Chapter 6

I t was a sunny day earlier, but then the gloom took over quickly after nine in the morning. Once it began to rain, though, I knew it was perfect timing to finish what I've started with Candace. Jeremiah and his friends haven't found out about Maria yet, and now they're going to get double bad news. That's me killing two birds with one stone. I should probably feel a little worse than I actually do, considering my little human is quickly becoming my primary source of entertainment. And if there's one thing I hate admitting, it's that I don't want to give him up just yet. I want to continue this little game we're playing.

I can tell it's not a game to Jeremiah. If the way he looks at me is any indication, he's either cum-drunk or falling in love with me. I don't know what makes me more excited—the possibility of getting to fuck him again, or the possibility of breaking him beyond repair. What I do know, though, is that he'll let me pick. He'll let me do whatever I want to him. It's funny what good sex can do to the human brain—completely alter it and fuck everything up. Which is exactly why I don't involve myself with humans, definitely don't fuck them, and absolutely don't treat them the way I've been treating him. It's a dangerous combination, and if I'm not careful, I'll be just as fucked as he is.

The rain pounds onto the pavement as I walk toward the football field, using Sam's body to go talk to the girl, and make her feel at ease for all of two seconds before I give her a heart attack and kill her. My shoes are soaked from endless puddles, and I see an army of football players headed in my direction—toward the parking lot. Looking off into the distance, I see a blonde left behind. She's the only woman among all of them, and they just left her stranded. Pathetic . And here she probably thought they would protect her.

The turf is squishy under my shoes as I step on it, making my way to Candace slowly, as if I have all the time in the world. She may as well be walking in slow motion from how damn unhurried she is, but it's better this way. Because as I look behind me, I realize that the football players are all piling into cars and driving away.

Perfect.

"Sam?" Candace sounds confused as she stares at me, and I know it's because someone like Sam would never be seeking her out. Not really. Bad boy playing with the cheerleader? Doubtful. "What are you doing here?"

There's a moment of silence as we stare at each other, and I don't know if she can read something on my face, but, nevertheless, she must not like what she sees. She begins to take steps backward, getting further and further away from me. But I just follow her, which makes her eyes widen in fear.

"S-Sam," she whispers. "Please, please stop."

I shake my head, continuing to walk toward her as her teeth begin to chatter. She knows something is off. She just doesn't know exactly what it is. But she's definitely smarter than I gave her credit for.

"Not Sam, Candi girl." I smirk, unveiling my trueform. "Just the one you didn't say goodbye to."

Candace screams, her voice breaking, and she begins to run. She's already so much fun in comparison to Maria. Maybe I should've started with her all along, but no, Maria had to go. All of them do. In due time.

" Candi ," I sing-song. "Where are you going?"

Candace continues to run as I walk slowly behind her, and before she can take her next step, I'm in front of her. Her eyes are wide, lips trembling, as she tries to run past me and toward the ten yard line. It only serves to heighten my anticipation, and I grin as I pull out the knife from Sam's pocket and flick it open.

Yanking her by her arm, I turn her around and press the blade to the side of her throat. She shakes her head roughly, cutting her skin open with the motion until blood is running toward the neckline of her t-shirt.

"Why?" she shrieks, trying to take a step back, but I'm not letting her.

"Why not?" I grin, and her eyes well up with tears. She's pathetic—all humans are. Which is exactly why I don't have patience for them. But her fear? I have all the time in the world for that.

"Why do you want to kill me?"

"Because it's so much fun, Candace." My grin widens, and I drag the tip of the knife from her neck to her belly slowly, cutting her shirt open. A trail of blood bubbles up, but it's not deep. Just deep enough to sting. "And your little boyfriend? Well, he's mine now. And I'm going to keep him."

"He would never be with you."

I raise an eyebrow, though I can't deny that Jeremiah is a touchy subject for me. "He already is with me."

"You're lying," she growls.

A wave of anger floods me, crashing over, and leaving me to fend for myself. "I. Never. Lie."

"He's not gay," she says pointedly.

"Never said he was." I grab the back of her head, threading my fingers through her hair, and yanking back to make her look up. "All I'm saying is that he's mine. And I'm never letting him go."

The truth in my statement takes me by surprise, mostly because the plan has always been to kill them off and move on. All of them, including my little human. But now I'm wondering if that's what I actually want. When everything is said and done, would I really dispose of him like trash after everything he's given me? Or would I demand even more from him? Something tells me he'd keep on giving me whatever I want, and that's enough to have me second guessing most of my plans.

But not this one.

This plan is rock solid.

Dragging the knife down lower, I press it against Candace's abdomen and push it in slowly, then withdraw it and stab her harder until the hilt hits her skin. I don't think she feels it at first, mostly because she's so shocked not even a whimper escapes her. But it's when I withdraw it from her body completely that she screams, a blood-curdling sound. Lightning strikes across the sky, booming thunder quickly following, and the rain picks up until I can barely make out her face.

I grin, feeling her warm blood on my fingers as it gushes out, and I stab her again. This time she fights, punching me in the face and thrashing her body to get my hold on her hair to slip—to no avail. I withdraw the blade, only to slice into her once more, and then again.

Letting go of her, I take a step back, letting her stumble away from me. The way she can barely walk brings a grin to my face, and it's amusing when she tries to run away from me, only to fall to the ground. She screams again, a guttural sound, and I push her onto her back, straddling her waist. The blood is pouring out of her now like a waterfall, and I grip the knife harder. For the final blow, I stab her in the heart.

I don't withdraw the blade as I feel her go limp underneath me, but I do take it out once her heart stops beating. And then I run—faster than I ever have—back to the car. Maybe it was a horrible idea to kill her in Sam's body, but I did it for fun. Now I just hope it doesn't come back to bite me in the ass. I don't exactly want anyone to find out Sam isn't himself. It would take me away from Jeremiah before I'm ready to let him go.

My chest heaves as I gulp in breath after breath, pulling my shirt over my head to clean myself up. There's thankfully a change of clothes in the back seat.

Good thinking, Sam.

"Shut the fuck up," Sam hisses from inside my head, and this time I cackle. "You can't just steal my life! You can't kill people as me!"

"Oh, but you're just fine with fucking Jeremiah?" I mutter as I pull out of the parking spot. "Haven't complained about that once yet."

Silence .

I grin, gripping the steering wheel tighter. I can't tell if I'm happy that he's not so much of a fighter, because I don't have to pay attention to him. Instead, I can give my undivided attention to Jeremiah—well, almost undivided. If you don't count the murders of his friends.

"Do you think he'll forgive me?" I ask Sam, driving slower so it takes longer to get back to the dorms.

"For what?" Sam asks slowly, like he's trying to understand what I'm saying. As if it's not obvious enough. "Wait—you don't actually plan on keeping him, do you?"

"Keep him?" I chuckle. "I'm going to own him."

"And does that mean you're staying with me too?" His voice is high-pitched, and I snicker. But I stay silent—just to fuck with him. "Answer me!"

"Ah, ah," I tut. "No need to get feisty, Samuel. I will stay with you for as long as I please."

Before he can fight some more, though, I lock him into the darkest recesses of his own mind, effectively shutting him out. If there's one thing I won't allow, it's for him to steal the joy of this moment from me.

Two down, three more to go.

Or will it be two?

The truth of the matter is that I don't know what I want to do with Jeremiah—not really. I want to own him. But do I want to keep him? Forever?

Pulling up to my parking spot, I turn the key in the ignition and grab the clothes from the back seat. Thankfully, there's a bottle of water in the cup holder that I use to clean my hands, then put a clean shirt on. I know I probably shouldn't shove my bloody shirt into the back seat of the car, but what other choice do I have right now?

Huffing in exasperation at how poorly I planned this, I open the door and get out, closing the distance between the car and the building in record speed. There are a lot of people out and about right now, milling the hallways and throwing a football from one end to the other. I somehow manage to dodge the ball just in time to get into the elevator, then press the button to the fourth floor so I can get back to Jeremiah.

My sweet, innocent Jeremiah.

Right before I go to unlock the door, it opens from the other side, and out comes Noah. My boy toy's best friend. I narrow my eyes on his face, but he looks distraught. It's now that I realize that they probably just found out about Maria. So I let him walk past me and immediately push my way into the dorm room.

Jeremiah is sitting down in the chair right in front of the desk at the corner of the room, his head in his hands. His shoulders are shaking, and for once I don't feel like strangling a human for crying. Maybe it's because I know he's not weak. Or maybe it's because now I am. I'm weak for him . And I'm powerless to stop it. To stop myself from feeling this way for him. After all this time, I think I've finally found my purpose. He's my purpose. And that's dangerous—for both me and him.

"Jeremiah?" I whisper, trying not to spook him. He doesn't move, doesn't even fucking breathe. He just sits there with his head in his hands. "Baby, look at me."

I come to his side, placing my hand on his back and rubbing soothing circles on it. Who the fuck even am I right now? Why the?—

"Can you lie down with me?" Jeremiah whispers, and right now, yes. I'd do just about anything to keep him from sounding like this—so sad, detached. But wasn't this what I wanted? To break him? Piece by fucking piece? So why then, doesn't it feel as good as I thought it would? "Kaelin?"

A shiver rolls down my spine at the way he says my name, and I nod quickly. "Yeah." I clear my throat. "Come on."

Slipping off my shoes, I get in bed and wait for Jeremiah to join me. Right before he does, he turns off the light, bathing us in darkness. I'm tempted to show myself to him now more than ever, put myself out of my fucking misery and end this already. Cut it at the roots. Nip it in the bud. But I can't—and for the fucking life of me, I don't know why.

"I think—" Jeremiah sniffles, coming to my side, the bed dipping as he lies down with me. He clears his throat and starts over. "I think this was the Ouija Board."

"What was?" I whisper.

"Maria dying," he whispers back, and I sigh.

"Come on, baby," I tell him softly, placatingly. "You can't actually believe that." Except why am I gaslighting him right now? Is it for his benefit or is it for mine?

"You don't understand," Jeremiah says slowly, and I want to scream at him that I do. That I understand everything. But I don't. I just stay quiet. "We didn't say goodbye. You should always say goodbye."

Yes, you should.

Turning my body toward him, I face him. His eyes are red and swollen, his lips chapped. But he's still such a fucking pretty boy. It's a good thing he thinks I can't see him right now.

"My parents are dead, you know," Jeremiah whispers, and I stiffen. "I don't have any family left. My friends—they're my family."

"You got me now, Jer," I whisper back, eyes falling closed. I want to slap myself—hard—for even caring this much. For putting myself in this situation to begin with. Stupid, stupid, stupid . How can a mere human make me feel this way? "I can be your family too."

He nods, and this time, my eyes fly open. "You've got me too."

Before I can say anything else that will compromise my integrity, I run my fingers through his hair and kiss the tip of his nose. It's wet and salty, but I don't even care as I pull him into me. And just like that, he falls asleep on my chest. To the beat of my heart—someone else's heart. Yet the same heart that flutters in my chest at the feeling of his hand tightening in mine.

And yeah, just the way I thought earlier.

I'm so fucking fucked.