Heart beating fast, I delete all the others without reading them and I open Violet’s.
ViBlackthorn1064: Hi, ShadowZ952. Thanks for your message, I’m doing okay, how are you?
ShadowZ952: Thank you for answering, I’m well. So, tell me about yourself. Z.
We go back and forth for a little while, and although she doesn’t tell me much about herself, I can almost hear her soft voice behind the typed words on the screen. It’s a start, and given time, I will become a fixture in her life—one she will never be able to remove. Not wanting to seem too interested and desperate, I say goodbye, but the promise of talking with her again hangs between us from her sweet response.
ViBlackthorn1064: It was lovely to meet you, maybe we can talk later?
ShadowZ952: I’ll message you. Z.
My phone buzzes in my hand, and when I see that Kit has responded, I let out a heavy breath and start to get dressed. I can take a shower after I’ve planted Heather between the bushes at the far end of the garden near the stream. Maybe she’ll bring me more luck than I did her, I muse, a slight smile turning up the corners of my mouth.
After gulping down a rejuvenating cup of coffee and some painkillers, I grab my car keys and head outside. The heat and searing brightness of the sun makes my head throb, but I ignore it and stroll toward the garage, letting my gaze fall upon Cassia and the space where Heather will soon join the other flowers in the garden. Neither of these two were my first, and they won’t be the last. My eyes burn as I stare at the patio where the bones of Rose and her pathetic boyfriend are hidden beneath the paving slabs.
I chuckle quietly, and tear my gaze away from it all and focus on my destination and the truck that’s sitting silently within the brick structure. Popping open the glove compartment, I pull out a pair of sunglasses and put them on before starting the truck and leaving the dark garage. The drive to Kit’s place is uneventful, and I’m gratified to see him waiting patiently outside for me, puffing on the cigarette between his lips as a trickle of smoke floats up through the blond hair that falls over his pale eyes. He’s leaning casually against the closed door to the crematorium, and as I get out of the car he straightens, staring knowingly when I approach.
“I’ll be seeing you again very soon if the expression on your face is telling me what I think it is.” He smirks, and his lips curve up around his cigarette when he pulls in a drag, making the end glow red.
“Maybe.” I shrug, but the dark shimmer of excitement doesn’t leave his eyes.
We both know my evasive one-word answer is bullshit. I’ll be calling him soon and the smug bastard standing in front of me knows it as well as I do...he’s practically giddy at the prospect.
I don’t understand his tastes, and I’ve no wish to venture down that murky path myself to find out the appeal. Death is beautiful, but I’m not interested in anything more than being the cause and then controlling the aftermath when I plant the evidence in the beds of earth lining my garden.
“She’s through here,” he says, turning and unlocking the door.
He leads me inside the cool room that contains the morgue and into the room with the furnace. My eyes immediately go to the small cardboard container sitting on the metal bed where we laid Heather’s body a few days ago. All that’s left of her now is ash, and though she’s dead, I will soon immortalize her within my garden. I stride across the room, pick up the box, and turning to face Kit, I meet his eyes.
“I’ll call you soon. Thanks for doing this.”
“You bring them, I burn them. We both get to have our fun, one way or another. This way just raises less questions.”
I nod in agreement and brush past him, out the door and back into the sunlight with Heather clutched tightly in my grip. Kit and I are two sides of the same tarnished coin, two blackened souls fighting not to be overwhelmed by the other’s darkness. We’re well matched, and our bond is strong, but when two monsters meet, destruction often follows in their wake.
Chapter Six
Zach
It doesn’t take a genius to locate people who give themselves floral names in an attempt to appear prettier—it’s the reason why some of my flowers have ended up being been less beautiful than I initially thought, although I got lucky with this one. That app has proven useful in more than one way, and I’m glad I had the sense to purchase a burner phone I can easily dispose of should the need arise.
Some people are easily led and gullible. A few flirty words here, a few well placed compliments there, and the most desperate will be clawing at the chance for some attention…desperate enough to go home with a stranger. Their physical needs don’t interest me, but the high of stealing a life is irresistible. They never see it coming, too interested and beguiled by the monster who wears the face of a man.
I leave nothing behind, and neither do they. Not a trace, not even a speck of blood to tell anyone we were there. Alyssa was messier than some of the others, though, but using pruning shears to gouge her throat was definitely fun. With her nearly black hair and soft elfin features, she was pretty when I met her—she’s even more so now she’s lifeless and covered in blood. I’m sure Kit will like her just as much as I did. For
