Chapter Twenty-Three

Raine

Halloween Eve. One year ago.

P acing. All I've done is pace since those little fucks burned down my house. Soon, the city would tear it all down. Condemned . What a fucking joke. This town wouldn't even exist if not for me.

I should have never married Daisy Thorn. That fucking cunt. I might as well be cursed in that room with her lovers. Once this house was gone, I'd have nothing. She could've at least had the decency to let one of them impregnate her before she offed them. Instead of having everything I own default back to the city.

For over a hundred years, I've tried to figure out a way to get that damn door open. But I remember the night she cursed them. Only a member of a founding family from Ever Graves could break it. It was impossible. There was no one left in this town from Ever Graves. Or so I thought. Until that night last summer. When I saw her . She had those same violet eyes that all the Bishop women had.

I knew this was my chance. If she freed them, she'd be tied to them forever. She could save this house.

But then the fire broke out.

I tried to stay close to her but there was so much chaos. The halls were filled with smoke and flames and drunken teenagers running for their lives. I even tried to call out to her, but my voice was lost amidst the screams.

By the time I caught up to her, it was too late… I found her at the bottom of the stairs, her body contorted in a way no one could survive. Still, I checked for a pulse.

Nothing.

The Bishop girl was dead. And we were doomed.

Fuck .

I watched from the window as they hosed my beloved house down. I waited while they combed through the rubble. Hours and hours of searching. And when they were done, they left empty-handed. There were no stretchers. No ambulances. No dead Bishop girl in their arms.

What the actual fuck?

I sprinted down the stairs only to find a pool of blood at the bottom.

Fucking hell.

So, back to pacing. I stalked up and down the hall, back and forth, losing my fucking mind for over a year.

And that's when I heard them.

At first, I thought I was imagining it. I ran to the window and looked down. A grin spread across my lips.

On the front lawn stood two drunk women in slutty Halloween costumes. And one of them was her .

There's my little snack .

Bailey Bishop had finally come home. Back to the scene of the crime. And she didn't even know she was dead. It made it that much sweeter.

I lurked in the shadows as she climbed the stairs, my obsession growing with every step. I stalked her down the hall as she made her way to the locked door, my cock throbbing to the sway of her hips. And when she struggled to get it open, when I began to fear that she'd give up and leave… I pushed her. I unleashed the three deviants who would drag her back here to me.

And I couldn't wait to play with her. To teach her how to live in the darkness.

To show her how to be a monster like me.