5. Chapter Five

If there was one thing I'd learned about the mortal destined to set me free, it"s that she was predictable.

After years of watching her, following from just beyond the veil and noting her every move, I"d learned her schedule, her habits, her quirks. I knew her favorite foods and the ones that would leave her hunched over retching for hours. I knew the nuances of her personality, like the way she chewed the corner of her mouth when she was deep in thought and the way she tore at her cuticles until they bled. I knew her secrets, the things she attempted and failed to hide from the world. Her doubts, her desires, her fears. I knew everything that made my mortal tick, what drove her, what moved her.

I knew it all, so when she took off through the city on foot without her school bag, I was intrigued. She"d never missed a class, never ignored her schedule, and she"d definitely never walked into a bar in the middle of the day.

Invisible, I followed, still too weak to show myself, and watched as she slipped into the corner booth. Only then did she lower her hood, revealing her splash of vibrant hair. She looked tired, afraid, as her eyes flicked nervously around the room like she was waiting for something to jump out at her. Like she was waiting for me.

A smirk curled my lips, dark fascination swirling within me. She was doing a good job pushing me out of her mind, but not good enough.

Licks of energy managed to slip out, pulsing whispers that floated through the air, calling to me. They weren"t much, not like the waves of delicious fear that poured off her when she'd caught a glimpse of my visage in the mirror, but I devoured them nevertheless. It wouldn"t be long before I was strong enough to push through the veil, but if I wanted to speed up the process, I had to shove myself to the forefront of the mortal's mind.

To do that, I had to stay close, searching for those seconds when I could force myself through the barrier between our worlds. Those moments I could gather my magic enough to press through the veil and make my presence known, siphoning Jovie's energy. I was always waiting, always watching, for any opportunity to drain her dry.

I slid into the booth across from her as her eyes spilled over the menu, slightly annoyed that I wasted my energy coming to the sight of her sleeping last night. What I wouldn"t give to sit next to her, my image bleeding into her vision and making her heart rate spike. How I loved to watch the vein in her throat flutter when she was afraid. I wanted to sink my teeth into it, tasting her lifeblood as it washed over my tongue.

She ordered a bright blue drink, nearly the same color as her hair, and swirled the ice around with a tiny plastic straw. When she put her lips to the glass, licking sugar off the rim with a flick of her tongue, I once again imagined what it would feel like to have her lips wrapped around me instead.

"Bleeding hell," I groaned, rubbing a hand over my face. I might have wanted her dead, but there were many, many other things I planned to do to her first. I would waste no time once I finally broke through the veil—every part of her would be mine, starting with that perfect mouth.

She scrolled through her phone as she downed her drink, ordering another right after. I almost wondered if she was waiting for someone, but the thought died as soon as it formed. Aside from her sister, she didn"t spend time with anyone.

My mortal hadn"t even attempted to find a mate in all the time I"d followed her, always turning down advances, which made her that much more desirable. I wasn't like the pathetic human men who sought after her attention. She wouldn"t be able to deny me as I took everything from her.

The mere thought of her pleading for me to stop had my cock thickening, and I shifted in the booth. Fuck. I was going to lose what little of my sanity remained if I had to wait much longer.

If I could, I would have shoved through the veil then and thrown her across the table, fucking her for the entire bar to see. I smirked, entertaining the thought.

I knew I was still much too weak—I'd hardly recuperated since I visited her last night—but I pressed against the veil anyway, attempting to wedge my essence through the invisible barrier. Crossing into the mortal plane was tricky because the veil wasn't consistent. It was thicker in some places, thinner in others, and always shifting. It had also never been crossed by anyone other than Lucifer himself, and the greedy bastard wasn't privy to share his secrets.

I pressed on, the thought of filling her with my cock and rutting her until she was full of my seed driving me, regardless of my fatigue. I wanted to do dark, twisted things to her, things I'd never wanted to do to anyone else before. She was a piece of meat dangling on a string before me, and I was the predator waiting for my chance to strike. I'd been impossibly patient, a virtue I'd learned from a millennium in Hell, ironically, but it wouldn't be long now.

Very soon, my mortal would belong to me.

She lifted her glass to her lips and I watched her throat bob when she swallowed, imagining it was my seed coating her throat instead. My mind was consumed with thoughts of her perfect, nude body splayed out before me, wishing I could steal the energy I desperately needed.

As she knocked back the drink, her eyes landed on me through the glass and they grew wide, alarm quickly spreading across her features. My stomach turned, excitement flitting through my veins, and I froze. For a moment, I wasn't sure if she'd really seen me—after all, I didn't have enough energy to push into the veil like I normally did—but then she screamed, choking on her drink.

She coughed and sputtered, gasping for air, and scurried out of the booth, tripping over her own feet as she hurried away. A few curious glances flicked in her direction as she met her waitress in the middle of the dining area and shoved money into her hand, and then she turned and headed for the door.

A grin split across my face as the door jingled and she turned onto the sidewalk, because this time it hadn't taken much effort at all for her to see me. Either the veil was extremely thin in this dark corner of the bar, or I was consuming the majority of Jovie Taylor's mind.

Either way, the fact that she'd seen me so easily changed things.

It was clear that my time in Hell was coming to an end much sooner than I thought.