Chapter Six
Kasper
The scent of her fear lingered in the air, a heady perfume that ignited a primal fire within me. Chase. Chase. Chase. Her name, Gwendolyn, danced around on my tongue, the sweetest mixture seemingly bringing me back to life. Stirring up old feelings of want. Chase. Chase. Chase.
The maze knew where she was, I could feel her fragile heartbeat as it echoed through the darkness and thrummed to a rhythm that I felt lingering in the soil, leading me toward her, the maze had fully awakened now, its whispers guiding me and urging me forward.
I was unwilling to rush, feeling an electric thrill and pull as it urged me forward, each moment cementing her fate with mine, a promise…
a prelude to the inevitable moment when I would catch her.
Something…dark riddled my veins and brought me closer to life than I had in decades, an attraction I didn’t understand and didn’t want to. Gwendolyn was mine.
I could feel her terror, the night air basked in it as it soaked the world around us.
Fear was a delicious flavor, but it was more than that.
I could taste it, no matter how hard she tried to run from me.
Beneath her terror, a flicker of something pulled at me, a flare of…
curiosity, of want, of interest…a connection that transcended time and this maze.
I hunted her, slowly, not wanting the night to be over before it even began.
I couldn’t help but reflect on my duty as the keeper of this maze.
I had collected countless souls, each one woven into the fabric of this cursed land, feeding the soil and ensuring the maze thrived, and I never thought twice.
But Gwendolyn…she was different. The maze had chosen her, but so had I.
I rounded a corner, my senses leading me to where she was, just up ahead, her silhouette a fleeting shadow against the dim light.
She was beautiful, and her panic made her intoxicating, a forbidden fruit I fully intended to indulge in.
Her hair whipped around her face as she glanced back, and for a brief moment, her eyes caught mine.
A jolt shot through me, a visceral reaction that left me breathless.
I felt a pull of attraction surge within me, and my cocked twitched.
“Run, Gwendolyn,” I murmured, a grin circling on my lips. “You zig, I zag, you’re mine.”
The maze responded to the hunt, to her, to me, its paths shifting and swirling, creating new obstacles and opportunities as if it relished in the hunt as much as I did, and maybe it did, as it always felt like we were one.
She was quick, and it just added to my obsession, many had given up by now, but not her.
Gwendolyn continued darting around corners with a grace that belied her fear, but she hadn’t caught on yet, there was nowhere she could go that was an escape from me.
As I continued my pursuit, each step forged a deeper connection to her, a bond that tugged at my very being.
It would have bothered me if I wasn’t so enamored with the feelings she made me feel by just existing.
Mine. Mine. Mine. It sounded in my brain over and over again, and I had made my decision, the maze could have her life, but I was keeping her in death.
The thought both thrilled and terrified me.
I was keeper of the maze, a tall tale that those only whispered about, that the school knew about but kept on the down-low, knowing that it’s me who keeps these lands plentiful.
A nightmare that comes to life once a year.
Yet, the idea of her in my grasp, holding her close, filled me with a longing and a desire I'd never experienced before and I was going to have her.
I rounded another bend, knowing she was up ahead.
I could hear her ragged breathing as I got closer, her taste lingering in the air and I salivated over it.
She turned around to face me, and instead of the terror I expected to see, there was determination, a spark that made her more than just pretty.
She was a challenge, and the one I'd been waiting for, that much was clear.
I reveled in the thought of capturing her, and that fire, and smothering it until she submitted to me.
I closed in, and I could see her falter, just for a moment, but that was enough.
I surged forward, the maze giving me a clear path and bending to my will.
Their stalks shook, trembled, almost screamed in their movements to funnel her toward me, her eyes wide with the realization that the maze and I were one.
“Why are you doing this?” Her voice was pure defiance and hate that breathed its own source of life into me.
I stepped even closer, the shadows wrapping around us like an embrace. “Because, the maze chose you, Gwendolyn. But I can’t seem to let you go.”
Her pulse quickened, I saw it, beating at the base of her throat, and I leaned forward to lick it.
She stopped moving, stopped breathing, but her pulse continued to beat rapidly, counting the seconds and distance between us in its own way.
I could see her confusion, the struggle to understand the connection that was forming in the space between us, a bond that even death could not sever.
I reached out, brushing my fingers against the cool stalks that had made a wall behind her, leaning in closer. “You’re meant for this place, for me. You’ll find beauty in the darkness that you never expected.”
Her breath stuttered on her inhale, and for a heartbeat, I thought I saw a flicker of understanding of…
acceptance but then she turned. Desperation leaked from her as she sought an escape and I laughed.
It ricocheted and bounced between us, playful yet determined.
“You can run, my dear Gwendolyn, but you can’t hide.
The maze has chosen you, and I will have you, one way or another.
You zig, I zag, and eventually, you’ll be mine. ”
With that, I surged forward in the direction in which she took off, the thrill of the chase igniting my senses once more. I would catch her, and when I did I would force her to see the truth of our connection. Force her to see that she was mine.