Die By the Drop: Shivers and Sins Volume 1

by Kaia Bennett

  Die By the Drop

  Shivers and Sins Volume 1

  Kaia Bennett

  Illustrated by

  Eden Connor

  Edited by

  Eden Connor

  Contents

  Author’s Note

  Acknowledgments

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Doing It To Death

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Coming Soon!

  Other Books By Kaia Bennett

  About the Author

  Copyright © Kaia Bennett 2016

  All rights reserved.

  This book is protected under the copyright laws. Any reproduction or other unauthorized use of the material or artwork herein is prohibited.

  This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This e-book may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  Disclaimer: The persons, places, things, and otherwise animate or inanimate objects mentioned in this novel are figments of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to anything or anyone is unintentional.

  Author’s Note

  The light at the bottom of this rabbit hole is tinted obsidian, and I put the characters in this story through the ringer. Not for the faint-hearted, this read explores the dark side of obsession, in all its forms. Adults only from this point. Strap in and buckle up. Keep your hands and feet inside the ride at all times. Because the teeth lurking ahead are razor sharp and the blood they seek might be yours. Please, do not attempt to exert your human morals on the fictional beasts you will meet. They'll just laugh while they rip you to shreds.

  Acknowledgments

  This book wouldn’t exist without several wonderful people.

  Thank you, Eden, for sharing your knowledge, patience, and innumerable strengths as a writer and editor with me. You took an idea and some good lines, and turned them into something I’m proud of. We created a book that lives and breathes, and characters that surprised me even as I wrote them. Die By the Drop doesn’t exist without you, or our winding talks about life, art, love, sexuality, and the written word. Thanks for throwing down the gauntlet that made me say, “Dammit, I can do better than this. I accept your challenge”. Thanks for being an amazing mentor and friend.

  Thank you, Kirsti, for loving the first seventy-five pages of some story I was tinkering with years ago. When I put it aside and gave up on it, you brought it back to the forefront of my mind. If not for my promise to you that it would be next thing I published after Loose Ends, I don’t know if I would’ve had the courage to turn those pages into Die By the Drop.

  Thanks to Sunny, Ratula, Alicia, and Erin for taking time out to beta read for me. Your encouragement and notes were wonderful and so helpful. Thank you for taking a chance on my first twisted, paranormal tale.

  Thanks to my family. Anything good I do in this world, any talent I have, comes from the people who encourage me to be strong, unapologetically myself, hardworking, and above all, free. I’m very lucky to have people I love so much, and to be loved so much in return.

  And thank you to the readers for all you wonderful feedback and for encouraging me to write whatever pops into my head next. I hope I continue to surprise you, and I hope you continue to enjoy the ride.

  1

  It wasn’t the chill that rattled my bones, but the knowledge didn’t stop me from blaming my shivers on the cold as Manny tore at my clothes to expose more skin.

  “You alright?” My boyfriend of two-and-a-half years shoved my jeans down my hips without waiting for an answer.

  “I don’t feel so good.” I sensed movement in the trees surrounding us, belying the eerie stillness of the night. In the distance, a bonfire crackled, the pungent smell of smoke tangling on the wind as music blared. I felt trapped in a bubble of deceptive calm. Silence, the kind that prevails when animals flee, thickened around us.

  Manny didn’t seem to notice. He shoved cold fingers between my legs and rubbed my dry flesh.

  Even in his drunken haze, he looked disappointed. Wasn’t I always wet and ready for him? Wasn’t I always predictable and accommodating?

  Never mind, his huff seemed to say. The condom has lube on it. He gave me a sloppy kiss while he rifled through his jeans pocket. I knew what came next. He’d turn me around, shove me up against the tree, and fuck me from behind like so many times before in these woods. Maybe the tree he braced me against knew the press of our weight, the sound of our moans. Maybe my fingernails had etched this bark another time during the throes of ecstasy.

  Tonight was different, though. Tonight I couldn’t ignore who I was—what I was. I couldn’t pretend everything was fine.

  “Manny. Manny! Stop for a second, okay?”

  I pitched my voice low, soothing him. He was pretty horny so it took longer than usual. He pulled his teeth away from the condom wrapper and stared at me.

  “I don’t feel up to it tonight, babe. I’m sorry.”

  He sighed and took a step back. “What’s going on with you? You’ve been acting weird all fucking week, and now, we finally get a chance to be alone and you’re not up to it?”

  I yanked up my panties and jeans and straightened my spine. “You and I have both been busy with work and school, so don’t put this shit on me. If you want something to just lie there while you jizz all over it, then let me get out of your way.” I slid to the side, and motioned with my hands like a magician’s assistant, presenting the tree for his sexual pleasure.

  Shock flared in Manny’s eyes. I’d never spoken to him with disdain. Guilt blew out the flame of my anger and nausea doused the embers.

  “I don’t know what’s wrong with me,” I whispered to the night air. My stomach flipped and I bent to dry heave. Manny leaned over to push my hair aside.

  “You didn’t have too much to drink, did you?”

  I shook my head and regretted the motion. “I couldn’t even finish that beer. Fuck, I want to go home.” Tears stung my eyes.

  Something’s wrong. Something’s wrong again. Something’s going to happen!

  “Is this like one of those episodes you had when you were a kid?”

  I grimaced and righted myself, swiping my forehead with a sweaty palm. “You mean, before I got admitted against my will to a mental hospital? One of those episodes?”

  It’s exactly like that, but I’ll be damned if I’ll tell you the truth.

  Manny had the decency to look ashamed for bringing up my battle with mental health. I never talked about my admittance into Tremaine Behavioral Hospital after my cousin Nora’s death, but he knew. Everyone in our small suburban town knew. My past hung over me like a cloud. I’d cultivated a new image since then, my dark past fading, mostly blending in with the white fluffy clouds surrounding the fictional life I presented to the world.

  But still, every once in a while, if I looked too emotional, if I didn’t smothe
r melancholy before anyone saw, my loved ones pricked up their ears, listening for the first hint of a storm. Always, there glowed a touch of gray in me, a rumble of thunder buried deep within. I’d spent years burying my volatile nature, but I couldn’t dig the hole deep enough so that people forgot I’d been unhinged once. Small towns have longer memories.

  “Evie—”

  I leaned back against the tree for support while I tried to make myself look strong. “I’m not having an episode. I’m not crazy.”

  “I know that. Just talk to me. Tell me what’s wrong.” Manny stroked my overheated cheek with cool fingers, gentling his touch the way he did before kissing me.

  I wanted to tell him, but I’d come too far to turn back now. The girl I used to be, the one who’d screamed and cried and suffered nightmares just before Nora’s death? She died as soon as I got my clearance papers from the hospital. I’d killed her.

  I am normal! I’m just sick to my stomach and need to get some rest. I’m not crazy. And even if I was losing my mind, I’d die before I told another living soul. Never again.

  “Nothing. I just don’t feel well.” The lie worked. Like flipping a switch, he returned to exasperation.

  “We just got here, Evie. And Greg? What am I supposed to tell him?”

  Greg—Manny’s best friend since pee-wee football—shipped off for the Army tomorrow. We’d come to a bonfire to celebrate his last night in town.

  “I’m sorry. You can stay and I’ll take the car.”

  Manny scowled. “You’re the designated driver.”

  Fuck.

  I’d never been a big drinker, so I agreed to be the designated driver. I’d completely forgotten, and now, I regretted my promise.

  Manny wavered before my eyes, but I blinked my tears back. I swallowed. A shiver wracked me.

  Get it together, Evie. Just grin and bear it for one night.

  “I can’t stay,” I blurted.

  So much for my pep talk.

  The Evie I pretended to be—the normal college senior—would've sucked it up and agreed to stay, like a mature and totally sane twenty-two-year-old. The Evie I pretended to be would’ve smiled, kissed her boyfriend, and led him back to the party after he shot his load. Why couldn’t I just do that now?

  “I can come back and get you. If you call me—”

  He shoved his dick into his boxers and zipped with more force than needed. “I’ll walk home.”

  We were only a thirty-or forty-minute hike from our hometown of Guthridge, New Jersey. No sweat for a man built like an NFL quarterback, but I still didn’t like the idea. Not tonight. Not in these woods.

  “So you’re gonna walk home drunk and then get up for work tomorrow afternoon?”

  “Well, that wasn’t the fucking plan, was it?”

  My stomach roiled. I needed to concentrate, push away his anger, and stay calm for both our sakes. I focused on the relentless tingling in my fingers. I clenched and unclenched my fists and shook out my hands, but they wouldn’t stop trembling.

  “Just give me the keys, Evie. I’ll drop you off at your place, then come by later to leave your car.”

  “You’ve been drinking!” I protested. “By the time you’re ready to leave, you’ll be drunk. I’m not letting you drive.”

  His jaw clenched. That wonderful, square jaw I loved to kiss. He rarely got mad at me and I had ways of making him forget his anger. None of which I felt up to right now.

  I growled and stuffed my hands into my jacket pockets. “Call me when you’re ready to go, Manny. I’ll come get you.”

  He huffed and shook his head.

  “Okay?”

  “Whatever.” He turned and stormed towards the party.

  “Nice, babe. Thanks for being so understanding!”

  “Fuck you!” He spun on me. “You’ve been acting like a selfish bitch all week, so you might as well go home. It’ll be more fun without you here. I’ll tell Greg you said ‘bye’.”

  I screamed in wordless frustration and slapped the bark of the tree.

  “Ow! Shit!”

  My palm stung and I cursed my outburst at an inanimate object. Manny’s softer face would’ve been much more satisfying to hit. I turned on my heel, outrage propelling me in the opposite direction.

  Fuck me?

  No, fuck you! Motherfucking sonofabitch!

  Damn near three years of being unselfish, and one off week was all it took for him to treat me like gum stuck to his shoe?

  Fine. I hoped he was ready to get a piece of my mind tomorrow. His ears would bleed by the time I finished with him.

  Underbrush snagged my ankles. Branches smacked me in the face while I stumbled on the slippery pine needles, damp leaves, and moss. Even the damn trees had it in for me.

  I just needed to find my way to the path.

  Just get back to the car and this will be—

  A chill licked the nape of my neck. Reaching to touch the spot, I’d swear I touched a wet trail—the sort left by a tongue.

  I whirled.

  Of course there’s nothing there, stupid.

  Only evergreens and birches, darkness, and the fading sounds of the party beyond.

  But the sickening wrench in my gut—the feeling of something tracking me like prey—only worsened. For a moment, I thought of turning back, sucking up my pride, and apologizing to Manny. Instead I picked up the pace.

  The closer I got to the path, the worse my nausea got. I stopped thinking about cursing Manny out tomorrow. I stopped thinking about having dinner with my parents and brother Sunday evening. I stopped thinking about exams and my approaching final semester of college.

  I stopped thinking, period. I gave my sixth sense free reign. The moment I opened my consciousness to the ability I usually suppressed, the deepest sense of dread I’d ever felt hit me like a punch to my gut.

  A snapped twig echoed through the night. Booming laughter gave me a fright so fierce, I spun around again, slipped, and almost fell on my ass. Inky blackness blanketed the woods, broken only by streaks of starlight in the gaps between naked tree limbs.

  Some sixty feet away, a man stood in plain sight.

  I made out his masculine build. His imposing height wasn’t disguised by the easy hunter’s crouch he assumed. Moonlight refracted off his predatory stare, triggering my flight response. Adrenaline pumped through me.

  “My boyfriend is out here!” I retreated, first one tentative step, then another. “So you should go back to the party and leave me alone!”

  The man tilted his head. He took a deliberate step forward.

  “You’d better stop fucking around before I scream! My boyfriend won’t think this is funny!”

  Even in the dark, I spied the gleam of white teeth. The blazing flash served as my only warning before he took off at sprint so fast I tasted my heart in my throat.

  I pivoted and scrambled for the path, screaming so loud my voice echoed in my ears.

  “Manny! Manny! Help me!”

  My desperate cries almost drowned out my attacker’s laughter.

  But not quite.

  “Somebody! Help!”

  2

  Footfalls thudded behind me, gaining with every stride.

  I flirted with my own dementia as I ran. Maybe I’d lost my mind again. Maybe my nightmare would end if I could just force myself awake.

  Wake up! Wake up! Wake up!

  “Where you going, baby? Your limp dick boyfriend went the other way!”

  My heart pounded, but the sinister baritone of my pursuer blocked the thud in my ears. His voice echoed, not just in the woods, but in the marrow of my bones.

  He’s real. He’s been watching me the whole time. He’s right behind me!

  “C’mon, Evie, come back! We just wanna talk!”

  The sound of my name on a stranger’s lips shook me.

  We? There’s another one?

  It couldn’t be a different voice. It had to be the same man chasing me, trying to make himself more intimidating.

/>   And yet, the voice calling my name now seemed different. Higher, the laughter more frenetic, if no less sinister. I veered to my left and spied movement trailing me.

  Determined to leave this guy in my dust, I called on my runner’s skills, skills I’d cultivated by struggling to keep up with Manny’s six-minute mile. I propelled my body forward like a machine, into fatigue and beyond. My greedy lungs sucked in oxygen. My thighs and calves burned like kindling.

  No amount of effort put enough distance between us.

  “Help! Somebody help!” I’d only enough air to gasp my plea. The pounding in my ears and my own footsteps seemed to drown my cry out.

  “Help!” My pursuer mocked my voice, pitching it high and shrill like a B-movie horror vixen. “Somebody help!”

  He didn’t even sound winded.

  The path leaped into view. I sobbed in relief. Mere seconds and I’d be in my car, calling the police as I sped away.

  Running this sonofabitch over was a possibility, too. The fantasy of violent retribution eased the stitch in my side. I gulped cool November air and pushed, pushed, freedom almost within my grasp.

  Another man leaped onto the path ahead. I dug in the balls of my feet, praying to skid to a halt and outmaneuver him. I slipped on the pine needles and pitched forward. I would’ve slammed into him if he hadn’t lifted me into the air by my upper arms like a child. He must’ve been sporting weird contact lenses, because his eyes reflected light like a cat’s.

  No way his pupils are that big. No fucking way.

  My chest seized. I couldn’t catch a full breath. I couldn’t break his iron grip. He lifted me above his head and tightened his hold like a sadistic blood pressure machine. I howled in pain and reached for his face with bloodless hands, desperate to revive circulation in my lower arms.

  Death stared up at me with white teeth and sharp fangs clenched in a deadly smile. He wore a gray hoodie and curly, dark hair obscured his eyes, but those predatory canines were all I cared about. He snapped them near my face like a rabid dog. I kneed him in the sternum in reply. I returned his smile with satisfaction when he wheezed and hit him again. If I couldn’t run, I’d fight.