Obsession (Raven’s Vale Psychos #1

Chapter Fifteen

Hollis

I stumbled out into the choking darkness, the night air cold and biting against my skin. Raven’s Vale was a ghost town, its streets barren and unforgiving. Anyone smart was tucked safely inside their homes. The echo of our footsteps bounced off the walls with a rhythm that matched my hammering heart. Riot moved like a shadow beside me, his towering form a constant reminder of the beast I’d shackled myself to.

“Keep up, Hollis,” he said. “We don’t have all night.”

My breath came in short bursts, misting in the frigid air as I struggled to match his pace. Every instinct screamed at me to run, to hide, to protect the life growing inside me. But fear had become my bedfellow, and it compelled me forward, my hand splayed across my belly as if I could shield my unborn child from the sins of its parents.

The streets were like a coiled labyrinth perfect for the damned. We prowled through the darkness, hunters in a concrete jungle. The taste of bile stung the back of my throat, and I swallowed it down, along with the dread that threatened to overpower me.

“Scared?” Riot taunted, his lips curling into a smirk that never reached his dead eyes.

“Fuck you,” I spat back, more to convince myself than to challenge him. My voice quivered, betraying the turmoil that churned within me.

“Careful now.” He snickered. “Wouldn’t want to upset the little monster you’re incubating.”

I winced, unable to deny the truth. What kind of life was I bringing this child into? A world where death was a lover, and darkness a cradle? I shivered, not from the cold, but from the realization that I was walking hand-in-hand with madness, and there was no turning back. Not to mention, there was always the chance my child would be born as a mirror image of his father.

We slinked deeper into the bowels of Raven’s Vale. Riot moved with a predator’s grace, muscles coiled and ready to strike. He paused for a moment, nostrils flaring as if he could smell the fear that clung to the night air like a second skin. I sometimes wondered if he really was human, or if the stuff of nightmares might be real.

“Ripe for the picking,” he murmured, more to himself than me, his voice a low growl. His eyes flickered with a wicked gleam -- the kind that spelled out doom for whoever crossed our path.

“Where?” I asked, though I wasn’t sure I wanted an answer.

“Shh,” he commanded, a finger pressed to his lips. “Just watch.”

A shudder ran down my spine, the thrill of the hunt igniting something primal within me, something I barely recognized but couldn’t deny. Riot’s presence was a drug, intoxicating and dangerous, and I was hooked.

There, in the shadow of an abandoned storefront, a figure materialized, lone and oblivious. A plaything delivered to us by the cruel hands of fate. Riot’s arm shot out, halting me. With a tilt of his head, he beckoned, and my feet obeyed, creeping forward on autopilot.

The silhouette grew clearer -- a man, maybe, or a woman, it hardly mattered -- just another soul unlucky enough to cross our path. Riot’s movements were silent, a whisper against the cobblestones, and I found myself mimicking him, every sense sharpened by the promise of what was to come.

“Stay close.” He didn’t look back to see if I complied. The command was unnecessary. Where else would I go? We were bound by blood, by darkness, by the twisted love that bloomed amidst the carnage we wrought together.

As we closed the gap, I could see Riot’s fingers twitch, aching for the release only violence could bring. I watched, transfixed, as the demon within him stretched its wings, preparing to descend upon its next victim with unholy fervor.

We edged closer. The prey was just a shadow, a wisp of life in the darkness that called to Riot like a moth to flame. Each step tightened the coil in my chest, every breath laced with the metallic taste of anticipation.

“Almost there,” I whispered. Raven’s Vale seemed to hold its breath, and so did I.

I could feel the tension rolling off Riot in waves, a tangible force that made my blood sing. Our dance was silent, deadly -- a duet choreographed by the devil himself. It was wrong, all of it, but resisting had never been an option. Not when the thrill seeped deep into my bones, not when Riot’s presence wound around me like a vise.

But then, I pressed a hand to my belly once more, a stark reminder of the life within, innocent and oblivious. My heart hammered, loud enough I worried Riot could hear it. What kind of mother was I, skulking in the shadows, craving the very darkness I should shield them from?

“Focus,” Riot said beside me, the word a lash that snapped my attention back to the here and now. “Don’t lose yourself.”

I nodded, but his admonition echoed inside like a warning. Could I reconcile the monster I’d become with the mother I needed to be? Doubt crept in, cold and insidious, but I shoved it down. Now wasn’t the time for weakness.

“Ready?” he asked, a smirk curving his lips, the moonlight glinting off the madness in his eyes.

“Always,” I lied, the word a shard of ice on my tongue. We were predators closing in for the kill. And yet, with each step, the battle raged within -- desire versus duty, the need to protect battling the urge to destroy.

We were upon our prey now. My pulse pounded in my ears, a drumbeat of primal longing and dread. Tonight, at least one person would bleed and feed Riot’s need, but at what cost?

* * *

Riot

The weapon felt alive in my grasp, its heft an extension of my own twisted soul. My fingers coiled around the handle. The night air hung heavy with bloodlust, a cloak that draped over us, suffocating and warm.

“I can’t wait to feel it,” I whispered, more to myself than to Hollis. My breath was a hot streak across the chill that had nothing to do with the weather. “The sweet give of skin, the rush of warmth…”

Having Hollis by my side made it even sweeter. I’d always thrilled in the hunt, and it never bothered me to be alone. But having her beside me, watching her kill, brought a smile to my face. It made me wonder if Crash and Kane were right and I was going a bit soft. At least, where Hollis was concerned.

I couldn’t deny she made me feel things. Perhaps, this was as close to love as my depraved soul could ever get. I hoped it was enough for her because I had nothing else to give. I’d never offer her sweet words or warm embraces. It wasn’t something I was capable of, something I couldn’t understand.

All the men in town who bought their women flowers, showered them with jewelry, I’d always seen as weak. If I gave Hollis something, it would be an item she needed. Although soon, we’d need things for a baby.

The thought of my child growing in her womb made me pause. Just for a second. I had no way of knowing if our son or daughter would take after me or their mother. I’d agreed to let Hollis shield them as much as she could, but it might all be a moot point. If the darkness in my soul passed on to the life inside her, they would be every bit as bloodthirsty as me.

I wondered if Hollis could handle something like that. Knowing her own child was incapable of truly loving anyone, even their mother. I’d watch and wait, see how things played out. Until then, I’d do whatever I could to make her stronger. It was the only way she’d survive.

* * *

Hollis

My throat tightened at his words, my body tensely wired as I watched him. The way he had us hunting prey was vile and vital all at once. The contradiction of it clawed at my insides, even as my own darkness salivated for the climax.

Until Riot, I’d never thought myself capable of taking a life. All my years in Raven’s Vale, not once had I ever hurt anyone. It still stung that I’d been chosen as a sacrifice. Maybe I’d been too nice. Not anymore.

“Let’s do this,” I muttered.

“Patience,” he said, his whole frame coiled like a spring. “Wait another second. Almost…”

The person stepped farther from the shelter of the building, and that was apparently all Riot had been waiting for. “Now!”

It happened in a blink. Riot lunged, a beast uncaged, every muscle strung taut with lethal intent. His movement was a blur, a shadow unleashed from hell itself, barreling toward the lone figure ahead. His aggression poured forth, untamed and raw, a tempest of fury that knew no bounds.

I couldn’t tear my eyes away, caught in the spectacle, the sheer force of his brutality. This was Riot in his element, a demon of destruction, reveling in the terror he invoked. And as his form collided with our prey, the world reduced to nothing but the savage symphony of his violence.

Blood sprayed in arcs as Riot’s weapon found its mark again and again. I stood, frozen yet mesmerized, watching the man I couldn’t help but be drawn to become the monster he was famed to be. His laughter, dark and twisted, cut through the night -- a soundtrack to the carnage he wrought with such sickening glee.

“Isn’t it beautiful?” Riot asked, his voice a perverse caress as he turned his gaze toward me for just an instant, his eyes alight with a madness that both repulsed and captivated me.

“Riot…” was all I could muster, my words drowned out by another sickening crack, the unmistakable sound of bone shattering under his relentless assault. The victim’s screams pierced the air, raw and terror-stricken. The noise was a living thing that clawed at my ears, demanding recognition, demanding empathy. But there was no room for mercy here, not in Raven’s Vale, and certainly not at the side of a man like Riot.

“Sing for me,” Riot commanded of the whimpering figure beneath him, his boot coming down with a crunch that snuffed out another cry before it could fully form. The violence grew to a crescendo, a brutal symphony with Riot as the conductor, wielding his weapon like a maestro’s baton.

My breath hitched, each exhalation misting in the cold air, my heart pounding a frantic rhythm against my ribs. This was the world we were bringing our child into, a world where savagery was the currency of survival.

“Look at them, Hollis!” Riot bellowed, gesturing with bloodied hands to the broken body before us. “This is power! This is what we are!”

The night seemed to hold its breath, the only sounds now were the wet thuds of flesh yielding to force, of life being extinguished with every strike. And as much as I wanted to run, to flee from the horror, my feet remained planted, my soul ensnared by the grisly sight and by the man whose love was a dangerous, lethal thing.

“Riot, stop,” I whispered, but it was lost to the wind, tossed aside like the discarded humanity we left in our wake. The darkness had taken over, and I, in my terror and awe, couldn’t look away.

I watched, numb and transfixed, as Riot’s frenzy carved a path of carnage. The darkness within him was a chasm so deep it threatened to swallow us both. His hands, those same hands that had caressed me with something akin to tenderness, were now instruments of ruthless destruction, painting the alleyway in shades of crimson.

“Can you feel it?” he asked, his voice barely human, thick with primal triumph. “This is our truth, Hollis. This is what we are.”

My own breaths came in ragged gasps, mirroring the punctured wheezing of our victim. There was no denying the surge within me, an echo of Riot’s own hunger -- a darkness I’d tried to bury, but now blossomed violently under his influence.

“Riot. Enough.”

He didn’t hear, or chose not to, lost in the glory of his savagery. My eyes, wide and unblinking, couldn’t escape the magnetic pull of his actions. This was the man I loved, the father of my unborn child, a man as captivating as he was fearsome.

When at last the struggle ceased, and only the sound of our heavy breathing filled the void, I knew something fundamental had shifted. We stood there, covered in the remnants of a life he’d just extinguished, our shadows entwined on the cracked pavement.

“Look at us,” Riot whispered, his voice softening as he turned to me, his eyes still alight with the embers of his insanity. “We’re unstoppable, you and I. Together, we’re gods of this damned place.”

His hand reached for mine, and I didn’t -- couldn’t -- pull away. Our fingers slid together, slick with another’s blood, sealing an unspoken covenant.

“Forever,” I murmured, the word tasting like a sin on my lips, binding me to him more surely than any vow.

“Forever,” he echoed, and in his grasp, I felt the terrible weight of our joined fates.

We walked away from the cooling body, the echo of its last breath still clawing at the silence. The night air reeked of iron and fear -- a twisted aphrodisiac. Riot’s grip on me was unyielding, his blood-drenched arms encircling my waist with a possessive ferocity.

“Look at you,” he said, his voice a low rumble against the shell of my ear. “Beautiful and feral. I can feel your need, Hollis. You wanted to join me. Wanted to make him scream and beg.”

I leaned back against him, the slick warmth of his chest seeping through my shirt. He was right. Some part of me had wanted to join him, to hurt that man. There was no denying it now. I was as lost in this madness as he was -- our souls stitched together with each thread of darkness we embraced.

“Monsters,” I mumbled.

“Monsters,” he agreed, his lips trailing a path of fire down my neck. “But we’re alive, Hollis. More alive than any of those sheep pretending to sleep in their beds tonight. We see the truth. Only the strong can survive in this hellish place, and it’s up to us to weed out the weak.”

The raw truth of his words ignited something within me, a fierce joy that burned all the more brightly against the backdrop of his brutality. Riot’s hands roamed over my body, and I reveled in the harsh touch. In this depraved dance, we were untouchable, bound by blood and violence.

I turned to face him, the remnants of his victim smeared across us both like war paint. His eyes burned into mine with a lust that matched the savagery of his soul.

Our lips crashed together. As I tasted the copper tang of blood, I surrendered to the havoc churning within me. The darkness coiled around us, a serpent constricting tighter with every pulse of our entwined hearts.

“Yours,” he said between violent kisses, claiming me as his equal in this grotesque realm he ruled. “If anyone can claim me, it’s you, Hollis. Only you.”

“Yours,” I murmured. “I’ve never belonged to anyone but you, and I never will.”

And there, amidst the shadows of Raven’s Vale, we found solace in each other’s arms, our love a twisted reflection of the monster Riot had always been, and the one I’d become.