Page 39 of Where Crows Find Death
Just like when I first saw him in my dream.
The shadows I saw so many times now surrounded him, trickling over his shoulders, toward his chest. But the God of the Dead stood there like a statue.
I could feel those eyes on my face, and as he tilted his head and took a step toward the house, leaving the darkness of the forest, I took a step backward, as if I could outrun him. But there was no outrunning the man I couldn't get out of my head.
He was my nightmare. My constant reminder I had lost everything, and yet, seeing him, touching him, quieted the demons whispering in my ear, urging me to follow after my family. Being here had quieted the grief. This island had quieted the pain that was a constant companion this past year.
Perhaps my mind was trying to focus on the events happening right now, but for the first time in a year it finally felt like I wasn't lying. It finally felt as if I could breathe, allowing my lungs to fill with air.
I was allowing myself to think of the future I could potentially have.
The backs of my knees hit the bed, making me pull back into the present, refocusing on the infuriating God crossing over the grass, wrapped in the shadows.
He was hiding something from me. He was hiding something that had nothing to do with my heritage, and this was the perfect opportunity to ask him. I wanted answers, dammit, and I wanted them now.
Hades kept walking toward Elandra's house, and before he could disappear again, I turned toward the bed and pulled on my jacket. My hair was in a haphazardly made side braid, with more hair slipping out than in the braid, but I didn't care. My boots stood right next to the door, and as I put them on, I rushed out the room.
My feet carried me down the stairs in an old house, wincing as every step shuddered through the space, no doubt alerting myaunt and Elandra I was up. I almost expected them to already be downstairs, ready for me, but as I looked inside the living room and kitchen, neither one of them were there. Elandra wanted us to start training today, and I'd agreed to do it, under one condition—to get the full understanding of the story. If they wanted me to help, if they wanted me to understand, then they had to stop talking in circles. They had to tell me the full story.
Crows cawed in the distance as I rushed outside and ran over the front garden and toward the back, ignoring the chilly air and the chattering of my teeth. The skies darkened as I reached the meadow behind the house, separating it from the forest, but he wasn't there. I could feel my heart thundering as I stopped in the middle of the clearing, hugging myself as the wind picked up and the thunder rolled somewhere in the back.
"Fuck," I grumbled, stepping back. My eyes flickered over the clearing, over the forest, but the only person standing here was me. Even the crows fled into the skies, leaving me all alone the moment I stopped walking, letting the lingering fog touch my bare legs.
The sleep shorts I had on were not made for this weather, but I didn't think. The moment I saw him, the moment I knew we could be alone, I ran. The disappointment flaring in the center of my chest mirrored the one from last night when I couldn't see him again, and I understood now that my feelings had nothing to do with needing to find out the truth. It had everything to do with me wanting to see him, to be near him.
There was an invisible string pulling me to him. Maybe it started with the dreams. Maybe it started long before I allowed myself to conjure him in my mind, but it was there. I could feel the insane pull, the need to be close to him, but I refused to be the pawn of destiny. I refused to do something just because someone somewhere said I was destined for a certain thing. Ineeded facts, logic, because there had to be a logical explanation for this insanity rocking through my body whenever he was near.
It was enough that I no longer had control over my own life, at least judging by what Elandra had already shared. But I refused to be infatuated with a man who obviously couldn't even wait for me. Or the man who not-so-kindly told me yesterday that I was behaving like a child.
The tall grass I stepped into caressed my bare skin, the condensation from the morning frost leaving traces, sending chills through my body. But one thought froze me in the spot, making it difficult to breathe—he wasn't here.
There were so many unexplainable things happening around me, but I knew this time he wasn't just a dream. He wasn't a figment of my imagination. But he didn't wait for me. Maybe he didn't even come for me.
The mere thought that he came for someone else didn't sit well with me. Like lead in my gut, the notion started dragging me down, until the weight of it felt like too much to bear. Too much to even think about. I took a step back, biting down on my lower lip, ready to go back to the house, when the first droplets of rain fell upon my face.
"Fuck!"
"Looking for me, Kore?" the deep, velvety voice rang behind me, merging with the thunderous skies hovering above us, and as I turned around, there he was, in the flesh.
His ink-black hair stood up despite the rain falling on us, and the emerald of those green eyes flashed darkly as he took me in, seeing my bare legs. They dragged over the exposed skin, over my shorts, hovering on the old jacket I wore that belonged to my dad.
"Do you mind?" he asked, taking a step closer, suffocating me with his presence. "I didn't expect to get rained on—again."
"I'm not doing anything," I argued, remembering what he said yesterday. "I cannot control the weather."
"Really?" he drawled, his predatory stare eating me alive as I stood there, ready to be devoured. I had no idea what it was about him, about his presence or his energy that had me either completely lost for words or borderline angry. And right now I was somewhere between—angry at him for abandoning me last night, but also lost for words and needing him closer. Much, much closer.
His feet touched the tips of mine, and even through my boots, I could feel him sizzling my skin with that one little touch. "I thought we had discussed this already." He smirked, tilting his head as he looked down at me. "So if I do this." His finger dragged over my cheek, creating a fire in its wake. "The rain wouldn't stop?"
My eyes fluttered closed, feeling the heat from just his finger as it spread through the skin of my cheek. The scent of rain and the forest enveloped me fully as his larger frame hovered over me. My eyes flew open as he bent down, closer to me, his breath washing over my face as the danger I craved started lurking in those green depths.
"As expected," he rasped, as his finger descended lower, reaching the edge of my lips. "The rain stopped."
His words felt like a cold bucket of water splashing me, waking me up from the insanity I was slowly descending into. The finger he kept on my skin disappeared, leaving me cold, bare, and I hated him just a little bit more for making me feel this way. My feet were rooted to the ground, yet for a couple of seconds, minutes, however long had passed, it felt as if I were floating.
As if that simple touch was everything I ever needed.
There was no pain, no regrets, no fear while he touched me, and I wanted it again. I wanted the weightless feeling to comeback. I craved it more than my next breath, just like an addict craving their next fix. He was dangerous, powerful, but as I stood there, looking up at him, I felt safer than I ever did before.
