“So,” I leaned forward, looking deeply into her eyes as she watched my every movement, “what else do you do, Cyra? How did you find me?”
“I work for the same man that Johan and Mitch work for. That was one way I knew where to find you when you went missing,” she explained.
“The same man? Should I regret letting Jackson take my gun?”
She smirked, “You know if you wanted to kill me you don’t need that, but yes. We work for the same man.”
“And the plot to kill me…”
“Was a plan all their own, Blythe,” she interrupted. “That you can believe. My boss has no intention of killing you. Not now and not ever.”
“Why?”
“He has become very interested in you.”
I thought about that for a moment. “The paintings? Were those just a way to get to me? Or do you really have visions about me?”
“That’s all true. At first, it was just about the visions and then, once he saw them and realized what you are, he wanted to know more. With your reputation, you weren’t hard to find. Then I sent a painting to your gallery as ordered. He knew you would see it and want to know more. So you would have to find me, and I would lead you to him.”
“And Kyle? What happened with him?”
She waved a dismissive hand and said, “That was something we hadn’t expected. They knew what you were because of this entire thing and decided to take action. The four that had been killed before were all their doing and, when you went missing, that was when we had put two and two together.”
“So, you’re saying those other women were just like me?”
She didn’t respond, knowing I knew the answer as soon as I had asked the question. The answer was yes.
“Who is your boss?” That was the next logical question I knew to ask as well as one of the most important. My mind was running with a million different thoughts in a million different directions, so it was hard to know exactly where to take this discussion next. I had to slow down and get all of the answers I was looking for before Cyra decided she was done answering them, but after what I had been through because of this entire ordeal, I deserved each and every one of them.
“His name is Adam,” she said matter-of-factly like that explained everything. It didn’t. Not even close.
“Adam?” I asked, feeling my eyebrows furrow in confusion as I looked at her. Cyra sat back in the chair, and that was when I had noticed she had changed her clothes. She was no longer wearing the bloodstained garb I had seen her in. She was in an all-red ensemble, and the symbolism wasn’t lost on me. She crossed her arms over her chest and smiled, knowing she had my attention.
“Yes,” she paused, her gaze shifting to me and someone behind me. I could only assume that Jackson had finished his task and was now standing in the room, watching our exchange. “Adam. Because he was the first.”
My confusion only deepened after those words. That didn’t answer anything. And it really didn’t help me put all the pieces of this growing puzzle together.
“The first what?” I asked.
Cyra shifted in her chair, leaning forward just enough to where she was sitting on the very edge of the chair’s cushion. Her brown eyes bore into mine as she opened her mouth to say the words that would seal my fate.
“The first incubus.”
To be continued…
About the Author
Kindra Sowder was born and raised in Rancho Palos Verdes, CA until the age of 12, when her family moved to Spartanburg, SC. She graduated from high school in 2006 with full honors and as a member of her high school Literary Club and the Spanish Honor Society. In January 2014, she graduated with her second degree in Psychology, earning her an AA and BA in the field. She began to write long before this, though, forming the basis of the Executioner Trilogy at the age of 15. She got married to her husband Edd Sowder in May 2014 and still lives in Spartanburg, SC where she is basing Burning Willow Press. She has other works coming soon!
Big Bad Wolf (A Miss Hyde Novella Book 3) Page 9