Chapter 1
MIA
R emember what happened the last time, Mia…
I toss and turn, tangling in my crumpled sheets. “It will be different this time, Nox,” I murmur.
Caught between sleep and consciousness, I reach for the darkness with one hand and claw at the light with the other. But my monster always wins. Nox always gets his way.
“Surrender to me, dark one.” His voice is louder in my ear, pulling me deeper into his realm.
I lose my breath somewhere between my lungs and my throat. A weight slams into my chest. I feel his claws around my wrist, securing me to the bedposts. “Mmm,” I moan even though I want to break free. I know what he does to me. How he makes my body feel. I can’t ever resist it.
“Open yourself to me, dark one. Spread those thick thighs and welcome me home.” Nox’s forked cock slithers against me, tickling the folds of my pussy. I’m dripping with sweat, still somewhat anchored to reality. I feel the sheets around me, damp and hot. But it’s fleeting as Nox teases my entrance, pulling me back to him and his twisted game.
I arch my hips to allow him access. “Just this once, then you have to let me wake up.”
He hums in my ear. “You can wake up anytime you want, dark one. You’re here because you crave this as much as I do.” Thrust
A gurgled cry escapes my throat as the force of his enormous cock plows through me. His two tips twist and tangle around each other while they work against my inner walls. I grab onto his horns for leverage and sink into the mattress, letting him destroy me like he’s done almost every night since I was eighteen years old.
Seven years.
The things I’ve fucking lost for him… The people I’ve pushed away for his sinful pleasure.
“You are mine, Mia. Do what you must when you are awake, but down here, you are all mine.” He hits a spot so deep inside me that I almost black out. His cock swells to a full eight inches, stretching me, destroying me in the most exquisite way.
When his unholy body is inside mine, I’m more of a monster than he is. I feel the darkness growing, promising to consume me and whatever sanity I have left.
I buck and writhe on his smooth hard cock. The veins in his shaft protrude out and push against my folds, pulsing with need. I clench around him, desperate to milk every inch of him.
“That’s it, my dark beauty. Use me. Fuck me until you’re too tired to even breathe.”
His voice is my trigger. My comfort and my torment. He’s been haunting me since I was a child. Since I was born . My beautiful, twisted monster.
“Nox,” I whine. “Please…”
An animalistic growl erupts from his chest as he drives in deeper, harder, faster, as we claw at each other. He leaves scratches on my skin. I yelp as he bows his head to my chest and sinks his sharp teeth into my collarbone. “ Mine .”
“Yes. I’m cumming. Fuck.” I squirm, clenching around him as the ecstasy transports me. It’s a deep rumble, sparked by filthy claws, coaxed by his forked tongue and forked cock. The spasms roll through me like waves crashing onto a barren shore.
I scream and cry and dig my nails into his massive frame, knowing that I can’t ever hurt him. My nightmare man. My Nox. He’s unbreakable and relentless, crushing my resolve over and over again. I can’t escape him. He’s my curse, my sickness. And because of him, I’ve destroyed everything good that I’ve ever touched.
I cum hard, my juices soaking his cock. But my eyelids are heavy and weighted. “Let me sleep now, Nox. Please.”
He kisses my forehead, his tongue darting out to lick both of my brows. I shudder as I try to fight the urge to beg for more. I know what that tongue feels like inside my traitorous pussy. But I need rest. I have to keep these boundaries, or his love might actually kill me.
“Yes, my love. My dark one. I’ll set you free for tonight. Sleep well. I’ll summon you again soon.”
And like a flip of a switch, I’m freefalling back toward home. Toward my bed at Harker Mansion. Back toward hot and sweaty crumpled sheets.
I jump at the sound of the tea kettle whistling. My brain is still foggy as I try desperately to ground myself in the present. It never gets easier. Shame fills me when I see the scratches on my wrists. Real-life marks that can’t be explained with any logical reasoning. I used to think I inflicted them on myself. Until the morning I woke up with teeth marks on my neck…
I clench my thighs together, my pussy sore and missing the sensation of his monstrous cock. My cheeks burn with indignation. The priest’s accusation echoes in my mind— you’re sick, Mia. We need to get the sickness out of you.
They didn’t believe me. Not the priest nor the nuns at the orphanage, not even my ex-fiancé wanted to listen. I can’t get Nox out of me. This is why I’m better off alone. It’s exhausting enough to be ensnared by Nox every time I sleep. I don’t have the energy to explain where I go when I close my eyes. Not when I don’t even understand it myself.
“Fuck.” I zoned out again. I pull out the tea bag and add another scoop of sugar to balance the bitterness. I need the extra caffeine anyway. I’m determined to stay up for at least three days this time. I still have boxes to unpack, and I need to find a room in this enormous house to set up my easels. It’s been weeks since I’ve painted anything. The suppression of creativity threatens to kill me more than Nox’s torment. More than the lack of sleep that I’ll need to combat it.
I sip my tea in eerie silence. It still hasn’t really sunk in. I have so many questions, ones I’ve carried my whole life. Why did my family give me up when they had all of this? I look around the commercial-size kitchen. It’s bigger than my last apartment in Raven’s Gate. I wish I could ask them myself. But there’s no one to ask. They’re all dead.
The only family I have left is that quirky professor from Tenebrose Academy, Dorian Harker. I’m grateful he got me out of Absentia Asylum, but then he just disappeared. He won’t return my calls or texts. I’m at a loss. But they couldn’t have hated me that much if they left me everything they owned.
I’m not even sure what to do with all this space… Not to mention the money and the assets. When I first found out how rich my family was, I was angry. I had nothing my whole life. After I left the orphanage in Wickford Hollow, I was on the streets. Safety and security came in spurts and never lasted long. I starved some nights an d almost froze to death on others. But Nox was always there. I let him become my crutch. My comfort. He likes it when I need him.
But now… my anger has faded into genuine curiosity. I want answers. And I feel like somewhere in this house, or in this town, lies the truth of who I am. Of why I am the way I am.
The first peek of the sun streams through the front window, drawing my attention to the enormous stretch of property that surrounds me. It’s all mine. So why does it make me feel more alone than ever?
I sigh as I remember the stack of letters on the counter. Someone named Draven Blackwell has made three offers on this house and the surrounding property. I just fucking got here. Selling is the last thing I want to do.
I’m told he’s some big shot here in Ever Graves. This land is just a cash grab for him. He doesn’t understand the emotional attachment, the need for me to be here. It’s the only connection I have to a family I’ve never known. People like Draven Blackwell don’t get it. They don’t know what it’s like to be abandoned and penniless.
The money isn’t important to me, although it’s nice to have it. It’s the energy here. I feel the ghosts of my past all around me. Like they’re trying to reach out and tell me something.
Ugh . I wish I could put my finger on it. I wish I could touch something tangible for once.
And that’s why I got drunk at Duff’s the other night. I wasn’t planning on fucking one of the locals in the bathroom, but after a few drinks, my loneliness was suffocating me. That man was gorgeous, devilish, and slightly feral. Slick . My pussy tingles just thinking about the way he bent me over the counter. He was rough and impatient, and I loved every second of it.
I remember how he looked at me in the mirror. We took whatever was eating at us out on each other. I just hope it isn’t too awkward if I ever run into him again. I sort of led him to believe I didn’t live here. Well, technically, I didn’t until that night. I think a part of me was still thinking of selling everything and making a run for it.
He didn’t strike me as the clingy type though. He was gone before I could even stand upright. I was still smeared across the bathroom counter when I heard the door shut behind him. If anything, we’ll give each other a little smirk, or maybe we’ll pretend we don’t know each other. Hell, we were both so tipsy that I might not even recognize him.
I can’t help the smile from forming on my lips. It’s been a really long time since I let someone fuck me outside of my nightmares. Like a real man in the flesh. It felt amazing. And I think I want more. Just not the complications that come with it. I can’t be in a relationship like a normal person. I’m too damaged, too fucked up, and too broken.
I reach for the first envelope on the stack and pull out the letter inside. This has been the most troubling one of all. It’s the only message I have from beyond the grave. The only thing my grandmother Emma Harker left me with. It was sealed with her initials, dipped in red wax, when my uncle Dorian handed it to me at the asylum.
I’ve read it a thousand times since—in between packing, at various rest stops from Raven’s Gate to Ever Graves, every night when I wake up and stand in this kitchen over a cup of tea…
Dearest Mia,
It pains me to write these words because if you are reading them, then I am gone from this world. I know you don’t remember me. You were just a baby when you went away.
You must have many questions. Questions I will no longer be able to answer. Especially not in this letter. For I fear this may fall into the wrong hands. But what you seek is in this town. In Ever Graves. In these very walls of Harker Mansion.
Between the living and the dead, secrets abound. I pray you have your father’s cunning and your mother’s heart. I will leave you with this, my final gift to you:
Roses bring Thorns
Night is ever Black
When the shadow comes
The Crane will attack
Heads will roll
When the nightmare roams
Stick close to the well
OF brOKEN BONES
Your ever-loving grandmother,
Emma Harker
It’s a riddle I can’t decipher. But I’m determined to figure it out. I will search every nook and cranny of this entire estate if I have to. Even if it takes forever.
It’s only been a week, but from what I can tell, this house has three floors, an attic, and a basement cellar. There are staircases everywhere, and I’ve gotten lost several times. So far, I’ve counted at least twenty guest rooms, ten bathrooms, a library, three sitting rooms, and two kitchens. The second kitchen is much smaller, so I’m assuming it was once used for servants.
I’ve never even had a personal assistant, so the thought of an entire staff of people waiting on me is mind-boggling. I wonder what happened to all of them. There are traces of their former existence all over this house—name tags, neatly pressed uniforms, and even photos of them posed in the backyard at what looks like some kind of massive party.
My head pounds as the sun streams in brighter, announcing that a new morning has come. It’s going to be another crisp autumn day in Ever Graves, judging by the dew hanging off the orange and brown leaves that lie scattered all over the grounds.
I head out to the back veranda and plop down in one of the cushy chairs so I can watch the sun fully rise while I finish my tea. A strange scent assaults my senses. It’s unfamiliar and appears to be exuding from the endless rows of colorful bushes that stretch out as far as my eye can see.
I’ll have to take a closer look at the deed and files that Dorian gave me. I’m curious as to what my ancestors were growing and why there is so much of it. Do I have to maintain it? I don’t have a green thumb, so I’d hate to see all of it die just because I moved in. I make a mental note to look into hiring a gardener or two.
The quiet and stillness are a nice change from the chaos of Absentia Asylum. I didn’t belong there. But then again, no one does. That place is worse than hell. I slipped deeper into Nox’s nightmare much more there. It was my only refuge. I owe him a lot for getting me through that dark time. But he got too used to me always being with him. So now that I want to stay awake longer, he’s more determined than ever to keep me asleep.
I can’t survive like that though. And now, more than ever, I have to survive so I can find out who I am. Even if I don’t like what I find.