Tags



This was Stefanie’s favorite time of the day, or it was when I arrived at her grave.
Twilight.
The same sort of sky where I watched her dance in the fading light and when I knew without a doubt that I loved her, would trade my life for hers, and nothing would stop me from making her mine. A night when the possibility of a future had seemed so promising and the slightest touch of her fingers brushing across my own blossomed hope in my heart. We had our first kiss under similar stars, and when her head rested on my shoulder, I’d never felt more complete.
We shared an ice cream cone that night, and I licked a creamy drop off the side of her sweet mouth. I pledged my soul to her in silence, handing over my heart because no other girl was ever going to mean as much to me as my pretty pageant girl.
Staring down at her grave, I blew out a breath, nodding my head once before I spun on my heel and headed back to my bike. The engine rumbled as I left the cemetery and rolled down the road with only one destination in mind.
My focus was singular. I paid no attention to the landmarks, the quiet roads, or the cool temperature of the breeze as it whispered across my skin, begging me to turn around and choose a different path.
It wasn’t possible.
When Stefanie was murdered, my choice was made.
The only thing left was the rage. It blocked out the pain. The sorrow. The guilt.
The flame from my lighter flickered in the careless wind as I started my smoke, inhaling the nicotine into my lungs as my lips lifted into the briefest of smiles.
Vindication. Vengeance. An eye for an eye.
None of those words was any comparison.
I wasn’t justice or revenge tonight.
I was death. And there would be no mercy.
If my club knew my plans and the ruthless brutality that I would carry them out, no one would have let me outside the gates of the compound. Wars were started by the kind of vigilante shit I was doing tonight, but I didn’t give a fuck. Let every asshole who thought he could take me on give it a try. I wasn’t just a crippled boy with everything to lose. Now I was an arrogant, vengeful motherfucker who didn’t have a damn thing holding him back.
That was difficult for some people to comprehend.
It took a particular type of personality to truly embrace a give zero shits and hold nothing back kind of attitude. For me, it was fueled by Stefanie’s loss, but if I was honest, that wasn’t the root cause. I’d been born different. I wasn’t normal, and I knew it from a young age.
When I saw the shadows, heard the whispers, and then learned of the roars, I knew my purpose was tainted. What kind of psychotic kid spoke to the darkness and loved it? Who chose to friend the nightmares from the closet and under the bed? Only a kid born from the shadows. That was exactly who I had become.
It only took a tragedy to unfurl the beast inside completely.
The shadows were my home now, a refuge to plan my ultimate revenge, and that was exactly what I had done over the last four months. I’d plotted and researched and planned. Aching from the pain and torment of losing the girl I loved, I let that fester into something wild and deadly. Now that my contact and I had met several times and exchanged critical Intel, I was ready to strike.
Oh, they would never see me coming. They had no idea.
From shadow, I was born, and from shadow, I would rise. But oh, how glorious, how beautiful, how saturated in blood would that road to hell be paved upon.
Maniacal laughter bubbled up and out of my chest.
Perhaps I truly lost my mind.
I didn’t care.
The first visit from the ghost of Christmas was coming tonight, and how perfectly twisted and merciless it would become.


Sign up for Nikki’s regular newsletter and get a FREE book: https://dl.bookfunnel.com/d2cd720txo













































