, I couldn’t say if it was in disgust…or anticipation.
After barely figuring out that stupid maze, we made it to the school chapel. As predicted, the priest was like a character from a bad mobster movie. He reached his hand out, expecting me to respond.
“Uh…Hi, father?” I said, hesitantly reaching one arm out.
The old gross ass made out with the top of my fingers, and Teagan cracked up beside me while I paled.
“Never give the priest your hand,” she said between bouts of laughter. I looked at the wet spot left on my skin.
“Yep…noted,” I said as I cringed.
We found our seats in the pews of the chapel. This place was beautiful. It followed the same gothic haunting beauty of the university. It was clear they were connected. There was a buffet table where people were taking plates of meat and potatoes, but I felt too nauseous with my restless sleep.
Instead, I watched the students mill in, and at the front, the professors of the school started lining up…all but my professor.
I looked at the people around me. The nerds I knew from before were congregated in a corner of one of the pews. They looked upset, and one of them was missing—the pig-tailed woman.
I tried to shove away the thoughts of the shadows from my mind, but the feeling was so strong that it took my breath away. I stood up from the pews, my ability to breathe escaping me.
Teagan was talking, but I couldn’t respond.
I walked toward the back of the chapel, finding an exit away from the creepy priest. The cold air was sobering, and I took handfuls of breaths, trying to collect myself.
It was quiet back here, with no chattering of students or awful organ music playing in the background.
I leaned against the chapel, noticing the back of the maze led out here. The church was directly in the center of it, and I wondered what was at the end of this massive green wall.
Was it just a trick to lead you on a wild goose chase back to the beginning…or was there something else behind it all?
Walking along the edge of the green shrubbery, I ran my hand on the snow-covered brush. I gasped when, in the snow, I saw…red.
There were speckles of crimson leading deep within the maze. I tried to steady my breathing, walking along the route, following the droplets. It was blood. I could smell the iron even in the cold snow.
Someone was hurt.
Running through this maze?
I continued to follow the blood trail, noticing that the farther into the labyrinth I traveled, the darker and thicker the blood droplets became.
“Oh god, oh god, oh god,” I chanted, that smell of iron getting so strong that it breached the air’s chill.
I arrived at a large opening. The trail turned into larger pools of blood, leading to a massive oak tree. I followed the lake of red, a sinister feeling creeping up my spine. I shivered, annoyed at myself for my hoe-style of clothing in the freezing weather.
“Hello?” I said stupidly. Like whatever had bled out would answer me.
I couldn’t see anything. The tree was so dark. The higher I looked, the darker it became. The blood trail ended here. No other blood speckles were leading anywhere else.
Confused and thoroughly freaked out, I walked around the thick bark, using my boot to dig into the snow. There was nothing. Nothing at all.
Was I imagining the blood? Was this some fucked up delusion like my grandmother’s voice in my mind?
I blinked a few times, trying to will the blood away.
It didn’t work.
It was still there.
That overpowering metal scent was fresh in my cold nose.
Another sacrifice…Run child…
I started to walk back around and then I saw it, a huge form crashing down from high in the tree. It sprayed me with blood when it connected to the earth. I screamed, horrified at the sight in front of me.
The dead carcass of a white deer was lying contorted on the ground. It was half-skinned and had meat missing from its body. The head was still attached. The eyes glazed and stared at nothing. My stomach roiled with unease, and I ran to the edge of the maze to vomit.
“Why am I not surprised that you would wander away from the rest of your flock, Little Virgin?”
I jumped a mile high. The voice behind me scared me worse than the unfortunate animal.
It was Maddox Valentine.
I spun around. He was staring at my blood-splattered body with intrigue, licking his lips and eyeing me up and down. I pulled my blazer over my shoulders tighter, trying to block my see-through shirt from his eyes.
“I saw a blood trail. I followed it to…that,” I said, pointing to that poor deer in the snow.
He followed my gaze and shrugged.
“Fair enough. Do you always involve yourself in someone’s hunt?”
That wording made me shiver worse than the chill of the air.
“When someone needs help, I will be there,” I said, raising my chin.
Maddox chuckled, shaking his head.
“Do you think others would share that courtesy? What if it were you running from the hunter?”
Unease smacked into my gut with such force that I had to fight to stay upright.
“But really, how noble of you, Little Virgin. Don’t you know that you can’t fight fate? This magnificent creature was always meant to die. By my own hand. Your interfering wouldn’t have changed that course.”
I shook my head vehemently. “I was too late. I would have stopped it.”
Now, his eyes filled with intrigue, and he began walking closer to me.
I could feel his body heat even in the freezing, frigid air.
“Do you really think that?”
I swallowed hard, unwilling to look him in the eyes, and instead turned back around to stare at the poor doe. “Yes.”
“You aren’t in control of these things, Little Virgin. You may as well save your energy.”
He was right behind me now. That warmth of his body grew to an inferno.
“Yeah, like what?” I challenged, falling right into his trap.
He chuckled and reached his hand around my waist, anchoring my back to his chest.
“Like how your body responds to me, for one,” he all but purred in my ear.
Fear took hold of me, even though I was so stupidly angry at him because…damn him, he was right. I was turned on, but I couldn’t move.
“Just like when I had you bare for me in my office. You were soaking wet. Do you deny that, Vivian? Do you deny your reaction to me?”
I stiffened, his hand toying with the belt holding the band of my skirt. I could see his shadow in front of me. The large black form swallowed my own.
“No,” I admitted.
He moaned, and I could feel his dick press into my lower back.
My mind wouldn’t work.
“That’s a good girl. It makes things so much easier when you don’t try to deny fate, doesn’t it?”
I laughed without humor. “That’s not fate. That’s just biology. Do you need me to draw you a picture?”
He snickered, and I heard the metal clinking of my belt. He unfastened the leather, and his slow, teasing hands were on my skirt, his fingers carefully tracing the hemline.
Whump.
Now, they were pressed against my core. One second later, I was very aware that my skirt had fallen to the snow-covered ground. I gasped at the chill of his hands against my panties.
I didn’t dare move.
“I much prefer live demonstrations, Little Virgin,” he growled. “Biology. Fate. Control. It’s all the same, really. Either way, you can’t stop it.”
He pressed those cold fingers harder onto my pussy, and the friction and chill made me hiss. I started to move, but he pulled me more firmly against him while using his other hand to make circles onto my sensitive flesh through the fabric of my underwear.
The pressure and pain of the action made me bite my lip. The frigid cold air around us made me shake. I couldn’t help but keep my body pressed against him.
“You wanna know something?” he whispered in my ear, slipping those damn fingers inside my underwear and into my core.
“Wh-what?” I said, panting, his hand so foreign, the feeling near painful as he stretched my skin with his thick digits.
I had never felt this before, and I was barely able to breathe through the overwhelming pleasure and pain. Fuck, I’d never even masturbated. This man’s hands were the only thing to ever do this to me. And…I loved it.
“I know your secret, Little Virgin.” he continued, thrusting his fingers deeper inside me, using his thumb to continue that motion on my clit.
I felt like I was going to pee on him, and I started to squirm out of his hands, but he held me down harder. Every time I moved, he made it more and more difficult.
“You don’t really want this to stop. You don’t want me to stop. You want this. You need this. For so long, you’ve resisted any type of pleasure, and your starved body is desperate to feel what I can give you.”
I groaned, unable to stop myself from grinding against his palm. He chuckled and sunk his other hand inside my panties…the motion of his thumb rubbing those circles while continuing to pound his fingers into me was…was…
Oh, fuck….
The sloshing of his hands grew louder, the pleasure peaking. My cheeks grew warmer until I was sure they were bright red. I was losing this battle. I was succumbing to my body and his fucking will.
“Admit it, Little Virgin, or I will stop just to prove to you the truth.”
He dug his ridiculously hard cock into my back, hissing in my ear and bending me forward. The amount of stimulation around me was overwhelming. That smell of iron from the deer carcass, the distant sounds of the chattering and organ music in the chapel…it was all too much. I couldn’t think straight.
“No. No, I hate this. I hate you. Stop it.”
He laughed harder, but his fingers didn’t stop. He turned his hand and was hitting something inside me that felt so good I couldn’t do anything but whimper in response.
“Remember this, Little Virgin. You can claim your denial all you want, but your body doesn’t lie.”
I wanted to scream at him because this was just biology. This was normal, but it didn’t matter. My body felt like it was going to explode. I was going to—
“Come for me. That’s it. Let’s hear how my Little Virgin screams .”
I did scream, turning my head to bite into his shoulder. I wanted him to feel pain while I felt pleasure. I needed to make him hurt for doing this to me.
My orgasm took over my entire body. It kept going on and on. I never imagined it would feel like this, and I cursed myself for wasting so many years without feeling these sensations.
I couldn’t stop.
I didn’t want to stop.
My boots were wet, my stockings, my panties. Everything was like a water balloon bursting inside my core.
I stared down at the huge puddle below me that was melting the snow at our feet. The spell of this moment broke, and I jerked away, turning around to stare at him.
He was sucking his fingers into his mouth, smiling and moaning. I could see his dick jutting out from his pants, and I swallowed hard, trying to stop myself from looking down there.
“I…” I didn’t know what to say.
I couldn’t say anything. I just stood there for a moment, frozen. I couldn’t help but notice the looming dark silhouette of his shadow, his earlier words echoing in my ears.
You will be my greatest work of art when I am through with you—my very own rare white stag in a forest of black. There is one word to describe you now…
I swallowed and turned back to stare at those unblinking eyes of the doe. I couldn’t shake the fact that he was a hunter, and hunters were always searching for prey.