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Her face screws up with irritation. "I can do whatever I want."
My hand slams up, my fingers curling around her slender neck. They tighten, her skin flexing between my fingers as I squeeze lightly. "No the fuck you can't. Not today. Not any day."
Her fingers reach up and she presses them against my cheeks, scraping down the skin. It burns, but it's a delicious burn. One I revel in and enjoy. For some reason, when Vera causes the pain, it’s full of sexual tension. It makes me want to tear her to pieces.
I loosen my fingers around her neck, and she gasps in a breath. "Why not?"
"Because you're mine." Her nostrils flare and I smile, my canines shining in full force. "And I don't fucking care if you like it or not." My free hand slides beneath her skirt, cupping my fingers between the crux of her thighs. "I've fucked you. I've claimed you. As long as you're in my town, in my house, sliding on top of my cock, you're mine."
I listen as a growl rolls through her chest and rips from her throat. "And if I leave this house? What about what I want? Maybe I don't want to be with you."
I clench my fingers, and she presses on her toes, simultaneously wanting more and to escape my rough grip. "You want me. Your pupils dilate every time I come into view. A shiver rolls through your spine whenever I step within touching distance. Your lips part every time I speak." My fingers around her neck release and I bring them up, sliding them between her supple lips. She clenches them closed when the pad of my finger glides across her tongue, biting down on my knuckle. I graze it out, my skin scraping against her sharp teeth. "You hate me with everything in you, and that hate is fueled by a desire you can't contain. You don't even want to, if you were honest with yourself. You're mine, whether you want to believe it or not." I release her, removing my hand from beneath her skirt and taking a step back. "And if you fuck with my friends, I'll toss you into Superior and let the water wash you away."
Her eyes, glazing over from my words, sharpen into dark orbs of fury. "You always have to go and say cruel things that make me want to fucking stab you."
I leave her in the darkened hallway, standing between black-and-white photographs and an emptiness that curls around her tiny form. Her face is fierce, strong, angry, aggressive. But her body contradicts that, curling over in defeat, want, hesitation.
I abandon her and allow the darkness to engulf her, just as I know it's beginning to engulf me.
31
VERA
Istretch out on my bed, my textbook abandoned at my feet as I scratch the lead tip of my pencil up and down my leg.
God, this place can be so damn boring sometimes.
The house has been quiet, and these last few days have been utterly dull. My days are filled with nothing but school and this empty castle. Luckily, I've been able to keep myself out of The Room of Atonement. Not that it's been easy. Every time one of the sisters calls upon me, I turn the other way. I avoid them at all costs. It's like they seek me out. Like they want me to fail, to crumble beneath them. They want to watch me falter, but I refuse. I'll do everything in my power to survive this wicked place, no matter the cost.
Felix did get me the cellphone. Hazel handed it to me with a scowl on her face, grumbling about how much of a piece of shit he is. It's something that I'll dig into at some point, but as of right now, keeping my head down is what's most important.
And figuring out what's going on with Malik.
He's been distant since that moment in the hallway last week. He's barely shown his face at school, and according to his friends, he's been MIA around them, too. He rarely goes to school, and when he does, he's never around long enough for any of us to talk to him.
He's never home.
No one is, actually. After coming home from a week away at work, my mom was quickly immersed into her new job. She and Samuel are never home. It’s almost like they do it on purpose, though I know they have busy jobs. They’re gone more than they’re here.
I'm left alone here most of the time, listening to the creaks and groans. Feeling the draft of the night air brush across my skin. Feeling death curl around my limbs like an oil that refuses to be washed away.
I feel lost. I feel alone.
My phone buzzes, and I slide it from beneath my skirt, unlocking the screen and seeing a message from Felix.
Felix:He at home yet?
Me:Nope.
Dropping my phone onto my nightstand and my pencil onto the mattress, I roll onto my side, tucking my hands beneath my cheek and closing my eyes. I'm hungry, not having eaten since lunch, but I refuse to walk around this house by myself. I hate exploring the empty, echoing rooms. Mostly by myself, where every breath bounces off one wall to the next.
Not even the library, where the books entice me, and the smell of old paper flutters against my heart. So many demons, so much bad energy filled that room, and I can't even bear to look at the beautiful walls.
Every other room in this house is filled with such a hideous beauty, something I hate but am slowly growing familiar with. The black-and-white photos are taken with the oldest camera, the sculptures and figurines that fill the rooms are ancient and expensive, yet abandoned over time. They only serve to fill a space, no sentimental meaning to them in the slightest.
I fade into a dreamless sleep, filled with an endless pit of darkness that I can only imagine is Castle Pointe. It consumes me, chilling me to the bone and prickling my sensitive skin.
Until my eyes pop open at the sound of a train, rolling through the house so loudly it feels like the walls are shaking.
