I saw it then,him.A flicker of movement, an iridescent pale light that cut through the stalks and rendered me speechless. My breath caught in my throat as he materialized before me, gliding toward me. There was something unnerving about the way he moved, a predatory grace that sent my heart into overdrive.
His features were striking yet completely otherworldly, a blend of beauty and menace that was hard to look away from. His skin glowed faintly, a ghostly translucent one could only have nightmares about and it heightened my unease. But it was his eyes, the way they swirled with black and blue, but I saw it, something that matched my own thoughts.Obsession.They held me captive, and they threatened to crush me under their intensity.
“Gwendolyn,” his soft yet masculine voice rang out and I broke out in shivers at its sound, “you feel it, don’t you?”
I swallowed hard, torn between my urge to run and my curiosity and the overwhelming feeling that I was exactly where I should be. “What are you? How do you know my name?” The questions slipped out, and I couldn’t help but flinch as soon as the words left my mouth.
“I am the keeper of this maze,” he replied, his tone smooth yet tinged with something wild, something unhinged. “Every year, I collect a soul for the soil that nourishes this place, this land. It is my duty, myburden.” He stepped closer. “But you…you appear to be different.”
I instinctively took a step back, but the path that was once behind me seemed to have melted away into dirt and ash, luring me closer to his web. “Different how?” I asked, my voice trembling.
“You call to me.” His eyes darkened with an unsettling fervor. “I do not think I wish to collect you as I have collected others…I think I'm going to keep you.”
A chill raced through me at his words, and I felt the weight of his gaze as it bore down on me like a physical force. “What’s…whatdoes that mean?” I started to look around me for an exit. I was becoming increasingly aware that I shouldn’t have come here.
He gravitated closer to me. “You’re about to find out.” His grin was stunning yet mismatched.
“I don’t even know your name.” I felt trapped and I needed to buy some time, create a little more distance.
“Kasper,” he replied, his voice was smooth, like silk wrapped around a blade, “you’re going to remember that, Gwendolyn.”
His words were filled with an unshakable promise, his name echoed throughout all four chambers of my heart and jumpstarted a primal urge to run.
Before the thought even solidified, I turned and bolted, my feet pounding against the ground. Panic surged through me as I created more distance and dashed down a viney path where leaves and stalks were clawing at my arms and legs like the hands of trapped souls.
Behind me, I could hear the air as he moved, a low whisper of a sound that had the hairs on the base of my neck standing up. “Run all you want, Gwendolyn,” he called, dripping with dark amusement. “You zig, I zag, and I will always find you.”
I glanced back, my breath coming in sharp gasps, he was still behind me, gliding effortlessly through the maze in fluid, predatory movements. The way he pursued me was almost graceful, and he danced just out of reach while I ran. Fear spurred me on, the walls of the maze closing in around me.
“Don’t you know that you can’t fight fate, Gwendolyn?” Kasper taunted, his voice wrapped around me. “Don’t you want to knowwhat it feels like?” he questioned. “To be someone's forever, however that may come to be?”
I didn’t respond. I couldn’t. The only answer that mattered was the one that my body screamed at me: run faster.
Each corner I rounded felt like a cruel joke, leading me deeper and deeper into the heart of the maze. I could feel him gaining on me, his presence infiltrating me from all sides, closing in. I pushed myself harder, adrenaline coursing through my veins.
“Gwendolyn!” he called, and the way he said my name made my blood run cold, like he was losing what little patience he had left. “I will find you, and when I do, you’ll understand.”
His words ignited something, a flicker of defiance. I would not let him win without a fight. I rounded another corner, nearly tripping over a gnarled root that seemed to reach for me but dodged it at the last moment.
One thing was clear, the maze was alive, shifting and changing, seemingly conspiring with who was currently haunting me to keep me trapped. I could hear the faint sound of his laughter behind me, a song that only brought despair.
The hunt had begun and I was both the pretty and unwilling participant in this twisted game of fate.
Chapter Six
Kasper
The scent of her fear lingered in the air, a heady perfume that ignited a primal fire within me.Chase. Chase. Chase.Her name,Gwendolyn,danced around on my tongue, the sweetest mixture seemingly bringing me back to life. Stirring up old feelings of want.Chase. Chase. Chase.
The maze knew where she was, I could feel her fragile heartbeat as it echoed through the darkness and thrummed to a rhythm that I felt lingering in the soil, leading me toward her, the maze had fully awakened now, its whispers guiding me and urging me forward. I was unwilling to rush, feeling an electric thrill and pull as it urged me forward, each moment cementing her fate with mine, a promise…apreludeto the inevitable moment when I would catch her. Something…dark riddled my veins and brought me closer to life than I had in decades, an attraction I didn’t understand and didn’t want to. Gwendolyn was mine.
I could feel her terror, the night air basked in it as it soaked the world around us. Fear was a delicious flavor, but it was more than that. I could taste it, no matter how hard she tried to run from me. Beneath her terror, a flicker of something pulled at me, a flare of…curiosity, of want, of interest…a connection that transcended time and this maze.
I hunted her, slowly, not wanting the night to be over before it even began. I couldn’t help but reflect on my duty as the keeper of this maze. I had collected countless souls, each one woven into the fabric of this cursed land, feeding the soil and ensuring the maze thrived, and I never thought twice. But Gwendolyn…she was different. The maze had chosen her, butso had I.
I rounded a corner, my senses leading me to where she was, just up ahead, her silhouette a fleeting shadow against the dim light. She was beautiful, and her panic made her intoxicating, a forbidden fruit I fully intended to indulge in. Her hair whipped around her face as she glanced back, and for a brief moment, her eyes caught mine. A jolt shot through me, a visceral reaction that left me breathless. I felt a pull of attraction surge within me, and my cocked twitched.
“Run, Gwendolyn,” I murmured, a grin circling on my lips. “You zig, I zag,you’re mine.”
