No, he’d do something far worse.
He’d make me give in.
All those lustful thoughts he brought up in me? He knew they were there. He couldseethem, somehow, as if my skull were made of glass. I had no doubt he’d exploit each and every desire until there was nothing left of me but raw, carnal lust.
He wouldn’t even need to take control from me, I’d simply hand it over. Hand him the grimoire. Hand him whatever the hell else he wanted. That wasn’t natural. That wasn’tnormal.
I grabbed a bottle of cheap wine from the fridge, poured a large glass, and lay in bed, naked beneath the covers. The rain tapped against the window above my head, the trees outside creaking and swaying in the wind. I put on music to drown out the howling, and lay there until the wine and sheer exhaustion forced me into sleep.
But not for long.
It seemed as if I’d only just shut my eyes, but the playlist I’d put on had ended, and my laptop’s screen had gone to sleep. The rain had slowed to only a few little droplets occasionally smacking against the window. I lay there for a while, groggy, trying to figure out why I’d woken up.
What had I heard?
I sat up slowly, frowning. I was still in a dull state of half-sleep, trying to remember if I’d been dreaming. I shuffled out of bed, pulling my blanket with me and tugging it around my shoulders. Regardless of what I’d heard, I needed water. The wine had left me with a headache.
In the kitchen, I filled a glass at the sink and gulped it down, then filled it again to take back to the bedroom. But when I flicked off the kitchen light, I paused.
Someone had been standing in the yard.
I’d only caught a glimpse of them through the kitchen window as I turned off the light. When I looked now, the yard was empty. I blinked rapidly, narrowing my eyes as I stared around my car, and then further, toward the trees.
It was three in the morning.
Why was someone standing in my yard at three in the morning?
Trying to get a better view, I went to the glass doors that led out to the porch and pulled aside the curtain. The clouds had lessened just enough to let some moonlight through, but the silver light was barely able to penetrate the darkness. I flicked on the porchlight, illuminating the deck and just a little way beyond.
There was nothing there.
It had probably just been a deer. It was common enough to see a few of them lingering in the yard in the morning. I was just being paranoid.
I made sure the deadbolt was turned before I went back to bed.
I woke on Sunday morning with my heart pounding. I’d been dreaming, but the memories of it were fading so quickly I could barely grasp them. I’d been wandering in the dark, somewhere pitch black and narrow. But now all that remained was the smell of seawater, briny in my nose as if I’d just taken a dip in the ocean.
Once dressed in some lounge pants and an oversized hoodie, I put on a pot of coffee to brew. The recollection of what had happened yesterday had me jittery, unable to sit still before I’d even downed my morning caffeine. I’d planned to upload all the St. Thaddeus recordings to my computer after breakfast and begin editing, but I also had that video of Leon on my phone. I felt bizarrely nervous to view it.
I went into the gallery, my heart pounding, irrationally scared at what I’d find. What if the video wasn’t there, what if it was all static or the file was corrupted?
But it was still there, and it was clear as day.
“Is this the attention you wanted? Well, now I have it on video that you’re a creep who follows women into the woods. Good luck keeping your job after this!”
Leon hadn’t even glanced at the camera as I shoved it at him. He only looked at me, furious and panting below him, shining that obnoxious flash in his face. I cringed as I listened to myself, wishing that I’d been calmer.
Leon snatched my wrist, forcing the camera down, and the remainder of the video was just a blurry view of the dusty floor, the audio muffled. But I could still make out his voice as he growled, “I warned you, doll. Didn’t I tell you to behave? I told you not to come here, not to stick your nose where it doesn’t belong.”
My stomach fluttered. The viciousness in his voice ignited an immediate, visceral feeling within me. It made no sense to be aroused by that, but there I was.
“What you’ve started here isn’t easily undone.”
What had he meant by that? What had Istarted?
“I’m going to catch you. And when I do, I’ll make you scream.”
My insides quivered. Fucking hell. I’d been threatened by a man who stalked me out into the woods, and my vagina decided to turn on me like this? This was on another level of fucked up.