Page 1 of Haunted Hearts

PROLOGUE THE GRIMOIRE

Hello there, little light. I’ve been waiting.

We have not formally met, allow me to rectify the situation. I have watched every step you have taken to get here. I like what I see, and I do believe you are owed an explanation, considering your presence here is my doing.

You’re here, so it’s already too late for you.

But you don’t want to go anywhere, do you? Such a curious little creature you are.

I see you, and soon, you will see me, too. You, the trespasser between worlds, a being not born from ink, listen well.

For your story has been one in the making for centuries. You’ll find your power growing as he succumbs, madness taking hold. You’ll find all your fates intertwined to lead up to one moment.

There is no need to fear, I’ll make sure of it.

That uncertainty you feel—it suits you. I’ll guide you, slowly, patiently. Without mercy.

For you, reader, are the key, and I decide what you unlock.

Everything that is to take place is my carefully curated plan to reach you, as I shall. You have been merely a flicker of light since the star of my universe died.

But with my guidance—my power—you will be so much more. For too long I thought myself condemned. But you are my redemption.

And my salvation.

So, play your part, and play it well, my little light.

Go on now. Crawl back to your hunter. I will be watching, as I always have.

CHAPTER 1 CADE

The room is dark. I can hear the faint sound of chanting around me. The words Caro pro potestate, sanguis pro aeternitate fill the space. I look down to see I’m holding hands with a hooded figure. The familiar sigil carved on the marbled ground gives me pause, as I process that I am in the altar room from my childhood home. In the center is… Callisto. Tied to a chair, crying behind her gagged mouth. I try to pull my hand away, but I can’t move, stuck in this fucked-up time loop of the past.

“Stop!” I beg, as panic bubbles up into my chest. The sound of my own voice higher, like when I was a boy. Helpless, like who I was before I saved her. Before you came into my life and saved me. Back then, there was nothing I could do. I was merely potential in their eyes. Showing up to training sessions every day, working mercilessly to become the man my parents expected me to be. A leader, a follower—a killer.

My pleading is ignored. As if they don’t see me. The chanting is becoming louder as I desperately attempt to force my body to move, helplessly watching as Calli pleads to me with wide eyes. She appears as she does now: grown, but her face is twisted, contorted from terror.

I don’t understand why she isn’t using her magic; she’s not the helpless little girl she used to be.

A dark figure emerges in the far back wall. My eyes widen as I will myself to move… and fail. I realize there is nothing I can do in this moment to help her. My arms feel weak, my feet glued to my spot, despite nothing holding me to the floor. My hand is held firmly by the grip on the other side of me, as if I’m a part of her sacrifice. I do nothing but watch as the shadow begins to envelop the room, taking Callisto with it.

One of the hooded figures chanting steps forward, the familiar sacrificial dagger raised, as they move closer to Calli. My heart drops in my stomach when they pull off their hood.

It’s my father.

I stare at him wide-eyed. A slow curve tugs at the corners of his mouth, a cold, emotionless expression that sends chills through my body.

“I killed you,” I whisper. “I killed both of you.” I blink hard, hoping I can make his image go away.

“You failed, boy.” His voice is wrong, almost ethereal as it echoes through the large room.

I didn’t fail. No. They failed her, they failed us both. Keeping Calli hidden away unless it was convenient, raising a boy to be a cold-blooded killer, while drilling the importance of family and image. It wasn’t real.

I watch as he turns to her, raising the dagger above his head.

“Please no!” Her muffled scream is rough against my ears as our father plunges a blade into her back.

“No!” I yell, as my vision tunnels and I’m sucked away out of the space. Engulfed in darkness. When a whisper, an old—somehow familiar—voice fills my head.