Virgin Sacrifice to the Last Lycan - Chapter 159: Chapter 159

Helens POV
I was amazed at how smoothly dinner had gone. Perhaps the biggest shock was the fact that Justin had calmly accepted my move into this place. More than that, he’d given me a job to do. It wasn’t quite the same as being able to go after the Huntsman myself. But for the first time, I felt like maybe I could do something useful; maybe I could return the trust that the pixies had placed in me.
While it seemed like there was nobody here to watch me, I knew that couldn’t be the case. But wherever Justin and Randy had tucked their guards for me, it was discreet. And for the most part, I felt like I was completely alone.
Part of me wanted to run straight to the library and begin my research so that I could give Justin the information that he put me in charge of finding. But a big yawn cracked my mouth and set my eyes watering. If I went straight to the library, two things would happen.
First, I wouldn’t be very effective at doing research when I was this tired. Second, I would destroy this brand-new, infant trust between Justin and me. We had reached some sort of truce tonight and stood at a place where if we were both careful, we might be able to repair things between the two of us. And while he hadn’t ordered me to stay in the house or take a guard or anything else, for the first time, I actually felt like listening to his advice.
If I wanted to do this job correctly, the first thing I needed to do was get a good night’s sleep. And then, I should take a guard with me so that I could give my undivided focus to finding answers for Justin. If I had to worry about the Huntsman or look over my shoulder, then I would risk blowing this chance to take the Huntsman down.
I felt like I was the person sitting at the chessboard. At the moment, all the pieces were there in play, and the strategy depended entirely on me. If I did this well, that would lead to a checkmate, and I would win against the Huntsman. If I did this poorly, then the lives of all of the players on my behalf were at risk. And unlike on a chessboard where we simply shuffled the pieces off to the side, when their lives ended, they would really end. So this wasn’t a game that I could just lose and try over with.
The gravity of the situation settled in my stomach. I might as well try to sleep, then get to work. I shut off the lights in the downstairs, double-checked the lock on my door, and went up to the bedroom.
Right now, the bedroom smelled of cleaning products and the detergents on the sheets. Everything was fresh and new, and it belonged to me. Sadly, it was highly impersonal. The sheets were white and of good quality, but they said nothing about the occupant. The fluffy down comforter on the top was also white, again saying nothing about the personality of the occupant.
I would have to try and fix that. That’s what I would start with while I was trying to go to sleep. Sitting on the bedside table was my phone, so I grabbed that and opened it to a shopping website. I happily started scrolling through my options for bedding and was absolutely shocked.
I could get anything you could imagine, from decadent colors to satin to prints that looked so realistic they might have been a photograph made huge to lay across the top of the bed. And I could find anything from a solid color to whimsical prints. How did anyone ever choose?
I found so many things that I wanted. There was a beautiful quilt of pale pink cherry blossoms that looked like they had just fallen straight from the branches of a tree. I had also found a realistic photo print on a duvet which I could put over my down comforter and on it was a picture of some exotic beach with palm trees and crystal clear water. I’d never been anywhere like that beach, but it looked like a place I’d like to be. I also had to decide on what sort of fabric I wanted. Did I want cotton or silk or flannel or satin?
I yawned again, my eyes watering so much that I could hardly see the screen on my phone. When I looked over at the clock, I was shocked. Somehow, I’d gotten to almost two in the morning. Feeling guilty when I was supposed to be resting, I set the phone beside me. I’d narrowed my bedding options down to two choices. I either wanted the cherry blossoms with a set of beautiful crisp white cotton sheets lined in intricate lace, or I wanted that duvet with the beach on it and a set of pale teal satin sheets.
I imagined having those sheets on my bed would feel like sleeping against the soothing sensation of that crystal-clear water. Delighted with the images floating around in my mind, sleep came nearly instantly.
Unfortunately for me, the Huntsman waited on the other side of my closed eyelids.
“Nice to see you again, Helen,” he said.
I made a face at him. “I can’t say that the feeling is mutual.”
He grinned his crooked grin at me. “We’ve got to stop meeting like this,” he said. “And I mean that in every sense of the word.” His voice was a low growl, threatening without ever raising his voice. “Don’t worry. I’ll fix that soon enough. I have plans in motion that will bring the two of us together very soon.”
“You just go ahead and try that,” I challenged him. “I’m done laying down and taking threats and abuse. So I’m warning you now, I will fight back this time.”
His grin showed teeth. “Oh, little wolf, I’m counting on that. It would be a dreadfully dull interaction with you if I thought you were simply going to lay down and take it.”
His eyes skimmed the surface of my body. “But don’t worry, before I’m through with you, you will lay down and take it from me, and you’ll like it.”
I snarled at him, snapping my teeth because Joy had taken over enough that now my fangs were showing. “Never!” I said. “I will never.”
“That’s what they all say,” he replied. “But in the end, they come around.”
“If you ever want to have sex with me, you’ll have to rape me. And you’ve got to catch me first,” I said, trying to sound more defiant and self-assured than I felt. “And I promise you that if you do, that there is no way that I will enjoy it.”
He scoffed a laugh. “Do you remember the punishment that your mate gave you with the vibrator? That’s just proof that you can like something even when you say you don’t, even when it’s supposedly punishment.”
I scowled at him, a new and horrible realization washing over me. “Justin might be my mate, but that was still rape, and I didn’t like a single moment of it. You can cause the body physical pleasure and the heart and mind pain at the same time. That’s why it’s punishment. And no matter how much you want to think that you will make me enjoy anything you do to me, that’s something that you can never make anyone do. You can’t force someone to enjoy it. All you can do is force their physical body.”
He let out a hiss between his teeth. “And that’s what I have been perfecting for a long time, the battle over the mind. As you well know, control over the body has already been attained. But control over the mind . . .” His grin had grown exceptionally wicked, and he looked truly evil. He made me shudder and shrink back from him.
The Huntsman let out a cruel laugh. “Are you afraid of me?”
I said nothing and didn’t shake my head, but I was terrified, and I knew my trembling body gave me away.
He sighed as if I had done something to please him and it made me rather sick to my stomach. “I know I’ve harmed you in your past dreams, but we’re done with that.”
The question, “Why?” escaped my lips before I could stop it.
I shook my head at myself. That made it sound like I wanted more of his pain. But the truth was, I was actually afraid. If he was done dishing out pain, what came next?
That thought alone terrified me.
Instead, a bored look took over his face. “My current methods of affecting you aren’t having the desired outcome,” he admitted. “I admit I’ve grown rather bored of playing with you this way. So, while I wait for my other plans to come to fruition, I’ve decided that I’m done playing our little dream game.”
His hands tightened around his own arms until his knuckles turned white, and a wickedly gleeful expression took over his face. “I’ve had to think of new ways to play with my favorite toys.” His form began to fade out. “Don’t worry, little wolf. I’ll be back to play new games with you soon.”
With that, he was gone.