Dead by Morning (Rituals of the Night Book One)

by Kayla Krantz

  “Luna, stop.”

  She frowned at him before she turned her attention to the door. She prepared to pull it open when she heard the locks click shut. Her father looked at Chance, his head cocked to the side questioningly.

  “I know she’ll do it, and I don’t want her to get hurt,” he explained quickly.

  Chance’s experience in murders had taught him that people in desperate situations would do desperate things.

  Her dad nodded and looked back at her. “See, Luna? He cares about you, why can’t you be nice to him?”

  “I hate him!” she roared as the anger overcame her. “Why don’t you listen to me?”

  “Because you overreact too much,” he said, his voice rising as well.

  “I can’t take this anymore!” she stated, oddly calm for the whirlwind of emotions inside of her as she set her closed fists to the top of her head. “I feel like I’m living in a madhouse.”

  Luna pulled against the handle again, but because of Chance’s locks, it wouldn’t budge. She huffed in frustration and pulled on it again as she thought of hitting Chance the next time she got the opportunity to do so.

  She had to get out of the truck!

  She pulled once more as hard as she could until she heard a snap. She had broken the handle….and the lock with it. She rammed her shoulder into the door, and it swung open with ease. She looked into the night as it rushed past and felt the chilly air tug at her raven-dark hair. One leap and she’d be out of the truck.

  One leap separated Heaven and Hell.

  “Luna, don’t!” Chance and David exclaimed in unison.

  She ignored the both of them as she focused on the air outside. She leapt from the truck and out into the night. The wind pushed and pulled against her as she tucked into a ball in mid-air. She hit the ground hard on her lower back and cried out in pain as the force sent her flying sideways. She heard the screeching of the brakes as Chance halted the car, but in the darkness, it didn’t matter.

  Finally, she came to a halt and lay on the ground on her side. She let out a moan of pain. Her sides felt bruised, and her lower back screamed in pain. She blinked once as she stood slowly to her feet. She flexed each arm and then each leg. They popped uncomfortably but none of them felt broken.

  Luna slowly walked down the road. She was free…for the moment. Her joints flared painfully with each step, but it was better than being in Chance’s truck with him and her father.

  ***

  “SO, LET ME get this straight,” Max said. “He dropped a bloody knife and then followed you?”

  “He had Susan’s hair ribbon too. It was blood-splattered. He somehow found me at Amy’s house even though he doesn’t even know that I know her.”

  “Well, we knew he killed Susan, this is just proof,” Max clarified.

  “I guess,” Luna muttered, looking at her muddy shoes.

  She hadn’t taken them off when she got home. She was panicked and desperate to tell someone about what had happened to her. Violet and her father she wouldn’t bother trying to tell her story to, but Max would listen to her…if only she could say what she really thought.

  “Did he try to hurt you?” Max asked.

  “No, but I don’t know what he was going to do. He followed me all the way to the road where Amy found me. I didn’t want to stick around to find out what he had planned,” she replied, shuddering.

  “You should be more careful from now on. Jumping out of a moving car? That could’ve killed you.”

  “Yeah, well, dealing with Chance calls for some drastic measures,” she countered. “I have classes with him, and I have to walk home from school. He knows the route.”

  “How about you watch your back at school, and once they let me out of here, I’ll walk you home?” he suggested.

  “That’s a nice plan, but don’t you have to go to school too?”

  He snorted. “I come and go from there as I please.”

  “If you’re sure.”

  “I am. Now, why don’t you get some sleep? You need to rest after all those stunts you pulled today.”

  Luna sighed and felt a muscle pop in her back. “Okay, you’re right.”

  “I’ll call you tomorrow.”

  “All right, ‘bye,” she said as she hung up the phone.

  He was right, she did need to rest. After the scare from Chance and the pain from throwing herself out of the truck, she felt like her heart might stop at any minute. Though the thought of sleep soothed her, she frowned. What if she had another dream?

  Chance could get to her easily that way.

  She was right about him. He had killed Susan and kept her bloody hair ribbon as a sick kind of trophy. She knew he was a murderer, but she could do nothing to prove it to anyone besides Max. Her own father even took Chance’s side over hers. What could she possibly do?

  She pushed the thought away. She needed to sleep…no matter what might happen to her. She got up and walked to her room, the whole time wondering how she could face Chance tomorrow without dying of fright.

  ***

  CHANCE HAD BEEN surprised at Luna’s stunt; that was the best word he could use to describe it—stunt. Beside him, David appeared just as surprised. She could’ve killed herself with a move like that, easily broken her neck on a curb or busted her head open on the cement. But lucky for her, she had landed in the grass, though she’d still be in pain. He wouldn’t be surprised if she needed to go to the hospital. The beginnings of fusion caused him to lapse into a state that made him feel as if he was in that mind all the time. He found that that mind was braver and a bit sharper.

  He had figured out she was okay because of her gift, her Teardrop of Knowledge. He had also discovered she couldn’t stand even being in his vicinity anymore, and after what had happened, he didn’t blame her. He knew the fear that ran through her mind; it was the fear he had seen on many of his victims’ faces.

  The realization that he wasn’t playing around—that it wasn’t some poorly-written crime novel, that he meant murder, cold-blooded murder—seemed to have sunk into Luna’s mind. He recognized that desperate urge to escape. Chance frowned. He could feel the cold wind from outside rushing in through Luna’s open door. She was desperate to get away from him, desperate because she knew stunts like that were a Hell of a lot safer than being around him.

  ***

  LUNA STIRRED HER tea absently as she stared out the window and into the darkness of the night beyond. She sat at the kitchen table since she hadn’t been able to sleep. The only upside was that her body felt a bit better from relaxing. She kept wondering…what had Chance been about to do with that knife? Would he have hurt her if Amy hadn’t managed to take her away?

  “Luna?” her father greeted her uncertainly as he stepped into the room.

  She looked up at him but didn’t speak. She was still sore at him…literally.

  “This is for you, Chance wanted me to give it to you,” he said, extending his hand to her.

  He handed her a small, white envelope, and her immediate reaction was to throw it away. She took it from him and stared at it, wondering what else he possibly had to say to her. What the Hell was in it? Her father went back into the living room, and she studied the envelope carefully. Her name had been scrawled on the front, but that was it. Luna flipped it over and untucked the flap from the envelope. She peered inside at a folded piece of drawing paper. She read the words that had been written on the middle of it.

  Meet me on the bridge at midnight tonight or else.

  Next to the words was a brownish smudge. She wiped at it, and it only smeared onto her fingers. Her eyes widened in horror as she realized what it was. There was no way that it could be anything but blood.

  Well, fuck.

  LUNA PULLED HER hoodie tighter around her as the breeze blew again. She bowed her head against it as she walked down the street. It was cold. She didn’t want to be outside, but she had to be. Chance meant business by his note, and she guessed her leap from his car had inspire
d it.

  Up ahead, she saw the small bridge. She stepped onto it, and the wooden boards beneath her feet creaked dangerously. She looked around and saw she was alone. She leaned over the black railing, which ran along each side of the bridge, and stared at the water as it lapped at the bridge from below. It looked like a black abyss in the darkness. A leaf drifted down and splashed across the water, causing a ripple effect across the stream immediately lost in the currents. She stared at it, mesmerized, as she heard a creak from the other side of the bridge.

  Chance walked toward her calmly. Alone in the darkness, it was not good news. She swallowed and took an involuntary step backwards away from him. A loud crash splintered through the cool night, and she felt her foot slide through thin air. The boards had broken, and she fell to the deep water that sat hungrily below.

  In a flash, Chance reached forward and grasped her hand. She hung precariously on the edge of the bridge, most of her body just a few feet from the water’s surface. She looked up at him, her eyes pleading as he stared back at her.

  “Right now, I have two choices. I can let you live or I can let you die,” he said, his voice cold and calculating.

  “Chance, please help me,” she begged desperately as she gripped his hand tighter. Tears raced down her cheeks, falling past her feet and getting lost in the stream.

  He clutched her hand tighter as well but made no move to pull her up. He stared down at her. “Only if you promise to hear me out before you run off.”

  “Deal,” she said quickly. If she turned down his offer, he’d easily let her fall to the churning waters.

  Her answer satisfied him, and he pulled her up with her free hand. She grasped at the bridge and pulled the rest of her body up onto the solid surface. Chance let go and backed away. Her body shook with a mix of fear and adrenaline.

  He didn’t wait for her to recover. “That was a pretty impressive stunt you pulled today. I have to admit you got me by surprise with it. Anyway, I have a proposition for you—the one I wanted to offer before you ran off from the park.”

  She swallowed and looked up at him. The real fear would begin here. “And what would that be?”

  He looked back at her and smiled for a moment. “I know you told Max my secret.”

  She panicked, not knowing how to respond. Is that why he had lured her outside?

  “But that’s okay,” he continued, holding his palms out. “If you promise not to tell about my dagger, I promise you won’t end up like Susan. What do you say?”

  She backed away from him, catching the bitter note in his voice. “What do you mean by that, Chance? Where’s Susan?”

  She already knew of course, but this might be her only chance to get him to say what had happened. She wanted the words right from his mouth.

  He smiled again, wider this time. “Don’t play dumb. You know what I did to her. Keep your mouth shut this time, and we won’t have any problems, okay?”

  Luna stood up slowly to her full height and locked eyes with him. They glinted back at her, the eyes of a murderer. Although he had saved her life, he had also confirmed her worst fears.

  “Don’t look so frightened, Luna,” he said, reaching a hand out toward her. He stroked her hair gently before he rested his hand on her cheek and pulled it away.

  Luna stared at him, speechless. He watched her through wide blue eyes, expectantly waiting for her answer.

  “I won’t tell a soul.” Her voice came out a shaking whisper she hardly recognized.

  “Good,” Chance said, a haughty smirk on his face as his cold eyes stared at her. “Now, head home, sweetheart, I don’t want you getting sick.”

  She swallowed her fear unevenly. He would let her live tonight. Once again, she had to wonder why he let her live when he killed off his friends—and hers—like mosquitoes.

  Chapter Forty-Two

  LUNA WALKED DOWN the hazy grass line with her head bowed to the wind. Images of Chance on the bridge flashed through her mind. She remembered what he had said, that he had been responsible for Susan’s death. It was a confession. If only she had been smart enough to think of bringing a tape recorder, she would’ve had the upper hand. She shuddered as she remembered that Chance still had Susan’s hair ribbon tucked away in his pocket.

  Luna’s morning had passed by slowly. Her dad tried asking her questions to cheer her up, but he hadn’t mentioned a word about her escape from the truck last night or the strange letter he had been instructed to give her. He steered clear of the shark-filled water, as her mother would have put it. Her dad’s questions had been friendly, but she didn’t answer a single one. It wasn’t because she was mad at him—she just couldn’t seem to think of a thing to say.

  She walked her normal route to school, possibly alone since she didn’t know if Violet would join her. Each day made them more and more distant, and she was on the verge of giving up on her completely. Luna turned a corner and gasped in surprise as she almost ran right into her.

  Violet looked at Luna wide-eyed, clearly surprised to see her as well. “Hello, Luna. How are you today?”

  Luna offered a small smile. “I’m fine, I guess, how are you?”

  “Good,” she said but frowned the way she did when something bothered her.

  “What’s wrong?” Luna wondered hesitantly, grabbing the strap of her backpack.

  “Chance came over to my house.”

  It took her a moment to realize she had stopped walking. “Why?” Luna asked.

  Chance had never been over her house before. Like Amy, Luna hadn’t thought he had even known where they lived. She was wrong. The crafty killer seemed to know how to get to everyone when he needed to.

  “He said he was worried about you. He said I’m your best friend, and I might be able to help you get better,” Violet rambled, carefully avoiding eye contact.

  “What do you mean?” Luna demanded without moving.

  “He says you’re not right in the head, that you believe he killed Susan,” Violet said, staring past her as if trying to remember what exactly he had said.

  “That’s the truth!” Luna blurted out, clenching her hands into fists with the sudden desire to strike her friend. “I went to the park, and he was there. He dropped Susan’s hair ribbon, and I saw the blood. Before that, Susan told me he threatened her because he told her he killed Kate. He followed me with that dagger and Amy saved me from him just in time.”

  Violet frowned again. “He warned me you’d be difficult about this.”

  “Violet!” Luna cried, exasperated as she dipped her head, trying to catch her gaze. “I am telling the truth. He’s tricking you because he knows he can get you to listen.”

  “You need to let me help you.”

  Luna stared at Violet, all friendly feelings of bondage had vanished. She took a slow step away from her. “You know what? Forget it, there’s no point arguing with you over this anymore. You’re just like my dad. You’re not my best friend. You’re helping someone who’s out to destroy me, out to destroy everyone. If you won’t listen to me, then go, I won’t stop you. But trust me, you will realize you made a mistake someday. Maybe you’ll realize I’m right when you’re looking down the barrel of a gun Chance is pointing at you!”

  Luna turned away from Violet and crossed the lawn alone.

  “Luna! Don’t do this,” she heard Violet say behind her.

  Luna didn’t look back. There was no point to wasting her energy. If Violet was determined to help Chance, she couldn’t be Luna’s friend anymore.

  ***

  VIOLET STARED AFTER her, knowing she had made a mistake. Threat or not, Luna was her best friend and obviously something bad had happened to her. She should’ve been supportive, but instead, she had saved herself. She had seen on the news that Susan had disappeared, but Luna seemed to know details beyond that. Violet wanted to ask her about it, like the friend she used to be, but she had to keep up her new charade if she wanted to live. She watched as Luna walked away. She seemed to have lost her friend f
or good this time and part of her felt as if she deserved it.

  ***

  LUNA STARED OUT the window of the cafeteria absently. On the table in front of her sat a tray of food she hadn’t bothered to touch. It didn’t look appetizing and even if it did, she wasn’t hungry. Around her, empty seats filled the table. Luna didn’t know where Violet was, nor did she care.

  She hadn’t seen her since she had yelled at her. She should feel bad, but she didn’t—it came as a relief that she had lost a traitor. The seat next to her creaked as someone sat down, and she turned, expecting to see Violet, but froze when she realized who it was.

  “Hi, Luna,” Chance said, lifting an eyebrow as he eyed her.

  She stared straight ahead out the window and tried her best to pretend he wasn’t there. He set his hand on hers. The gesture was probably meant to be kind, but she felt the fear inside her grow.

  What did he want now?

  “You told Max about my secret, didn’t you?”

  Luna didn’t answer him. How in the world had he found out so quickly? It was impossible—but so were a majority of the things he did. Her heart pounded so hard she was scared it might burst, sure he could hear it from where he sat. From the corner of her eye, she could see his eyes flash as a frustrated chuckle left his lips. He knew she was ignoring him.

  “Answer me already!” he growled, and Luna could feel the cold metal handle of the dagger press into her side as he shifted closer.

  “What do you want me to say? I didn’t break my promise,” Luna finally whispered, gnawing on the inside of her cheek. There was no way she would admit she actually had told. He’d make good on his end of the promise.

  He looked back at her through blue eyes. “Really?” It was hard to tell if he believed her.

  “I’m serious.”

  Chance frowned. “Well…that’s good.”

  “Violet thinks I’m crazy now, thanks to you,” Luna murmured, looking away from him to stab at the cold pasta on her tray.

  “Hey, don’t blame me for that. You make your own impressions.” He shrugged.