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Her flavor on my tongue, I press my lips to hers, forgetting what’s right, foregoing the rules, and leaning into what the estate would have me believe is wrong.
Logic betrays me when her lips move against mine, opening to allow her tongue to meet mine stroke for stroke.
My hand rests against her cheek, and it takes a moment to realize that her leg, her very bare, very soft leg, is curled over the back of mine, her sex pressed into where I’m hard as stone.
“I need more,” she pleads against my broken kiss.
“And you’ll have it. We demons will never deny you.”
“Demons?” Her breathy question against my lips causes a smirk to plague mine.
“Mm. The Demons of Ironwood Estate. You’ve woken them, calamity. And I don’t think they’ll ever sleep again.”
25
BLINDED BY LOVE
SERAPHINE
A GATHERING OF SOULS BEHIND FRACTURED WALLS
Ironwood Estate sits atop Crimson Falls, peering down like a reminder of all the tragedy life can dole out. This time of year, with cider in hand and the crisp air nipping at our noses, we remember the past. We remember those who have fallen to the grim estate over the years.
Ironwood Estate, as beautiful as it is, in the right sunlight, glistens like a shining beacon of hellish nightmares hidden within its walls.
Today, we remember Lenore Loxley, whose love blinded her to the demons lurking near. Though she’s never been found, Crimson Falls remembers her as if her spirit still watches over us all.
The article goes on, but I put the paper down.
Lenore.
That’s the name I heard Stanley mutter the other day, but it seems more familiar than that.
Where do I know it from?
I found the article hidden deep in the right-hand drawer of my desk, which I had to pry open because I couldn’t find the key, and I didn’t want to ask anyone for it or alert them to what I was up to.
This place grows eerier by the day, and I’m no longer worried about my attraction to its occupants, but about surviving it.
Sliding the article into my top drawer when I hear someone coming, I clear my throat and pretend to look busy.
“Hey, I was wondering…” Elias narrows his eyes. “What are you H?”
“Nothing.”
“You’re flushed.”
I feel my cheeks. Heat radiates back into my palm. “Am I? I hadn’t noticed.”
“Are you up to something that you shouldn’t be?”
“In this place? No. Besides, if I were, I think the house would tell you.”
As if on cue, the pipes groan as someone in the house turns on water somewhere.
I sigh. “See.”
He plops into a chair in front of the desk. “Anyways, I was coming to see if you wanted to come swim with me.”
