Chapter 29
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
Light flickered across the tree line, dancing from side to side as the group broke into the clearing.
“Yo, found it,” called out a low male voice.
Someone hollered back in response. The sound of giggling broke into the clearing not long after.
“Jason, you asshole,” came a rough female voice, “why did you run ahead like that? I swear if I got lost, I would have killed you.”
“Not my fault you’re slow.”
“Hey, pass the lighter,” another said. Something dropped with a thud. I could hear them walking around but only caught their shadows on the trees. I heard the flick of the lighter, then several things thumping on the ground.
“Mal, grab some fire starter—not leaves, that shit will smoke us out,” said one of the guys.
Footsteps crunched nearby and I hardly breathed as the girl, Mal, got near. Almost close enough to see us. If they discovered us…I didn’t want to think about what Emery might do. He’d been very protective of this place. Of making sure no one found us…found me . I didn’t need to think twice to know he’d kill to keep what he had.
And I didn’t know if I could stop him.
Yes, they were trespassing. But they were innocent. I could tell by their voices they were young. Likely younger than me. Maybe even highschoolers.
I wanted to voice this but Emery still had his hand over my mouth, his large body almost crushing me as he watched, his eyes narrowed in a defensive glare. His muscles were taut like he was ready to spring.
A few minutes later the forest around us lit up in a dim orange glow as I heard the crackling of a fire and smelled the tang of smoke.
“Here, Lance, catch,” said the boy from before—Jason.
“Hate this beer,” one girl grumbled as she popped a can.
“Suck it down fast and you won’t.” Someone laughed.
“Alright, alright, everyone good?” said Jason.
“Yeah, yeah.”
“Cool.” There was a loud pop from the fire and someone gasped. The others laughed. “Scared?”
“Place has always given me the creeps…feels like someone’s always watching,” Mal said.
I stared at Emery but he didn’t so much as flinch.
“Maybe there is,” said Jason. “Lot of people died here, remember?”
“Yeah, that’s why I question why I drag myself out here with you.”
“No better place for tonight.”
“And speaking of tonight—c’mon raise your cans, people,” ordered the other girl.
Someone grumbled while others laughed nervously.
“Here’s to the Devil of Harper Pointe for making our town notorious.”
“And giving us a killer reason to bring back Devil’s Night,” the other boy—I assumed Lance—added.
“May they save Eve Martel and send him back to hell,” Mal finished softly.
There was a moment of silence. Emery’s gaze turned to mine. Carefully, he lowered his hand from my mouth, not making a sound.
I swallowed and took a slow, quiet breath.
There was the crunching of cans and someone burping, a few laughing after.
“I feel so bad for her,” Mal said after a pause.
“I just can’t believe the motherfucker got loose,” Lance said.
“God, but can you imagine? Losing your whole family to a psycho, thinking you're safe and then years later having him hunt you down to finish the job? It’s so fucked,” said the other girl.
“Where do you think he took her?”
“News said the upper peninsula, right?”
“Yeah, still no trace though.”
“Definitely got her tied up in some cabin in the woods straight out of Evil Dead .”
“Hope she’s okay,” Mal said. I could hear the tremble in her voice.
“Been only a few days.”
“A lot can happen in a few days.”
There was a pause. “You think he raped her?” Jason asked.
“Raping. He’s still got her,” Lance answered.
“Can we not?” said Mal.
“Bet he’s messed her up good though, for real.”
“Can’t imagine how terrified she is.”
My gaze didn’t leave his as the group talked about me…about us. I tried to keep my face blank but I knew Emery saw something in my eyes, some emotion I couldn’t hide.
I could scream. Right now, I could make a noise and alert them to our presence. Even if Emery caught one or two, he couldn’t catch them all if they started to run. Those who got away could go to the police and tell them…
I knew Emery had some clue to what I was thinking, yet he didn’t cover my mouth again. Not yet. He was waiting to see what I would do. Testing me.
I heard the flick of a lighter again and not long after the smell of a joint.
“She’s probably dead,” said Jason after what I imagined was the joint being passed around. “If they haven't found them now…he probably left her body somewhere in the woods and has fucked off to Canada by now.”
“Think I heard online somewhere they stopped looking up there already…”
“Really? They gave up?”
“I don’t know, guess so?”
“No way. They got to be still looking for leads.”
“I hope she’s found,” said Mal.
I tried not to tremble myself as Emery kept me pinned to the tree. His face tilted a little, watching me curiously.
The group talked off and on for a while longer, then someone kicked a can. “Alright. Let’s get this ritual going,” said Jason.
“Do we really have to do this?” asked Mal.
“Don’t be a little bitch about it or you can go home.”
“This is dumb,” she whispered. “Why do we have to do this again?”
“Kayla is a satanist and thinks this will appease the devil.”
“I do not!” the other girl, Kayla, said. “And it’s a form of wicca. It’s just to help cleanse the place and keep the evil from coming back.”
“You’re weird.”
“Lance, give me the bag of bones.”
They repeated a few words and the light of the fire grew a little brighter as I heard the bag of bones being thrown into the pit. A small breeze slipped by but nothing changed.
“See, that’s it,” Kayla said.
“Great. Now, for the actual fun. Who's coming with me to the house?” Jason asked.
Both of us tensed. His eyes finally left mine to glare at the group. Mine widened in horror.
Oh no, he really didn’t like that.
“You really think you’ll get in this time?” Lance said.
“I barely got to try last time, remember?” Jason said.
“That’s because that asshole neighbor caught us last time,” said Kayla.
“He usually watches the house, doesn’t he?” said Mal. “But I haven’t seen him.”
“He wasn’t home. Who knows, probably went down to Florida early.”
“So, we're getting in,” Jason said. “Windows might be boarded but a good crowbar will get one of those doors open.”
“I don’t like this,” said Mal. “I’m not going.”
“Oh c’mon, don’t be a pus—”
“Leave her, Jason,” Kayla said. “I’ll stay with her and you two can go.”
“You're seriously okay staying out here alone?”
“Why? You think we can’t handle ourselves?”
“I didn’t say—”
“Whatever. When you get back, I’ll go in after,” said Kayla.
“Cool.”
“I gotta pee first,” Lance said as they started to leave.
“Just do it on the side of the house.”
The boys laughed.
“Alright, see you gals. Scream if you see anything.”
The boys moved into the woods toward the house. As silently as possible, Emery shifted off me. I peered around the tree and saw the girls moving over to the opposite side of the fire toward the oak, their backs turned to study the treehouse. I glanced back at Emery who looked ready to kill. I could see the gears turning. He either had to go after them and leave me behind or we had to go now and hide somewhere else, compromising our position. I knew the occupied houses nearby had cameras around them just like ours so we would risk being seen.
Emery started to step away, but I caught his arm.
“Please,” I whispered. “Please, don’t. If you hurt them, you won’t see me again,” I warned.
We entered a stare down. Gently, he pried my hand from his arm then tilted his head back.
He raised his hand up to his mask and slipped it off. Then he gave it to me.
“Don’t let them see you,” he said. I opened my mouth but his hand came up to grip my jaw, his thumb pressed to my lips. “I’ll be right back.” He seemed to consider his next words, as if they pained him. “Don’t move from this spot.”
It was a warning of his own. If I wasn’t here when he got back, he would hunt me down again. I was certain he was just scared, scared to lose me. But I was scared too. He had hurt enough people to get to me. If he hurt them, I couldn’t forgive him a second time.
He kissed my forehead. Then, he moved out of the shadows and disappeared into the dark.
Meanwhile, Kayla wondered if she could climb up to the treehouse while Mal told her she’d probably break her neck if she tried. Eventually, they returned to the fire.
Kayla cursed, “Didn’t Jason say he was going to use this crowbar to pry the door open? Better go give this to them.”
“He can find another way, can’t he?”
“Doubtful, you think that idiot can pick a lock? I’m gonna try to head them off.”
Mal groaned. “Great, guess I’m going in.”
“Feeling brave all the sudden?”
“No. But I’d rather not be alone.”
They were all going. I wanted to believe Emery wouldn’t hurt them, but if he got overwhelmed and had to knock a few out…then what would we do?
He knew the only way to keep them from finding us out was to make them sleep for good.
Fear gripped me and made me look around the tree. Maybe if I just called out and told them not to go it would freak them out and they might leave.
I took a step, ready to shout at them, when a twig snapped under me.
One girl whirled around almost instantly, making me jerk back behind the tree.
“Hey, who's there?”
I pressed close to the tree. Damn.
“Kayla,” Mal hissed.
“What?”
“I think someone is behind that tree.”
“For real?”
A few seconds later, their footsteps grew closer.
Shit.
My mind raced. If they saw me, it was likely they would recognize me.
“Hey! Hello?”
Thoughtlessly, I took Emery’s mask and put it on. They peered around the tree and saw me.
“Dude, what the fuck?”
One girl gripped the other. The taller one had on a beanie, hair tied back in a braid, wearing a long leather jacket. The other had short, cropped hair and was wearing a fluffy red coat.
“Um, what are you doing?” asked Kayla, the taller one.
I turned to them.
Freak them out and maybe they’ll go away, said a little voice.
I curtsied in my dress and tilted my head the way Emery would. I could see that it made them nervous.
As creepily as possible, I slunk around the tree.
“You shouldn’t be here,” I said in an almost singsong voice. “You should leave.”
“Why?” Kayla snapped. “Who the fuck are you?” I saw the crowbar gripped in her hand, but I forced myself not to appear worried.
Mal staying behind Kayla’s shoulder tugged at her sleeve. “Kayla, that mask…”
“What? Are you some kind of killer worshiper?” Kayla asked.
I stood very still, saying nothing, keeping my hands behind my back.
“Hello?”
I didn’t respond.
Mal shook her friend’s arm. “Kayla, I don’t like this. This is really freaking me—”
A scream from some distance away cut off her words. The girls looked around as a flow of curses and shouts broke through the night.
“What’s going on?”
I took a step toward them, and Kayla swung the crowbar.
“Woah, stay back, you crazy bitch!”
“Kayla, let’s just go!”
As Mal tried to pull her friend away, the boys broke out of the woods into the clearing. I was prepared to find them bloody and bruised and was surprised to see they weren’t. Besides their clothes being dirty and hair full of bits of leaves, they were just scared shitless.
“Some big-ass motherfucker just came out of nowhere,” one of them shouted. “Picked Lance up and threw him like fifteen feet.” He stumbled when he saw me. He went for his bag while his friend, limping a little, stood beside the girls.
“We don’t want any trouble,” Jason told me. I could hear the shaking in his voice. Lance, a lankier boy, wearing thick glasses now partially covered with dirt, started for the other side of the clearing, not sticking around to see how this ended.
“Lance, wait!” he called.
Lance didn’t listen. He was on his way out, attempting to run even as he limped. The others hesitated to follow.
CSHHHH. SNAP.
The sound almost hurt my ears. Something huge hit the ground. The group jumped, one of them screamed. They bolted like rabbits.
They disappeared back into the woods.
I could follow them, run into the woods and try to hide. Get to a neighbor’s house.
But I didn’t follow.
Even if I thought I could get away, it was then I knew I was done running.
Still, I looked for them. I took the mask off, holding it against me as I stared into the woods, feeling strange, almost not myself. Like I was on the boundary of my past, present, and future and I didn’t know who I was anymore.
Maybe that was the power of the mask, after all.
“ Eve. ”
His voice was just a whisper on the wind, laced with obvious surprise as if he hadn’t expected me to still be here. I turned to him, hardly seeing him even as he stood right before me on the edge of the dark.
I faced him. The look he gave me made me shiver. His eyes—cat-like from the flames—focused only on me as if he could see nothing else. Like seeing only moonlight in deep water.
“You didn’t run,” he said softly.
“No.”
I swear I caught him shiver or maybe it was just the flickering of the fire. “I thought…” he began.
“I know,” I said. I turned my head to the fire. “You didn’t hurt them. At least not too badly.”
I caught him smiling. “Kid fell on a pile of leaves,” he answered. “He’ll be fine. Just scared the shit out of them. I figured it was enough.”
“Thank you.”
“If it’s what my sweetheart wants.”
I closed my eyes, my face warming and not just from the fire.
“You’re mine now, Evee.”
I opened my eyes and turned to him. His expression was hard to read. I almost mistook it for cold indifference as if he were trying to hide his feelings, to mask them since he didn’t have the one I held now to cover him. But I saw the uncertainty in his eyes. The little boy who wanted someone—no, wanted me —to love him. Desperately.
I told him I did and yet he was still unsure. That it wasn’t true despite all the signs.
So, I gave him another sign.
I went to him and gave him back his mask. As he put it on, I slowly peeled down the top of my dress.
I unbuttoned his shirt and he slid it off. I kneeled before him and unbuttoned his pants, then unzipped them.
“You really have messed me up,” I whispered.
He didn’t say a word, but he had to know it was true. He’d broken me into tiny pieces in an attempt to fit me to him, and the pieces were starting to stick.
I could see a thin layer of sweat on his hard stomach. I leaned in and kissed close to his hip bone, then down toward the center, flicking my tongue out to taste the little beads of sweat. As I kissed him, I slid his pants down further.
His cock was rock hard. I brushed my lips against the side of his cock teasingly.
He choked down a curse. One hand reached out, gentle at first, his fingers trailing across my face lovingly. As his knuckles brushed against my cheek, I brought my mouth to his tip, parting my lips around him.
“Fuck, Evee,” he groaned softly, trembling. His hand swept up across my head and I felt him wrap my hair around his fist, keeping my head in place. He moved his hips and I opened my mouth to take him in, inch by inch. I savored the taste of him as he slid against my tongue. I sucked and teased, hearing his breath grow ragged as he slipped deeper till he couldn’t anymore and he drew back. My hands clutched his legs as he quickened his pace, his cock hitting the back of my throat.
“Oh, baby,” he growled. His hand kept me pinned as he sank into my mouth again and again. I heard him mumbling, more praises, more pleas, until the words started to seem incoherent, nonsensical. “Mine,” he said in a guttural voice. His body shook with laughter and it suddenly occurred to me, in a dull panic, that he might be having an episode. I thought to pull away, but he wasn’t having it, my head hardly able to move. So, I let him ride it out, let him use me, trusting he would come out on his own. “She’s mine,” he said, breathlessly. “She’s mine, you can’t have her. You can’t have me either, you bitch.” He laughed again, then he cut off with another loud groan.
My head rocked as he thrust. He jerked my head back so I was forced to look at him, then he thrust a few times more. “You see? She feels so fucking good,” he said. “I’m going to come right in her sweet mouth and I’m going to love it. I love it…I love her and nothing you can say will change that. I’m hers .”
His body jerked, then he moaned and I felt him come just like he said he would. I drank him down as he pulsed inside my mouth, hot and bitter. And I relished it.
Finally, he released me, sliding past my lips. I gasped for air as his hand unraveled from my hair. He sank to his knees before me, breathless.
I could see the stunned wonder in his eyes.
He choked down another fit of laughter. “You lost…lost. I’m all hers.”
Without thinking, I swiped off his mask and he didn’t so much as flinch. I could feel how wet I was, and I wanted to feel him inside me. But the helper in me needed to make sure he was okay. I pressed my hands to his face and he closed his eyes, mumbling and repeating his words.
“Emery,” I said. “Come back to me.”
“They’ve melded together,” he said, opening his eyes. “I can’t tell them apart anymore. But they don’t hold me.”
“No, they can’t.”
His eyes narrowed on me, darkening again. He was so quick, I gasped as he moved, pulling his body on top of mine, pinning my hands above me. He shoved my skirt up, tugging my legs apart. He ripped my panties off and pushed his cock inside me, sliding right in.
I arched my back and moaned. His chest was inches from my face as his hand gripped my thigh and bent it up so he could drive deeper into me.
“That’s it, scream for me,” he whispered. “Show them—show me, you're mine.” His thrusts turned hard and wild, pounding me into the ground.
My body was on fire, winding up. I writhed under him. I let go just like the last time, let him take what he wanted.
“Tell them, Eve, tell them your mine.”
“I’m yours,” I whimpered.
“That’s right. No one can take you from me. Not them, not anyone.” His thumb brushed against my bottom lip, sinking between my lips and teeth. He went harder, his movement somehow more possessive than before, and I felt my body tightening.
As I screamed, his body came down on mine. He didn’t let up as the waves hit me and I felt wet heat dripping between my thighs. I squirmed under him and he slowed. I felt a deep pulsing between us like the beat of one heart.
We laid like that for a while, our breaths syncing together. Then he pulled out of me, lifting his body from mine. I almost made a sound of disappointment when I felt his heat seeping away with the chill night air.
“My Evee,” he said. I looked at him and his yellow eyes caught mine. He kissed me with such tenderness it almost brought tears to my eyes. I clung to him, digging my hands into his back and wrapping my legs around him.
“You're so warm.” I sighed.
He grunted, agreeing.
“Like…a fleshy furnace.”
We both laughed a little. He wrapped his arms around me, holding me tighter. “I’ll be your fleshy furnace forever.”
I curled against him, his fingers trailing through my hair.
We laid together in silence for a while, listening to the sounds of the fire and animals in the woods.
“I’m sorry for ever letting those bad thoughts be in my head,” Emery said after a while.
I turned my head up to him, stunned. Did he mean…?
He looked at me and I could see the guilt on his face. “Sorry, I ever let them…” He closed his eyes. “Let the hallucinations and voices get to me like that.”
I studied his face, trying to keep mine from giving too much away.
“It’s okay,” I said softly.
“They really had me for a while. But…It’s just me, isn’t it? My sister…”
I bit my lip. I brushed a lock of hair from his head.
“You really wanted to help me, even after what I did,” he said.
“Maybe not at first,” I confessed. “But in the end…yes, I did.”
He nodded slowly. He buried his head into my chest, mumbling something I didn’t hear.
We let the silence in again, just for a little while. I looked up and saw a few stars winking down at me from the tree line just above the glow of the fire. I could stay here all night with him, fully content.
Then another thought hit me, and I sat up with a gasp. “Oh my god, Emery, your traps!” The kids ran into the woods and we hadn’t heard anything else. Horror hit me at the sudden realization.
Emery sat up, laughing.
“It’s not funny!” I went to get to my feet when he pulled me back.
“Baby, you think I would leave them set up with us out here? I assumed you’d want to go into the woods, I wasn’t about to take the risk when there was a possibility you might find one and…”
I stared at him. “You unset the traps…in case I ran,” I said.
“All the traps except the one at the gate,” he emphasized. “The rest, yes. You think I wouldn’t totally snap if I found you all mangled from a trap I set? Fuck no, I wasn’t about to let that happen.”
I sighed with relief. I rested my head on his shoulder as his hand rubbed at my back.
“Maybe…maybe we leave them unset, huh?” I said carefully.
His hand traced down my spine. “I can. Don’t need them anymore anyway.”
“What do you mean?”
He searched my face and gave me a smirk. He rose and zipped himself back up then pulled me up with him. “Come with me and I’ll show you,” he said.
Hesitant, I tugged my dress back on. Emery kicked sand into the fire, putting it out. He slipped his mask on, then took my hand.
I followed him to the house, careful not to step in any water or damp earth. When I saw one side come into view, I slowed, a chill running down my spine.
We broke out of the woods and this time I couldn’t help but halt, staring at the side of the house. Emery still held my hand as he gazed at the wall too.
Someone had painted large red letters on the side of the house. I would have wondered if it had been one of those kids, but I knew it didn’t matter. My jaw was set tight as I stared at the words.
THE DEVIL WAS HERE.
I glanced at Emery and saw him gazing at me. He squeezed my hand.
“This way,” he said, tugging me toward the backyard. I followed him again, trying to wash the words from my mind.
When I realized he was taking me to the boathouse, my heart fluttered. He opened the side door and we stepped inside.
He took a flashlight beside the door and clicked it on. I saw my dad’s old boat uncovered but still tied up as it softly bobbed in the dark water. It was just big enough to fit inside. I remember the many times he had taken me out in the summer, down the river and up to the bay and even into Lake Huron. We had spent the night in the room underneath the boat and I remember how much the dark, murky water had creeped me out, waiting for some monster to pull us down into the deep.
I stood there, speechless now as the memories resurfaced. So this is what Emery had been working on all day.
“I worked on what I could,” Emery explained. “Everything seems to work fine. I was able to fix minor issues. Figuring out how to replace the oil was a bitch at first when all I could find was a manual. I’m not a boat expert but I was a mechanic for some time before…everything went down.”
I walked over to one side, noticing he had cleaned up the outside of the boat. From the little door within, I could see the inside was tidy too.
“You…you want to leave,” I said.
“Not me… us .”
He lowered the light and took a step toward me. “We sail away…just you and me. We fuck off somewhere no one will care to look.”
“The dream,” I whispered.
He closed the distance between us and grasped my hands in his, bending his forehead down to mine.
“You and me and that beautiful place…I can see it, Eve. No more darkness, no more pain, no more fear. Our little paradise.”
I was speechless, shocked. Leave it all behind? Leave my home, leave my friends, leave the future I had started. Leave it all.
Go with him and disappear from the world. And make a new life.
If it had been anyone else, I wouldn’t believe it was possible. But with Emery, anything seemed possible. All I had to do…
“Say yes,” he said. He gripped my hands a little tighter, desperate for my answer. “Say, yes, Eve.”
That other future I had seen. The one where I was alone and Emery was locked away started to fade into nothingness. We didn’t have to go the way everyone wanted. This was our story, not theirs. He was mine.
If it meant sacrificing everything else…
I agreed without hesitation.
Emery looked up at me, wide-eyed. “Say it again.”
I squeezed his hand and repeated, “Yes.”