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𝐒𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐄𝐍 : 𝐀 𝐌𝐎𝐌𝐄𝐍𝐓 𝐀𝐋𝐎𝐍𝐄

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He was closer to me than I expected. I felt his presence and I feared my heart rate would never go down, my hands even beginning to tremble. I could barely see anything in front of me as my eyes tried to adjust at how dark it was.

"Did I scare you?" he whispered.

I kept my back to him before I stammered, "Y-yeah, actually." No point in lying or pretending.

I didn't think we'd meet like this, to have him anywhere other than on the phone left me weak in the knees. If I were to spin around and try to search for him in the dark, I would have to strain my eyes to see him even slightly clear. I was blind with the lights off and I prayed he wasn't here to kill me or to kidnap me, to take me away to never be heard from again.

"I'm not here to hurt you," he said. Thank god. "I saw you come down."

"So you were watching me?" I smiled, resting a hand on the wall.

"Of course I was," he said back and I heard his feet against the ground and he was closer to me than before, his voice louder. "I'm always looking out for my biggest threats, but tell me...find anything fun while snooping?"

His voice sounded better in person. Everything was so much more personal with us alone like this, finally meeting face to face. Well, almost face to face at least. Face to back.

"Haven't found anything yet," I responded before asking, "Are you going to let me turn around?"

"And let you see me?" he laughed. "Not a chance."

"That hardly seems fair-"

"Better to keep my identity a secret, just for a little longer."

"I can barely even see it's so dark, just let me-" I started to turn and his hand grabbed me, gripping my arm. His skin was warm against mine and heat rushed to my cheeks and I was thankful he couldn't see the color that spread across my face.

"Don't," he snapped and I gasped as he kept me with my back facing him. "I don't want you to see me."

"But I can't even see-"

"Can't risk it."

His hand left my arm and I shifted my weight to one food to release some of the pressure in my feet as they began to ache. I could hear him breathing, like he was trying to steady himself as I was. I wanted to look at him, to see him so close to me but he was fearing the same thing I was at heart.

I'd recognize him. I'd recognize him from one of the photos on Cage's computer, or I'd be able to find out who he was because of his connections to the Morticianers. Either way, he knew how dangerous it would be for me to see him, how dangerous it could be for him too.

But I couldn't help thinking how bad this could end for me. How he could still hurt me, threaten me. Was he the predator and I the prey?

"You looked beautiful out there," he murmured suddenly and I brought my hands up to the wall to rest my forehead against as I shook my head. "You did."

A hollow laugh escaped my lips as I shook my head again.

"Your mother would be proud," he said gently. "She raised an elegant woman, someone who is so calm while in pain, graceful when hurting, stoic while smiling."

I rolled my eyes and I wished he could see. "You're just saying that to distract me."

"What could I possibly be distracting you from?"

"Well, the fact that you kill people?"

He was silent in return.

"Did you forget that or were you just hoping I wouldn't remember?"

He laughed and murmured back, "No one's going to kill you here."

That doesn't make me feel any better.

"Not yet, at least."

Ah, there it was. I was waiting for that, that final kick, for the truth. "Killing me at my mother's funeral? Really?" I shook my head and chuckled, one hand on my hip. "And why the hell do people want to kill me?"

"You're dangerous."

"Dangerous? I'm nineteen and in high school, I don't qualify as dangerous."

"But you can see them, can't you?" he questioned and he stepped away from me, his voice traveling with him as he walked the dark room. I took that as my chance to spin around and I could only see his silhouette, nothing more. "The ghosts hold secrets, the abilities you have are more powerful than you believe."

"But why do any of you even care?" I questioned, throwing my arms in the air. "Why care enough to try and kill me?"

"There are just some things I can't tell you about," he told me. "The answers lie within you and you'll figure them out in time."

"How come everyone I ask about this always seems to be talking in riddles?" I snapped, crossing my arms. "Can't anyone just give me a straight answer? Can't you just, I don't know, shed some light on all of this for me? Because I mean, come on, a group of secret killers coming to kill me next? Like, what the fuck?"

He was laughing and suddenly I was getting angry. I wanted to stalk forward and take him by the neck, to shake him until he got the point that I needed help and guidance because it wasn't like I was getting any from home.

"I mean, how the hell am I able to see ghosts?" I asked, rambling on. "How is that even possible? And demons? Don't even get me started, because like, what? You know?"

"They've always been around," he finally spoke. "And I didn't know you knew about demons, Wrath didn't know as much."

Oops. Me and my big mouth. "Uh..."

"How long have you known about us?"

He was getting closer through the dark and my hands gripped my chest in a nervous act to calm down and think of an appropriate answer. "Um, not long."

"You do know how powerful we are, don't you?"

He was so close I could almost fully make him out through the darkness. "I know you've been around for decades, probably even for a good century or two. I know that's why you don't age, even how you have demons in the police department working for your little group-"

"You don't know anything."

"I'm pretty sure I do." Why was I challenging him? Why was I suddenly so confident that he wouldn't hurt me? If I had some teenager mouthing off to me, I wouldn't be too happy or calm.

"Then tell me, great necromancer. What do you know?"

I rolled my eyes, because again with that name. Necromancer this and necromancer that, it seemed like everyone knew I had this title. As if my parents had gone around and announced they would be having a necromancer as a daughter. "You first. I need more than just all the cryptic shit you keep giving me."

"Not my place to be telling you all my secrets."

"And it seems like it's not mine either."

He took another step forward and I could almost see him. He wore all black, obvious funeral attire, yet from what I could see, he looked good. I knew he had dark hair because it was hard to make out in the basement. It was difficult to see a lot of him, I wouldn't be able to tell you what he really looked like.

A part of me knew he was attractive, potentially mid twenties. He wasn't old like Macabre or as old as my father, but I wouldn't be able to know how old the demon in him truly was. But, because he was a Morticianer, that made his soul older than mine.

"Close your eyes."

My brows furrowed and I asked, "Why? I can barely even see you still."

"Blaire," he said my name in a deep voice that made my stomach flip. "Close your eyes."

I let my eyes flutter shut, trusting him for some unknown reason. I felt as though there was that connection, one from a long time ago that linked us in the very way that made my gut clench and pull. It was silly of me to even be thinking like this, how this complete stranger was somehow connected to me through a deep and profound way that would make romance authors tremble.

Even I had to hide my own trembling when he touched my cheek with his hand. His touch was feather light, like he was just as nervous to feel me. I leaned into his palm and he was warm against my face, his fingers long. At least, that's what they felt like. His fingertips lost in the beginnings of my hair.

"It feels like I know you," I whispered, near breathless. His thumb rubbing against my cheek so lightly I had a chill run through me. "You feel so familiar-"

"Wouldn't be surprised if we've crossed paths a few times," he murmured back and I felt his free hand move and his fingers were running down my neck. I tried to hide my fear, the sudden rigidness of my body because he could easily strangle me, to choke the life from my useless body hidden away in the dark. "I've seen you before, yet not quite like this."

"Like what?"

He let a silence settle between us before finally saying, "Vulnerable." He paused again and I could hear his breathing, soft and nearly lulled. He was calmer than me, calmer than he should be. "I'm afraid this might be the last time I see you this way."

My brows furrowed again and I tilted my head up, not exactly sure where to angle my face with my eyes still closed. I was afraid of what I'd see when I'd open them. "Why?"

"Nothing as good as this ever lasts."

"You're going to kill me, aren't you?" I asked, lips pursing. "You and the rest of that little group, you're going to come after me just like they did my parents."

"We're protecting you. This has to happen."

"But why?" I breathed, desperate to push him away but I wouldn't be strong enough. And although I was scared, my eyes were still shut. I couldn't bring myself to open them and face this man that I wanted to lose myself in like I was ready for the destruction. I was ready to be torn to shreds. "Killing isn't protecting."

"There's so much at stake here, Blaire," he tried to explain as I turned my head and tried to push him away. He took hold of my wrists, trying to ease my arms down so I wouldn't keep trying to knock him back. "Everything has to go perfectly or it won't work, I'm sorry-"

"You're sorry?"

"Blaire, I'm sorry-"

I opened my eyes, staring up at him with a tight glare. "I've been told to kill you all," I spat out, knocking his hands away from me. His face was so familiar, but I couldn't quite put my finger on where I'd seen him before. "I'm supposed to kill you, to avenge my family and I didn't want to. I don't want to, so don't you dare force me to defend myself the only way I've been told."

He had pretty eyes and his dark eyebrows pulled together in his own flare of anger. He was stronger than me, I knew that. He could strike me down with one hit and that would be it. "It's how it has to be. It's the only way."

I laughed, something empty choking its way up to the surface. "It's all bullshit."

"It's hard to alter destiny like this-"

I raised my hand, stopping him as I said, "Will you just, shut the hell up? Like seriously, shut up." His mouth opened, a look of shock spreading across his features before his mouth closed. I studied his reaction before snapping, "What did you think was going to happen when I reacted to all this? Did you think I'd be okay with the fact that you and the rest of that stupid little group are going to kill me? Did you actually think I'd just willingly die without a fight or without any say?"

"No."

I crossed my arms and I thought he'd step away from me, to at least get back but he kept our closeness. "I thought you'd be different than this," I confessed, taking a small step back but finding myself closer to the wall than I thought. "But you're all the same. No one can tell me the truth, not a single one of you can just explain what the hell is going on."

"It's not that simple," he said, looking down at me. "None of it is."

It was bigger than him, bigger than me. There were other forces at play, it seemed. It wasn't just me against the Morticianers, or even me against the ghosts. Something else was going on, something from before my time.

I shook my head, fingers itching to reach into my purse and light a cigarette. I needed something, anything, to ease the nerves that were beginning to spike because if I stayed down here any longer, I was certain he'd kill me. I didn't know how he would, but he'd fine a way.

"If you're going to kill me, just answer me this," I whispered, catching his eyes. Even in the dark, I knew they were a dazzling brown, borderline hazel. "Why did you call my mother on the night she died? Why you?"

He sighed, breaking eye contact to look past me before meeting my eye again. "I worked with your father."

"I know that," I groaned. "But why call her? What was so important?"

"We knew what was going to happen."

"We?"

"The Morticianers, we knew."

"How?"

"Because it was similar to how we handled your father's death-"

I stopped him, gasping out suddenly, "So you know the guy who killed him, right? You must work with him! Archer Crow?"

His face grew still and his features were shadowed by the dark as he bowed his head slightly. He chuckled, dark and deep, like I was missing something.

"Well, don't you know him?" I asked again, hesitant this time.

"Do I know him?" he laughed before shaking his head and whispering, "You just don't get it, do you? You haven't figured it out yet?"

"Get what?" I whispered back. He looked up at me and the beautiful hazel brown was gone. What replaced the two was something ghastly, an empty void of blackness. He smiled at me and a sudden rush of danger hit me from either side as my mouth fell open and he said to me in a dark voice that I should've caught on by now, I should've known.

"I am him."

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ahhhhh it's finally revealed !!! hope everyone is enjoying it so far and let me know what you think !

(crow is so hot i just AHH)