Page 52 of Speak No Claim

With his bloody hand dripping onto the floor, he grabbed my wound and mixed our blood. It was warm and hurt like hell, especially when he tightened his grip, making me bleed harder into his grasp.

I whimpered in pure pain, looking at how our blood now dripped together onto the ground by our feet. The silence hammered in my ears, making me dizzy. As quickly and easily as he cornered me, he let me go. Shoving me away from him, I stumbled to catch my footing and glanced down at the ground.

When I looked up again, he was gone. There was no sight of him. The only thing that remained was his belt and the dagger that was now lying right in the center of our blood. I didn’t think twice about it. I grabbed his belt and the dagger as fast as I could and got the hell out of there.

Fully aware I was just part of a ritual, I left with nothing but the insatiable desire for him…

* * *

Which was probably the whole point in the first place.

Chapter

Sixteen

Hennessy: You become what you focus on and like the people you spend time with.

I ransacked my uncle’s bathrooms, trying to find a first-aid kit, but came up empty. Although going back outside was the last thing I wanted to do, I had to get to the convenience store down the road to find medicine for my arm before it got infected. Praying like hell it didn’t already.

I had no clue what Onyx was into, but I had a strong intuition he was the man behind that mask, and the fact that he just mixed our blood freaked me the hell out for obvious reasons, including any diseases. Grabbing the bike I was going to take earlier, I walked it outside of the garage.

On my way out of the estate, I saw Deja driving into hers. She was in front of her gate, sitting in her BMW convertible, typing in the code to open it. Her music was blasting, and I didn’t think she’d be able to see me in the dark. Somehow, she did.

She shrieked, her hand over her heart. “You just scared the shit out of me!” Her stare immediately shot toward my arm. “Oh my God! Are you okay?” Before I could respond, she ordered, “Get in! I have a first-aid kit!”

Reluctantly, I did, knowing I was entering enemy territory.

Was Onyx behind that mask? Is that why my body reacted to him?

I couldn’t tell you which was worse: him stalking me or it being a stranger…

I thought about it the entire time she parked her car in an enormous garage. There were maybe forty, fifty special editions, so many one-of-a-kinds, just parked there, looking pretty. It was giving luxury warehouse for vehicles and not someone's personal parking space. This was the first time I’d stepped back into this estate since I arrived the night of my welcome surprise party.

Memories tore through my mind, and I tried to focus on the present, too consumed with what just happened.

Is this the plan? Why did he mix our blood?

It felt sacred, ancient, even demonic, and I hated that most of all. Brujería, also known as black magic, was a big part of my culture, and because of my last name and what it already stood for, I stayed away from it. It didn’t mean I didn’t believe in it. I knew wholeheartedly about its power. It was engraved into us as children. Right from the womb, a red string or a gold bracelet was wrapped around our wrists for protection.

Babies and children were the easiest to succumb. It didn’t take much to spook a child. Even if they didn’t mean to, a stranger’s stare could be that potent to an innocent life. It was why they were heavily protected from our families at such a young age.

My mom and grandmother were constantly doing la limpia con huevo, an egg cleansing of your body, to protect you against negative energy or ward off the evil eye. Spiritual magic existed every day. It didn’t sleep; it didn’t need to rest; it was available for the taking from anyone, anywhere. It was what made it so damn powerful, and in the wrong hands, it could do a lot of damage while destroying lives in the process.

Mythology proved that gods always required sacrifice in some form. Good or bad, it didn’t matter. Sacrifice was the exchange to get everything you ever wanted, especially when it involved blood.

Before we even made it into her home, I grabbed Deja’s arm at the door, stopping her from facing me.

“The initials B.O.B. What do they mean?”

Her eyes remained on mine, not saying a word.

“It’s the Brotherhood Luna warned me about, right? What do the other letters stand for?”

“Hennessy—”

“No, don’t bullshit a bullshitter. Tell me the truth. Please, I’m begging you.”

“Hennessy—”