Page 11 of Grave Devil
Mia steps closer to me, leaning into my side. “I’ve always felt like the energy is off here. Like something isn’t right. I thought it was from all the fights. But that makes more sense.”
I’ve heard the stories too. The whispers of the past that still haunt these woods and streets. Lately, I’ve had dreams of myself standing here in this very spot. The flames are burning bright, and I’m holding the raven’s blade. I’m standing over a cloaked body. And the ground is soaked in blood. I start to pull the covering back, but I wake up before I can see their face.
I shake my head. “Maybe they’re just stories we’re told as children to fuck with our heads. My grandmother loved to scare the ever-loving shit out of me.”
Aries stands as if he is suddenly remembering he doesn’t like to get his hands dirty. He dusts off his fingers with a monogrammed handkerchief. “Yeah, maybe. But this is Ever Graves, Dray. We, more than anyone, know the fucked-up shit that’s happened here.”
Mia stares listlessly into the dying embers. “And Bones always wins,” she murmurs. “Don’t you think that’s weird?”
Aries snorts again. “No, it’s because he’s a lethal psycho killing machine.”
Maybe Mia is onto something. Bones is deadly. He’s strong, fast, and ruthless. But he’s never been beaten by anyone. No one’s even come close. And yet I’ve seen him take more than a few licks to the face in random bar fights at Duff’s.
“Well, we’ve made our seamstress wait long enough. Sorry I made us detour out here.” I’ll have to pay the woman double at this point. She’ll try to refuse it, but my guilt won’t let her. I’m a man of my word if anything. And I hate being late for my own appointments.
Aries claps me on the back as we head to the car. “It’s all good. You did the right thing. Now we know it was just a bunch of kids drinking and fucking around.”
I nod as I hop into the back seat, but something still prickles the back of my neck. The thought of this being sacred ground still turns over and over in my head. What if we had gotten here earlier? Would we have seen kids partying? Or something else?
Because there’s no trace of them. No empty red plastic cups on the ground. No cigarette butts. No footprints in the dirt. All that remains are the remnants of the bonfire. And the faint scent of embalming fluid.
I’m too distracted to pay attention to the elaborate costumes. I agree to one without taking notice of it. It’s velvet and dark, and it fits me well. That’s all I care about. Mia, on the other hand, is breathtaking in a gown worthy of a queen. The corset is cinched tight enough to give height to her beautiful tits, but not so much that she can’t breathe. Although, a little breath play while she’s dolled up like this could be fun.
Aries looks as gorgeous as ever too. I swear these kinds of suits were designed for him and him alone. With his blond hair slicked back off his tanned forehead, he resembles a Greek god. The light-gray brings out the blue-green seafoam in his sparkly eyes.
He pretends he’s on a catwalk, strutting back and forth in front of me. “I think you dropped your jaw on the floor, Dray.”
I give him a smirk. “I always do when you walk into a room, Ries.”
Mia beams back at each of us in the mirror. “What a lucky bitch I am. You both look stunning.”
“As do you, my love.” I plant a kiss on the top of her bare shoulder.
Bones, of course, weaseled his way out of the fitting, but I won’t let him off the hook. As hot as he looks in a white tee and gray sweatpants, he also has the body and jawline for luxury attire. And I will get him into something exquisite before the Wild Hunt celebrations begin.
Nox is another story. Even the mere mention of the tradition makes his skin crawl. He’s said as much, plus I can see the way his tail coils and quakes around his thighs when it’s brought up. For someone who has lived inside someone else’s nightmare world his entire life, he sure knows more about the Wild Hunt than one would expect.
Once we are back at Blackwell Manor, I leave Mia and Aries downstairs to go check on Gunpowder. The raven is perched inhis cage still, even though I’ve left it unlocked. I wonder how long it will take for him to fly freely. Perhaps never. Maybe he leaves in my absence and returns when he hears my footsteps down the hall.
I stare at him for what seems like hours while the raven’s blade whispers to me.It’s torment.I’ve sent Riot Graves several messages over the last few months asking him to come retrieve it. I’ve even offered to have it delivered back to him. But he replies the same every time.
Not yet. I’ll let you know when it wants to be reclaimed.
This fucking blade is a nuisance. It thrums with power, but not the kind I have any interest in. There is already too much darkness in me. I have no business wielding an object like that. But I’m forced to keep it until Riot says otherwise. If he weren’t the head of Nocturnus, or dating my cousin, I’d tell him to go fuck himself and just mail it back to him.
But there are codes of conduct in our world. Rules that must be followed. If Riot Graves tells you to store the raven’s blade for him, then that’s exactly what you do.
And so I am stuck with his demonic dagger that likes to torture me with whispers in a language I cannot decipher. And yet I innately know what it wants. To be wielded. It beckons me. It wants sacrifice and more oaths. We’ve already given it so much.
I’m shaken out of my stupor by the sound of Mia shrieking and giggling down below. A smile pulls at my lips when I find them both half-naked and Mia bent over the billiard table, pool stick in hand.
“Double or nothing, pretty boy,” she taunts.
I take off my jacket and roll up my sleeves. “My love, you are about to lose every outfit you own if you keep playing with this one.”
Aries shooshes me. “I’m not that good.”
I arch an eyebrow at him. “Sure, and I’m not that rich. Honey, he is hustling you.”
