My face is inches from her pussy. My nostrils flare, pulling her scent deep into my lungs as every muscle in my body aches with the need to sink into the pink flesh.
I want to fuck her.
I want to mark her.
And I will.
But there’s someone I need to visit first. Someone who forgot her place.
“I’ll be back for you.” With my nail, I lightly carve out the word soon on her thigh. The cuts are very shallow, just a drop or two of blood seeping through, and I lick them before pulling back. Christ, she tastes of ambrosia. “My sweet, pretty girl.”
With one final glance, I leave a sharp paring knife as a prop beside her on the bed before walking to her closet. My gift is right where I left it and I grab it, taking it with me as I walk out of the room and toward her studio.
The room is a bit messy when I enter and her dog looks up sharply when he sees me, watching me, but a lot less nervous than before. We have an understanding, he and I.
He behaves, I reward.
“Relax,” I say, and his head immediately goes back to lying on his paws. His big eyes watch me walk over to the old dresser she keeps in here as secondary storage, not a single grunt from him, while I rummage through her things. The unit stores paints inside and tools used to achieve different finishes, but what I need is the hidden compartment that slides out from underneath the middle shelf.
This is where she keeps a gold locket that was supposed to be her mother’s and was given to her by the group home when she aged out. It’s something she holds dear for some reason, some of which I will never understand, but I know she’ll come looking when she finds the drawer pulled out.
“It’s time to remember, pretty girl.”
I’ve been sitting in her living room for the past hour. Thinking. Planning. Making necessary arrangements since the woman I came to see is an idiot. Someone who fancies herself of my social standing, and yet I view her as no better than the dirt beneath my shoes.
Unprepared. Unable to make a single move in a world where I reign that I wouldn’t know about a few seconds after. I have eyes and ears everywhere.
An army at my disposal who is loyal.
Trained to kill on command.
But then again, that’s her fucking cross to bear—not mine—because idiocy leads to bad decisions on the way down the road toward death. And I’m here to deliver the final notice; my patience runs thin.
The apartment is small and disorganized; a cluster of journals, details of her goals, and the one atop the coffee table still open has a vivid and incorrect detailing of each interaction we’ve had.
“Motherfucking delusional.” I’m disgusted by the mere thought of her. It’s a little past four in the morning when the door bangs open, revealing the angry woman in question. She storms inside with a male. He’s young, impressionable, and is dead before the door closes with a bullet to the head.
“What the fuck?” she screams, wiping her face where the blood splattered.
“Good morning, Elise.”
At my voice, she stiffens, her eyes snapping toward mine. “Your—”
“Silence.” Standing from the oversized bubblegum-pink chair, I stride across the room and pause a few steps from her. She trembles in fear, her chest heaving while her body betrays her and thighs clench. I arouse her. I scare her. “You made a mistake, Elise. A costly one.”
“Please, let’s talk about this.”
“We’ve talked in the past, and yet you don’t listen.” Another step forward, and she takes one back. “I’ve given you chance after chance to accept your fate with dignity until she doles out your punishment.”
“She’s not one—” Her scream is cut off by my hand wrapping around her throat, squeezing until bruises begin to appear and her face becomes a nice cherry red. “Please.” The word is low, muted by my tight hold, but I hear her loud and clear.
“My patience with your acts of grandeur have reached their end, Elise.” My fingers tighten, the flesh giving way beneath the pressure. “You will stop, and you will bend. Do you understand? Nod if you do.” Her nod is barely perceptible, but enough for me. “You will wait for her decision with grace. Again, nod.” She does—frantically, with tears streaming down her cheeks. “Attempt something again and it will be my wrath you’ll face. I hold no qualms in holding a public execution, Miss Scott. Be afraid, because I am watching.”
With that, I release her and she drops to the ground, cupping her neck as she tries to regulate her breathing. Her choking sounds are pathetic. Show who she truly is.
Bending to her level, I gingerly push a few strands of hair behind her ear, an action she automatically leans into while my lip curls in disgust. “You have no shame. No self-pride.” With two fingers, I trace the shell of her ear, causing a shiver to run through her. “But then again, you’re the daughter of a traitor. One I took great joy in dismembering while still alive, and who then took his final breath as the flames rose, disintegrating his limbs.”
“Stop.”
“Why should I?”
“I’m the right one, and you know it.”
“Do I?”
“Yes.” Her voice betrays her—her fear is palpable, and I revel in it. Smile down at the pathetic woman on the floor. “There’s still time to make the right decision.”
“She will always be the right choice. The only fucking choice.” Then, before her next inhale, I hold her earlobe in my hand while she screams. Blood pours from the wound. The hole looks nasty—painful, but I hold no remorse. “This is my last warning, Elise. The next time, it’ll be your throat I hold in my hand instead of your ear.”
Leaving her where she lays crying, I walk out the door without looking back while pocketing the cartilage. She’ll strike. She’ll come for my pretty girl. Her problem is that she thinks her puppet-master act will continue to work, unaware that she’s dangling from my strings.
I move her.
I force her hand.
And the next time we see each other, my queen will have risen.
