“What are you doing here?” Raven Blackwood questioned.

I could feel his aura getting heavier to endure. I instinctively took a step back. I mustered my courage to respond to him. I opened my mouth, and for a second, I felt that no words were going to come out. I took a deep breath, “I was just curious.”

Raven Blackwood paused for a while. Seemingly, he was mulling over my answer. But the silence didn’t remain for long. “Curious?”

I nodded slowly. I could feel displeasure with his body language. I looked up a little and my gaze fell on his arm where that woman touched him, and my heart tightened again. I needed to leave. I couldn’t stay. And since he found out, he wouldn’t let me stay either. So it was best, I should leave on my own. “I was just leaving.”

Another silence followed.

I felt myself going insane from everything at once. Since when had I ever been in such a situation?

Another minute passed, and he finally spoke, “It’s not safe. I will let Eliot drop you home.”

I looked at him in denial. He was too tall at the height of six-four, and I was merely five-six. But still, I met his gaze. He didn’t need to. I didn’t need his help. Trance was here, and he could drop both me and Elara home. I gestured towards Trance. “Trance is here.”

Raven Blackwood glanced calmly at Trance. But there was only dissatisfaction in his eyes, even though he remained calm on the surface. He emphasized. “He is also UNDERAGE.”

I tried to reason with him so he would let us go. “Please, we will be careful.”

But it was like he wouldn’t listen at all; he brought out his phone. “Or I can ask your father to take you from here personally.”

I stared at him in disbelief. Was he serious now? Did he just say to call her Papa? I looked into his eyes to see if he was merely threatening her. Or was he being real and would actually call him?

But to my disappointment, all I saw was seriousness; he was not joking at all. I could imagine Papa’s expression if he came to pick me up here and afterward’s wrath. Although he never refused me for anything, clubbing was a strict no for him. I didn’t dare to refuse him anymore and nodded, “Fine.”

Moments later, Eliot dropped Elara at home first, then me, and finally Trance.

The next few days were back to normal. I didn’t see Raven Blackwood again. School was almost ending in the next two months. And then I would be able to go on holiday. Maybe, then I can ask Papa to join him at work, so I can see Raven Blackwood more often?

A few days later:

Elara and Trance saw I was not in a cheerful mood since the last few days, so they dragged me to the beach. It was the weekend, and most of the school girls and boys were here partying, having fun, playing around with each other.

Well, I looked around, and I was in no mood to even be present here. I sighed as I walked against the shore. The waves hit my feet. I looked as far as I could. The sun was almost on the horizon. The sky had the shades of purple, orange, and red. I thought about the last few days. That bastard told my papa about my sneaking out of the club, which led to us not talking for days. I tried explaining, I just wanted to see what it looked like, and for God's sake, I didn’t even stay for more than some minutes, but he didn’t listen. His only reply each time was basically ‘It's not safe, Val, the people around us are dangerous.’

I knew he just wanted good for me, so I just nodded my head and stayed at home like a good child.

I heard the waves, it did nothing to reduce the storm inside me.

Moments later, I walked back to where Trance and Elara were making a sand castle, when someone bumped into me. The impact was too hard, so I almost fell. I looked up and saw it was the same person with the blonde hair from that day in the bar.

Somehow, fear crept inside me, and I pushed myself to get up.

The blonde-haired man looked at me, our eyes met, and then he, within no less than one second, turned around and walked away. I was startled to watch his reaction. Ugh. Shouldn’t I be the one to be scared?

My heart raced as I wondered. Why did he look so terrified when he looked at me? Like, what did he even see…?! I stood there, frozen, even after seconds, and more minutes passed since he ran away.

I took deep breaths to calm myself before I took a step to walk to Elara and Trance. But then I felt something like glass under my feet. I paused. If there were glass under my feet, I could get injured. I cautiously pulled my feet up as I glanced down.

And there it was, lying right on the surface of the sand, like it had just fallen. I hadn’t noticed it earlier. It wasn't a glass, but a phone.

I looked at it, and it wasn’t my phone. Maybe someone dropped it here. But it was still warm, so I concluded maybe it was Blondie’s phone. And then I heard a low voice coming out of it.

I turned the phone and saw there was a video playing on it. My eyes squinted slightly. I watched the video. But the more I watched, the more my heart dropped into the pool of ice-cold water. The phone dropped out of my hands again, and I felt my knees giving way. My body felt heavy, and I fell beside the phone.

The video on the phone played again and again. I heard the screams of the girl again and again, followed by Raven Blackwood’s indifferent and ice-cold voice. He didn’t sound humane as he talked. He didn’t look like a human, the way he acted. Instead, his drop-dead voice and blood-cold eyes made him look like a devil on the hunt.

The time passed slowly, and the people before my eyes already looked too blurred. My mind played the scene before my eyes again and again. Even if I tried to fight it, fight my brain, it remained the same.

The girl was her. The same girl in the bar that day, the one who kissed him. And now, I saw the video where Raven Blackwood had mercilessly killed her.

Why?

Why did he kill her?

He looked so close to her that day, so happy with her. They looked so intimate with her. Then why?

So many questions arose in my head, and I had no answer to any of those questions.

I didn’t know how much time had passed; I just sat there motionless. And then I felt the tap on my shoulder. I was zoned out. I knew someone was touching me, trying to get me back to the present, to reality. I heard voices, but none of them truly entered my brain. It was like darkness was pulling me towards it. I wanted to fight, but my body lacked strength. And before I knew it, the world spun on its axis, and I fell into a deep slumber.