Page 11

CHAPTER TEN

ONYX

S elene helps me lift both bodies onto a stretcher, piling them on top of one another. I secure them to it with the straps before wheeling the stretcher out of the room. She stays back with all the cleaning supplies that I brought in from one of the storage closets. We never do our dirty work outside these walls, so it has always been important to keep the supplies that we need here.

Even though this place is abandoned and there would be no way to connect the bodies to us, the last thing that we need is to leave even the smallest piece of evidence. Covering our tracks is of the utmost importance, and Selene knows from experience that we cannot get caught doing what we do.

I take the bodies down into the basement and slip them into the incinerator before turning it on. It’s always a risk because the smoke could draw attention, but it was never anything that I had ever been truly concerned about. The asylum is in the woods, far enough from civilization that no one would question the smoke.

People are always burning shit around here, whether it’s trash or a bonfire with some friends. Some of us just decide to burn bodies instead.

To each their own, right?

We don’t live anywhere near a big enough body of water that we could easily dump them in, where no one would ever find them again. Plus, burning seemed to be the easiest way of taking care of them. I know it was the way that Selene’s father taught her, so it’s the method that she clung to, but she took it even further.

She was fucking obsessive with cleaning. She would come back the next day and suck up the ashes in a vacuum cleaner before disposing of them three towns over in the lake there. I never questioned what she did. I know it’s something that Selene needs to do to feel safer.

After flipping on the switch and wiping down the stretcher, I head back up to the room, finding Selene on her knees, viciously scrubbing the floor. I grab another pair of rubber gloves, slipping them on as I drop down beside her to help. We work in silence, scrubbing every last piece of evidence from the room.

I lose track of time, but once we’re done cleaning and walking out of the building, the sun is beginning to crest the horizon. Selene and I walk deep into the woods for about fifteen minutes until we get to one of the roads that borders the property line. We continue across the empty street, hand in hand until we reach an abandoned garage.

We slip inside the building through a broken door and I push open the large bay door. That’s one of the nice things about this area. There are so many empty buildings and places to hide. We found this garage a few years ago. I don’t know who it belongs to, but it’s where we store the car while we take care of business. The last thing I need is something with my fucking name on it pointing toward us at the asylum.

I press the button on the key fob to unlock the car as Selene walks around to the other side and slides inside. I jump into my seat and quickly pull the car out of the garage. Then, I get back out and close the bay door, making it look like we were never even here.

Selene’s silent on our way back to the house, staring out the window lost in her warped fucking thoughts.

“What’s going on with you?”

She glances over at me. “I honestly don’t know. I just feel off right now, like something isn’t sitting well with me.”

A frown forms on my lips as I direct my attention back onto the road. “Where is this coming from?”

“I don’t know. I know there was no one there, but I can’t shake the feeling like we weren’t alone. You said it yourself about my father and look what happened to him.”

I reach out to her, taking her hand in mine. “Don’t get in that headspace, baby. You know that we don’t do that kind of shit around here.”

It’s as if my words instantly sink in. Selene’s eyes grow clearer, and she shakes her head like she’s shaking away the thoughts. It isn’t often that either of us gets affected by things like that. We live from one god complex to the next. And with the way that she’s looking at me right now, I know that she’s feeling that energy as it courses through her body.

“You were wrong when you said that we’re only untouchable until we get caught.” She pauses, the corner of her lips tilting up. “You and I aren’t my father. We’re both smarter and more careful than he was. We won’t get caught because there’s nothing for us to get caught with.”

“I know,” I tell her, gripping the steering wheel with one hand, spinning it as I turn into our driveway. Pulling the car up to the iron gates, I slide the window down and reach out to the small keypad. Instead of punching in the code, I hold my thumb up to the fingerprint reader and watch as it scans my print. It lights up green, a quiet beep sounds and the gates slowly open.

As I pull through the gates, I look back at Selene. “What we did tonight was risky and I need you to remember that we can’t go around doing shit like that. We have a system in place and that’s what keeps us untouchable.”

Selene scoffs, her nostrils flaring as she rolls her eyes at me. “It looked to me like you were enjoying it.”

“I never said that I didn't,” I snap back at her, my hand tightening around hers. “Just remember, we sit at the top of the food chain, and if we want to keep it that way, we need to check ourselves every now and then.”

“Yes, daddy.” Her voice is sweet, but I don’t miss the way that her lip curls with her snarl. Selene isn’t one for being reprimanded, and it has a way of bringing out her vindictive side. We’re one and the same—twin flames with the darkest souls. We’re both energy feeders, and it doesn’t take much for each of us to bring out the darkness in one another.

“Keep running your fucking mouth, and I’ll show you who your fucking daddy is when you’re suffocating with my cock shoved down your throat.”

I tear my eyes away from Selene, feeling hers still on me as I whip the car down the winding driveway through the estate. Trees line the blacktop, creating a dark, eerie canopy that you drive through to get to the main house.

After I turned eighteen and got Selene out of that hellhole house that we were living in, I found out that my biological family was actually fucking loaded. My mother had died during childbirth. My father was married to his career, which is why he gave me up and I ended up in the foster system. He didn’t give a shit about me, but that’s water under the bridge.

He passed away and left me an entire fortune. I’m talking about amounts of money that you couldn’t even fathom. I was his only heir, so it was rightfully mine. Since Selene and I were living on the streets at the time, it couldn’t have happened at a better time.

My financial advisor has my money in places that I don’t even know about, making me more money as Selene and I continue to live our lives the way that we see fit. With that money, I was able to buy Selene the fortress that we live in—the only place that was dark and fitting for the god that I worshiped.

The morning sky is cloudy and hazy, with the threat of rain looming in the air. I pull the car up to the massive house. We had it painted black, and Selene picked out the gargoyles that sit upon the roof. It’s a Victorian-style mansion that looks more like a small castle. From the outside, it looks as if it’s haunted, but the only two things haunting that house are Selene and me.

I hit the garage door opener, pausing the car outside as the door slides up. Pulling the car inside, I press the button again as I park next to Selene’s. She hops out without another word as I kill the engine. I climb out, following her into our house. As she opens the door, our two Dobermans bound through it, gathering around her.

Most animals don’t like either of us, given that in every situation, we’re ultimately the apex predators. These two dogs worship the ground Selene walks on, tracking her every movement. It’s a strange phenomenon, watching two vicious animals that would rip an intruder's throat out cower around her.

She’s never laid a single finger on them and given that we both satiate our needs in an evolved way now, neither of us is considered a threat to the two beasts. We got them mainly for protection and to guard the property, but over time, I’ve watched Selene grow fond of them. I told her that they didn’t need names, but she insisted.

She doesn’t develop attachments with anyone or anything; but it's purely ego-driven. She wouldn’t bat an eye or shed a tear if either of them died at any given moment. The only purpose they serve is to build her throne higher, putting her in the sky where she belongs.

Selene pats both of them on the head with as much affection as she can muster before heading to the laundry room. I follow behind her, narrowing my eyes at the two dogs as their gaze meets mine. They both take the same stance, lowering their massive heads as their shoulders rise slightly, the hairs on their backs standing on end. Each begins to snarl, flashing their sharp canines at me as low growls rumble from their chests.

This is the effect that I have on them. Not only do they see me as a threat to them, but I'm a threat to Selene. If only their brains were complex enough to understand that Selene’s just as fucking insane.

“Enough,” Selene growls back at them, her tone low in warning. “Both of you, go lie down.”

Diesel and Khan both cower at her tone, each giving me the side-eye as they trot through the house and lie down by the front door in the foyer. I look back at Selene, finding her with a smirk on her face as she strips out of her clothes and tosses them into the washer.

“They really don’t like you.”

I shrug. “They’re fucking animals. I don’t need them to like me. They’re lucky I don’t kill them.”

“You wouldn’t dare,” she retorts playfully as she stands naked in front of me. My cock instantly grows in my pants. I peel my shirt off my torso and toss it into the washer with her clothes. Selene’s hazel eyes scan my body as I strip off my pants, freeing my erection for her to see.

“Wanna bet?”

She shakes her head. “No, because I know you. You actually would, even though you know that I like them.”

“You like the purpose that they serve in your life, Selene. Don’t go soft on me and act like they’re your fucking children or some shit.”

“Whatever.” She drops the lid to the washer and turns away from me, her perfectly taut ass now in full view for me to see.

“I’m going to go shower. Join me if you want.”

She’s about to take a step away from me when I stride behind her, wrapping my arms around her waist as I hoist her up. “If I want? Don’t play like that, baby. You know that you want me to join you.”

Selene wiggles in my grip, turning her body around to face me as she straddles my waist. Her pussy is hot and slick against my abdomen. She brings her face down to my ear, nipping at my lobe. “Whether I wanted you to or not, we both know that you can’t resist following me wherever I go.”

“And I’ll follow you to the ends of the earth, until we drop down into the deepest pits of hell.”

Selene wraps her arms around the back of my neck, her sharp nails digging into my skin. “We’re already there, baby.”