12. Chapter Twelve
Chapter twelve
I was shaking so badly. Maddox had just chased me into the woods and searched for me for hours. I couldn’t comprehend that I had to climb the tree to get away from him. He had already violated me by stealing my virginity, but that wasn’t enough.
In his own sense of fucked up metered justice, he fucked me with a pinecone! And worse than that…I still orgasmed again for him like the pathetic slut I was. It had to have been him that night.
His shadow was hunting those women. I knew it in my heart. And now I was the one being hunted. The mask on his face was terrifying. It was some kind of skull of a dead goat.
I looked at his form on the ground. His head was bleeding from the rock, and that soaked pinecone was still in his grip. I growled, wanting to rip it out of his hand and shove it up his ass, but I didn’t know how long he would be out.
I reached down, tracing that ethereal mask on his face. He moaned, and I gulped, taking off at a sprint back toward the university.
I stopped to catch my breath when I was close to the stupid maze. At this point, I should know this damn thing by heart.
I went to walk into the green shrubbery, and like a nightmare, Maddox was there. He was nearly shirtless in the damn winter. The blood from his head both congealed in his hair and spilled down the mask. He looked…deranged.
His eyes were dilated through the bone slits, likely concussed as he lunged at me. I screamed, dodging his arms and running as fast as I could.
“Stay away!” I shrieked. “Help! Please help!” I screamed as loud as I could.
Hopefully, someone will hear my calls.
Maddox was staggering, smashing into the sides of the hedge as he chased me. I screamed again, dodging him as best as I could. The chapel was within my view. If I could just run fast enough, I could make it there.
When I turned around to see Maddox, he saw where I was headed. He just stopped in the maze before walking backward into the shadows of the maze with a cruel smile on his face.
Taking a deep breath, I kept pushing my feet forward to the church. Once I finally reached the doors, I continuously smashed my fists over it. “Please! Open up! Help me!”
Within a few minutes, the priest opened the door, looking at me with surprise.
“Thank god. You have to help. Please. Maddox Valentine is insane! I am being hunted!”
The priest looked past my head, likely not seeing anything but the shadows.
“You must believe me. Please.”
After a minute of silence, taking a look at my ripped dress and disheveled appearance, he gestured forward. “Of course, child. Come in, come in.”
Beware the false shepherd…
The voice in my head gave me chills, but I tried to shake it off, wrapping my dress tighter around my bottom with the broken pieces. We entered the warmth of the chapel. Thank fucking god. I had escaped the madman and the freeze of the air.
“You said Maddox Valentine is hunting you?” the priest said. “Where is he now?”
“I don’t know.” I tried to catch my breath. “I hurt him, and I ran. He stopped chasing me when he realized I was coming here. He is probably still in the maze.”
The priest tilted his head, and a strange feeling crept up my spine. I knew this guy was a bit of a creep, but…
“Um…thanks for letting me warm up. I should be going back to my dorm now…my roommates are looking for me.”
The priest blocked the exit, shaking his head. “Nonsense child. You must stay here and rest. We have a spare room upstairs you can sleep in for the night. I will inform your advisor of tonight’s events.”
“No, really, my dorm isn’t far…” I eyed the exit.
I wish so much I had my phone. I could warn Teagan and ask that she call the police.
“It’s so cold, child. You could catch a chill. I insist you stay here for the night.”
I ground my teeth together, trying to figure out how to get free of this man. “Listen. I appreciate your offer. But I really think I’m better off getting out of here.”
The priest chuckled and walked forward to lock the chapel doors.
“It was not an offer, silly girl. Our leader is finally doing his job the right way, and I’ll be damned if you mess that up. Get upstairs. Now.”
I paled, realization dawning in my bones…leader…
Maddox was the leader of…what?
The priest pulled something from his robes, and the click sounded in the quiet space of the candles flickering.
A gun.
My eyes widened, and I held up my hands, backing up to the staircase
“No, please. You can’t do this. Please!” I was on the bottom step, and the barrel of the gun was pushing into my chest. “Please,” I continued to cry.
“I take no pleasure in this. It is simply the way it has to be. You were unfortunate to be born of his blood. Now, you have to give it back. It is called a sacrifice for a reason. We must have balance.”
I balked at him.
“S-Sacrifice?” I tripped as I was shoved up the staircase. “What d-do you mean sacrifice!”
He shook his balding head again and clicked the safety off the gun, pointing it directly at my face.
“Move. Go to the attic and wait for him. You should be honored. I thank you, Vivianna, for you are the chosen. Our bloody valentine.”
My mind was reeling.
Bloody Valentine...leader…Sacrifice…
This couldn’t be real. I sat in the attic. The barren walls felt like my heart, empty and cold.
I knew there were rumors. I heard about the secret cult beneath the university…but it was all just stupid ghost stories. It wasn’t real…was it?
The hunt begins…History repeats itself.
I swallowed, the dots connecting in my mind…the riddles and omens of my ancestor. She was warning me about Maddox. She tried to tell me that I was next. I was…their sacrifice.
I ripped open my dress, pulling it to the side and looking at the blemish still on my flesh—that word.
“Divine.”
Did Maddox mark me that night? Was he claiming me for his fucking cult? Was fucking me preparation for the ceremony?
Little Virgin…sacrifice.
It all made sense now, and I felt sick at everything clicking into place.
“No. No. No,” I said, backing away from the walls.
I couldn’t be sacrificed to some fucking God. Was this for St. Valentine? Was all this about that man entombed forever in a glass coffin? Was I meant to die for those assholes?
Why?
Fate…
The word felt bitter on my tongue. But now I knew what Maddox meant all those times. It was fate that we met, fate that he was assigned to kill me. The doppelganger of St. Valentine set out to kill his lover Vivianna…
History will repeat itself…and my blood wasn’t just tainted. It was doomed.