Page 209 of A Curse On Black Lake
Child, you cannot reason with evil.
“I did,” he spits. “I knew I loved you from the moment I saw you.”
I try to keep my expression as blank as I can and squeeze my hands together, willing them to stop shaking. None of this makes sense, but I don’t know that there’s anything to make sense of.
We are sorry, child. So sorry it has to be this way.The Spirits say.
My stomach drops, and I swallow the tears building in my throat.
I’m going to die today.
“I wanted to bring you here because I want to tell you a story, but I think you already know the ending.”
“Why would I already know the ending?” I ask him.
“You don’t think I know about it,allof it?”
I stare at him, not sure how to answer that.
He smiles and rubs his thumb across my cheekbone. I have to force myself not to jerk away from him and think about Killian’s loving and caring touch. He’s possessive in the ways that make me melt for him. All thewonderfulways.
“Our families helped found this town, Eliana. It’s our job to end the curse that was put upon it by my ancestor,” Eddy says.
If he’s telling the truth, that would mean … does he know? The only way he could potentially know is if he went through the town records, and that’s if he was looking in the right places. But why isn’t Edward written in the records? We would have seen it. Wait …none of his family was born here.
Edward chuckles and drags the knife down the line of my throat to my shirt. I can feel the sharp teeth making a small tear in my collar. “How did you learn about the curse?” I ask him.
He hums and looks out over the lake again, knife still pointed at my throat.
“Your grandma Lily’s journal certainly helped.”
“You were in my house?” I ask.
“Of course I was, but I read that when we snuck into the study as kids,” he says.
“So what does this have to do with me?”
“Maybe you’re not as smart as I thought,” he sighs. “It doesn’t matter. When I learned of the curse, everything clicked into place for me. I suddenly realized my purpose in life — to end the curse. But you’d have to fall in love with me first. And I knew that would be simple. We fell for each other as teenagers. It would be even easier as adults. But, in order for it all to work out the way I wanted it to. I knew I had to practice. I would have only one shot with you, it would have to be perfect.”
“What do you mean, practice?” I ask him, even though memories of finding dead squirrels, cats, birds, frogs, and sometimes raccoons, come racing back. We even found a stray dog I had fed now and then, butchered. I think part of my mind blocked it out because I love animals. It broke my heart to see such cruelty.
“I started small, of course. When I was thirteen, I hardly had enough muscle to overpower people. Remember how lanky Iwas?” he asks, and laughs to himself. “But once I did, it was simple. Smile, make a woman feel like I’m listening, and I care,” he says.
I start to open my mouth and ask how many women he’s killed, but my gut tells me to let him keep going. Hewantsto tell me about this.
“When I heard your Grams passed, I knew it was time. I was finally ready for you, forus.I came back. I left you gifts. What did you think of your perfume? It took me forever to get it right.”
My throat tightens, and anger, grief,rageflow through me. I nod, swallowing thickly. “It was beautiful, thank you,” I rasp.
“Good, it took me a long time to grow enough lavender for that much oil. I was hoping you’d have it on so I could smell it on you,” he says, leaning down, dipping his nose into my neck and breathing deeply.
“Oh, well, I should’ve grabbed it before I set the house on fire,” he mutters, and the bottom of his lip grazes my skin, making me shiver. The predator is at my neck, and my every instinct is to fight him, but I know I’ll lose.
“You did that?” I whisper.
He leans back and squats down so we’re eye level. “Of course, you needed a fresh start. Did you notice my love notes to you?”
I frown, not sure what he’s talking about now.
