Page 1 of Buried in Blood

Prologue

1.5 Years Earlier

“I said GO!” I shout over him.

He thinks I’ll stay. I know what he’s done. I won’t stick by a man who has condemned innocent souls to death. Those poor people stood no chance against a demon. That’s exactly what Damien is. A demon.

He raises his fist to hit me, but I duck. He’s drunk. He always gets violent when he is drunk. The only contact he has ever made was when I was also intoxicated. I got bitch-slapped for laughing at another man’s joke.

No one ever saw that man again.

I run out the door, hoping never to see him again. If I have to spend my entire life hiding, then that’s what I’ll do.

I sprint down the busy street, leaving Damien in the bar alone.

There has to be a way out. He is truly relentless when it comes to me. He says I am the only one who has ever loved him for who he is, not what he accomplishes. His father always put a lot of pressure on him, giving him merit and praise for being the “golden child”. He knew the standard was there, but then he realized he could do no wrong.

He started hanging out with Bastian Cross, Miles Holloway, and Jonathan Gray. Bastian worked closely with their family, but I think they are secretly against Alaric Crowe. Miles Holloway has always been a piece of shit who rapes women for sport. And Jonathan? Jonathan hangs out at sex clubs all over the country. He’s disgusting, and I think Damien is getting into some nasty shit.

He told me Bastian gave him a supply of drugs to give to a bunch of underage kids. He watched them try it and die.

That’s why we are here today. I am leaving because, unlike him, I cannot stomach the thought.

The other reason I am leaving him is that he’s abusive. He always has been, mentally… but after the physical abuse started, I needed an out. He finally gave it to me.

After three long years, I think I can actually escape.

1

Harmony

Present

Fire burns bright, radiating heat onto my skin. I stand close to it every week. He makes us. He doesn’t take “no” for an answer.

I know deep down, he could be a good person, but he struggles to find himself. The day the bullets punctured his skin—he changed.

He used to love me in his own sick, twisted way. I left him about a year before he was shot. I thought he was dead. So did everyone else.

They say, “A man who escapes death once believes he was meant to survive it.”

That’s precisely what Damien thinks.

He started having us call him “Midas”. He makes us show up every Sunday and bring an offering. We wear our black cloaks and gather around the fire, while our victim burns before us. I never thought of myself as a killer, but I’d rather kill than be killed.

He used to be a simple man. Yes, he sold drugs and sided with the rivals of his family… But he was always there for me when no one else was.

My friendships have always been superficial. Shallow. Not worth a phonecall, but it’s not because I’m a bitch. It’s because I don’t know how to fit in. I need someone to guide me. I’ve never wanted to make my own decisions. Being given orders has always been my preference.

That’s precisely why I am standing around the fire, sacrificing a young woman. I don’t know how to say “no”. I will always say “yes”, even if it ends in death.

* * *

A lot has changed in the last one and a half years. I left Damien, went into hiding, he got killed, I came out of hiding, and he found me.Spoiler alert:He’s alive.

The thought weighed heavily on my heart for weeks after he started blackmailing me. It started with petty blackmail. Telling my boyfriends I had an STD. Or telling my parents I was on drugs. That was when it was simple. Easy.

Then the blackmail escalated… It got to a point of no return, and I succumbed to Damien. He won.