Shadows in the Dark (Dark Lotus #1)

29. Adrian

San Francisco, California

I had returned to the States, and had been back only a few days. The urge to contact Brynn was strong, but I resisted it altogether. The very fact that I had even hired someone to tail her was very unlike me. While I knew I had nothing to do with the break-in at her house, there was still a level of guilt. Or was it something else entirely?

I had no idea, so I kept the man on my payroll, and was thankful that so far, nothing out of the ordinary had happened. Brynn wasn’t a social butterfly, so the most places he had to follow was to normal establishments like grocery stores, banks, and the occasional restaurants outside of her daily walks with her dog. The creature looked docile, but I suspected he would have no problem exercising his ferociousness if needed to protect her.

It was even comical that I was so worried about her and what was likely a random, freak thing when the one she needed the most protection from was me. I couldn’t trust myself around women outside of Lotus. I was more a danger to them, than anyone else. And, it wasn’t even in California alone. My eyes dropped to the computer screen to an article I had pulled up from one of the local Tokyo news stations.

“According to Japanese reports, a woman’s body was found floating near the Akasaka-Mitsuke Station, and foul play is expected. She had ligature marks around her neck, and there were numerous bruises found on her body. An Autopsy has been done and the results show that she had been killed prior to being dumped off the Benkeibashi Boat Pier in the middle of the night. Police are actively following all leads.”

I hadn’t really thought much of it until I saw the woman’s picture. Her face hadn’t really struck a chord with me until later that night when I tried to sleep. It was then when I realized I had met her that first day in Tokyo. She was a street vendor in Tokyo Station. Much younger than most that I saw working at them, we actually struck up a small conversation. I thought that had been it so I had put it out of my head, but my dreams last night said something much different.

“It can’t be true,” I muttered under my breath, only I suspected the worst which would mean that it was.

I had awakened in the middle of the night, thankful to find myself still inside of my room and in my bed. The very vivid details of me walking down the street in the dead of the night still flashed through my head. I rarely remembered any of my sleepwalking incidents, but in this particular nightmare, I was walking along the empty street. My boots were loud on the concrete below, and there was an eeriness as the wind lightly rustled the leaves of the planted trees.

A cluster of cherry blossoms. I not only remembered what they looked like, but the scent of vanilla and lilac now filled my nose and wouldn’t leave. And the strangest part was that it was out of season for the normal bloom. It was mid-August after all and they usually just bloomed for a ten-day period in late March or early April. Facts like that factored in now, but not at the time.

I tried to remember what happened when I arrived at the Tokyo Station. After realizing I had been sleepwalking again, the normal fear I would feel came rushing back. The uncertainty was like an anchor weighing me down, and even then, I had been terrified. While a lot of that night was foggy, I clearly remember looking down at my hands and not seeing blood this time. Not mine, and certainly not anyone else’s.

“She had ligature marks around her neck, and there were numerous bruises found on her body.”

If I had been somewhat responsible for her, then there wouldn’t have been blood as I would have strangled her instead. The bruises could have been from anything. I looked down at my own hands, and ones I knew were capable of such unspeakable evil. They could also be used to enhance a woman’s pleasure. I couldn’t count the number of times I’d had them wrapped around a woman’s neck.

As my fingers flexed and I balled my hands into fists, I finally sent one flying down onto my desk. The piece of furniture shook on impact, and my laptop moved a few inches to its left. I couldn’t be responsible for her death, too. It was too different. Most serial killers had a pattern, and this one didn’t fit mine.

“Fuck,” I cursed as I called myself a serial killer, even if only subconsciously.

It all made sense. I got close to women, then they ended up violently murdered and tossed into the water. Aria... Blair... and who knows how many others. Did I really commit such acts even if I didn’t remember doing so? I knew the answer, and it made me turn back to the woman on my screen.

I remember greeting her briefly in the crowded streets after she enticed me to her stand. I hadn’t even been hungry, but I still bought a taiyaki anyway. It wasn’t the normal kind made with sweetened azuki beans, but rather a chocolate custard. The snack had been very good, and I told her as much, but then I had left and I couldn’t recall returning.

But, I very well could have. A quick shake of my head expelled that thought from it, but it did not erase the fear I now had that told me I might still be responsible. After initially hearing that news report, I had scoured the various sites looking for anything else but found nothing. That wasn’t surprising considering that I forced myself to stay awake. It hadn’t mattered that I had run on fumes the rest of my business trip there. I had honestly thought I was preventing something from happening overseas, only I might have been too late.

I closed my laptop, then rose to my feet. Without fail, I always considered myself suspect number one when it came to any murder of a female. It was only when I would clear myself would I put those fears to rest. Most of the time, it was a relatively easy task, but sometimes, that relief didn’t find me fast enough. I knew I had no reason to harm that woman, so the odds were that it had been someone else’s doing. There had to be a motive, but with her, I had none.

“I’m in the clear. I know it.”

My words were not the most reassuring thing in the world, but they worked enough to make me stop thinking about her. I also was able to push thoughts of Blair and Aria from my head as well. The only one I started to think about once more was Brynn. At least I knew I had no responsibility for the break-in at her home. I had been on a different continent.

It hadn’t stopped me from doing some research on my own. While she lived in a fairly quiet area of town, no place was completely safe of crime. Some of the worst monsters lived in the most upscale of places. I would know, especially since I considered myself to be one. Evidently, I wasn’t the only one.

I didn’t know for sure that the person responsible for her incident was one or not, but there had been a random string of burglaries in her area over the course of the last six months. Without any leads, it was hard to know when the burglar might strike again.

It was also crazy to have found out what had gone missing. When back in Tokyo, I had called the local boutique and had lingerie delivered to her. It hadn’t been the first or last time I would do something like that, but never had it gone missing. In fact, Brynn had told me that it had been the only thing she had noticed.

When I was still in Japan, I called the boutique once more and had them deliver another pair of panties to replace the ones that had gone missing. The only question now was when I would request to see her in them.

“Soon,” I mumbled once more to myself.

It had been weeks since I had been inside of a woman, and the last time had been the night I had taken the cane to Brynn at Lotus. Looking back, I had actually only had sex with her over the last few months. I had my hand, but that was definitely not the same. It was not a substitute for the tight haven her hot pussy provided. Both times that I’d had her under my control in the safety of my dungeon, I’d been inundated with so many ideas of what to do with her, and finally my other head decided to announce its presence.

I hardened painfully as I pictured Brynn on her knees with my cock in her mouth. Those wide doe eyes of hers would lock in on mine as she stared up at me. My hand moved to my shaft, and the smallest of touches made me ache.She had this unwelcome effect on me, and I hated the way my thoughts turned so easily to her. I’d been with dozens of women over the years, and wanting to imagine a different set of chocolate eyes staring back at me, I reopened my laptop.

Once on Olympus, I pulled up the secret folder that contained videos of different nights at Lotus. I naturally told these submissives when I was going to record them, and it normally made them even hotter. Being watched was a turn on for most, and while this would last longer than a scene, there was an inherent trust between a Dominant and their submissive, so they knew no one would see our scenes but me.

I had labeled each one by name of the submissives, and I paused at the one titled ‘Blair,” and remembering the way I had wielded my whip on her had me ready to come in my hand. I took the laptop to the couch with me, and with the backdrop of San Francisco behind me, I focused on the video we had created, and slid my hand into my sweats. It wasn’t long before my hand began to move, mimicking the motions on screen.