Page 22

Conceal: to hide or change the appearance of an object.

T hey always find me.

Class had been canceled today, and the TV in my shitty apartment was blaring about a woman who was murdered in the woods. The college’s dean emailed the whole school—staff and students.

The email said: ‘For safety reasons, school will be canceled until further notice. Police are running an open investigation to find out what happened to the young woman in the woods.’

The murder happened on the school grounds. They wanted to keep a close eye on everyone in the area and were questioning students who resided at the dorms on campus.

I threw my flaming hot orange chips at the screen, irritated that this dead woman was making me miss seeing my sneaky little watchful sinner.

I thought about the way Fallon tasted. Her fucking body, all those curves, and the thickness of her delicious ass damn near had me panting.

I leaned into the couch and closed my eyes, my hand trailing down my stomach.

“Eww… you perv. Can’t you jerk that thing in private?”

My eyes snapped open to Tick-Tock fucking Joe sneering at me, and my dick deflated faster than a balloon.

“Well, I gotta say, big boy, I can see why you and your identical brothers were the kings of the ol’ hellhole.”

I smacked toward his ghost and covered my dick with a pillow.

“This is my home, you assfuck. You come here, bitching about privacy, and then hit on my penis. Were you always this cooked, or am I just unlucky?”

He laughed, his gruff smoker-sounding voice sending him into coughing fits.

Catching his breath, I got up from the couch and pulled up my hoodie. “Sorry, Sonny, I am not as young as I once was.”

The man who tormented my family and me by calling me Sonny made me want to kill him again.

“Good, does that mean you’ll die again and leave me the fuck alone?” I said, clutching my pillow.

“You wish,” he said with a wink and walked toward me.

“You know, you’re a joke, right? You claim to be this big bad monster, but you haven’t done all the things that the dumbass news channels think you have. What do you actually think you can do when or if you find the killer? He is more of a badass than you, boy.”

I looked down into the bag, his words hitting as sure as a dagger to my heart.

“You are a pathetic man jerking off to a woman way younger than you who had to save you from something as harmless as water.”

His blows felt physical, and I felt myself start to lose my grip on my snack. He laughed at me as if my back were against the wall.

I caught my reflection in the window. The red curtains pulled to the side, giving me the full view of my powdered cheese-covered face, stained hoodie, and baggy sweatpants.

I was pathetic .

I gritted my teeth with the realization that the crazy fuck was right…what could I really do for Xenia when I found the monster that took her from me?

“There is a solution, Roe Roe,” he taunted, leaning on the far wall and pointing to the dark closet in the back that I hadn’t touched for a year since I stuck the shit in it.

He waved his hands over his face, and a version of my mask appeared on him. I stared at the intricate red details I hadn’t seen in so long—the devil staring back at me, endless black eyes, and a silenced mouth.

“You can do right by your girls, Pharaoh. Give in to that other side of you and show them the vengeful man you can be.”

I put my hand on my face, tracing my features in the glass’s reflection.

Taking a deep breath, I walked back to the closet, my footfalls feeling heavy, and each creak of my shit floors was loud as hell in the silence.

I shoved the clothes out of the way, reaching in and grabbing the box from the bottom.

Dropping it onto the coffee table by the couch, I watched the dust fly off from the top and scatter into the air.

I didn’t know why I hesitated, but reaching into the box felt like I was sealing a fate I couldn’t escape from.

“When you hide behind a mask…you forget who’s truly behind it.”

The words were spoken as a whisper, and the tone sounded so much like Ariah.

I searched for her in the space, but only Joe was grinning back at me, waiting for me to complete the transition.

“I am not hiding anymore. I will avenge you both, and if I turn into a monster in the process, then I will just become what people have called me for years. What is the point of being innocent when you live the life of a criminal regardless?”

Her sigh resonated around me, and Joe laughed as I picked up the red devil mask, symbolizing power and strength. I put the mask over my head, my mouth the only thing visible, my eyes and identity concealed behind.

“Yesss!” Joe hissed, looking like a fucking snake, hopping up and down. His gut flopped with his hops.

I smiled, the reflection now showing a man that no one would fuck with, a man that would rip you apart as you begged for mercy, a man who would avenge every life taken.

A Devil.

I turned and snickered at the fact that the horror movie now playing on my TV was on the part where some random bimbo was screaming and running away from the villain. It was as if she was screaming and running from me.

I wanted to chase Fallon again. God, my blood was pumping at the thought of catching her and punishing her supple body over and over again until she begged me to stop…and then do it some more.

Her potent honey taste still clouded my mouth, the faint memory like candy on my tongue.

Judas always ate these honey candies with a hint of orange zest, and I ordered a dozen boxes online for him. It reminded me of her, and maybe sneaking a few of his favorite sweets would make Judie less…aggro.

I stepped on my remote to the TV, and it went onto the thousandth channel, talking more about the murder.

Ugh.

Reaching down, I tried to grab it to shut the shit off, but Joe kicked toward my face, knocking the device away from me.

“Ah, ah! Boy, listen.”

I growled at him, walking over and finally picking up the remote, but instead of turning it off, I increased the volume. If nothing else, maybe it would shut Joe the fuck up.

“…Investigators have left a warning to all civilians that the murderer of the woman in the woods is still at large. The police have stated the individual is likely armed and dangerous and could still be in the depths of the forest, or nearby, hiding in wait for an escape.”

I smiled wide behind my mask.

“What’s a better way to become a monster—” Joe started.

“—Than to hunt another one,” I finished for him, pulling my hood up over my mask.

The dark woods were wet, a dampness to the air that clung like a stickiness.

I stopped by another tree. I had been out here a few hours, only finding fucking bugs and skittish wildlife.

I was near the graveyard now, and I kicked at the rocks as I passed by them.

Taking a deep breath, I decided this would be a good spot to hide if I killed someone. There were a ton of freshly dug holes around, and people died every day.

I walked under the hanging plaque of the Grosvenor Cemetery.

My thoughts sobered and I sighed.

I hope Xenia doesn’t pop up, and I don’t want to frighten her.

She’s dead, you fucking idiot.

I ignored my mental chatter and continued forward. I passed by Noah’s grave, saluting the headstone for Fallon’s brother.

I tried to keep my wits about me when I passed Xenia and Ariah’s grave, ripping some flowers out of the ground and laying them over the front by their name.

“Sleep tight, girls,” I said with love and continued further back to the area where there were bulldozers parked near a big morgue that was closed down for the night and a big ass pile of dirt.

The air smelled like freshly cut grass in this area, and I grinned, knowing this was definitely where the fuck would run off to if they were hiding.

Rain started to fall, and I flipped off the sky. Sure enough, it started pouring on my head, and I was drenched within seconds.

Whatever, maybe the weather would make the killer sloppy.

I saw a coffin sitting on a stand, with a sheet-looking thing underneath it and a mechanical tool connected to it with a button.

Uhh...so rich people just leave out coffins randomly? What the fuck?

The intense impulse to press the red button was there, but I told myself, “No.”

Twigs snapping in the distance caught my attention. The cracking and swishing of brush sounded like whatever did that was much larger than any of the animals I had encountered.

My heart rate picked up, my breathing slowing like a panther ready to take down a fucking gazelle.

I opened the casket and slid inside the red plush material, holding the heavy lid up slightly, just enough to see through a small crack.

I held my breath and waited as the sounds got closer. They were running from something and someone.

I had a distant thought about not having a weapon besides a wrench I grabbed from my toolbox.

It was all I had on late notice. At least the wrench would be worth a damn because it certainly hadn’t been in the past when I did a DIY fix for my shitty truck.

Something could only sit for so long abandoned before deciding to give up.

Unfortunately, that much was true for my truck.

It still was not working like it did six years ago. I guess neither of us came out of the asylum unscathed.

The sound drew closer. I could see a dark shadow beginning to walk toward my location, and I stayed as still as possible. I wasn’t going to hesitate. I didn’t need to waste my time with some stupid speech. I just wanted them to bleed.

The figure walked in front of the coffin. I threw my hands out of the casket, wrapping them around the intruder. We struggled inside the dark confinement, and I gripped their throat, restraining their body as best I could.

But the person screamed.

The sound was feminine, and their body became slightly visible as my back was shoved against the coffin’s top, letting some light peek through the cracks. I let go of…her, staring at the woman underneath me.

Her thick curves, large tits, and strawberry hair, I would know anywhere.

I held her arms down, arching my back into the coffin further so I could use the moonlight to view her more fully.

“Miss me, Little Voyeur?”