Page 141 of Soul So Dark

“Let me out! Let me out!” I scream over and over.

“Dallas,” he says again, but I barely hear him.

I let out another barrage of screams and curses until, finally, Bowen clenches my scalp and slams my head back down onto the seat, rendering me silent.

“Dallas,” he says again, this time with a sharper tone. “Honey…sweetheart…baby girl...I’m kind of disappointed. Here I was, thinking I was bringing you somewhere special, and you’ve already been up here.”

I press my lips together, my chin trembling and my scalp on fire as he glares down at me with his dark eyes, now completely black.

The devil’s eyes.

“Who’d you come up here with, Dallas?” His lip twitches with malice. “Was it Col? Did he bring you up here to defile you so I wouldn’t want his other sister, too?”

What the hell is he talking about?

My heart’s pounding so hard that it’s going to punch through my chest any second. My mind is a chaotic mess and my muscles are shaking from the adrenaline overload. I have to get out of here.

A venomous smile seeps across Bowen’s face. “I remember the first time I saw you, Dallas. I’ll never forget it. Your eyes were the bluest I’d ever seen.”

He loosens his grip on my wrist and trails his fingers up my arm, brushes them across my shoulder to my neck. Then he slips a finger beneath the delicate chain of my necklace and gently pulls it taught. As soon as I see the amethyst pendant lift off my chest, my heart leaps to my throat. On reflex, I start struggling harder, moving with the pendant like a magnet.

Please, no…

Bowen toys with it, absently sliding the jewel back and forth. Soon enough, tears spill over my cheeks and I clench my jaw, unable to stifle the whimpers that escape. He could do a lot of things to me right now, and he probably will. But the threat of him taking the necklace, destroying it, is worse than anything else. Bowen’s hand slows when he notices my panic.

“Is this important to you?” He glances down at the necklace. “Who gave it to you?”

I don’t dare answer him, just wait for him to let go.

“You don’t want to tell me?”

No.

“Don’t be shy. Was it him?”

Why does he hate my brother so much?

“It’d be a shame—” Bowen hovers over my face, “if someonetook it from you.”

I turn away, unable to look Bowen in the eye. But then catch sight of his arm and the tattoos I never noticed until now, masked by the darkness. His forearm is covered in chaotic strokes that form leaves and little blue flowers. And, to my horror, he notices my eyes linger a little too long on it.

“Do you like stories, Dallas?” he asks with a sickening edge. When I don’t answer, his eyes go dark and he grits his teeth. “You’d do better to answer me when I speak to you.”

“Sure,” I croak up at him, trying desperately to pacify the situation.

To my relief, Bowens lets the pendant fall from his finger, if only to turn his attention to something more insidious.

“A long time ago, when the Comanches were suffering from drought and famine, the Shaman went up the mountain to ask their god for help. Come to find out, they were being punished for taking from the land, but giving nothing in return. So, to appease their god, they burned their most prized possessions as a sacrifice. There was a little girl who burned her favorite doll with a blue feather in her hair, and the next morning, the land was covered in bluebonnets as far as the eye could see. And, soon, the rain returned and balance was restored.”

Bowen stares down at me for the longest time, until he finally bows his head, an inferno blazing behind his eyes.

“It’s about sacrifice, Dallas. And that’s what you are, because your brother tried to take what belonged to me. And now he’s finally abandoned you to the fire.” He seizes the top of my throat while I weep beneath him. “I’m your god now, andyouare my most prized possession.”

“Bo—Bowen…” My voice catches, the sound barely coming out. “Please…just leave. I don’t know where he is.”

“I don’t care where he is, I only care whereyouare.” And with that, he turns my cheek and drags his tongue up the side of my face, licking off my tears and replacing them with his saliva.

“Why are you doing this?” I cry in despair.