The car engine wheezed its death cough, the door swung open and the foot of a fair-skinned teenager reached out into the hot Monday morning. The sun shining down on her made her skin look as though it glittered.
The air was dense and stuffy enough; it felt like the entire street was indoors somewhere. She took off her dark sunglasses, glancing around. Her brown eyes glowed in the sunlight as she took in her surroundings.
She smiled. “Feels great to be back.”
“Natasha,” a masculine voice called from inside the car. “Just call me if you need anything.”
“Stop,” she said. “Dad. Stop.”
She heard him chuckle, and the car engine roared to life. “Have a great day, sweetie.”
“You too.”
She stood still, watching him drive away until he was completely out of sight, then continued towards the school gate with her notepad in hand, which she held close to her chest, and her schoolbag, which hung from her shoulder.
Her long-time classmates and best friends greeted her at the school gate. Natasha walked towards them, bracing herself for a hug. Madelia raced across the school gate and squeezed her in a bone-crushing hug. “So good to see you.”
Barely breathing from the tight hug, Natasha gurgled in a strained voice. “Can’t—breathe!”
“Oh, sorry.” Madelia giggled as she let go of her.
“Ah, what a hug!” She breathed.
Madelia gave her shoulder a small shake. “Sorry about that,” she chuckled, bubbling with excitement.
“Good to see you, Natasha,” Dreda calmly said, folding her arms.
She turned to her and smiled. “Good to see you too, Dreda.”
Dreda knitted her eyebrows to give her a quick once-over. “Looks like someone’s been adding up during the holiday,” she teased.
“Daddy’s fault! He treats me as if I’m incapable taking care of myself. Doesn’t let me do anything.” Natasha scoffed, rolling her eyes.
“Sounds like you had a glorious holiday,” Dreda chuckled.
“I wish!” She threw her backpack across her shoulder and they all walked past the school gate. “My holiday was anything but glorious. Under the watchful eyes of my dad, I could do only so much. I guess you’ll never know how that feels since you’re the mayor’s daughter. Your dad lets you do whatever you want.”
She smiled calmly—the kind she smiled at people who clearly didn’t know what they were talking about. “Being the daughter of a mayor is much more exhausting than you think. Trust me, you wouldn’t want to argue with me on this one.”
“Look, all I’m saying is that I didn’t have much of a holiday being cooped up in that mansion.” Natasha grunted in frustration. “Could you imagine he didn’t let me leave the house throughout the holiday? And even when he did, he would ask Derik never to leave my side.”
“You can’t blame him for being so overprotective of his daughter,” Madelia said.
“It can be annoying sometimes. And could you believe Derik—” She trailed when her phone rang. She stole a glance at it, sighed, and stifled an eye roll.
“Who’s that?” Madelia asked.
“Speaking of Derik, he’s calling. Probably to know if I’m—” She bumped into someone she didn’t see coming.
“Haa!” she exclaimed after her phone slipped through her fingers and scattered on the earthen floor.
Madelia froze, covering her mouth.
“Good heavens,” Dreda gasped, holding her chest.
A small silence followed—deep enough to splash in for a second.
Natasha turned and was positively wonder-struck to see him walking without any care in the world, not even a side-glance at them. He shuffled with both hands dipped in his pockets and appeared oblivious to what had just happened.
“Hey!”
He didn’t stop, but kept on walking as if he didn’t hear her. Dreda and Madelia exchanged glances.
Now feeling even more agitated, Natasha yelled even louder. “Hey!”
That didn’t stop him.
“Are you kidding me?” She lost it. “Excuse me! I’m talking to you. Are you deaf? Or are you just stupid?” She almost went after him, but then he stopped dead in his tracks.
Not knowing what else to expect, she waited for him to turn—at least to apologise. But he didn’t. He just remained rooted where he stood, his back facing her. In the silence that followed, she yelled, “You just bumped into me and shattered my phone! The least you could’ve done is—”
Again, she trailed when he slowly turned to look at her, then their eyes locked on like a magnet. She gasped as his eyes bored into hers, her mouth agape with wonder as she stared at his perfectly moulded features.
His curls were dark brown and his eyes were a mesmerizing deep ocean blue, framed by graceful brows. He had a high-bridged nose that was among his two eyes, a prominent cheekbone and a well-defined chin obscured by a fuzzy, thin beard. He stood there, both hands dipped in his pockets, staring blankly at her with sore eyes. His face was neutral, giving off no trace of emotion.
“God! You’re so annoying.” Why do they always think they have the right to step on others simply because they’re gorgeous. “Seriously, who do you think you—”
“I’m sorry,” he mumbled coldly, cutting her off.
Those calm, sincere words melted the walls of her angry heart. The wind blew gently across her face, pushing her hair back. She heard the sadness in his voice. She felt it. When she looked up at his face, she saw right through him. She saw the pain in his vapid eyes—only then did she realise she’d overreacted.
He looked away, turned, and walked on. Natasha stood there with mixed feelings, eyes fixed on him as he walked away. She wished she could take back all those hurtful words.
“Oh my God!” Madelia exclaimed long after he was gone. Her voice held barely contained shock. “What the hell just happened?”
Natasha stared wordlessly, unsure of what to say. Even she, too, did not believe she’d said those things.
“Natasha, what has gotten into you?” Dreda said. “That’s no way to talk to a stranger.”
She remained impassive, showing neither remorse nor concern. She bent over to pick up the broken pieces of her phone and tossed them all in her bag. Her wristwatch alarm went off, startling her. She glanced at it. “I got to go now. See you two after class!”
Her friends looked at her pointedly as she walked away.
The ghoul responsible for the slaughter of his entire family is back, and bodies are turning up around the city. With Murphy Hartfield’s death, Kevin is perturbed—for Natasha’s sake. He knows it’s only a matter of time before her body will be the next they would find on the streets of Burnout, unless he quells any affection he has for her. Although still mourning the loss of his fiancée, he couldn’t deny this newfound affection for Natasha. And no matter how hard he tried to stay away from her, fate always brings them back together—until she is captured by the same figure that’d taken his fiancée months ago. It could prove fatal if he lost her too. AUTHOR’S NOTE Thank you so much for reading my novel! I’m so glad that you were truly able to immerse yourself in it by reading up to the end. It would truly mean so much to me if I could get many intrigued readers such as yourself to see this piece! You could help me do this by giving me some gems and a review to show support.
The old abandoned warehouse stood, corner lot, like a looming gargoyle; perched on a mound of earth protruding like an overfilled grave. The place looked dilapidated and haunted. For a moment, Kevin looked over the warehouse T-Murek had used to torture Loretta over a year ago. It felt like he was revisiting his horrible past by coming back to this very place. For months, he’d tried to fight off the memories of the past, and now he’s back to the place where it all began, the very building where he sat to watch his fiancée die. He has returned to the one place he’d hoped he would never have to see again. As he climbed up the old broken staircase, Alex heeled him. And when he reached the wooded door, the memories of the past flooded his mind, filling him with great horror. It was almost twenty-four hours after T-Murek had left the room, leaving Kevin tied to the chair. Kevin watched with pain in his eyes as flies buzzed around the opened wounds on Loretta’s lifeless body. His face was
Derik drove into a large conference room beside the police department. He took out his phone to confirm it was the address that William had texted him. Then he got out of his car and walked past the security guards standing outside into the hall. There, he met a large crowd. He marvelled at how big the whole place was. Frank, head of the forensic laboratory, was there. The entire police force in the city was present. And so was Scott. They were all seated in an orderly arrangement. Looking up at the podium, he saw William addressing the crowd. And next to him was TCU’s new president, Sir Lawrence Linus. Beside Lawrence sat a muscular, dark-skinned soldier wearing dark glasses. He had a flagitious look as he stared towards the crowd from his dark shades. He had an M16A1 gun strapped to his left shoulder and was chewing a gun. Derik walked through the attentive crowd, up the front row as he searched for an empty seat. William’s voice became audible as he reeled towards the front. “—
Derik gulped air to steady himself. Straightening his arm at Kevin, he wrapped his fingers around the gun, not taking his eyes off him. “Give me one reason I shouldn’t drop you where you stand.” “Derik, wait!” he hollered, hands raised a bit higher. “I’m not your enemy. I may be one of them, but I’m certainly not a killer.” Derik glared, his fierce eyes filled with rage and hatred. “You pinned a rod through a man’s eyes, how do you explain that?” “Those guys deserved what they got and you know it. Heck, they raped Natasha and walked away free, while she suffers in the hospital. I couldn’t live with that.” “You could have just left it to the authorities.” “I was just doing the cops a favour.” “That doesn’t change the fact that you’re a shifter and a killer. You’re dangerous. You shouldn’t be around Natasha,” he countered. Kevin remained silent. “Does Natasha know? Does she know what you are?” he asked him, his fingers tightening around the gun. “She doesn’t have to know.” His
Landry drove through the large gate into William’s mansion. He stopped in front of a Nissan Terrano II which was parked inside the carport alongside the large apartment. Kevin got out first, then offered to help Natasha. “Thank you. I can get off on my own.” She turned him down rather impolitely. He was taken a little aback by her abruptness. Getting down from the car, she bolted past him, climbing up the mini-stairs on the facade of the large bungalow. She knocked and stood with her arms folded while waiting behind the door. She didn’t turn to look at him. Landry noticed the tension between them but kept silent, making a mental note to talk to Kevin about it later. “Dad! Damien!” Natasha called and stepped back a few paces after knocking. A moment passed and no answer. She climbed up the stairs to hit the door again, this time a little louder than before. “Is anyone home?” She shuffled backward and waited, folding her arms and avoiding Kevin’s gaze. When it appeared no one was c
William went through the files Frank dropped on his desk. “I don’t understand,” he grunted with frustration. “These are the names of every member and officer on this taskforce. But why are there green dots placed beside each name?” “This is the full list of active officers registered in this taskforce that has been tested. The green dot represents the members that came out clean, while the red represents the shifters,” Frank explained. William stole a quick glance at the list, a line between his brows. “But I see no name here attached to a red dot.” “Exactly my point, sir. Every official and officer working in this taskforce came out clean.” William looked over the file, feeling sceptical about its credibility. “I ran a double check on everyone just to be sure. I can assure you, sir, there are no shifters on the task force.” William was silent for a moment, a series of thoughts running through his head. “I was thinking, what if we recreated another shifter just like Mrs Eulich, o