CHAPTER 252: CHAPTER 252: 10 KILLS IN 10 DAYS

He was inside.

The blond boy she had been cozying up to for the past three nights was charming and polite, and he was just foolish enough to believe he was the one leading her on.

He thought they were building something real. He thought she was growing attached.

Poor thing.

She slipped inside without knocking, and her eyes glinted faintly as they adjusted to the dark.

"Moli," he said, rising from where he had been crouched beside the supply crates. "I didn’t think you’d come tonight."

She closed the door behind her and turned the lock with a soft click, sealing the room in silence.

"I changed my mind," she said softly, stepping into the dim space.

He moved toward her without hesitation. He smiled and reached up to cup her cheek like a lover who had been waiting all night.

"I missed you."

She smiled back and tilted her chin, offering her lips.

The kiss began gently because it always did. Their mouths met with ease and moved with rhythm, as if they had done this a hundred times before and still had more nights left between them.

But her fingers slid into his hair too tightly.

Her nails pressed into his nape until the tension broke the mood.

He pulled back slightly and frowned.

"Are you okay?"

She nodded slowly, but the way she looked at him had changed. Her eyes were wide, too bright, almost feverish. And her smile never faltered, which only made it worse.

"I’m more than okay," she said, her voice light, like a song humming just under her breath.

She leaned forward again, and he didn’t resist. He let her kiss him a second time, even deeper than before. Her hands slid from his shoulders to his back, and then lower, until she wrapped her arms around him tightly.

Too tightly.

He felt her body trembling, not with fear or cold, but something else entirely. Something primal. He pulled back again, slower this time, and searched her face.

"Moli... what’s going on?"

She blinked, as if surprised by the question, and tilted her head. Her lips were flushed, and her breath came out just a little too fast.

"I want to remember you," she said, tracing his jaw with one red-stained nail. "Exactly like this."

He swallowed hard. "Remember me?"

Before he could finish that thought, she leaned in and kissed him again, but this time it wasn’t romantic.

It was hungry.

He tasted iron.

His confusion sharpened into panic, and he tried to pull away, but she held him firm. Her mouth broke from his, and for a second he saw it — the red smeared across her lips, the glint of her teeth, the wild light in her eyes.

She sank her teeth into his neck, just below the ear, with a slow and practiced pressure that made it clear this was not the first time.

He screamed, but it was muffled by her hand, already clamped over his mouth.

She pushed him down gently, lowering him onto the floor like she was laying a lover to rest.

But this was no romance.

He writhed beneath her, trying to fight, trying to understand, but the loss of blood was fast. Her bites were precise, and her body pinned him down with ease.

He looked up at her in disbelief, his gaze pleading, but she never stopped smiling.

"You really were pretty," she whispered, brushing his hair back as his eyes began to dull. "I didn’t lie about that part."

His limbs twitched one last time before going still.

She exhaled slowly, almost peacefully, and straightened up. Blood soaked the front of her dress now, and her face was flushed, like someone just waking from a dream.

She stood and began to unbutton the silk, peeling it off her skin. She changed into the clean outfit folded neatly on the chair, something modest, something sweet.

She wiped her lips clean with a cloth and patted her cheeks, checking her reflection in the cracked mirror beside the crates.

Her smile returned, soft, sweet, doll-like.

Then she stepped out of the room, humming a quiet tune, and closed the door behind her.

No one saw her leave.

No one noticed the soft trail of red that followed her barefoot steps down the hall.

"She finally drank him," he muttered, drawing a tarot card lazily through the air.

Tartarus stirred in the back of his mind.

[YOU PLACE YOUR TRUST IN A CREATURE THAT FEEDS, THEN WONDER WHY IT BITES.]

[HER THIRST IS NOT MADNESS. IT IS A CHOICE, SHARPENED DAILY. A VICIOUS BEING, YET FULLY AWARE. WOULD YOU STILL CALL THAT HUMAN?]

Boran gave a dry smile.

"My closest and most dangerous ally."

The card in his hand pulsed but he didn’t check to see what it was.

She was halfway down the hall when she felt the weight behind her, the cold, deliberate silence that only came with him.

She turned with a soft smile. "You’re late."

"I was watching you, interesting kill.." Boran said.

His tone was calm.

That alone should’ve warned her.

Moli tilted her head, amused. "If you were jealous, you could’ve just said so."

He didn’t reply.

Instead, he reached out, caught her by the throat, and slammed her against the wall outside their room.

Bam!

It wasn’t hard enough to choke.

But enough to pin and leave her out of breath.

Her bare feet barely touched the floor.

The stone at her back was cold, but not colder than his eyes.

"You forget yourself Moli.." Boran said, voice quiet, flat. "You forget who lets you hunt."

Moli’s smirk faded. "I was only..."

He tightened his grip slightly. "Only what?"

"I was teasing."

"And I’m not in the mood."

Her fingers curled around his wrist. She didn’t struggle.

She just looked up, eyes narrowed, her lips parting slightly.

"Why now?"

"Because you’re getting awfully high on that horse. 10 people in under 10 days..." His face was close now, the shadows wrapping around him.

"So I’ll say it clearly. You can’t another kill for now. Not unless I say so. They are not sheep’s at your disposal..m"

She tried again, softer this time. "Come on... it’s not like anyone’ll miss..."

His hand slammed into the wall beside her face, and she flinched.

That was the real Boran.

The one people feared before he ever got a system. The one who didn’t need powers to make monsters obey.

"I’m not like them baby girl.." he said. "You don’t get to push your luck."