Bound by Sin: The Beginning of a Prophecy (Prophecy #3) (6 page)

The cold breeze whi
pped across my face and I immediately wrapped my arms around my frame. I looked down at the people below me: families in the park, couples walking hand in hand – were all these people as naïve to the darkness that lurked among them as I had been? All of them looked human, but so had Gavin. I could no longer deny that any of these people may be monsters masked by a human exterior. My mind wandered to the book; if the words printed on those pages were truth, I had no doubt that we were all doomed.

A siren wailed below and I directed my attention to the street,
where an ambulance swerved in and out of the crowded roads. Afraid the noise may have woken Gavin, I turned to go back into the bedroom. Spinning around, my nose brushed against Gavin’s warm bare chest. I hesitated before lifting my eyes to his face. The muscles in his jaw flinched, and the noise of his teeth gritting against each other caused me to wince. His fingers wrapped tightly around my wrist and he glared down at me.

His ton
gue darted from his lips, almost like a snake, and his nostrils flared from rage. “I thought I told you that you were not to leave my side?”

My heart held back a beat and then
quickly pulsated. “I just –”

Gavin interrupted me, “No! You do
not
leave my side –
especially
not to wander outside alone!”

Yanking
me back into the bedroom, he slammed the door behind him. He ran his hand over the top of his head and his gaze fell to the floor. I noticed his pulse throbbing in his neck before he faced me. “I can’t protect you if you’re not with me, now can I, love?”

Gavin’s hand dropped
to his side. Shaking his head, he walked back to the bed. There was a soft thud as his head hit against the fabric headboard. Arms behind his head, stare glued off behind me, he looked utterly disgusted and annoyed.

My fingernails dug
into my palms and heat whelped across my chest. My eyes burned into him, trying to force him to look at me, but he refused and held his gaze above my head. I spun around to face back out the window. It was as though I had been sucked into a vortex and was tumbling down into a deep pit. Banging my fists hard against the glass, I let out a loud scream and warm tears gushed down my face. The back of my throat burned and tightened as I tried to hold back the emotions raging within me. My hands slammed against the smooth glass again, but this time, my body fell into the transparent barrier and I crumpled to the floor. Emptiness crippled me when I realized that all I’d known was gone – my entire life had vanished. All the things I had grown to love had been blotted out of my life by the man who I craved more passionately than life itself. My shoulders pitched as I struggled to control the cries of pain from the emotional gash tearing through me.

The covers dropped
from the bed and I heard Gavin’s bare feet slapping against the floor. “Shhhh, shhhh,” he whispered as he came behind me. Dropping to his knees, he drew me into his lap and swathed his arms around me. He held me – just held me – as I broke. His arm cradled my head and he kissed my forehead, resting his lips against it. “I know … I know…” he spoke soothingly to me. “It hurts to realize all you’ve known has been ripped from you.” There was pain behind his words, and I knew he understood how I felt. His grip on me tightened; grabbing my chin, he forced my head up. He moved the hair from in front of my face and dabbed the tears from my cheeks. “I’m the cause of this and you’ll be angry at me – at moments you may very well hate me – but eventually you’ll have to forgive me.”

Reaching underneath my legs, he rose
, bringing me with him. Gavin walked over to the bed and sat down. He scooted up toward the headboard and adjusted me in his lap. There I sat, curled up against his body, his hands stroking through my hair, his chin resting on the top of my head while I wept for the death of the person I once was – I mourned for life, tried to cope with the haunting secrets that few people knew of. In that moment, in that room, in the arms of the most beautiful deception I’d ever known, I died.

Constance

Chapter
Seven

September 16, 2014

The knock on my door made me jump. I’d been crying for hours, sitting and listening to the same gut wrenching song over and over. Stopping at the door, I rubbed the tears from my face. I looked down and saw black smears all over my fingertips from the mascara I’d forgotten to wash off the day before and realized I didn’t give a damn about what I looked like. I sucked back the snot and slid the chain from the latch.

Jared’s chin drew back to
his neck and his eyes widened. He was obviously shocked by my appearance. Flinging the door open, I turned and plopped back down on my couch as I knocked the collection of wadded up tissues into the floor.

“Well, what the fuck did you expec
t me to look like?” I huffed.

Jared quietly shut the door. His hand
rubbed over the back of his head and I felt the thud from his boot kicking the side of my couch.

Letting out a long
breath, he grasped for something appropriate to say. “Sorry, Constance. Don’t know what to do – I’m really bad at things like this. Never lost anyone I care about before.”

I picked at a loose string on m
y jeans and fought back tears. I was so damn angry and all I wanted to do was scream. Snatching the string free, I twirled it around my finger and watched the skin bulging around it turn a deep red.

Jared sat down next to me and ran his hand along my thigh. His fingers tighten
ed around my leg and he shook it gently. “So, what happened? Do they know? She was the one with you the night I met you, right? The brunette?”

The casual way he was asking me about her,
“the brunette,” enraged me. Did the puffy circles underneath my eyes not tell him she was more than just a damn brunette? My teeth gritted against each other and I huffed out, “Yeah, the brunette – the girl that was my best friend – that girl… just
some
damn brunette!”

His face crinkled into a scowl
and he moved his hand off my thigh. “Sorry, I – I just don’t know her.”

I grabbed the remote and muted my stereo.
Leaning my face down into my palms, I couldn’t stop myself from crying again. I couldn’t handle the emotion, the fucking unanswered questions, the emptiness my heart felt. “I just – I don’t even know. I feel like everything is falling apart. Brooke, Ashley –” I paused and brought my eyes to his. “And then Brooke’s boyfriend’s car was found all burnt up. What if it’s a serial killer? What if I’m next?”

Jared’s eyes narrowed into
black slits. His chest puffed out and he asked me, “What’s his name?”

I sucked back some
more tears, rubbing my hand under my nose to wipe the moisture away. “Gavin – Hunter. He was a doctor at the hospital she worked at.”

Jared fell silent.
Staring into his eyes, I noticed his pupils constrict. It almost looked like there was a flicker of excitement that briefly crossed his face. His eyes shifted down to his hands and he fidgeted with his thumb ring, spinning it around on his thick finger.

“What?” I asked
. “What is it?”

“Nothing.
” Jared shook his head. “Just… want to be here for ya.” He grabbed the remote from the end table and turned the television on. He flipped through the channels and stopped briefly on the news. Just as he switched the channel again I stopped him.

“Wait! Turn it back?”

He kept flipping, not acknowledging what I’d just said.

“Damn it.” I said, yanking
the remote from his hands to flip it back to the previous channel. I just managed to catch a glimpse of the front of a building downtown. When I turned back to the station, the news anchor was talking about the scene.

“What the hell?” Jared started.

I swatted at him. “Hush.”

The news anchor stood across the street from several of the
rugged red-bricked buildings. “… details about fifteen people who were found murdered in this privately-owned club on the Northside.” The anchor pointed behind her. “Investigators don’t have any leads on who the suspects may be.” The News 6 logo scrolled across the screen before the channel flipped to the next segment on the weather.

My adrenaline
kicked in, making my heart pump so fast I felt dizzy and weak. I looked over, my eyebrows arching as I stared at Jared. “I’ve been there,” I squeaked out.

“Been where… that place?
On the news?”

“Yea
h, that club. I went there with Brooke and Ashley – Jared, this is starting to really fuckin’ freak me out!”

His fingers traced over his chin
, circling in the dimple there. The chain on his jeans rattled as his leg anxiously bounced up and down. “Tell me you’re joking?” Jared narrowed one eye and arched the brow over his other eye. “You know what kinda club that is, right?"

I
squinted. I had no idea what his deal was. His face was turning bright red and his chest was starting to rise and fall in quick spurts.

“What?
Do
you
know what kinda club that is?”

Jared let out a quick breath
and shook his head from side to side. “Everybody knows what that club’s about. You don’t seem like the kinda girl that would go to a place like that. You’re not a big enough freak. And I know that for a damn fact!”

Spinning his thumb ring again, he glared down at the floor and mumbled.
“She’s fine, Constance, she’s fine.” He raised his head and without any expression, he again said, “I swear, she’s fine!”

I stared at him “What the hell are you
talkin’ about? They found her
body
in Gavin’s car, she’s dead, Jared – how the fuck can you sit there and tell me she’s okay?”

“If she
was with Gavin, she’s fine.” It was almost as if there were hatred behind his voice when he said Gavin’s name.

Shaking my head, I tossed my hands into the air. “They are both
dead
. Fuck!” I jumped up and walked to my kitchen. “I don’t need this right now, Jared. You’re not making any damn sense.”

Jared shook his head. “Forget it. Just forget it. I told you I don’t know how to handle these damn things.
”

Gavin

Chapter
Eight

Pulling
the ancient book from my duffel bag, I studied it. My fingertips moved across the cover, tracing the letters that had been branded into the leather.

I’d so many questions, but
feared the answers this book held. Holding the pages lightly, I flipped through them. The musty smell of the aged paper filled the air and I breathed it in. I allowed the pages to fall open and I stared down at them. Along the spine were tattered edges of papers and loose threads where pages had been ripped from the book.

“Did you tear these out?”
I asked Brooke, holding the book up so she could see the absent pages.

She reached up and ran her finger down the crease
. “No. I didn’t even notice that when I was reading it.”

F
lipping back several pages, I stopped on a picture. The drawing of an angel carrying a woman had been sketched on the page. I knew this picture was of me. The woman’s body hung lifelessly from my arms and my head was bowed in remorse. I hoped this woman represented Ashley and that this wasn’t an omen of what would happen to my Brooke.

My chest tightened. Closing the book, I
looked at Brooke and found myself praying. For the first time since I’d been abandoned for my faults and reduced to a demon, I prayed, not knowing if my pleas would so much as reach the edge of heaven, but it was the only hope I had. I sat, staring at her, silently begging that I would be able to keep her safe, asking to be forgiven just so my prayers for her life could be heard. Desperately begging to be forgiven, and all for her.

“What do we do?” she asked.
“What’s gonna happen?”

I sighed and ran my fingertips across the cover of the heavy book. “
I’m afraid this entire situation is well beyond my control. I don’t even know exactly what will happen.”

Her eyebrows wrinkled
and she crossed her arms in front of her breasts. “Is there any point in running then? I mean, if there’s nothing that can be done – if we don’t even know what we’re trying to escape, what’s the point, Gavin?” I’d never heard her tone become so snide.

Forcing
a curve to form across my lips, I reached for her dainty chin. “Now,” I pulled her face toward me, “if we just gave up, what fun would that be, love? Hmmm? I’m not one to give up. You’re proof of that, you know?” I released my grip on her chin after giving her a stern look and then flipped through the tattered pages once more.

Brooke tapped her hands on her knees, her agitation welling inside her. “It doesn’t seem like anything’s happened. I mean, if your taking Ashley’s life was supposed to be some catalyst… don’t you think something would have happened by now? And why would
I
be in danger? I didn’t do a damn thing! Why would they punish me for
your
mistake, Gavin? I had nothing to do with any of this… aside from being
deceived
by you!” Her voice had risen to a soft shout. “Seems like killing me – that would go against the agreement, right?”

I leaned my head back on the couch
, rubbing my palm across my forehead. “The agreement no longer matters.” The situation had me frustrated. I was angered that I didn’t know how to answer her questions. I felt inadequate, and for the first time ever, I felt powerless. That was a feeling I was not accepting of. My eyes cut over to her and I continued. “And I’m not exactly sure what role you play in all this yet, but I do know that your death is the only thing that could punish me. I’m already damned – if I had to spend eternity with the guilt of knowing that I was the reason you died, fully aware that my inability to control my desires
murdered
you… that would be a punishment of immeasurable portions. I swear to you. I’ll keep you safe, Brooke.”

She
tore a cuticle from her finger and bright red blood pooled along her nail bed. Sighing, she said, “I believe you.” Moments later she pulled her legs up onto the couch, stretching out and resting her head in my lap. We sat there gazing into each other’s eyes in complete silence. My mind constantly attempted to understand how this creature had worked her way into me as she had. I’d yet to figure out exactly what it was about this woman that held me helpless within her heart. It was as though I had no choice. Nothing was strong enough to keep me from her. The universe had cast us together, and there wasn’t a thing that could be done about it. I watched her eyelids droop, closing then fluttering open, only to close again to sleep.

Determined to understand what our fate was
, I opened the book back up. As I read the faded text, a sinking feeling invaded me. Fear – I’d never had a concept of something ending, because for me, “end” was a word created by man, it had been a construct of time. Time had been merely a mortal idea that had no effect on me, but now the absoluteness of it, the
finality
of death – it sickened me. I’d never felt so strongly toward anything as I did Brooke, and I was utterly mortified of losing her. Weak. I was weak for her and I found myself drowning within an inner battle. Glancing down at my sleeping love, I was torn. I watched her and attempted to talk myself out of turning her. I had the ability to keep death from her, to make her mine for all of eternity, but I was no longer certain that eternity was actually endless. I was beginning to believe that this existence was one of many, that it was merely an eternity within another eternity… this was only
one
eternity within an infinite cycle of eternities. No true beginning, no end. Just a circular and constant state of existence within existence. That is what I wanted to believe, because if that were the case… I’d never lose her.

But i
f the words written on the pages I held within my grasp were true, even I – an immortal creature – would in due course find an end. If I were to turn her, when that end came, she’d be damned to hell.

My eyes concentrated on the pulse lightly flickering in her nec
k. Closing my eyes, I listened to the perfect and steady sound of her heart beating. Slowly, I wet my lips with my tongue and pulled in a breath, drawing her scent deep inside my lungs. I set the book on the table and leaned down. My fingers caressed over her collarbone, trembling as they made their way up her neck and rested over her jugular. The heat from her skin traveled up my fingers and my mouth salivated. My teeth clamped down on my lip as I watched my finger rise with each strong beat pushing blood through her veins. With just a small bite, just a few moments of pain for her, I could make her mine in a way no one else ever could.

I
drew her body up on my chest. She groaned and adjusted herself, tossing her head to the side and exposing her neck to me. It was as though she knew what I was contemplating, offering herself to me, even in her dreams begging me to claim her. My heart slammed against my ribs. I swallowed and my breathing deepened as I lowered my mouth to her flesh. My lips rolled against her neck and the slight taste of her salty skin trickled into my mouth, forcing a low groan from me. My mouth lay against her flesh, my teeth raking over its suppleness, and then I pressed my lips to her skin, giving her a tender kiss. My mouth hovered over her neck, the faint jump from her pulse throbbing against my delicate skin, and then I lifted my face away from her. As much as I loved her, as much I couldn’t stand the thought of losing her, I was not selfish enough to damn her.

Sighing, I picked the book back up
. I could only hope that somewhere within these pages lay the answer, a way to rectify what had been done. I knew the weakness I felt from loving her would be swallowed by sorrow if I lost her.