Wiccan, A Witchy Young Adult Paranormal Romance (13 page)

My arm dropped out of view and the
girl’s head lolled to one side. As I watched, blood appeared at the
bottom of the hood, running down her chin and dripping off onto the
pillow.

I bent over and reached across her with
my right hand. It held the same curved knife I’d used on the other
girl. I counted down her ribs again and dipped my fingers between
the fifth and sixth ribs. Placing the tip at an angle, I slid the
knife in with one quick jab. She didn’t even react. Whatever I’d
done to her, she was dead long before that knife entered her
heart.

The rest of the dream played out the
same. The same finger was severed and used to write a short message
on the sheets beside her head. Only this time the words read FOR
YOU.

With another short flicker, the scene
was replaced by my bedroom ceiling. I was awake, lying flat on my
back in bed and staring heavenward. My heart was racing and I felt
on the verge of tears, despite the intense waves of pleasure that
were still flooding my body.

Fighting the nausea that made my
stomach lurch when I stood, I got up and dug my phone out of my bag
and punched in Grayson’s number. I didn’t even glance at the clock;
I didn’t care what time it was.

Though I knew it had to be the middle
of the night, Grayson sounded alert when he answered.
“Grayson.”

“
It’s Mercy Holloway. I had
another dream and- and—” My voice broke on a sob, but I quickly
buried my emotions. “Another girl has been killed.”

I took big calming breaths in the
silence that hung over the open line. I thought maybe the
connection had been lost, but then I heard Grayson’s deep quiet
voice. “Meet me outside. I’ll be there in ten minutes.”

He hung up and I fell to my knees on
the floor. I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to block out the image
of blood dripping from the girl’s chin onto the pillow, but it
wouldn’t go away. And, when I thought of it, the pleasure returned.
How could I feel pleasure at having killed someone? Even if it was
a dream, if someone else was doing it, how could I find pleasure in
that?

After several minutes I got up and
brushed my teeth then crept outside to await Grayson. When I saw
headlights coming down the street, I ducked behind the Jeep until I
heard the vehicle slow. I peeked up to make sure it was Grayson and
when I could make out the dark blue Charger, I walked to the road.
He stopped and said quietly, “Get in.”

I walked around the hood and got in on
the passenger side then he quietly accelerated down the street. He
drove to a park that was only a mile or so from my house. He pulled
into a spot near a dusk-to-dawn light and cut the
engine.

Turning toward me, Grayson surprised me
when he asked first, “Are you alright?”

I was taken off guard. “I’m,
uh, I’m- yeah, I’m ok. It’s just that it was so real. It was like I
was
right there
and I could feel everything that the killer felt.” I could
feel my blood pressure rise and my breathing quicken as panic
closed in around me. “It’s like looking out and watching my own
hands do these horrible things and- and I don’t know how, but it’s
as if I
like it
.”
I looked at Grayson and I knew from the sting that tears were
filling my eyes. “How is it possible to see something that awful
and like it? What’s wrong with me?”

Then, after I’d spilled my guts, I fell
to pieces. I put my hands over my face and I burst into tears. I
think I was more afraid and shaken than anything else. Thought it’s
shameful to admit, the thing that bothered me most about the whole
thing was the pleasure that I felt. It brought with it guilt and
worry and a dark itchy place in my soul that was getting bigger by
the day. And I didn’t know what to do, how to stop it or what it
meant. I just knew that it wasn’t good. It couldn’t be.

Grayson reached out and pulled my head
over onto his shoulder. He leaned his cheek against the top of my
head and I could feel his breath ruffling my hair as he whispered,
“Shh. It’s over. Shh. It’ll be alright. Shh.”

Though I barely knew him, I
realized that I immediately felt comforted. I felt like by telling
him, it
would
be
alright, like he’d take care of everything. In a strange way, I
felt like he could even fix
me.

When my sobs had dwindled to sniffles,
I pulled back a few inches. “I’m sorry. I don’t know what’s wrong
with me.”

In the dim light from the dashboard,
Grayson’s eyes looked black and they sparkled like onyx. He raised
his hand and wiped a tear from my right cheek with his
thumb.

“
Nothing’s wrong with you,”
he said softly. When his eyes dropped to my mouth, I felt my lips
quiver in anticipation. I held my breath and waited.

To me, it happened in slow motion.
Grayson’s eyes flickered back up to mine for a fraction of a
second, as if to gauge my response, and then they returned to my
mouth. When his face edged toward mine, I let my eyelids fall
closed. I could feel the heat radiating from him and it made my
stomach twitch anxiously.

His lips barely touched mine before he
pulled away. Like the brush of a butterfly’s wings, it was there
and then it was gone. I started to open my eyes when I felt his
lips on mine again, only this time there was passion.

The hand that had rested on my cheek
slid into my hair, sending a shower of cold chills down my arms.
When his lips opened, mine did, too. His tongue slipped between my
teeth and I could taste a hint of sweet cinnamon. I thought of the
jar of Fireballs I’d seen on his desk.

He turned his head to the side and
further deepened the kiss. I raised my hands to his chest. I could
feel the muscles bunching under the soft cotton of his shirt. I
felt as much as heard his groan. It vibrated across my lips and
sent a zing of electricity straight to my core.

When he pulled away, I waited for a
second then opened my eyes. His face was still so close our lips
were almost touching. He was staring at me, his eyes piercing my
very soul, and in their dark, liquid depths, I could see a hunger
that mirrored my own.

“
Well, that wasn’t very
professional of me, now was it?”

The light comment was so out of
character for him, I couldn’t help but laugh. When I did, he
smiled. And it took my breath away.

I hadn’t seen him smile. Not
really anyway. That polite, toothless twitch of the lips that cops
do when they’re trying to get rid of you doesn’t count. This was
a
real
smile. It
softened his handsome face and gave him a devilish look that I
found absolutely mesmerizing.

“
Hey,
I’m
the one who called
you
out in the middle of
the night. You’re excused.”

His expression sobered. “I really
shouldn’t have done that. You could be important to my
investigation. If someone found out, it could compromise the whole
case.”

“
Then I guess we’d better
make sure no one finds out.”

He grinned, but I could tell he was
already having regrets so I changed the subject.

“
So are you going to ask me
about my dream?”

He leaned back in his seat and easily
obliged me. “So, tell me about your dream.”

And I did. I gave him every detail I
could remember about the hotel, the girl and the crime itself. And
though talking about it made me uncomfortable, it didn’t upset me
like it had earlier. I felt like as long as Grayson was around, the
world was alright and so was I.

“
I’m going to head to the
station to do a little research and see what I can find out. I
should be able to find that hotel based on the letters you saw,” he
said, starting the engine. “I’ll drop you back at your house. Maybe
you’ll be able to get some sleep. I’ll wait and call you later
today, let you know what I find out.”

I nodded, not wanting the night to end
even though the circumstances left a lot to be desired.

When Grayson neared my house, he
stopped. “I’ll let you out here so that we don’t wake your
parents.”

“
Ok,” I said, reaching for
the door handle.

“
Mercy.” When he spoke, I
turned to look at him. I watched him hesitate, the battle that
warred within him almost a tangible thing, and then he finally
leaned forward and pressed a quick kiss to my lips. Before he moved
away, he breathed against my mouth, “Shh.”

I knew what he meant. We couldn’t tell
anybody about our kiss. I smiled and got out, closing the door
quietly behind me. He waited until I had slipped inside my house
before he slowly pulled away. I watched him drive past the house
and then, when he was far enough away, accelerate to zoom off down
the street.

I crept silently back to my room and
collapsed on my bed. I think I was still smiling when I fell
asleep.

********

Despite my dreams and crazy life, my
mood was light the next day. I walked happily to school and smiled
all the way through my first class. When it ended, rather than
going early to my next class (like the antisocial nerd that I am),
I decided to go for a cappuccino instead.

Ruger’s was packed with people. As I
waited in line to get my drink, I looked around for an empty seat.
The only ones I saw were at tables where a group was already
sitting. Luckily it was a beautiful day and I could just take my
coffee outside and sit on one of the benches.

In front of me, there was a plain girl
with a thick tawny braid hanging down her back. She was punching a
text into her phone, smiling at whatever she’d just read. She
looked happy enough. I felt like my good mood was touching everyone
around me. It was all rainbows and roses.

I heard voices behind me and turned to
see the three sorority-type girls from my Biochemistry class
stopping behind me in line. Quickly, I turned back to face
forward.

“
I don’t know what she ate,
but I’m glad I wasn’t right there when she did it. Tasha said it
was seriously nasty and I have a weak stomach.” I think the girl
that was speaking was named Zoe. I was pretty sure I’d heard
Trinity call her Zoe and the other girl Char. I guess that was
short for Charlene or something like that.

“
It totally was. I was in
the living room watching that whore drape herself all over Matt
when Jake came out of the bathroom. Trust me, it was
vile.”

I recognized the second voice as
Trinity’s. It wasn’t hard to hear what they were saying anyway,
what with my close proximity and all, but when I heard the name
Matt, my ears perked up considerably, wondering if they were
talking about Matt Hastings.

“
Yeah, I saw that, too. Who
was that skank he was with? She looked like trailer trash,” Char
said.

“
She really did. I overheard
Chase and Rudy talking about her. Apparently she’s originally from
Arville, too, and she dated Matt in high school. I don’t know why
guys always like the slutty girls. And a nose ring! Come on, who
does that anymore?”

They were talking about Billie! They
had to be. And she was none of the awful things they were calling
her. Though I really didn’t want to hear any more, I listened on.
And the longer I listened to them defame her, the wilder my temper
raged. Their vicious, jealous slander burned like acid in my veins
and my head throbbed in anger.

As they continued to tear Billie down,
I began to imagine what would happen if people all around started
turning on them, an angry mob literally ripping them to shreds like
they were doing to Billie with their sharp, wicked
tongues.

I was lost in a violent storm of dark
thoughts, picturing mean and horrible things, when the girl in
front of me with the braid turned with the steaming cup of coffee
she’d just been handed and threw the hot brew in Trinity’s
face.

“
Shut your filthy, lying
mouth!” the girl screamed.

Trinity howled in pain and started
bouncing up and down, running in place, shaking her hands and her
head. Her face was angry red and she acted like she wanted to wipe
at it, but it was too painful to touch.

Everyone stopped and stared, stunned
into silent immobility for what seemed like several minutes until
chaos broke out. Trinity’s friend Char snarled, her top lip curling
in fury, and stepped past me, landing a slap across the right cheek
of the girl who’d thrown the coffee. The blow cracked like thunder
and echoed through the unnaturally silent room.

Without hesitating, the girl who’d
thrown the coffee swung her backpack up from the ground and hit
Char right in the middle of the face with it, knocking her back
into Trinity. Then she turned her attention to Zoe, Trinity’s other
friend.

With a growl that barely sounded human,
the girl flung herself at Zoe and started pulling her hair and
biting at her face. When she found something to really sink her
teeth into (Zoe’s cheek), she bit down hard and refused to let
go.

I saw blood oozing out from around her
mouth and Zoe started screaming and pushing at the girl’s face,
trying to dislodge her teeth. When the girl finally let go, Zoe put
a hand up to her face. When she pulled it away, there was blood all
over her fingers. Her eyes rounded in alarm and then she promptly
fainted, landing right on top of Char where she was crumpled at
Trinity’s feet.