The Horror of our Love: A Twisted Tales Anthology

by Nikita Slater

  Today, I found out I’m pregnant.

  We’re going to have a baby. I am elated. But, I’ve also got some very complicated emotions, too.

  I feel like I need him to know about the baby we lost. I feel guilty. So guilty. I have to find a way to carefully communicate this to him when I tell him about the baby that’s coming, while expressing my immense feelings of loss, of self-blame.

  How? I have to find a way.

  Epilogue

  ERICA

  Erica sat in tall grass, beside her new little kitten, who was stalking a dragonfly, his fluffy black bum up in the air, wiggling. Erica kept at the landscape sketch she was working at, when a sudden sinking sensation swept over her. Her phone rang from her bag. She fumbled to get it, knowing something was wrong.

  “Isabella is about to break the rule!”

  Vivica had texted this.

  Vivica was clairvoyant and all the lives that their coven had touched remained part of the network within Vivica’s mind. She didn’t always tap in, but she would be alerted to concerns.

  Erica’s heart sank, and her fingers trembled. She’d gotten her hands on Isabella Holloway’s mobile phone number, but in the year since they’d seen one another, she hadn’t used it. She hoped she would never need to.

  Today was Halloween and she’d already thought about Holden and Isabella. She thought about the other lives her magic had affected, too --- which didn’t always happen on Halloween, but the day was an especially important one to her because of the impact of Holden and Isabella’s story.

  She hit the button to dial Isabella’s number. It went directly to voicemail.

  “Isabella, this is Erica. Do not say it. Do not! Please phone me at this number so we can discuss. It’s imperative! If you speak any of the words about that night, about his past, words about anything related to that, it will unleash the monster in him. He will go on a rampage without it being in his control. It’s the price you both have to pay to keep what you have in one another. If you break the rule, it’ll be like it was before, but it will be worse, because he may not be in his old hunting grounds where we can possibly contain him. Just telling you this much will cost me, Isabella. Not you, not Holden, me. I will pay that price to try to stop you from losing everything. Because if you do whatever you’re thinking about doing, it will cost you both everything. And more. Please. Hear this message and say nothing. Call me.”

  She recited her number and ended the call and looked up the number for Holloway Farms. She dialed. Unfortunately, there was no answer.

  She sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose.

  Why didn’t they ever listen? There was always a price to pay, and she’d done her best to communicate how important it was that they pay this price. She wasn’t allowed to go back to reiterate, to remind without paying her own price. That was just, quite simply, how it worked.

  Isabella had to have faith in her husband. He had to have faith in what they had now, in her forgiveness. They were not allowed to dwell on the past. It wasn’t healthy. It wasn’t always the rule, each spell had its own particulars, but it was deemed to be a good rule for this particular scenario. Five witches had agreed and sealed it as such.

  She dusted off her skirt as she rose to her feet, her small black kitten, the newest addition to her menagerie of pets playing by her feet. He was a perfect Halloween kitty with his black fluffy self and just the tip of his tail orange, as if it had been dipped in paint.

  “Well, Archie… off we go to try to fix this. As they say… no rest for the wicked…”

  THE END

  Acknowledgments

  Thanks for reading Hollow!

  Hollow is a novelette that was written for The Horror of Our Love Anthology. It may be expanded to novel-length and re-released in the future.

  Erica, Vivica and the other witches may also demand their own series at some point …

  HUGE thanks to DD’s Chickadees (my reader group. Feel free to join it if you loved this story and /or are interested in my other books), DD Prince’s Street Team, and my co-authors in this anthology.

  Be sure to follow my Amazon page and subscribe to The Scoop, my newsletter to be informed of any future releases.

  Big hugs.

  -D

  Follow DD Prince:

  Facebook | Twitter | Website | Newsletter | Amazon

  DD’s Hollow Playlist

  The Animals - House of the Rising Sun

  Nine Inch Nails – Closer

  Black Hole Sun – Soundgarden

  Rage Against the Machine – Killing in the Name

  Deftones – Change

  Korn – Freak on a Leash

  Alice in Chains - Man in the Box

  Bonus song:

  Let’s Get it On - Marvin Gaye*

  *During the writing of the scene when these two first set eyes on one another, this song coincidentally came on in my office and the idea of our monster hearing it in his head when seeing her for the first time… it cracked me up. It also word-blocked me on his story for about 48 hours***

  Other Books by DD Prince

  This list may have been updated since publishing.

  Check ddprince.com for the latest list of DD Prince books)

  Dark Paranormal Romance: Vampire dark romance / kidnapping – Widely available from iBooks, Kobo, Amazon, Nook, and others. Book one is free (but does have a cliffhanger)

  Book 1 – Nectar

  Box set: Nectar Trilogy (Includes Nectar, Ambrosia, and Essence)

  Dark Mafia Romance: dark romance with a debt flesh payment plot.

  Kindle Unlimited

  This one DD’s most popular book, but it is dark and has non-consensual / rough sex. An anti-hero you may love to hate and hate to love.

  The Dominator

  US | UK| CA | AU

  The Dominator II; Truth or Dare

  Sex slave rescue romance with dark themes.

  US | UK| CA | AU

  The Dominator III: Unbound

  More Tommy, More Dare; More Domination!

  US | UK| CA | AU

  Spin off Dark Romance (maybe DD’s darkest book yet) & unofficially Dominator IV

  Saved

  US | UK| CA | AU

  Dirty / fun / insta-love alien romance

  Hot Alpha Alien Husbands: Book 1 – Daxx and Jetta

  Kindle Unlimited

  US | UK| CA | AU

  MC Romance: Romantic suspense with comedy, angst, steamy scenes, and a little bit of gritty darkness.

  Detour (Beautiful Biker 1) Deacon & Ella

  This alpha-male is not an alpha-hole. You’re going to FLOVE Deacon Valentine.

  US | UK| CA | AU

  Joyride (Beautiful Biker 2) Rider & Jenna

  Rider starts out as a little bit of an alpha-hole. Jenna resists, but resistance is futile when a Valentine brother has you in his sights.

  US | UK| CA | AU

  Scenic Route (Beautiful Biker 3) Spencer & Pippa. Coming in late October 2018 – Goodreads link

  Enemies-to-Lovers Office and Roommate Romance

  Aiden Carmichael is an absolutely infuriating alpha male asshole. You’re going to effing love him.

  Alphahole

  Kindle Unlimited

  US | UK| CA | AU

  STALKED

  Copyright © 2018 Nikita Slater

  This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locales or organizations is entirely coincidental.

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any manner whatsoever without written permission from the author except in the case of brief quotation embodied in critical articles and reviews.

  Authorized for use in The Horror of our Love Anthology, 2018.

  Chapter 1

  Rasputin

  I’m no ghost.

  I’m
as corporeal as the next guy. I have a body; you can touch me, lick me, fuck me, hurt me and probably even kill me. Though that last one hasn’t been tested and I prefer it stays that way, you know what I mean? No, I’m no ghost, but I am invisible. As in, not a fucking soul can see me. Not sure how I got this way. Maybe an industrial accident, like in the comic books, or maybe I was born this way, but I don’t remember. In fact, I don’t remember anything before just existing in this form. Bam. One day, I’m some guy, at a guess in his mid-twenties, completely invisible.

  And it’s the best fucking thing ever. Seriously; just think about it for a minute. The kind of shit I got up to in those first few months? At first just petty crimes. Lifting wallets, stealing cash out of open registers, grabbing food from delis and bakeries, sneaking into motels.

  Then I got smart.

  Started upping the ante. Figured out how to knock over banks and armoured cars. It was laughable, like taking candy from a baby. Bastards didn’t know what the fuck hit them. Security footage couldn’t explain a faceless, bodiless man walking out with a few hundred thousand in cash. This quickly turned into racketeering, betting, bribery, blackmail, until finally, I was running my own crew.

  Ten years after I woke up as an Invisible man, I became the man, Mr. Shy, the guy that ran the city. I was on top of the world. There wasn’t a damn thing I wasn’t willing to do, mostly because there wasn’t a damn thing I couldn’t get away with. Nothing could stop me. The world belonged to me.

  Then there was her… and that’s when stealing, money laundering, coercion and murder turned to stalking.

  Chapter 2

  Nola

  “Sorry I’m late!”

  I rushed past Magda and Gigi, grabbing my waitress apron on the way. Gigi gave me a sympathetic pat on the hip, but I caught the evil glare on Magda’s wicked old face. She was such a wrinkled old bat. I didn’t know how Mr. Shy put up with her, but she’d been at the restaurant for a long time. Maybe she was useful in a way I just hadn’t figured out yet. She certainly didn’t wait tables in a timely manner, handle the register well or deal with the kitchen. She was a sour bitch and everyone hated her.

  But unfortunately, she had about twenty-one years seniority on me. Which was about twenty years and ten months longer than I’d been working at the popular Italian restaurant.

  “You’re late.”

  Her voice, like nails on a chalkboard, sounded behind me in the lit doorway of the storage room where I was frantically buttoning my white blouse and tying the short, black apron around my hips.

  “My bus was late, Magda,” I said, trying to keep my voice calm, instead of the snarky I-hate-you-and-want-to-rip-your-saggy-tits-off that kept bubbling up every time I looked at her. “Mr. Shy can dock my pay. I’ll be sure to note it on my time sheet.”

  “And I’ll be sure to tell him personally,” she sneered.

  “No need,” a deep voice interrupted from the dark depths of the storage room.

  We both jumped and I clutched at the top buttons of my blouse where they gaped wide open, giving a generous view of my cleavage. I squinted into the shadows, unable to see anything. Every single one of the hairs on my body stood up and told me that my boss was standing in the shadows, his eyes roving over me. It was crazy, this awareness I had for him.

  “Mr. Shy,” I whispered, unable to properly find my voice. “I-I’m sorry, my bus was late again. I think it’s this never-ending rain. It seems to be delaying the entire city.”

  “You can go,” he said, his voice a delicious drawl that sent both a shiver and a creep right down my spine.

  I nodded and turned away, intent on getting into the restaurant and staking out my tables. It was a Thursday evening; the tips were likely to be good.

  “Not you, Nola,” he corrected as Magda left the room.

  I stopped and stood completely still. There was something about this man that spellbound me. I knew it was wrong to fantasize about my boss, but I couldn’t seem to help myself. And the weirdest part was that I’d never actually seen him. He hid his face from the world. No one actually knew what he looked like.

  I could hear him breathing as he approached, gliding smoothly toward me. I blinked in the darkness of the closet, widening my eyes, straining to catch a glimpse. Suddenly, the jokes among us younger waitresses about him being a ghost or a phantom didn’t seem so funny anymore. I felt something touch the ends of my hair, wild from a hasty brushing and a mad dash through the rainy evening toward the bus shelter. I took a quick step back, sure it must have been my imagination since no one was touching me.

  “Late again, Nola,” he said, his husky voice calm and uncaring.

  “I’m so sorry, Mr. Shy. I’ll try harder,” I said desperately. I really did need the job, as jobs were hard to come by these days, but I’m terrible at keeping to a schedule. Always have been. Before I dropped out of college, I was the bane of my professor’s classrooms, always rushing in with excuses. “I can’t seem to make it to the bus on time! All this rain just keeps slowing everything down.”

  He ignored my poorly jabbered excuses. “Does Magda pick on you a lot?”

  “Uh…” I didn’t know what to say. I thought I was in trouble for being late again. “Sometimes, I guess. But she doesn’t bother me. I’m half Italian, half Latina, my temper is… well, let’s just say I can handle myself.”

  He chuckled, the sound sending a ripple of pleasure straight through me. I clutched my blouse a little tighter.

  “Okay, Nola. Back to work. We’ll talk later.”

  I didn’t hesitate, the moment he dismissed me I turned tail and ran. So maybe I found the boss a little attractive, but he also gave me some major sinister vibes. The whole invisible thing, where no one ever saw what he actually looked like? Yeah, it was just weird. Like straight out of a movie or something. And I’d heard things about Mr. Shy. Gigi had been working at the restaurant for over two years and she told me that he just walked in one day out of nowhere and took over. Not just this restaurant, but operations all over the city. How he managed such a feat no one seems to know. Apparently, he crushed any resistance he encountered with such brutal ease that everyone else just fell into place like dominos. Like a demon, he swooped in and took over the entire city’s underworld operations, and not a single person put up even a whimper of complaint. Or at least no one lived long enough to complain about the takeover.

  Me? I’m just a hard-luck college dropout from the wrong side of the tracks. Mom took off when I was a baby and dad a few years later. When I was a kid I used to tell people my parents died so I could get more sympathy, which would sometimes translate to more food, better choice in desks at school, better friends. The dead parent lie hadn’t helped in the long term. Now I’m paying off a monster student loan without the benefit of even a certificate to show for my effort and working a waitress job in a restaurant owned by the mob.

  I punched in my time card and selected my tables. Gigi gave me a quick rundown before clocking out and heading into the storm, pulling the brim of her hood low over her face. I sighed, pulled my hair back into a tight ponytail and pasted on my best fake smile before I moved into the dining room.

  A sudden chill slithered down my spine. I stopped and glanced around, my smile faltering. Next to the bar stood a man, alone in the shadows, his head turned toward me. He was tall and broad-shouldered. His trench coat with the upturned collar hid his body and face from view. He wore an expensive dark purple dress shirt and a black tie with a golden tie pin poked through the middle. A broad-brimmed hat shadowed his entire head. With the hat and coat, he looked as though he’d dressed appropriately for the weather. Except Mr. Shy never took them off. His hat tilted in a nod and his leather clad hand came up to touch the brim of his hat in silent salute.

  I nodded back, turned and hurried toward my tables.

  Chapter 3

  Rasputin

  Nola Antonetti had worked for me for nine weeks, two days and thirteen minutes. My obsession with her began nine weeks
, two days and eight minutes ago. Approximately five minutes after noticing her in the restaurant I had gone to my office, removed my clothing and then returned to the dining room. From there I spent her entire first shift shadowing her every move. When she waited tables, I stood by her side, observing the way she spoke: her cadence, tone of voice, pitch and frequency. When she stood behind the bar, pouring drinks, I hovered over her shoulder, watching her movements, the grace of her hands, the delicacy of her touch, the way she frowned when she concentrated. When she went to the kitchen and laughed and joked with the cooks and busboys, chattering animatedly, I became angry. Intolerably, uncontrollably enraged. I picked up a pot of boiling water, intending to throw it in Paulo’s face, but it caught on something and spilled across the counter, soaking his hand instead.

  That evening I learned what love felt like. I had fallen completely, irrevocably and instantly in love with Nola Antonetti. After burning the cook, I turned away disgusted with myself and my lack of control. I returned to my office feeling more a monster in that moment than at any time since my awakening.

  How could I possibly know the love of a woman? She would never see me. And I could never allow her to know about my unique condition. I sat alone in the dark, contemplating a future without companionship. The thought had never bothered me before, had never even sparked my radar. When I wanted to fuck, I fucked. In the beginning, I’d pick up whores, using my costume of trench coat, hat and scarf. I’d fuck them in the dark where they couldn’t see me. When I took over the underworld as Mr. Shy, I had an entire city at my disposal and my choice in escorts.