40. Nora

40

NORA

It was just like the night this all began.

My throat ached as I screamed as loud as I could, fighting The Hunt as they dragged me out into the woods. Dirt covered me as I clawed at it, kicking out at one of the men. They’d tied my wrists, but I could still move. I wasn’t going to give up, even if I was outnumbered.

I was torn between feeling regret for ever coming here and being thankful that I did. One of them shoved a strip of fabric into my mouth, muting my voice from carrying too far.

Each member of The Hunt wore masks of bone and horns, moving with an eerie silence. I twisted against the ropes, desperate to get free.

It was just another fucking night for them, apparently. Another sacrifice, another human slaughtered for their gain. I continued to twist and fight against the ropes. I certainly wasn’t going to make this easy for them.

Harold led the group as we neared the circle of stones.

I pushed the fabric out of my mouth with my tongue and dragged in a breath. “Why are you doing this, Harold? Shouldn’t you allow justice to take its course?”

“Don’t you think you should have perhaps done the same?” he said without glancing at me. “Instead of murdering innocent people?”

“None of them were innocent,” I said. “Is this what you do? Just sacrifice people who hurt your feelings?”

Harold paused and turned around to glower at me. “Is murder just ‘hurting someone’s feelings’ now, Nora? Is that how far you’ve gone?”

“I should have killed you instead of the Dean,” I sighed.

He scoffed. “Tighten her fucking ropes. Let’s go.”

One of the men obeyed, yanking and tightening until the ropes dug into my wrists hard enough that I was concerned about blood flow. They yanked me forward down the path.

“What does sacrificing do for you?” I asked.

“Sacrificing a human always gives us power,” Harold said as he led the group deeper through the woods. “Sacrificing a monster? Who knows what that will give us. I'm sure your blood and bones have some sort of value, even if it's on the underground market.”

“You are not who I thought you were when we met,” I spat.

“I can say the same for you.”

Tears burned in my eyes as I continued to struggle, but it was no use. Unlike the night that I'd killed the other three professors, this time I didn't have the element of surprise. They expected me to be violent and to fight. They believed that I was the monster that had done all of this to begin with.

And truly, in a way I still was.

But, I was also just a human. And they were fools for believing I was Alec.

The trees parted for the clearing, and I recognized the stones that gleamed in the moonlight. I wondered how much blood soaked this ground, how many people had been killed here over the years.

It was ironic that this was where everything would end. Back in this cursed circle, back in the woods where I’d met Alec and killed the three professors.

I couldn't help but wonder if they hadn't tried to do some sort of sacrifice, if I would've ever met Alec. That night, a bond had come to life between us, something that was twisted and corrupt and everything I could ever desire.

My heart pounded as I was thrown into the centre. I hit my knees hard, digging my fingers into the earth.

A broken laugh left me as I looked up at Harold. He glowered at me, drawing a knife from his cloak. The blade gleamed beneath the moonlight, the cold wind ruffling through the trees.

“Hold her down,” Harold growled.

They grabbed the rope and rolled me over on my back, holding my hands down and ankles. I kicked and fought, screaming again until my voice was hoarse and cracking.

Their chants rose up in the dark, a language I didn’t know. The earth thrummed beneath me, the dirt warming against my back. I felt a surge of energy through me.

Now, I could feel my connection to Alec. I could feel the bond that tied us together, and if I were to ever believe in souls, now would be the moment.

Tears rolled down the side of my face. I sucked in a breath as Harold loomed over me, bringing the tip of the knife down.

Snap.

“Oh gods,” I gasped.

The knife fell from Harold’s grip as he screamed. A vine wrapped around his broken wrist and he was yanked back, along with the others that surrounded me.

“ Alec ,” I rasped, looking up.

I rolled to my side and then my knees, grabbing hold of the knife and working the blade against the ropes. They split apart and I shook my hands, blood rushing back to my fingertips.

Alec stood, his fangs bared as his vines wrapped around all of the members of The Hunt. They clawed against them as they wrapped around their necks, their cries and grunts echoing through the forest. His eyes burned with malice, glowing in the gloom of the night.

Seeing him fully before me this way felt as though I were kneeling before a god. The entire forest hushed in his presence as he drew Harold to him, dragging a claw across the trembling man’s cheek.

“I thought—I thought she was?—”

“No,” he seethed. “I am the monster you seek. The monster you have sacrificed to for years and years, thinking I would grant your cult power. But you touched my mate !”

His voice ended on a booming snarl. My breath hitched as I listened to the cries and pleas of the others, but all I could do was laugh.

He’d found me.

My monster had found me.

Alec’s gaze flickered to me. “Are you harmed?” he asked.

“No,” I whispered.

“Then run,” he growled. “Go to the cemetery. I will take care of this.”

“Come with me,” I pleaded as I got to my feet. “I won’t leave without you.”

“I will be right behind you,” he promised. “Jacob will meet you there. We’re leaving together, Nora. I told you that you'd never escape me.”

I ran across the grass towards him and threw my arms around him, leaning up to kiss him. He grunted, his tongue meeting mine for a moment as he kissed me deeper, fangs scraping over my bottom lip.

He let out a dark sound. “Go before I fuck you while I snap their necks.”

I smiled and kissed him once more before rushing past him. I paused at the edge of the trees and looked back as he split open one of their chests, blood pouring to the ground.

“ Nora ,” he growled without looking back.

I took off running, heading in the direction of the cemetery. Screams and cries rose into the air and I ran faster until my lungs burned and I was out of the forest.

Crosses and graves dotted the ground, St. Thorn rising up in the distance, dark spires blotting out the stars. I slowed down as I stared at it, thinking about the dark secrets held in its stone walls.

I spotted Jacob at the edge of the cemetery and made my way to him, out of breath.

“Where’s Alec?” he asked.

A scream followed and we both glanced back at the woods. “He’s… Well, I’m not sure you’ll have a society anymore,” I said. “I remember everything now.”

“Good,” he said. “I never meant for you to be harmed, Nora. I didn’t know everything.”

“I know,” I sighed. “Thank you. For helping us.”

“You’re welcome,” he said. He leaned down and picked up a bag. “This has everything you and Alec need. There is an auto parked down the road you can take. You should drive until you make it to the next city and get on the airship there.”

“Should we go to London?” I asked.

“No,” he said. “Find a village, Nora. Change your names. All of this will be forgotten in years to come, I’m sure. I included your journal as well because I’m sure you’ll want to read through your notes. ”

I nodded and took the bag, slinging it over myself.

“Dr. Woulfe,” he said, holding out his hand.

“Professor Wright,” I said, shaking his hand.

“Are you sure you belong with a monster?” he asked.

I glanced up as Alec emerged from the woods, his body changing back into that of a human before our eyes. He’d taken clothes from one of the bodies, it appeared, and changed into them.

“Yes,” I said. “I’m sure.”

Alec approached us. Jacob took a step back. “Did you kill all of them?”

“I left one alive, but broken,” he said.

“Well. Good luck to both of you,” Jacob said. “I’m not sure we’ll ever see each other again.”

“You never know,” I said. “Goodbye, Jacob.”

Alec slipped his arm around me and led me to the edge of the cemetery where the auto waited. “Who’s the better driver?” he asked.

“Well…” I couldn’t say I’d ever driven one of these before.

“I shall drive then,” Alec said.

“Wait,” I said, turning to face him. “I need to tell you everything. I…”

I started from the very beginning of it all. I told him about the deaths within my family and how I'd killed my uncle. I told him about remembering the first night we met and how I knew even then that I could trust him.

“It might have been a mistake to trust me, Nora,” Alec snorted, cupping my face. “Now, you’re stuck with me.”

The same hands that had just killed several men were the ones that comforted me most. I leaned into him, breathing in his earth scent.

“You’re stuck with me. I’m just as obsessed with you,” I said. “How are you feeling? You seem different. ”

“There have been some… adjustments in the last few hours. I’ve started to remember it all. I was a changeling that ended up in the human world long, long ago. The first time I changed, I killed my mother. It was… I hated myself so much, Nora. I gave into my true form for centuries until The Hunt figured out how to bring that part of me out again. The sacrifices bound me here. And my human side… Well, it grew into its own. We are the same, though. Alec holds some of the darkest parts of me. How could you love me?”

“I’ve fallen for you. For both parts of you, for better or for worse. You have completely corrupted me and ruined me and turned me into every bit a monster as you are,” I said.

“I’d like to think we brought out the worst in each other,” he chuckled. He leaned in and brushed his lips over mine, nipping my bottom lip. “Because you have certainly poisoned me. Tore down the walls that I had built between my monstrous side and humanity. I did not know I could love until I watched you smile after murdering those men. You are an angel of death, the most toxic drop of poison. You are mine .”

That word hummed in my blood.

“I’ve fallen for you in a very dangerous way,” he said. “Are you sure you want me?”

“I’m absolutely sure,” I said. “I was worried I’d never see you again.”

“I promised to protect you, Nora.”

I kissed him again, craving his touch. “So now that I know how terrible you are and you know how terrible I am…”

“Let’s run away,” he said. “Let’s find a village and become the terrors that they whisper about.”

“I can be their night terrors and you’ll be the poison that ends them all.”

“Or perhaps the other way around?”

I grinned as I leaned up and crushed my mouth to his again, wrapping my arms around his neck.

Obsession and burning curiosity had torn our worlds apart. He was the shadow that haunted me, protected me, and loved me. His darkness mirrored my own. He was my mate.

Alec Briar had the eyes of a killer.

He had the heart of a monster.

I knew he’d never let me go.

I never wanted him to.