IN HIS RUINS

POV: DARIEN

The blood on my hands was still warm, yet all I could feel was the ghost of her pulse under my fingers where I'd almost choked her.

She fainted. Too frail.

She was scared to death when she saw me with Shawn. The man getting a good beating by me until she interrupted.

As if she'd seen a ghost. Probably what others would say.

Trembling hard, hair a mess, with blood-stained clothes. She still somehow looks interesting.

I keep finding more reasons to be interested in her.

I notice everything about her.

How she shivered when my hand brushed her arm in the hospital. How her breath hitched when I got too close.

She flinched when I carried her, like she wanted to push me away but she couldn't.

Her skin was dry and pale under the lights. Her hair, soft like silk, falling over her face as she fought sleep.

She's frail. Breakable. And the thought of marking her, of ruining that clean, untouched look... it sent something hot and wrong curling through me.

The kind of ecstasy I usually only get from a blade.

I want to see what color she turns when she breaks. Not dead. Just... cracked open enough to fit me inside.

A few days ago I found out that my uncle was in hiding. He didn't die all along, but he decided to hide himself from me.

Never thought that girl. Ariel. Could be related to that bastard.

I once saw her in Chinatown like a year ago. She was accompanied by a guy.

They looked pretty close. She looked decent, but he didn't.

He was Shawn's son. Jace. A loan shark investor trying to gain powers beyond his reach.

He had no idea he'd messed with the wrong man when he sent his little disciples to attack me.

Unfortunately, they managed a scratch and caused a scar on my skin. But his son paid for it.

As soon as I saw him with that girl, he had to pay for his father's mistakes.

I shot him right in the leg, in front of Shawn. As if it wasn't enough, he made another attempt. Failed to get me, but got my driver. So I killed his son and made him a cripple.

My anger had no limits and my revenge was inevitable.

He thought I spared him, but I kept him hostage because he's the only person that has more information about my uncle Silas.

Not too long after, I got information that Uncle Silas was admitted to the hospital for reasons unknown to me.

I thought my revenge had failed. But after good torture, Shawn told me everything.

And the girl with Shawn's son was his daughter. Ariel.

And all the times I thought he was in hiding, he was battling dementia and was admitted to the hospital.

I could no longer use him. But his daughter will be useful. She'll atone for her father's sins.

Somehow she doesn't seem to be aware of her father's activities. But she would soon get to know why she's here and why she's being attacked.

I stood right in front of bleeding Shawn, watching him growl in pain. It brings me pleasure to watch him in pain.

I grabbed his neck, almost choking.

"You have such a loyal worker... they're putting their life on the line to save yours," I smirked.

"Je..jessica.." he managed to say through a bleeding mouth.

"Yes, Jessica. She attacked. But you don't have to worry. I didn't kill her... I gave her a gift to remember," I snarled at him.

He looked relieved, in pain. But it didn't last as I began to smash his head to the ground tiles till he was dead.

Quite disgusting to see blood all over. But it's thrilling.

The sound of bone giving way. The wet slap of it. God, I missed this.

I learned control early.

The urge to open things, to see what's inside, started with stray animals in the alleys.

The way their bodies went still under my hands. The quiet. The precision.

It was ecstasy.

I couldn't let the beast run wild. A Blackwood doesn't end up in prison.

So I made it legal.

I studied surgery.

I learned how to cut clean, how to keep a heart beating while I worked, how to make pain look like healing.

By day I wear gloves and a mask and save lives.

By night I wear the same gloves and take them.

No one suspects the surgeon.

No one suspects the man at the top of the hierarchy.

And then I became the heir to Blackwood. Hades.

That's the point.

That little frail girl would have made a mess if she'd watched what just happened.

She could die of tension. She already seemed so frightened and disturbed, like she just got out of a horror film.

I wonder what's so terrifying that makes people get scared.

I have always been immune to that feeling.

I don't get scared. I don't feel guilt. I don't feel anything.

The only thing that makes the ice in my veins melt is blood on my hands.

***

My steps were slow. Bold as I walked to the door, where I threw her. A few minutes ago she was awake and now, she's unconscious. I fixed my sight on her for a little while. Quite interesting.

I reached down. Touched her hair, soft like silk with dry skin. She looked fair, pale and a little frail. I carried her up, into my arms. I could nearly feel her curves as I took her out of the dorm.

The clean up was simple. Gloves off. Wipe the blade. Bag the evidence.

Surgeons are good at making messes disappear.

As we reached the car, my phone vibrated in my pocket. A message from Carl, my twin.

"Where the hell are you?"

"On my way." I texted back.

I walked to the other side of the car and opened the door.

Before I even sat down, I saw it.

Her fingers twitched. A tiny, stupid glitch.

The tell. The same one she had in the hospital when she wanted to run.

She jolted awake with a panicked attack, trying to escape.

I was already on her. I pinned her down.

"You know you can't," I murmured against her ear, voice soft like a prayer.

Her eyes were wild. Terrified.

I leaned closer. My breath ghosted over her skin.

And then I smiled.

"Do you wanna know a little secret?"