The ring weighed heavily on her hand, winking vulgarly in the low light of the naked light bulbs. It took up most of her finger, the coldness causing a trail of goose bumps to rise up her arm.
It fit her perfectly. Did he guess her ring size or did he just know?
“You promising to be with me … now or in the future, whenever you’re ready, it makes me happy.” Grayson wiped her tears with his thumb. He was smiling a genuine smile, not a cold smirk.
Odette hadn’t answered him but she knew that there was only one way to. After all … she didn’t want to spend the rest of her life alone.
“Someday,” she promised.
Grayson embraced her and Odette could see what she looked like in the mirror. She looked scared. She was careful not to wrinkle Grayson’s shirt but her fingers started to dig into his back, burying her face in his neck to avoid seeing her pitiful and pathetic visage any longer.
Odette was half asleep on Grayson’s couch when she realized that she was not alone anymore. In the corner of her eye, she could see something moving in the silver section of the drapes. Her head snapped over in that direction, her heart dropping into her stomach. She clutched Grayson’s jacket over her like a defense, causing her knuckles to turn white from shock.
“Thorn?” she whispered, squinting in the dim light to see him well. “What are you doing here?”
He certainly looked more disheveled than he had any other time that she had seen him. His shirt was wrinkled and only halfway tucked. His brown pants had rips in them and were more worn the further down to the bottom. He looked exhausted.
“Thorn?” Odette asked again, sitting upright.
“You … you had a-asked me t-to come an-and see you in rea-real life,” the man stammered, rubbing the back of his neck.
Odette pursed her lips and tried to recall herself saying something so strange. “I’m sorry, I don’t remember.”
“Pr-probably my f-fault, miss. I wo-wouldn’t want anything to happen … to happen to y-you if you d-did.”
There was a loud roar of applause coming from the stage area that drew both of their attention away.
“Shouldn’t you be with the twins? I mean, you said that you helped with the shows.”
Odette could see Thorn’s lips twitch slightly. “I-I don’t think th-that I’ll be missed.”
“You shouldn’t say things like that,” Odette said. “I’m sure that it’s not true.”
Thorn stared at his feet and shifted from side to side. Odette watched how he wrung his hands, how his fingers seemed to twitch every few seconds, like he might reach for the door handle.
“You said that I told you to come and see me in ‘real life,’ when did I say that?” Odette asked him.
His fingers began to tap against his thigh, flexing and curling uncomfortably while he turned his head to the side. “Um … a-a dream, miss.”
A dream? Odette’s lip curled. The guy had a dream about her? Or was that supposed to be the other way around?
“I … I suppose th-that I can p-prove it …” Thorn murmured. He shuffled closer to the couch and hesitantly sat down on the edge close to her. His whole body seemed to suck the warmth out of the surrounding area, drawing Odette in closer. Thorn pressed the palm of his hand to her forehead and a silvery blue light lit up all the veins in his body. Odette’s muscles seized up and she prepared to push away from him and scramble to safety, but the light had reached her before she could.
Odette’s head flew back from the force of the energy, a collage of memories filling her mind—but they weren’t memories. They were too hazy and too uncertain to be memories; they were snippets of a dream that she had experienced. She recognized them almost instantly, the images giving her the warm feeling of familiarity.
The words that were said, she knew them because she had heard them before. It was like rewatching a movie that she had only seen once before in her childhood.
Finally, Thorn pulled his hand away from her. He stood up from the couch and returned to his spot in the corner of the room. “That was jus-just the dream from l-last night.”
“Yeah,” Odette said, her body still buzzing from the power he used. “Are there others? More that I don’t remember, I mean?”
Thorn pursed his lips. “Y-yes, but I-I will n-not give you an-any more. Wha-what I have given y-you is e-enough.”
She was slightly nauseated from the angel’s power, lightheaded from being forced back into her own mind. Her hands were all sweaty and they shook like she had been sucked of all her energy; her mouth tasted like metal. Odette would trust the angel on with what he said. What he had given her was most definitely enough.
“I-I must le-leave,” he said abruptly.
Her eyes widened. There was still so much she needed to ask him. “Hey, hang on—”
Thorn didn’t wait. He didn’t even stand up from the couch. The angel vanished before her very eyes, like he hadn’t been there at all.
The new information made Odette’s head spiral. Well, Odette thought, it wasn’t technically new but newly remembered. That man who wrote the journal, the one who had been so obsessed with the twins, his theories of their magic being real was … correct. Odette laid her head in her hands, desperately trying to squeeze more information out of her head, remember all that he had written? The journal was all burned up now thanks to Grayson, and her notes of her dreams and her books had all been claimed by the fire. But, the more she thought on it, the more she could come up with snippets of lines and flashes of previous dreams. None of it was good enough. Her memory couldn’t be trusted, not with how strung out it had been the past few days. There was only one thing to do—ask Grayson herself.
She made a plan to do it as soon as he left the stage. Luckily, he was on the last show of the night and Odette knew that he would come back as soon as the curtains dropped.
Odette wasn’t far off. She could hear the crowd from where she sat, accompanied by the twins’ shouts of goodnight. It wasn’t two seconds later when the door to the dressing room swung open. Grayson gave her no warning and swept her off the couch before she could speak. Odette could feel his body shake from adrenaline, muscles trembling from the high of the performance and the magic. His hair had become askew from one of the tricks, his forehead damp with sweat. None of it, however, made him any less attractive.
Grayson kissed her, no words being exchanged as he did so. His amulet burned cold against Odette’s décolletage, cutting into her flesh through the thin lace of the dress. Odette made a noise of surprise, her hands pressed against his chest in an uncomfortable manner. She pried her face away from his, flustered by his sudden action. “Don’t you have a meet-and-greet with your fans right now?” she asked through gasps of air.
“I’m not going to it. I have you to look after,” he reminded her, his finger brushing against her cheekbone. “I think that we should get you home, you’ve been out for too long for today.”
Odette licked her lips and shook her head. “No, I’ll be fine. This is your job. I wouldn’t want you to lose fans because of something like this. Plus, your car’s out front. What will your fangirls think when they see you leaving with someone else?”
“I don’t care,” he snapped.
She jumped. He wasn’t angry, no; she knew what he looked like when he was angry. It was more mildly annoyed. His eyebrows rose, daring her to protest.
“You know what,” Odette said quietly. “I am feeling a little tired. Maybe … maybe the two of us could go ahead and go home?”
His hands that rested on her hips flexed and he smiled kindly. It didn’t match the rest of his face. “Of course, princess.”
Grayson quickly pecked her on the lips, softly and sweetly. His nose nudged against her own coyly and he chuckled to himself, his eyes raking over her face. He kissed her again and, this time, she knew that he wanted it to be more than a simple, childish peck. She feigned a yawn and turned her head just as he was opening his mouth up. His breath fanned over her cheek with a d
issatisfied sigh but he made up for it by kissing her temple.
“Come on,” Grayson said finally, helping her stand up on her feet. “It’s late. I’m sure that you’re hungry.”
Grayson pulled into his driveway, Odette had her arms crossed over her chest and her eyes trained on her lap. He had to take the road past her old house and she made the mistake of looking up at the charred remains. Police tape ran the length of the property but, as far as she could see, there were no officers present.
Just seeing it made her feel sick.
It also reminded her of her question but, with the way he was acting, she wasn’t sure if she was willing to go down that path.
“Princess?”
Odette knew that everything that she was feeling was due to her high strung emotions at the moment. It had to have been. There was no way that she was actually afraid of her own boyfriend. He had only surprised her earlier with that ring and then his overprotectiveness. Her anxiety was just making her feel things tenfold, nothing more.
Odette got out of the car on her own, practically forcing herself to go and lean into Grayson’s touch. She felt like she might be getting sick again.
“Hey, what do you say about watching a movie when we get inside?” he suggested, helping her up the front steps.
Odette eyed her sandals, “Yeah sure.”
The summer breeze rustled the trees and brought with it a horrible rotting smell. Odette gagged, cupping her hand over her nose and her mouth, but it wormed its way through and got into her eyes.
“Ugh, do you smell that?” Odette asked, now holding her stomach as well. It was so thick that it was choking her, mingling with the humidity.
Grayson’s face twisted up in disgust, which mirrored her own. “What is that? Maybe there’s a dead animal nearby?” he suggested, stepping into the mansion.
Odette glanced behind her, squinting into the darkness. If anyone did the poor animal in, Odette didn’t doubt that it would be Squiggles. Or Squiggles’ mistress.
She was about to join Grayson inside of his frigid home when she caught sight of something just underneath of her shoe. It was a splotch of rusty brown, which marred the rest of the chalky white steps.
Odette was quick to jump back from the spot. She felt like it had attacked her, or that she had attacked it for stepping on it. It frightened her that there was something that looked like blood on their front steps but she couldn’t think like that. She had to think positively or else … or else she didn’t know what she might do. But the more her eyes stayed focused on that spot, the more she could pick up the tinier spatters that led off to her left. There was another medium sized splotch of the rusted brown something just before the steps dropped off into nothing, leading into the bushes.
“Odette?” Grayson asked quietly.
The girl wasn’t moving on her own accord, it was like her body was on autopilot. She was in the grass before she even realized it; the putrid smell finding its way through her hand and even in through her mouth.
Grayson leaned out of the door, frowning at her dreamlike movements. “Odette, what are you doing?”
She glanced back at him, silently begging him to come to her side and join her. He didn’t. He stayed put, his eyebrows furrowed and his lips parted in confusion. Odette turned back around, walking the length of the house slowly. She was nearing the garden and she expected to see whatever it was laying there. She didn’t know how bad it would be, the severity of the injury of whatever poor creature it was. She didn’t really want to know either but she could feel her curiosity getting the better of her.
Even in the hot summer night, she felt a shiver go down her spine. Her first thought was, naturally, Greer. Somehow, the girl had beaten them home and done something horrible beyond imagination. Or, she let her pet do it while she watched from afar.
Odette rounded the corner and … nothing. No poor dead animal or—God forbid—a person. The rusted splotch trail ran cold as well. It was just the garden. Her shoulders slumped down with relief; she didn’t even realize how tense she was until then.
“Are you feeling okay?” asked Grayson who was unexpectedly close.
She jumped.
“You’re looking pale.”
Odette clutched her chest, feeling her heart beating erratically. He had really scared her. “I don’t think I’m getting enough sleep,” she said to herself, pressing the heel of her hands to her eyes.
Her paranoia was going to be the death of her. Nothing scary was going to just jump out at her. She didn’t know what she was even doing.
Grayson moved out of her way and led her back along the path to the front door. “That is a horrible smell.”
It only got worse the closer they walked to the house. The wind blew again and, even though it blew the stench away from them, the smell wouldn’t leave them.
That was when Odette saw it.
At first, she couldn’t believe exactly what she saw; it was only a glimpse in the bushes, foliage parted by the wind. A horrifying glimpse that made her jump backwards yet again.
She turned to Grayson with wide eyes. “Did you see that?”
“See what?” he asked.
Odette slipped away from him, her arms shaking by her side the closer she got to the hedges. The twigs and rough leaves scraped at her palms and she didn’t even have to push them back all the way to see it again. She wanted to let out a scream. Quickly, she turned around to get Grayson’s attention with a small cry leaving her mouth, but she fell to the ground and blacked out.
Odette woke up screaming, tearing at her high-collared dress. She felt like she couldn’t breathe. She couldn’t see anything around her; all she could think about was the fact that she had found Zeke’s body lying in the bushes. In her mind, she was still in the yard, or—even worse—right next to it.
She could practically still see him in her mind’s eye. Zeke’s poor lifeless body. It was all too much for her. The room was too cold and too hot at the same time. She wanted to throw up but she had nothing in her stomach. All she knew was that she had to get the dress off of her or else she would die from contamination.
“Odette! Hey! Snap out of it!” Grayson demanded, his hands clutching both of her hands and forcing them away from her body.
“NO!” Odette cried, struggling against him. “I can’t breathe! I can’t breathe! Just let me go!”
For a brief second, Grayson was not his beautiful, youthful self. Instead, he was death himself. He was Zeke.
A garbled, horrid choke left her lips. The scent alone made her hair stand on end.
Odette shrieked again and thrashed against the dead weight. “NO! GET OFF!”
“You need to listen to me!” Zeke insisted. “If you don’t calm down, you could trigger something and make yourself worse!”
She was hyperventilating; her heart pounding much too fast. There was a dead body on top of her, just like that time before, and it was talking. Her head swam with vicious dizziness and she felt like her limbs were being sucked into many different directions at once with the bed swirling as though it was on water.
Can’t breathe!
Grayson forced his lips on hers but it wasn’t a kiss. He was forcing air into her mouth. Odette jerked her head away, coughing and sputtering from the extra oxygen. She began to gasp and paw at the air, tears fell down her face. Her mind was still too hazy to be thinking rationally.
It took several minutes for her to truly calm down. The pressing weight on top of her was not a corpse but Grayson. She was in his room and it was probably the middle of the night seeing as it was still very dark outside even though his room was lit up by various candles all over and a lamp.
The flesh on her throat stung as her tears dribbled down onto it. She must have cut herself with her fingernails in the midst of her panic. Strangely, though, she didn’t mind the pain. It was a welcome change as it reminded her that she was still somewhat alive … if this was what was called living.
“You saw him too, right?�
�� Odette whimpered, her hands curling into fists. “Oh God, Grayson, what happened?!”
Even though he was right next to her, he seemed so far away. He pursed his lips. “I don’t know. I was more concerned about you.”
Anger and terror mingled inside of her, bubbling up into one uncontrollable mix. “There is a dead body in your front yard! I do not take first priority!” she shouted, shoving against Grayson and successfully pushing him off on top of her.
“When the police will be focused on taking you away from me, you are!” The boy snatched her left hand and forced it into Odette’s face. “You promised to be mine and if you are shipped off to the other side of the country, then we have no chance!”
She groaned, “Grayson! Nothing is going to take me away from you, and even if I had to go away it would only be for less than six months! They release you from foster care when you turn eighteen—”
“Do you know what could happen to you in that time?” his voice had turned deeper, anger and sadness in his eyes. “Do you know what goes on in the foster care system? Huh, Odette? You couldn’t handle it. It doesn’t matter if they would try anyway, you’re not leaving me.” His words were final and left no room to be questioned.
She shook beneath him, her emotions getting the better of her. Everything that had happened in the past few days, all of the horror and the tension inside of her, strangling out the last bit of sanity she possessed. At first, Grayson only frowned at the trembling movements. It soon turned into full on jerking limbs and Odette’s eyes rolled back into her head, her eyelids fluttering shut. That was when he began to panic.
Someone pounded on his bedroom door but he really didn’t care. “LEAVE!” he roared, focusing his energy on keeping Odette’s head propped up on his pillows. Small whimpers and grunts left her throat, followed by half choked sounds and twitching eyelids. Her leg would jerk and shake, and her back would arch up and off the bed; her arm twisting painfully beneath her.
Suddenly, Grayson became aware of the fact that he was not the only one in his bedroom anymore. His sister was kneeling down beside the bed, moving Odette onto her side while Odette seized. Greer didn’t seem like she was there to cause harm but Grayson knew better than to trust a snake like her.
Violent Delights Page 24