14. Alec

14

ALEC

I knelt down next to the body on the cobbled stone, studying the wounds. Claw marks raked across the chest, splitting the body open like a burlap sack.

A fly buzzed, landing on the tip of his nose, its wings going still as it rubbed its legs together.

In front of me, the Dean blubbered.

It was a new look for a man who didn’t care about student deaths, but the victim was his son after all. John Andrews III had been found at dawn in the field outside of the maze in pieces. His chest and head were still together, but his limbs had been pulled off and placed in a circle around the torso.

The medical examiner continued to make notes. I looked up at him. “Anything interesting?”

“Clearly an animal of sorts,” he said grimly.

“And the circle?”

He shook his head. “I can’t explain it.”

I nodded and looked back down at John’s body. I frowned and leaned in further, noticing bruising on his neck. His chest cavity was open, but some of the damage did not appear to be from claws. The flesh was torn too cleanly.

The reason I was here was because just like the three professors who had been murdered—there was some sort of liquid on John’s body.

I took a swab of the liquid, put it in a vial, and capped it. I suspected that it was the same one that had ruined my plants, which could mean the monster was attempting to stop me.

He would fail.

I stood, looking around the scene again.

John’s organs and blood were missing. There was some blood on the grass and in the dirt, but nowhere near the amount there should have been. I raised my head, looking in the direction of the maze. It loomed in the distance, the dark hedges at least 9 feet tall. Easy to get lost in, easy to kill someone in…

What are you hiding?

I felt her presence before I saw her.

I turned and spotted Nora amongst the other professors. Something wasn’t right. Her face appeared hollow, her eyes darting around until they locked with my gaze. Her hand absently closed around her forearm as if to hide something.

My heart skipped a beat.

What hurt you?

She turned and darted towards the maze. My muscles twitched as I watched her disappear within. I was going to follow her. I needed to know what had put that haunted look in her eyes.

I rose up and stalked towards the entrance, only for the Dean to step in front of me.

He grasped my shoulders. “Find the killer,” he rasped. “You have to find the killer. Interview all students. You have to take that psychologist with you.”

“It could have been a monster,” I whispered, glancing around as I kept my voice low. We were being watched, but he was too far gone to care.

“There’s more here. You know it. And we both know monsters can parade as humans, wolves in sheep’s clothing.” His eyes were red, the desperation in them… entertaining. “Maybe there were witnesses. I want every person on this campus questioned. We will hunt down this monster.”

“Why do you want me to question them?” I asked. “And why Nora?”

“She has to be involved,” he sighed. I raised a brow, because that didn’t answer my question whatsoever. “And you have a way… with others. You’re an intimidating figure and intelligent. Besides, nobody hates monsters as much as you do. You must treat everyone else as suspects until we find the beast, understand?”

He had a point. I loathed monsters with every fibre of my being, especially the one I suspected was attempting to thwart me. There wasn’t a soul on this campus that would dare challenge me like that aside from Nora, but she had no reason to touch my beloved plants.

I thought it over. Spending the rest of the week with Nora at my side was far more appealing than it should have been.

“Briar?”

“Fine,” I said abruptly. “I just saw Dr. Woulfe. I will retrieve her.”

“Meet me at the office at 1 P.M. Bring her. We’ll have students and professors ready for the interview. All classes are to be cancelled for the remainder of the week. I want this beast found.”

That only gave me a couple hours with her.

“I’ll do my best,” I said.

He released me and let out a quiet sob, stumbling off as though he were drunk. I watched him go and shook my head. The irony of it all was truly wonderful.

Clouds gathered overhead as I stalked towards the maze. I wove down the familiar path, listening for her. Part of me expected her to be lost, but then again, she was tenacious. And intelligent. If anyone could take this maze with the ease I did, it would be her.

I slowed when the earth turned more damp and the scent of blood filled the air. I raised my brows and knelt down, running my fingertips over the dirt, pulling away red.

I let out a soft chuckle.

“Oh Nora,” I whispered.

That haunted look was starting to make more sense now. Although, the way John’s body was torn apart still didn’t.

My little psychologist had done something bad. Or good.

When I exited the maze, she was sitting there on the greenhouse doorstep. Mushrooms sprouted from the ground, the wind rustling the vines that crawled up the frame of the building.

“Once again, you are at my greenhouse,” I said. “Don’t tell me the death of John Andrews has left you upset.” I leaned over her, unlocking the door.

Our exchange yesterday had left me liking her more. And now, whatever was torturing her so… It made me want to truly know her.

Never mind the lust I felt towards her.

“I need to talk to you,” she whispered.

I stared down at her, imagining thrusting my cock into her pretty, pouty mouth. Looping my fingers in her dark hair as I ravaged her. Tasting her cunt… Control yourself, demon.

When she looked up at me, she stole my breath. Seeing the tears in her pretty brown eyes was enough to send me into madness. I memorised every curve of her face, committed the flush of her cheeks and the light that reflected off the tears rolling down her rosy cheeks to memory.

“Touch nothing while inside here. Come on.”

She rose and followed me in, her arms crossed over her chest. I noted a clean cut and nearly grabbed her, restraining myself from doing so. Her hair was tossed into a messy bun, the circles under her eyes a mark of no sleep.

She’s still so lovely.

Her scent, a mixture of lavender and vanilla, made my mouth water. I locked the door behind us and headed down the worn path, acutely aware of her following me. It was rare that I found myself wanting someone within my space, but I wanted her with me now. I led her to my office space and pointed to the chaise.

“Tell me what happened.”

“Nothing.”

“You’re a bad liar, Nora,” I said.

She blew out a frustrated breath and sat on the chaise, but she didn’t relax. Every muscle in her body was tense, and she refused to make eye contact. She stared at a plant for a few moments, biting into her lower lip.

It wasn't necessarily concern that drew me to her. It was curiosity. Her pain was a flame to me, and I was nothing more than a moth floating towards it, craving the warmth of it. I seemed to gravitate towards her until I was kneeling before her, my face in front of hers.

“What happened?”

“I killed him,” she whispered.

I fought the urge to laugh, but she was so serious and distraught. I knew that she would not take kindly to my laughter, and the last thing I wanted at the moment was to chase her away. Besides, seeing her like this was too tantalising to walk away from .

“I didn’t ask you what you did,” I said. “I asked what happened. What did he do?”

“He waited for me. For me to leave. I took the path out of the west wing and he was there with a knife.”

My teeth set and I felt a wisp of anger unfurling in my chest.

She wouldn’t meet my gaze. “He threatened to kill me.”

That wasn’t all. “What else?” I whispered.

“He threatened to rape me and kill me. He attacked me. We fought in the maze but I got the knife and I killed him.”

I let out a slow breath. I wished he was still alive. Not because he deserved to live, but because I wanted to dissect him while he was awake and hear him howl into the darkness. I wanted to take revenge on him, on the Dean, on his entire family.

Because he’d hurt my obsession.

He’d hurt Nora.

Obsession was digging its roots into me now. Did she realise what she was doing by telling me this? She was confessing a secret to me that would bind us together in ways that neither one of us would ever be able to escape.

Nora looked at me, her expression twisted with concern. She probably expected me to admonish her for killing a person. She wasn’t going to get that from me.

“He deserved it,” I said with a shrug.

Her eyes widened and she looked up at me. “You can’t mean that.”

“I do. I absolutely mean it. He was a good for nothing bastard. Entitled, selfish, disgusting, stupid. Dying at your hand was mercy. I would have given him a much worse ending.”

I couldn’t stand the tears that fell from her eyes. I wiped one away with a low tsk .

“Your tears are much too pretty for him. Killing isn’t always wrong.”

“It absolutely is.”

“How so? What if he had done what he intended? Do you think he should have lived?”

“I don’t know. I don’t know. Why did I even tell you this? Of all people?! But I had to confess to someone and?—”

“You can confess every sin of yours to me, but to no one else,” I said sharply. “The Dean wants us to interview everyone.”

Her mouth fell open and she shook her head. She started to stand, but I pushed her back onto the cushion.

“No. You’re not getting out of this. Look at me, Nora.”

“You can’t be serious, you?—”

“ Look at me. ”

Her breath hitched. She sat in front of me like a pretty panicked bird stunned from hitting something.

“There’s something else,” I said softly. “You know there is something else. What is it?”

She shook her head. “Don’t make me say it.”

“I will make you because I want the truth. I believe you stabbed him, but I don’t believe you ripped his chest open and dismembered him. I don’t believe you produce poison either. Tell me the whole truth.”

“I’ve gone mad,” she cried. “I’ve lost it. This place has ruined me.”

I didn’t have the heart to tell her that she was ruined far before she came here.

“You can tell me the entire truth. I have seen things and done things that would make you scream. Whatever you saw, whatever you experienced, you can tell me all of it. I need to know, Nora. ”

She drew in a steadier breath. “There was… something. A creature. An imagining.”

“But he wasn’t imaginary, was he?”

“I don’t know.” Her voice was barely audible. “ Please, please, please. What is happening to me?”

“You’re the psychologist,” I said. “You tell me. Use your logic. Pretend you are a doctor and the patient has asked you these things.”

“I’m in shock.”

I nodded and she mirrored the motion.

“What happened to me was traumatic. A student attacked me and I killed him. But then something happened that I can’t explain logically.”

“Keep going.”

“There was a monster. A creature. He’s like a dryad or some sort of forest being. He stopped me. He told me he would take care of the body.”

My ears started to ring. My skin itched as I listened to her.

“He carried me back to the tower. He put me in bed.”

“Did he touch you?”

“Yes. But only for a moment.”

“Have you seen him before?”

She hesitated for a moment. “Yes. And he told me to confess to no-one.”

“But here you are.”

“I had to tell someone.”

“Why me?”

“Because I thought you were the killer,” she whispered. “I thought you killed the professors. But it was him. It had to be him.”

“I need to know more about him. That is all I need in exchange for keeping your secrets. I do not care that John died. He deserved it. But I need to find this monster.” My breaths heightened as I spoke. “I need that poison. I need more of it. It will help me make a difference.”

“But he doesn’t…”

“He exists. You asked for proof, didn’t you? Evidence ? You could not have dismembered John’s body. You could not have ripped open his chest. You could not have covered him in a toxic material that does not harm humans in small doses, but assuredly might harm other monsters.”

I stood up abruptly, my mind turning faster and faster.

“You have to care about me murdering someone.”

I laughed and raked my fingers through my hair. She didn’t understand. If this monster helped her, if he took care of the body, that was a sign of caring. The way John was ripped apart was purposeful. If the monster cared for her, then I could use her to find him.

I needed to capture this beast so that I could make the poison.

I knew deep inside that he held the secret to helping me find it.

My breaths came faster as I spun back to study her. “We have students to interview. We have only a couple hours to give you an alibi.”

“This is wrong,” she said, shaking her head angrily.

“I will be your alibi. You spent the night with me.”

She sneered at me. “You can’t be serious.”

“I am. You came for dinner after your lessons and we discussed psychology and science. You fell asleep in my greenhouse and I chose not to wake you, for I am a gentleman.”

“That is possibly more ludicrous than me seeing a monster last night. Why not your townhouse?”

“I don’t use my townhouse,” I said immediately. I never visited it. It was useless. My home was here, within the glass walls and dirt .

“This is absurd,” she said.

I rushed towards her, kneeling down. She leaned back, her eyes widening. “I need that part of you right now. Not the sad one, not the one who feels that she did something wrong by ridding the earth of another stupid evil bastard. I need the spark . The logic.”

Her lips parted as she searched my face. “Have you ever killed someone, Alec?”

My name from her sweet lips made my cock throb. I breathed in her scent, in her misery, and cupped her jaw. “Yes. Many times.”

The scarlet finally returned to her pale cheeks. “So I’ve thrown myself in with a killer.”

“It takes one to know one.”

She attempted to recoil, but I refused to let her go. The feel of her skin beneath my fingertips sent a bolt of desire through me. Her lips were so close to mine, but I wanted her to beg me before I gave her any sort of pleasure.

“Don’t you feel it?” I murmured.

She grabbed my wrist and shoved me back, anger flaring in her gaze. “We will need rules if we are going to… confide in one another.”

“Such as?” I asked pleasantly.

“Ask before you touch, for one.”

“I can do that.” I offered her my hand and she stared at it. “We should talk and walk to make sure you are seen out and about. We need to go over details and make sure our stories line up in every way possible.”

“Well, I’m capable of walking without holding your hand. Lead the way.”