Chapter 8- Czar

His gaze doesn't leave me. "I'm sorry, but have we met?"

Unimportant.

This, on the other hand, is. "Do you want to die an especially horrible death- one that would traumatize whoever was to see your dead body?” I ask him instead, and his reaction is immediate and precious, eyes wide like he is staring at the modern reincarnation of the Grim Reaper himself. But this is a boy who was overwhelmed by my bite-sized poltergeist. Expectedly, he gives himself a panic attack from those simple words, which, of course, I meant.

As he continues to watch my silhouette, the smoke he had lit up earlier drops to the wet, dirt floor dramatically, and the same would have happened with his jaw if it hadn't been screwed to his skull. Hands raised, he pleads. "Look, man, I don't know what this is about, but Hera and I are just friends."

"Are you sure?"

Blaze pauses, swallowing, and the truth shines in his eyes even in the darkness. He wants my heartstopper, no doubt. But I crave her and to date, there is nothing I have set my eyes on that has evaded me. I am extremely allergic to loss and I find it easier to not trigger myself.

"Stay away from her. I won't ask you again." I head deeper inside the green, and three strides away, hear the shuffling of his feet behind me- but no actual movement- as he remains indecisive on whether to leave or go.

"Or else?" He finally asks, belatedly brave.

"I will take both your limbs and hang them up in my house like art." The terror that floats across his vision is definitely worth turning back for. "Only because Hera thinks you're a nice person. But the second time I see you near her, you will do highschool graduation from six feet under. I know where you stay, Blaze, what you do and who you do it with. And the most important part? I don't give two fucks about you. I will end all your loved ones right before your eyes so that grief kills you slowly and surely, even before I finally carve your heart out. I am that insane. Punitive. Brutal. But I make sure to give a warning first. Only one."

He bolts.

In less than four seconds, he is gone, scrambling away without looking back… Yet it's not like he would see me if he did- the darkness hides my features quite well; for instance, shadowing the deep scowl that has been on my face since I started conversing with him. And as he runs, I'm sure he thinks I will follow, just to raise his dread. But I don't. He should know by now that the best way to get me on his case is not scurrying away like some frightened mouse. It's being close to Hera.

Which brings me to now. I am riding back home, annoyance written in Bold like a headline across my features because some two hours ago, my pale-haired Empress would have spread those, by God, perfect long legs for another man- jerked against his cock lodged inside her, moaning out his name- but for the fact that the lucky bastard is a bumbling idiot… and I had dragged my thumb along the circumference of my neck as I met his gaze from behind Hera, standing in chilling silence beyond the floor-to-ceiling glass doors that led to her rail-lined balcony. While she hadn't seen me, she didn't need to. But Blaze did and dashed for the door immediately, because apparently, he responds well to threats.

Really, it was for his own good.

If he had gone any further, I definitely would have killed him, like I don't have enough blood on my hands already. But his instincts for self-preservation are very much alive.

But this evening's events just proves that it is finally time to stake my claim. Because if another man walks into North Manor, I will reduce him to half his size with my saber if my little wraith lets him inside her bedroom.

Hera needs to know I exist just as strongly as this madness she sparks within the dark corners of my soul, and I will make sure she does. Her parents will be found- it's what she desires the most, so I will give it to her. But I don't plan to just be the hero. I am fucking greedy. I want to be her new faith.

I definitely can't wait to. And it’s only going to be a matter of time, because unsolved cases are my specialty. As for the police, they definitely need more motivation than the thrill of finding the perpetrators of a federal crime, and while Hera’s own effort is adorable, it won't find the missing couple in a few short weeks, not if she doesn't have the right tools.

And me? Well, ever since I went off the radar and became an exorbitantly-priced detective, no case brought to my table has remained inconclusive. I have cracked my way through every single one of them, scaled firewalls, decrypted information without a key, created destructive codes from scratch through which I have brought down whole systems or breached data for my personal satisfaction.It's one of the reasons I am still wanted in seven countries- a level-ten threat to everything that breathes the wrong way near me. Hacker and assassin, now turned private eye.