Chapter 2

"Dead for three days?"

I took a step back. My knees gave out completely, and I collapsed right onto the shoe bench in the entryway.

"How... how is that even possible?"

Gideon didn't reply right away. He let himself right into my apartment without asking.

His leather shoes ground against the old wooden floorboards, letting out a nerve-wracking creak.

His eyes swept across my cramped space like a searchlight. He took in the desk piled high with sketches, the mildewed corners of the walls, and that black incense nub resting in the iron tray.

"You look surprised, Ms. Vesper."

Gideon turned around, his hands stuffed in his trench coat pockets. He looked down at me.

"But from what I gather, you two weren't exactly on good terms. Three days ago, a neighbor heard you and Kaelen getting into a screaming match out in the hallway."

"Yeah, we argued!"

I jerked my head up. My voice came out shrill from the panic.

"But he was a lunatic! He threatened to break my bones! I just draw for a living. What could I possibly do to a guy like that?"

"That is the weird part."

Gideon strolled over to my desk. With a white-gloved finger, he pinched up a tiny bit of the black ash from the iron tray and brought it to his nose.

"Forensics didn't find a single sign of a struggle at the scene. It is like the father and son just... had their souls sucked out right in the middle of a rager. By the way, what is this? The smell is pretty unique."

My heart slammed against my chest. My blood ran completely cold.

"That is... just regular calming incense. I have trouble sleeping."

"Is that so?"

Gideon pulled out a clear evidence bag and swept the ash inside.

"Where were you after ten PM, three days ago?"

"I was right here! I lit the incense and went to sleep!"

I raised my voice, trying to use anger to cover up my sheer panic.

Gideon gave me a long, hard look. His eyes felt like they cut right through my whole act.

"Do not leave Brooklyn, Ms. Vesper. We will be seeing each other again."

The moment the door shut, I collapsed entirely onto the floor.

This was impossible. It was just some junk I bought off the dark web! I just wanted them to shut up. I never meant to kill anyone!

The room suddenly started spinning.

The bitter almond smell in the air had not faded at all. If anything, it was getting stronger.

"Vesper..."

A hoarse, gravelly voice suddenly echoed in the empty room.

My entire body went stiff. I whipped my head up to stare at the ceiling.

"You killed my whole family... just over a little noise..."

That was Kaelen's voice!

"No... you are already dead!"

I clamped my hands over my ears, shaking my head desperately.

Drip. Drip.

A drop of dark red liquid seeped through a crack in the ceiling and landed right on the back of my hand.

It was sticky, warm, and reeked heavily of blood.

"I will haunt you till the day you die!"

Dax's agonizing shriek followed right after. He sounded like he was being burned alive by invisible flames.

"Ahhh!"

I screamed, bolting into the bathroom. I threw on the faucet and scrubbed the back of my hand like a maniac, rubbing until the skin was raw and almost bleeding.

But there was no blood. There was absolutely nothing. Just clear tap water running down the drain.

I gasped for air. I stared at the pale woman with severely bloodshot eyes in the mirror.

Was I losing my mind? Or was the curse of that incense coming back for me?

With shaking hands, I dug out my phone. The glare of the screen at two in the morning burned my eyes.

I had to find that seller. I furiously refreshed that dark web page, desperately trying to contact Morpheus.

[Error 404. Page not found.]

A total dead end. The seller had vanished off the face of the earth.

Heavy footsteps echoed from the ceiling right above me again.

Thud. Thud. Thud.

It was the heavy tread of Kaelen's leather boots.

They were back. They were coming for my life.

I was so terrified that my throat just closed up, cutting off my air completely. My vision went totally black, and I passed out cold.