Chapter 4
Iwas fucking hard?
That’s interesting.
I never got a boner from watching someone else fuck. Much less my sister. Man or woman, I didn’t care about anatomy, sounds, or anything, minus the actual release of an orgasm.
Not theirs.
Mine.
I couldn’t deny the blood that was pooling between my legs. I was thick behind the leather, and the confusion only made me throb harder.
I felt…alive.
It was like a spark in my blood, like the adrenaline you get from a ride that abuses your body.
The whole point of these games was amusement—watch the prey scatter like mice, record their pathetic fear, wet my blade, and feed my own private archive of screams. People were predictable and downright boring.
Until they weren’t.
I saw it the moment he faltered.
The man plowing into my sister’s throat wasn’t like the rest. He wore politeness like a second skin, that crisp posture, perfected golden surfer hair, and the sunshiny smile.
It was too clean, untouched. But the second he locked my sibling’s hands down. I saw it, the darkness lurking in his easy demeanor. The grip in her hair wound a little too tight.
His face was covered for a purpose in the black rabbit mask. To anyone else, this would have looked like pleasure. That they were in the same mindless gyrating rythym as everyone else would be in this state. But his body betrayed him.
And that interested me.
Not because I wanted my sister. That thought was not appealing at all.
Kill her, sure, but fuck her? Nah.
I couldn’t care less who Xanthy stuck her overly manicured claws into. It was the fact that I saw him fracture. I saw the good boy facade peel back just enough for me to glimpse the darkness underneath.
And it rivaled my own.
I lingered too long, watching. My jaw ached from how hard I clenched it. Every inch of me burned with a curiosity I hadn’t felt in years. He wasn’t my prey, not yet, but he could be. He could be forced into submission, while I dissected what that flash was. He would be mine to break.
I walked away from the room before anyone else noticed me.
Stepping out, my boots ground into the dirt, smoke curling out of the cigarette between my teeth, I let the picture of him replay in my head.
The twitch of his mouth when he lost control, that second-long flicker of a smile as she struggled to breathe.
Pathetic. Beautiful.
I didn’t know him. Hell, with all the masks and bullshit costumes surrounding us, I wouldn’t have recognized him even if I did. But I was going to. I’d strip that mask off. It was just a matter of whether his face would still be attached when I did.
Boys like him didn’t get to hide forever.
Especially when they were in my playground.
The cigarette burned down to the filter before I even realized I’d smoked the whole thing.
My blood burned with it. The ever-persistent tent in my pants, the kind of dull heat that sat under my ribs like a warning.
I flicked the butt into the dirt, crushing it under my boot, and lifted my head to the sound of him.
The man’s laugh carried faintly through the stalks—strained, still wearing that boy-next-door polish like the cheap smiley mask adorning his face.
Some random person trailed after him, jittery and giddy, her footsteps light, her voice a syrupy hum.
She thought she’d sneak up on him, maybe hoped he was one of the idiots that fucked the participants.
She wasn’t aware that this man had never played this game before. Or maybe he had.
What prey have you slaughtered, Sunshine?
It fucked up my head not knowing the answers.
But he did.
Was the little spark of something dark a ruse? Was I imagining it? That little shudder he gave when he lost control.
He felt me there. One monster could sense another, just like a fucking lion knowing when another was in their territory. Now this man was playing my fucking game.
I slipped between the rows of corn, quiet as the soft dust of bone. The maze wasn’t for fun anymore.
It was a cage, and I was shaping the bars.
Every turn I took, I kept close to him, not close enough for him to see me, but close enough that he’d feel it, just like earlier. That prickling under his skin, the certainty that eyes were cutting into his back, bleeding him dry, and watching how he’d respond.
He didn’t belong to my moronic sister. He didn’t truly want to chase her around mumbling stupid growls like the overdone horror films. This man wanted to split her open, maybe have her on her knees and feel the corn suffocate her like a fucking apple in a pig’s mouth.
There’s an idea.
I’d give him time to stew in the mundane.
Let him sweat, let him wonder why every shadow felt heavier than it should.
I wanted him restless. Wanted him torn between disgust and need when he remembered the way his body almost betrayed him.
I wanted him to know I was watching and force him to respond.
I stopped at a clearing, close enough to hear his voice drop low, unsure, feigning awkward charm.
A smile pulled at my mouth under my mask.
He’d cracked once tonight. And now I was going to make sure he broke again, but it would be on his knees, at my fucking feet.
I wanted his submission. I demanded to see what made this man tick. I needed to rip him open and feel his heart beat in my hands. Needed to see if that ghost of a smile turned into a snarl. If those gentle hands that held back so much strength would fight back…I needed to know.
He would break for me. It was just a matter of how much I wanted to play with him first.
“Oh my god! Please tell me you’re one of the ones who fuck by the lantern area?”
The girl’s whiny voice droned over to me, and I watched for the answer, peering through the thick stalks of corn to view my fixation.
The man didn’t speak, just shook his head back and forth. It was funny as hell watching the woman deflate like a pathetic, horny balloon in front of his feet.
“Please? I paid a lot of money for this. I suck cock really well, babe.”
I couldn’t help but snicker at the faster shakes of his head as he backed away and waved his arms as her fumbling hands reached for his belt.
Guess the hunter became the hunted.
She was making him angry or scared.
The fucking mask blocked his expression from me, and I was about to rip it off until his fingers wrapped around the woman’s throat, lifting her off the dusty ground.
“I’m not wearing a mask to get you off, idiot. I’m wearing it to show you the broken guise of what you want to believe about me when I fucking kill you.”
Thump.
The girl’s body fell to the ground with a loud thud, and her cries echoed around me as she took off running. This wasn’t a game. Her feet hit the ground so hard she stumbled multiple times before even getting to my location.
I could hear her like an elephant. The heavy breathing, crying, and cursing grew as she approached. I didn’t have time for this. I wanted to see what else the man would do, and she was in my way.
Stepping out of the shallow coverage of the stalks, I got right into her line of vision.
Her blood-curdling scream made me fucking grin ear to ear.
If I had time for additional cleanup, I would add her to the cabin’s collection based purely on how loud her screams were. Lucky for her, I was preoccupied.
Her body skidded to a halt, still smashing into me from skidding on the dirt trail of the pathway. It was pure comic gold how terrified her eyes looked as she glanced up at me.
I looked over to my prey, calculating his movements as he wandered into a different part of the maze. The woman on her knees was crying, big fucking snot bubbles popping all over her dirty, makeup-stained face.
“Boo.”