45. Eden
FORTY-FIVE
EDEN
The woods surrounding St. Ignatius are as much home to me as the building itself. The familiarity of the eyes roving my skin doesn’t send a chill down my spine anymore as it used to. Now, it simply feels like a soft greeting after being gone for the day. With each step I crunch over twigs and gravel, my heart releases more tension. We’re safe out here, me, Teddy, and the dead who fought for peace.
But then something sinister makes its presence known. Something acrid on my tongue, something vile, yet something that makes my heart race in terrible excitement. I know each of the spirits here, and only a few are as evil in death as they were in life. It’s my belief that in order to survive, to remain here wavering between planes, that they need their own poison to keep them strong, to give them energy.
Which is why I pause in the middle of the road, the fog swirling before me and obscuring my view for a moment. Through the dimly lit forest, a tall, dark figure stands in my path. I swallow hard, my knees trembling, my tongue shriveling up like a carcass in the desert. The silhouette of an ax slung over his shoulder sends a shiver down my spine.
A breeze from nowhere and everywhere all at once stirs the forest into a flurry of life; rattling leaves, tittering birds taking flight, boughs slipping across one another in the canopy above. A predator is near.
And he smiles.
“So what’s with the ax?” I tease, glancing up at Teddy’s chiseled jaw as we amble along the road. The corner of his mouth lifts in a smirk, and his eyes narrow in mischievousness. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous. There’s still so much at stake, even without my father here. Cash could be implicated in what sounds like dozens of murders. Teddy could end up frying in an electric chair.
I’d gladly throw myself on that proverbial funeral pyre if it ever happened.
But even with all the threats circling us in the darkness, something tells me everything will be okay, in the end. At least, I really fucking hope so.
“For my baby to practice her wood chopping skills,” he jests back. I snort and roll my eyes, kicking a rock out of my way.
“Why? Are we going camping or something?”
He bursts forth with his deep laughter, throat bobbing and face thrown with abandon to the sky. My heart clenches at the sight, reaching to be as near his as possible. Almost as though I can’t take a full breath until we’re in one another’s arms, the pull his gravity has on me stronger than every celestial body in the universe.
“No offense, little ghost, but camping doesn’t seem your speed.”
“We camped in the hospital,” I retort. His eyes cut to me sideways, snapping to me so quickly it’s unearthly. He hasn’t spoken much since we met on the road, and there’s an undeniable energy surrounding him right now. Not quite the evil that preceded him, but something akin to it. Something insanely strong yet giddy and sinister.
“And we will again tonight.”
“So what’s the damn ax for?” I hiss, becoming nervous. I’ve never been a fan of surprises. The one time my mother had a surprise for me, it was the introduction to my abuser. I try not to let that memory dampen my mood.
He quirks his arched brow at me, forever smirking.
“Nervous?”
I answer him with a frown. He strides ahead of me and turns on his heel, halting me in my tracks as he swings the ax down and leans his weight on the smooth handle.
“Before we go any further, I need you to wear something for me.”
His eyes are still alight with mischief, though now that familiar, consuming lust blots out his beautiful irises until only a thin rim remains around the depthless black of his pupils. Crossing my arms, I raise my own brow and purse my lips.
“Wear what?”
Shit-eating-grin stretching his lips, he reaches into his back pocket and produces a black, lacy thong. It dangles innocently from his long, crooked finger, and my cunt clenches.
“I’ll reward your obedience,” he says, voice lowering at the end, eyes sparking and shoulders tensing. He’s coiled like a snake about to strike out, and I’m not quite sure who he intends to sink his teeth into.
Me, or something else.
Some one else.
Swallowing hard, I know I stand on the precipice of a decision that will forever alter my life. My eyes find his, and my heart sings, at home here in our kingdom. I have nothing left in this world but him, and I will follow him into death and every other life we’re lucky enough to find one another in.
The moment I begin to smile, so does he.
“Hurry, little ghost,” he says, tossing me the panties. Snatching them out of the air, I’m confused to find them heavier than expected, some sort of contraption knitted neatly into the flowery lace. When my eyes find his again, his smirk has grown. “I want plenty of time to play while we still have light.”
I obey, knowing in my bones he will always give me what I need, and once my jeans are back on, he tilts his head down the path. Confused, and slightly uncomfortable with the strange contraption centered above my clit, I slowly follow.
“Care to explain?” I grumble.
“Thought you trusted me.”
“Of course I do,” I snap, my nerves mounting. He wheels on me, trapping my cheeks and pinching them with enough force to make my mind a puddle. Bringing those teal eyes level with mine, he grins.
“Good. It’s time to teach you how to hunt.”
Fuck .
“W-who?” I breathe as he releases my face. He steps aside, half of his frame disappearing into the woods.
“See for yourself.”
My eyes flit to the break in the trees, and my heart stutters to a stop in my chest.
Miss Goss wriggles, tied to a tree, tears streaming down her blotchy face as she screams against the gag that’s fitted snugly in between her teeth.
Frozen, I lock eyes with the woman—the guidance counselor who only met with me once in my entire high school career, someone I had hoped would see me and extend a friendly hand, but something too selfish to do so.
Those terrified eyes plead with me as she sobs. Teddy steps forward, eclipsing my view of her for a moment before he circles behind me. His presence is an entity of its own, and I feel him all along my back, simultaneously protecting me and provoking me. “You know what she did to me, baby?”
His warm, minty breath fans across my neck, sending shivers racing through my body. I nod numbly, unable to look away.
“Remember that tonight, Eden. Let your rage consume you,” he whispers, lips brushing the shell of my ear. In the distance, a clap of thunder reverberates between the mountain peaks. “Let me see the beautiful work of art you make with her blood and screams.”
His fingers snatch my waist at the same moment the thong buzzes to life, a vibrator settled with precision directly over my clit. Gasping, I lurch forward, but his long fingers bite possessively into my hip bone.
“Eyes on her, Eden. If you do what I say, baby, I’ll give you everything you need.”
The vibrator shuts off, and I whine desperately, already aching to be filled, the need to climax as pressing as ever.
“Yes, or no?” he asks, giving me one final moment to bow out. But a slow, vengeful, sick grin begins to stretch my lips. I know what it is to have someone else take sacred things from you.
I hope Miss Goss held her life in such sacred regards, because I’m about to help take it from her.
“Yes,” I hiss through clenched teeth, the final stage of my metamorphosis transforming me in this moment.
“That’s a good fucking girl,” he growls, slipping the handle of his knife into my waiting palm. “Now let me watch my little ghost play.”