Chapter 23
Chapter Twenty-Three
Azrael
Her bravery needs to be commended, or she needs to be committed. I’m sure she’s using this as some sort of experiment to try to dissociate her feelings toward me.
But after tonight, she will become mine in ways she never realized existed.
And I’ll never let her go.
She comes to a standstill, and I revel in the fact that she’s probably laid eyes on my gift to her.
Stefan Capri. Her ex what-the-fuck-ever. He was a jumped-up, pompous little prick with preppy clothes, perfect teeth, and not a scar on his delicate skin before he came to me.
He’s strung up naked by his wrists and ankles in the shape of an X, with blood oozing from various cuts, and his swollen face is barely recognizable.
Jensen followed through with my request to have him chained in my basement, and now I know everything there is to know about the girl who intrigues me so much.
Hevan Corbett, twenty years old, is studying childhood studies with a major in English literature. I wasn’t surprised to learn her parents are hippies who dabble in substance abuse; she’s estranged from them, making her the perfect target for fuckboys like Stefan and his pals.
She has few friends, a bookworm who spends her time studying in hopes of a better, quiet life.
Nobody would bat an eye at her disappearance; she flies under the radar.
But not for people like Stefan. She may be completely unaware of her captivating beauty, but others are well aware. They seek it out.
We’re the monsters in the night, baiting our prey, imploring them to step into our aura.
Then we bite, taking what we want, consequences be damned.
We pull them in with no escape, and for the first time in my life, I see a glimpse of something more than the evil we bleed.
I want her innocence, dreams, and ambitions.
I want her thoughts and softness. I welcome it with open arms, wanting an alternative life where the demons in the night plague dreams instead of the sordid reality of our worlds when they combine.
We’re the underworld, the stain on society people paint over and refuse to acknowledge until we force them to.
I want her light.