She would remain free, and we would watch her, hunt her.
A catch and release scheme if only for now.
But still as I stared down at her, something was missing.
I glanced to my side where Kash undid his belt, sliding his hardened cock into his hand. His smile was depraved, lacking love. Glowing with need and obsession.
“Once more,” he whispered into the darkened room, standing above her.
And to the memory of her cries as we fucked her innocence away, we emptied our balls over her sleeping figure, coating her hair and lips with pearlescent strands. Our cum dripped into her parted lips, and she swallowed reflexively in her sleep.
“Perfect.” I trailed my fingers along her arm, sighing when she pulled my hand into her chest, snuggling. Her heart beat against the heightened pulse in my fingers, claiming me.
My heart hitched at the thought she wanted us,neededus to stay with her.
But not tonight.
Kash played with her feet, running his fingertips along her soles until she made soft noises. I dragged the low easel with her life sized angel portrait to the end of her bed, leaving the static seraph to watch over her in place of us while we worked for the rest of the night.
There were still two more dates to remove from her list before we deleted her from social media. Her presence would cease to exist, one shred at a time, until we took her.
Until she was ours in full, and came to us willingly.
She might now, but there would always remain a doubt. Helia would run and hide, and we would chase.
All willingly….and sometimes not so.
And we would shatter her, remake her as we saw fit.
Then, at the end of our games, she would come to us.
Until then…I kissed her temple. “Sleep well, little Alice,” I whispered, licking her skin. “I’ll watch you every night so you can sleep. The demons will never touch you. I promise. We will protect you, forever.”
Because the devils watched over her.
Helia shifted, stirring as I held my breath.
In her sleep, she smiled, whispered a word.
“Forever.”
CHAPTER NINE
HELIA
They called me Little Alice and I loved it. I also knew I was in over my head by a long way. The twins followed me everywhere. Even when they thought they couldn’t see me, or I thought I was alone, I’d turn a corner and one of them would be there, waiting to shadow me to class. Not that we had a normal relationship, like holding hands and being romantic—because why would we do that when they killed a man just to date me?
Taco Tuesday was officially a bust and Angelica faded back into her own routine of no people and her own life of study. I couldn't draw her out of it, and so I merged my life with the twins. Because they were there? Maybe. Because I owned them? Absolutely.
Should the murder have bothered me more? I mean, I came from a family that revolved around underhand bargains struck at tables across the country. I still wasn't sure what my father wanted the night he called but I was glad that insanity had passed. The twins weren’t really a stretch from that place in my life. Hell, if I introduced them to Dad, he’d probably approve of them—if he knew what they did, and how well.
“This isn’t the best place to accost me, you know,” I protested, as Kash gripped my elbow through my faded denim jacket.
I’d worn it over my black singlet t-shirt dress today with lace straps as it looked like rain earlier, but I hadn't been outside in hours, hoping from art history class to a digital and new media lecture that I’d thought I would hate at the beginning of semester but ended up loving.
They’d left me alone for the better part of today, and I should have known better than to expect solitude altogether.
“I do get to have days to myself, you know–oh, fuck,” I cursed as Kash dragged me from the building into the pelting rain without a second’s hesitation. “IO could have art that’s getting damaged, you know!”
