She shakes her head, chuckling. “Uh-huh, so is your dad some kind of priest or what?”
“He used to be,” I answer, smiling wistfully. “He passed away last year.”
“Oh my, you poor thing! No wonder you’re so sullen all the time.” She appears horrified.
“Yeah, it was very sudden.” I blink a few times, taking in her sympathetic expression.
Lydia picks my hand up, squeezing gently. “How did he die, if you don’t mind me asking?”
“A heart attack,” I reveal softly, trying not to have flashbacks of that terrible, horrible day.
Later that night…
“Party time!” Lydia squeals, parading up and down our room like a runway model.
Reluctantly, I glance in the full-length mirror and ask her for the second time, “Are you sure this looks okay?” A short red dress with spaghetti straps clings to my body, hugging every curve like a second skin.
Lydia had insisted I borrow something of hers, since I didn’t have much in the way of dresses. And while I appreciate her generosity, I’m still not completely sold on this dress. It just isn’t me.
“Girl, you’re positively glowing,” she compliments, her green eyes popping from how much black eyeliner she applied. “Seriously, just own it, at least for one night.” Her powdery perfume tickles my nose.
“You’re right,” I concede, doing a little twirl. “ I need to have more confidence.”
She rolls her eyes, laughing. “Why is it always girls like you who don’t have a clue about their own sex appeal?”
“Meaning?” I ask as she hands me a tube of lipstick.
She pops her gum for the umpteenth time. “Meaning you’re the cliché virgin everyone wants to fuck.”
Lydia using the word fuck shocks me. “Why does everyone think I’m a virgin?”
“I mean…you are, right?” she asks knowingly.
At her words, a very recent memory resurfaces, ghosting my brain with phantoms.
“Every walking body with a pussy wants to fuck me, be with me,” he revealed sharply, leaning forward in his seat. “But not you…you’re too good for that, aren’t you?” He touched my face gently. “You’re not like the others.”
“I think you’re very attractive,” I whispered stupidly, clutching my purse in vain. “I’m just-
“Shhhh,” he soothed, placing his thumb over my lips to silence me. “You’re as untried as a virgin sacrifice, aren’t you?”
“Hannah…” Lydia says my name.
It’s almost as if I can still hear Ethan’s dark, captivating voice.
“Yes, I am,” I answer softly, coming out of my trance. “I guess I just didn’t realize it was that obvious.”
She takes the tube of lipstick back, popping it open. “It’s not a bad thing,” she explains, expertly applying the red color to my bare lips. “It’s just no one really saves their V-card these days.” She smiles, capping the tube with satisfaction.
“Thanks, I think…”
“You’re not going to eat anything else tonight, right?” she asks, using a tissue to blot her own bright-pink lips. “If so, just take this with you,” she offers, handing me the lipstick to put into my purse.
I’d eaten earlier but forgotten all about it up until this moment. Odd.
“No, I ate earlier with Jesse,” I answer, remembering how he picked me up for lunch.
And how it didn’t go quite as expected…
“Do you really think you should be eating that?” Jesse asks with an innocent, teeth-filled smile.
For one single moment I don’t see his face, I see someone else’s. Maybe the shadows are playing tricks again…
I look down at my burger and it’s no longer loaded with tomatoes, and in its place are hundreds of tiny, crawling worms.
Squirming, gasping for air.
Life could be a dream, sweetheart.
“Maybe you’re right,” I tell him, feeling sick to my stomach.
“I’ll always look out for you, Hannah.”
Hello, hello again.
“Dude, you’re doing it again!” Lydia exclaims, her voice seeming near yet far away.
I snap out of the memory and back to the present. “Sorry, what?” I ask, slightly flustered.
“Never mind, let’s get going, girl,” she laughs, taking my hand and leading me towards the door. “I think you just need a night out, for real.”
The front lawn of the Tracey house is already littered with cups and debris. Someone leans over the porch railing, puking their guts out. As Lydia and I get closer, I notice Jesse and a few of his friends hanging out on the side of the white-vinyl house. Not for long, though, because as soon as he spots me, he stomps out a cigarette and heads straight my way.
I didn’t realize Jesse smokes cigarettes.
Even from here, the bass pumping from inside the house is audible, and I vaguely wonder if the police might be called.
“Oh snap, you look hot, Hannah,” one of Jesse’s friends whistles, grinning drunkenly.
“Shut up, Steven,” Jesse snaps, clapping him over the head.
Lydia winks. “I’m going to get a beer, you guys coming?” she asks, popping her gum with a playful gleam in her eyes.
“C’mon, Hannah,” Jesse says, taking my hand firmly in his. “Let’s get you a drink.”
Halfway through the lawn, something makes me look up, and a gnawing sort of dread starts when I notice a shadow standing in the second story window.
Once inside, Jesse hurries over to a beer keg and begins pouring drinks. In the meantime the song Mama Said Knock You Out by LL Cool J blares from wall to wall, and a few couples bump and grind to the beat.
“Here you are, my lady,” Jesse whispers from behind me, scaring the shit out of me.
I laugh nervously and take the cup from his outstretched hand. “You scared me.” Smiling, I take my first sip of beer ever.
It’s cold and doesn’t taste too bad, so I take another sip.
“Don’t tell me, you’ve never had a beer before?” Jesse appears momentarily shocked yet pleased at the same time.
“Nope, never,” I admit hesitantly, hoping I don’t seem too uncool. “My dad was kind of strict.”
His face falls. “Yeah, I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have asked.”
“Why ever not?” I ask, confused by his concerned expression.
“Lydia, she kind of spilled the beans about your dad,” he says, regret in his hooded gaze.
Ah, I see.
“So, you guys are talking about me behind my back, now?” I try to keep my tone even as I drain the remainder of my beer, the cold suds doing nothing to soften the blow.
“Look, I just asked her for info about you,” he admits, grasping my arm in sympathy. “I didn’t mean anything by it, I swear.”
Pulling away, I smile bitterly. “I don’t appreciate you and Lydia talking about my private business,” I tell him frostily. “I’m going to get another drink.” I turn and head in the direction of the keg, feeling slightly off-balanced and seeing red.
“Hannah, wait,” he calls to no avail. “Hannah, come back here!”
Lydia is dancing in the far corner, that traitorous bitch, while Jesse trails behind me, apologizing profusely.
There’s something familiar about the entire scene, like I’ve been here before. Or maybe I’m remembering a dream or a movie I watched. Either way, I’m getting more and more creeped out by the second, and at the same time faded. My perception is off because suddenly I’m seeing everyone as animals, everyone has a mask.
A mask with more masks, if that even makes sense. Horns adorn their heads, but it’s like their bodies are nothing but dead husks.
Their teeth shine with ruby-red paint, or is it blood? Weird.
“Hannah, come dance with us!” Lydia’s yell echoes and ends up sounding more like a shriek.
Maybe she was a banshee in another life. Wait, what?
Where’d that thought come from? And why am I talking to myself in
my own head?
The music playing becomes hypnotic, my body swaying slightly as I stumble forward.
Hands, there are so many hands.
Sticky, wet claws.
Caw, caw!
Something slimy touches my leg, and when I look down the image of a snake coiling around my leg has me falling back and into someone’s waiting arms, arms that are attached to some kind of body.
A warm corpse.
“Hannah Vale,” he breathes down my neck. “Did you think I would forget about you?”
Where am I?
Familiar, sinewy arms are carrying me somewhere, but where, I have no earthly clue.
Where am I?
My body feels weightless and feather light, like I’m floating in space, a space with no purpose or direction. A black void clogs my brain, and all I can hear is his rapid breathing.
A voice talks to me as we travel, and I believe it’s him, the one I fear most. “We always want what we can’t have, isn’t that right, Hannah?”
What do you mean? I want to ask but no words leave my lips.
“I want you, but if it were up to you, I wouldn’t get what’s rightfully mine.”
Rightfully yours?
“Yes, Hannah, rightfully mine.”
His tone makes heat pool down to my core, a stream of want and taboo licking at the flames of my soul.
The wind and his arms keep me steady for endless moments until finally, I’m free, flying through the air and landing on something soft and welcoming.
“I hope you like it, Hannah,” he whispers, the softness dipping to support his weight. “This is where you’ll be spending most of your time, my love.”
His love?
A match is lit above me, the aroma of candles burning lulling me into a fitful, nightmarish slumber.
Startling awake, the first thing I realize is that I’m strapped, my arms tied to a bed banister. My legs are blessedly free from constraints, but the fear pulsing through my heart tells me otherwise. That I’m far from free and most likely doomed.
As I glance wildly about my surroundings, I notice I’m fenced in with nothing but darkness. A chandelier hangs above the bed with burning candles, providing light like the stars would in the night sky.
There’s a faint odor of clean sheets and fresh blood. Not the most comforting smell to wake up to, but it’s better than what one would expect in a hostage type situation.
Using all my strength, I test what I think is rope tied around my wrists. Yanking and twisting my arms, I grit my teeth in pure frustration. Whoever tied me up hadn’t been playing around.
A mad cackle halts my escape attempt. “Oh, Hannah, I do love your spirit, love,” the voice mocks but soon reveals itself as Ethan Winchester steps from the shadows in all his gloriously dark beauty.
Dressed entirely in black with half his face covered, he reminds me of the devil come to collect his due.
“What do you want from me?” I ask, meeting his arctic gaze with defiance.
“Now, that’s a silly question, my love,” he answers, creeping ever closer to the bed I’m occupying.
“Is it because I’m a virgin?” I sputter, fear lacing my tone. “Are you…going to kill me?”
He’s now before me, his hands hidden behind his back. “You wound me, Hannah,” he says softly, a deranged light coming into his eyes. “Of course not, my love. Death is too good for our kind, wouldn’t you agree?”
Oh, God.
I panic, my throat clogged with fear. “Our kind?”
“Don’t play dumb, my love,” he leans forward, his breath kissing my frozen face. “It doesn’t become you, and besides we don’t have much time, do we?”
The man is deluded, and I’m more confused than I’ve ever been in my entire life.
Ethan laughs, leaning over me. “Let’s just untie your hands, my love. That will put you at ease, I know it will.” He strokes the side of my face while untying my wrists with the other.
“Please,” I beg, starting to feel ill. “Just let me go-”
“I know, I know, you’ll never tell anyone,” he laughs darkly, jerking me by the hair until I’m staring into his monstrous eyes once again. “That’s right, because you’ll never be free of me again.”
I own you; the three words invade my brain with a dreaded finality.
“You killed Edward Turner and Jared Shaw, didn’t you?” I accuse, hoping to stall whatever is about to happen next.
“Edward, yes,” he agrees indifferently. “I didn’t care for the way he was planning to insert himself into your life.” He laughs at my shocked expression. “Oh yes, he wanted you, just like the rest of them. You’re naive to your own beauty, my love.”
“You’re crazy,” I whisper, my mind racing.
“But that’s not the reason I’m making you mine, you know that, Hannah,” he says my name like an omen, climbing onto the bed.
I shrink back, scooting to the edge of the bed. “Stay away, get back,” I yell, halfway jumping and falling from the bed at the same time.
Only making it two steps forward, I’m wrenched back and onto the bed with a brutal strength. “Ahhh,” I scream in pain, his body quickly hovering above mine with sick determination.
He rips what’s left of my borrowed red dress in half, stripping my pale flesh bare. No one has ever seen me naked, hell, I’ve never even been kissed properly.
Smoothing his hands over my underwear, he pulls them down my legs with care, one moment violent and the next gentle. The man is one scary, giant contradiction.
A monster.
“Fuck me,” he mutters reverently, gawking at my private parts. “I’ll need to prepare this tight little cunt, won’t I?” He licks his first and middle finger, his breathing suddenly labored.
“Please, don’t, I don’t want to lose my virginity like this,” I implore, trying to appeal to his humanity. “I’m begging you…”
He opens my cherry, examining my hymen. “Go ahead, beg,” he invites softly, licking his lips. “I like it.”
My eyes close because I realize I can’t fight him off, and I know this is it.
The point of no return.
I’m exhausted, both mentally and physically, and I vaguely wonder how in the world I ended up here. Wherever here is…
In and out, his fingers inch further up inside of me, creating an unfamiliar, stinging sensation. It’s like a tension is building, and I’m not sure how to relieve it. There’s a torturous mixture of pleasure and pain. And then suddenly, he removes his fingers, sliding them up until the moisture on his fingertips meets my clit.
Thrashing my head back and forth, I let out a helpless whimper.
It’s almost too much.
“Shhh,” he hushes me, unzipping and yanking down his black leather pants. “This won’t hurt…much.” He smiles coldly, but his eyes are blazing to the tenth shade of hell.
Holy, shit…he’s huge.
“Listen, maybe this isn’t going to work,” I say wildly, gesturing towards his enormous, throbbing cock.
Ignoring my words he straddles my hips, positioning himself. “We will be together forever, my love,” he whispers against my mouth, claiming my first kiss as he eases his weepy tip into my stretched opening.
I squirm as Ethan glides further inside me, and then quite suddenly back out again. He’s too big, the tight fit threatening my sanity.
Seconds pass by, maybe minutes, and for the first time I notice how alluringly handsome he really is. His nose, although half covered, is strong with a slight hook. His lips are full, surrounded by a chiseled chin and high cheekbones.
And still, the pull is there to take off his mask and caress his scars.
I’ve been beguiled.
October 19th, Midnight
Ethan
Her plump lips part as I wipe away a hot, leaking tear. My sweet, Hannah, she has no idea how far gone she really is. Her eyes are the most pure and deadly I’ve ever beheld.
I’d done my research on her the
day she arrived, that lost crazy look she had about her nearly my undoing. Her hometown plus a few pay-offs provided all the information I needed to know about Hannah Vale.
And now she’s mine.
My equal and my eternal love.
She only needs one more drop of my blood, just one more drop.
Jerking my hips back, I slam fully into her tight, tiny pussy. “Fuck, Hannah,” I utter, unable to stop myself. Looking down with the last bit of restraint I can muster, I can tell she’s having a hard time taking my size. “My love…” I can’t finish, the pleasure too strong, too everything.
My senses are alive, electrified by the grip of her cunt.
I fuck her slowly at first, gritting my teeth against the urge to unleash my rage as I nip at her neck. Easing my cock out and back in with shallow, hard thrusts, my thoughts turn primal with the idea of planting my seed.
To make another monster with her.
I’ll never turn my back on them or ask for too much.
Suddenly she sighs, closing her eyes. “No,” I demand, picking up a punishing pace. “Keep those pretty little eyes open, on me only.”
Hannah obeys like a good little girl, those pearly white, red-veined orbs gazing up at the ceiling.
Not good enough.
Grunting, I plow into her again, this time with enough strength to garner a scream. “Here, my face, my eyes, or I’ll fuck your ass next,” I warn, her eyes meeting mine in ecstasy.
I’ll never leave her; never forsake her like all the others.
“Harder,” she gasps, raking her nails down my back. “I’m so close, I can feel…”
“That’s it, my love,” I encourage her, bringing my hand up to collar her fragile throat. “I can make you feel again.” My ball sack tightens, my cum being forced out by the milking of her pussy.
Now, I have to give her all of me now, before I lose control.
Still thrusting but so close to the edge, I bite into my wrist with slightly sharpened teeth and tilt her head back to accept my offering. She has no idea about the deal I’ve made. The deal I made not so long ago with my father…
The Horror of our Love: A Twisted Tales Anthology Page 10
