“Alannaaaahhh … I’m coming for you.”
I spun around, my hair a mass of thick, dark waves flying after me. I looked from my left to my right, wondering where the echoed whisper was coming from. The voice that spoke was uncomfortably familiar to me, but I couldn’t recall who it belonged to. All I knew was that fear caused my muscles to tighten, and my throat to run dry. My body was tense, and the hair on the nape of my neck stood at attention. Something was very wrong. I looked around once more, and it was only at that moment I realised that I couldn’t remember walking into my office. I looked down at my body and blinked in surprise. I definitely couldn’t remember putting on the beautiful white dress I was wearing. In fact, I couldn’t remember when I purchased the dress in the first place.
“Damien?” I called out, confusion gripping me. “Where are ye’?”
“He’s a little tied up at the moment, angel.”
I shrieked when the voice spoke directly behind me, but when I turned to face the person, I was met with thin air. My body began to tremble, and silent sobs climbed their way up my throat. I jumped when I heard a clicking noise to my right. My lips parted with shock as I watched my easel set itself up without a person in sight to perform the action. I wanted to turn, to flee the room and never look back, but I couldn’t. I was frozen to the spot as my eyes were locked on the impossible scene before me.
I sucked in a sharp breath when I blinked, and suddenly, I was standing in front of my easel with a pencil in my hand. A large blank canvas was before me, and as if I was controlled by someone else, my arm rose, and my hand began to draw on the canvas. I whimpered with fright as I fought for control of my body, but I was completely at the mercy of whatever possessed me. I could do nothing but watch in horror as my hand drew an image at an unnatural speed. It wasn’t just an image, though … It was a sketched film.
I had drawn perfect likenesses of the Slater brothers, and when they began to move, smile, and turn to look at me, my heart just about beat out of my chest. I watched as their smiles turned to frowns, then as their frowns turned to pained expressions as cuts and tears appeared on their bodies. Thick, red liquid began to spill from the brothers, but then it wasn’t just on the brothers anymore; it began to seep through the canvas. I watched as it slowly dripped down the sketch and splashed onto the floor, causing a puddle to form around my bare feet. The liquid splashed onto my white dress, decorating it in red.
The smell was heavy and metallic, and I knew it had to be blood.
“I think this is your best creation yet, angel.”
I fell onto my behind when control of my body suddenly returned to me. It didn’t hurt like I expected it to. In fact, I felt nothing at all. My breathing was laboured as a shadow fell over me, and apprehension flooded me. I looked up, and when my eyes landed on him, my lips parted, and my heart stopped.
“Morgan?”
Morgan Allen, who was really Carter Miles, smiled down at me, and his vibrant violet eyes seemed to twinkle in delirious amusement.
“Angel,” he said, tilting his head to the side. “Oh, how I’ve missed you.”
I furrowed my brows as I clumsily got to my feet and stumbled a few steps away from Morgan, putting some much-needed space between us.
“You can’t be ‘ere,” I warned. “Ye’ promised that ye’d go away and stay away.”
“That was when you rejected the Slater brothers,” he said with a wicked grin. “But you’ve made up with them … You’ve opened your heart to them once again, and I can’t have that, angel. Not when they’ve killed people close to me. Murderers don’t get a happily ever after, not in this story.”
My knees knocked together and threatened to give way at any moment.
“Mor-Morgan,” I stammered. “Ye’ said ye’d never hurt anyone … D’ye remember that?”
“And you said you loved Damien and that you wanted to marry him and have his babies, but that’s not true,” he replied with a menacing snicker. “I guess we’re both liars.”
“I … I do want to marry Damien and have his children. I do.”
“No, you don’t,” Morgan replied smugly. “I’m in your head, angel, remember? That means I know everything that goes on inside it. You want Damien, but you don’t want his last name or his kids.”
“No,” I said, wrapping my arms around my waist. “No, that’s not true.”
“It’s the fear in you,” Morgan continued as he slowly began to circle me like a predator. “You said you wanted to marry him, to have his children … but when you thought about that, you realised you were too scared to make it a reality because what if you had his babies and they died? What if you married Damien and he died? Starting a life with him was too terrifying for you to consider. You’re playing games with Damien, and you know he doesn’t like games.”
“Shut up!” I pleaded. “Shut up, shut up, shut up!”
“Oh, angel.” He chuckled, the rumbling sound echoing around the room. “You’re a little mouse in a big, bad world. Do you know what I am?”
I shook my head.
“The mouse trap.”
I began to cry, the sobs wracking my body until I was a trembling mess of emotion.
“Ye’ s-said ye’d n-never hu-hurt me.”
“We have both said things we didn’t mean … Isn’t that right, Lana?”
I jumped about a foot into the air when a loud bang sounded from my left, and when I swung my attention in that direction, my knees finally gave out, and I dropped to them with a thud. Before me were the Slater brothers, all tied up, cut, and bloody … just like they were in the sketch I drew. Five pairs of grey eyes cut into me, pleading with me to help them, and I didn’t know how to.
“No!” I wailed. “No, don’t hurt them, please.”
“I have to hurt them.” Morgan chuckled darkly. “I’m a Miles, and hurting the Slater brothers is what we do.”
“No, please,” I begged. “Don’t hurt them … Hurt me instead.”
“You?” he repeated, a quizzical look roaming over my body. “You want me to hurt you?”
Damien screamed around the cloth stuffed into his mouth as Morgan lowered to his hands and knees and approached me. His violet eyes never blinked, and once they locked on mine, they didn’t stray. Tears flowed down my cheeks, and hiccups escaped my mouth, but my breathing stopped when Morgan climbed over me and pushed my legs apart.
“You don’t really want Damien,” Morgan said, then suddenly, he wasn’t Morgan anymore; he was Dante Collins. “Ye’ want me.” His smile was so welcoming, and I wanted to feel relaxed in his presence … but I couldn’t. “Ye’ want me in your bed just like ye’ had me there for four long months, workin’ every knot out of your body with me cock and fingers. D’ye remember how loud I made you moan, Alannah? Ye’ want me and not Damien because ye’ can control how ye’ feel about me. Ye’ had me under your thumb, but ye’ could never control how ye’ felt about Damien. Isn’t that right, beautiful?”
I closed my eyes, put my hands over my ears, and screamed. My hands were quickly pulled from my ears, and when I opened my eyes, Dante was gone, and Morgan was back. His smile was sinister, and I knew deep in my heart that he was going to hurt me.
“You can never get rid of me, angel,” he said, moving his head closer to mine. “I’m inside your mind, and I’m always going to be there.”
I whimpered.
“You’re mine, angel,” he almost growled like an animal making a claim. “You’ll never be Damien’s, not truly. You’ll always be mine.”
“Please,” I pleaded. “Just let them go. If you’re gonna hurt someone, hurt me. They’ve been through enough!”
Morgan blinked, and suddenly, a large blade appeared in his hand.
“Your request is a noble one, angel,” he said. “And I’m going to grant it for you because you’re precious to me.”
I heard Damien’s scream and the roars of his brothers when the sharp silver blade was placed on my throat and pressed roughly into my skin. It didn’t sting or hurt in any way, but I felt the pressure of it when I swallowed.
“You’ll never get rid of me.”
With those words spoken, Morgan yanked his hand to the right, and when I tried to draw in a breath, I found I no longer could. I felt something wet run down my chest like a stream, and I could hear nail-biting, muffled screams fill my ears. I touched my hands to my chest and stomach, and when they came away stained with blood, my world went black. The last thing I saw was a grinning Morgan mouthing one word to me.
Mine.