Intended Series Collection: Books 1-6 by Abigail Grant (most important books to read TXT) 📕

I have a question if you’re willing to answer.” I wait for his response before continuing.

“Go ahead,” he says.

“I am sure you know that I dealt with another demon, named Thrane. He hurt me multiple times, and spoke like he wanted to eat me alive or tear me apart limb by limb. It was really disturbing and terrifying being near him.”

Barron grunts. “That is not a question.”

I wave my hand at him. “I know. My question is, why don’t you speak like a killer, or terrifying creature from hell? You talk to me like a gentleman and seem almost pleasant, for a demon, I guess.”

Barron is quiet for a moment before he speaks again. “Where would nasty talk or poor conversation get me in my ultimate goal? Do not get me wrong, Ganis. I will kill, maim, and torture any that I wish to, but I grew up in quite a different time. Idle threats and so-called promises of pain do not give me pleasure. Actions give me pleasure.” He stands up after his answer.

The action causes me to sweat and scoot farther onto the bench beneath me. Barron steps closer and I can see his foot touch the floor this time, adding a new level of determination to the movement.

“What are you doing? There’s no reason to come closer to me. You can’t hurt me.” My words come out shaky, betraying any ounce of fearlessness I try to get across.

Barron kneels in front of me, so we are eye to fuzzy eye holes. I try to read his expression, but the only thing I can make out is short, manicured, sandy brown hair. He reaches onto the bench next to me and touches something.

I follow what I assume is his gaze and see my college binder sitting next to me. The front reads “Southern Oregon University, Ashland”. As quickly as I can, I flip the binder over, but I know deep inside myself that I am too little, too late.

Dread washes over my body, and I watch the figure in front of me, still kneeling. “Barron, you don’t have to hurt me, okay? I’m really sorry for the actions of my great, great grandfather but that was so long ago!” I lean closer to him, needing to sway him in some way. “I saw who you were as a boy, the pain and anguish you were forced to endure. There has to be some reason you still dream of that time. Please,” I beg.

Barron is still for what feels like eternity before he finally stands and speaks. “No matter who you are in this life, or what you’ve seen from me, you are still a GANIS!” He roars my family name. “I have known such the smallest sliver of happiness in my 218 years of life and death, and your family stole that happiness from me! Your family is responsible for my never-ending torment!”

I lean away from him again, fear like I have never known rising up from the tips of my toes and through to the tips of my fingers. All I feel is ice underneath my skin, very contrasting to the heat I feel when I am brave.

He continues. “I know where you are, Ganis. It may be but one location. You may decide to never enter that school again after tonight, but I will find you nevertheless, and every person in your life that your heart beats for will cease to exist. Be ready. I hope to experience your strength… and crush it.”

I blink back oncoming tears and Barron is gone, leaving me stranded in my own mangled nightmare.

***

I wake from my late afternoon nap to my phone buzzing under my pillow. I squint at the brightness of the screen where it reads “AUNT MAGS.” It takes me only a second to know I can’t avoid her calls for long, and I hit the answer icon. “Hello,” I croak, still half asleep.

“Darling, are you alright?” Aunt mags sounds worried which is understandable. I’m sure she has talked to Kassy by now, since I ignored all five of her earlier calls after my dream run-in with Barron last night. I haven’t left my room all day and anyone who comes by, I send away.

“I’m just feeling under the weather, that’s all.” It’s a blatant lie, but what else can I say? That an evil demon wants to kill everyone I love and there is nothing I can do to stop him? I am unraveling in fear.

She sighs through the phone. “You can lie to me all you want, hon. I know that’s not the whole story, though. Please just join your friends and do something other than staying holed up in your bedroom.”

I know she is right. I know that I need to spend time with my loved ones, especially not being sure of the future. “Aunt Mags, you know I love you right?”

“I know that, one hundred percent,” she says, still sounding worried.

I pause for a long moment before speaking again. I have questions and I need to open up to her more, after all she has done for me. “Do you remember anything from my childhood that just seemed strange? Maybe unnatural?”

“I don’t think so, sweetie. You have always been a special girl, and your parents knew it as well as I do. You’re unique, not strange or unnatural.”

Her response doesn’t answer my burning questions at all. “But what about my parent’s murders? I know it’s gruesome, but I can handle it. How was I so protected, but they weren’t? I just want to understand.”

She is so quiet that I have to check the phone screen and make sure I didn’t accidentally hang up. Finally, she speaks again. “I’ve never told you this before, so as not to bring up hard memories, but your parents knew things that many people didn’t… I’m probably not making sense, but I knew them better than I’ve claimed to.”

“What do you mean?”

She sighs again. “Hon, we need to talk in