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“You don’t have to prey on a single human in order to feed,” Ambrosius said. “Youcaneat like me, in public and subtly. No one will notice, as long as you control yourself. And if you can’t, well, you better be prepared to handle the clean up, because I won’t always be there to fix it. I won’t fight your battles for you. Do you understand?”
Satisfied or not, Gwen appeared to accept his words with a subtle movement of her chin. She shifted on her heels, glancing around the room for a moment. The corpse a mere afterthought now.
“I should find the doll and get out of here,” she murmured.
“Probably wise,” he smiled. “We can only use the fireworks to our advantage for so long.”
“Right,” she said, turning to search for the item.
Ambrosius waited a moment.
“It’s under the bed … along with the scroll case you failed to mention.”
Gwen flinched, tensing before her posture melted in defeat.
“I told you, I was trying to get rid of it,” she grumbled as she walked to the bed.
Ambrosius trailed behind her, watching as she got onto her knees. He was tempted to frighten her, to appear beneath the bed, but Ambrosius paused the moment she bent forward. A curious sensation went through him as she reached beneath the bed. He was so caught off by the funny feeling, he hadn’t noticed when she stood triumphantly with the doll and scroll case in each hand.
“It was dusty under there,” Gwen said with a twitch to her nose. “Also, this guy has a shit ton of porn magazines.”
“Lovely,” he said dryly. Ambrosius shook off the unknown sensation. “Let’s leave. This place stinks of death.”
22
Daring
Gwen
“Well, that was exciting!” Ambrosius grinned as he crossed the small threshold into Gwen’s kitchen and promptly sat at her kitchen table. “What’s next, my warlock?”
She stared at him.
There was no way this fuckingirritating,handsome horror expected her to think right now. To do anything but lie down and process what could possibly be the longest day of Gwen’s entire life. A day in which she had murdered a man forfood.Gwen slowly moved to the opposite chair, dropping the doll and scroll case onto the table as she collapsed into the seat.
“Nothing,” she said. “I am going to sit here and donothing.”
To prove her point, Gwen dropped her head onto the table with a thunk.
“Oh,are we feeling a little grouchy after our first murder?” Ambrosius asked mockingly.
“Why are you like this?” Gwen groaned as she pulled her arms around her head.
“Because I’m a demon,” Ambrosius replied. “And I’m getting alittleimpatient with you.”
Him, impatient with her? Was he serious?
“Oh, I’m sorry I’m not processing the murder of my neighbor as well as you liked. I’ll just consult HR the next time it becomes an issue,” Gwen shot back.
Whether it was wise to sass a demon wasn’t something she gave a shit about in the moment. Her mind was still somewhere else, maybe back in that apartment with her dead neighbor. However, one thing that quickly became apparent was how little Gwen felt about it once her tears had dried. And that bothered her more than ending a life had.
I’m more fucked up than I thought.
Gwen could put off her lack of guilt as coming to terms with what she did. And while she couldn’t remember exactly what she did to him, Gwen remembered what it felt like. It had been delicious and it had feltgood.And so few things in life gave Gwen pleasure outside of her dolls.
Most women don’t turn to murder to get a thrill, Gwen.
“Again, with that sameattitude,” Ambrosius complained.