My entire body was on high alert, nerves frayed, something churning in my mind, and my heart thudded loudly, so much so that I could hear it's beating like drum beats.

I should have run.

That was the most sane and logical thing to do. My mind kept screaming for me to keep going, but my body seemed hypnotized by the mere fact that he was nearby, maybe a few meters away, watching me. Besides, I was curious too. That man was responsible for more than one catastrophe in my life—ones I still hadn't recovered from and wasn't sure I ever would. He was going to take my soul from my body. At the very least, I deserved to be curious.

I heard whimpering now, alerting me more than ever. I didn't run. Instead, I decided to be a witness to whatever he was involved in, to hold something—anything—against him.

With quiet steps, I walked toward the direction of the painful whimpers. Soon, a roofless cottage came into view. I kept moving forward, and when two figures appeared in my sight, I took refuge behind the gigantic trunk of a banyan tree to hide myself. A man with a lean figure was half-lying on the ground. His whimpers and pleas grew clearer now that I was closer. His face was covered in blood; there was a cut on his jaw, and his left forehead was swollen. He wore a white t-shirt with a blue pattern, now half-covered in blood.

It felt like my heart would explode in my chest with the force it kept beating. I felt dizzy witnessing all that blood, almost nauseous. I covered my mouth to stop myself from making any sound, pressing one of my palms against it.

I knew that man. He was the reporter behind those pictures that had gone viral. He was the one who had left Dad's office and accidentally bumped into me. His name was Sunny Sharma. All his earlier arrogance was gone, replaced by fear. And as much as I hated him, I did not want to see him in that gruesome state. A shadow fell where his body lay on the ground. Moonlight shone on the figure, reminding me that he was there too. He was a man so gorgeous that it was almost painful not to look at him, but his soul was so dark, black, and cold that even hell would seem brighter and warmer.

Kiaan Chauhan, the man who was hell-bent on making my life a living hell, and the man I hated with every cell in my body.

But the figure standing there was not the Kiaan I knew—it was someone else entirely. He didn't seem like the person who usually wore a sinister smile, watching as helpless Sunny pleaded. There were several cuts on Sunny's arms, and Kiaan held a knife coated in scarlet red liquid.

"Please..." Sunny had his hands clasped, pleading desperately to the monster.

"Let... let me go."

"I swear... I swear... I... I'll go away like I never existed."

"Of course, you will." Kiaan's chilly tone was more freezing than the cold temperatures of the city. He bent down to Sunny's level, grabbed his hair, and pulled him forward.

"But the one making your existence cease will be me," he stated.

With that, he pushed the knife deep into Sunny's heart, knocking the life out of his body. My wildly beating heart stopped, and there was this shrill tune in my ears so that I could hear nothing anymore.

Sunny's eyes bulged, and I saw him struggling, thrashing, and kicking his legs until his withering body gave up. The knife was still stuck in his heart like it was a brooch rather than an object that had taken his life.

I did not scream—actually, I could not scream. It would have been normal to scream in fear, to cry, but I didn't. Because around that devil, my body was never normal, always in a trance, like he had some kind of hold on me, like a magnetic power he used on me without even seeing me.

He was a beast, an evil darker than anything I had ever seen. And he did not stop there.

He didn't stop even when Sunny was thrashing and struggling; he didn't stop when Sunny's body went limp. He kept twisting the knife inside his heart and watched it like it gave him some kind of peace.

I was the sole witness, and I did nothing to stop him. My body couldn't move, and my soul kept shouting from inside to just escape. With every bit of strength I could muster at that moment, I took a step back, then another, and then another. I didn't breathe, didn't make a sound. I took just a few steps backward, only for a deadly calm voice to command, "Don't you dare."

I stopped. He knew I was there. He knew I was watching. He had known all along, yet nothing stopped him from ripping a soul out of someone.

The beast pulled the knife out of the dead man like it was some thorn and not an object that had just taken somebody's life. He rose to his feet and turned to me.

His eyes met mine, and there was nothing but darkness pooled in both of them.

He walked leisurely toward me, his shoulders not taut like before but relaxed, like he had just had a good breakfast. A slight smile played on his lips, but it did not reach his eyes. It was sinister, not playful. Suddenly, everything hit me with force—the realization of what more he was capable of, the fact that my fate was tied to him, and how merciless he was. My body now coiled with rage, and with every step he took toward me, I felt myself burning. My blank eyes were now filled with anger, and all I wanted was to grab that fucking knife and put it into his heart. But I was no beast. I was not heartless like him. I kept glaring at him, even when he was inches away from me.

If I hated him before, I abhor him now. His mere presence disgusted me. I was about to put more distance between us before he could catch up to me. As if he could read my thoughts, he took one large step, grabbed my arm, and pinned me to the hood of his car, causing me to yelp. He held my wrists above my head. That was when the speechless trance of my body broke.

He kept staring at me with his unreadable expression, and I was sure mine showed that I wanted to unalive him.

"Interesting," he murmured. His warm breath tickled my skin, and goosebumps appeared on my body.

Shit! Shit! Shit! My body had to stop reacting to that disgusting piece of shit.

"Let me go," I gritted my teeth.

His eyes darkened, as if I had committed a crime by uttering those words. I could see the darkest shade of night in those eyes, the one everyone is always scared of.

"You walk into my territory of your own will, but there is no escape until I say so—which will be never," he repeated his words from earlier. I tried pushing him away with my body, only for my efforts to fail.

"You are a beast."

"We agree on something, finally."

I continued my struggle, trying to liberate my hands from his iron grip, but it seemed like an impossible task.

"Tell me, sweetheart, did you like it?"

"Wa... what?"

"You liked it when I twisted that knife inside his heart, scratching every part of his dead heart."

His words knocked the breath out of me and shook me to the core. Not only was he evil, but he seemed a deranged evil.

"You are sick," I spat.

He was still unfazed. I felt something wet and cold on my cheek, and I didn't realize what it was until he brought the tip of it to my heart. I shivered at the contact my body had with that knife—his ultimate weapon of deadly crime.

"You look good, smeared in blood..." he whispered.

"Just like a forbidden sin..." I could feel the tip hurting me, causing me to wince.

Is he going to kill me?

Even when I could feel it might be my last day, I didn't show him fear, not at all.

"Fuck you."

"Not this soon, sweetheart." He smirked.

How could he do that? How could he act so nonchalant after murdering someone in cold blood?

I struggled to free my hands, but the more I tried, the harsher his grip became. And when I stopped struggling, all of a sudden, he pulled the knife back. His body was a few meters away from me now. He left me to my own mercy, shocking me again with his move.

"RUN," he ordered coldly.

"Run as far as you can, don't look back. Maybe use those fucking invisible wings and fly away, firefly."

For a moment, I was surprised at him for giving me a free pass to freedom. But who was I kidding? He was a beast who functioned with no rules except his own. His next statement was proof of that.

"But remember, once you stop at your ultimate destination, you will find me waiting for you. You can never escape me."

I got up, like my body was a puppet at his command. I found my lost vigour and ran. I ran as fast as I could, away from him, hoping I would be able to seek refuge somewhere. Though I knew my fate was sealed the moment I decided to mess with him. And now he would come for me, to destroy me, to rip my soul out of me.

******

I had actually written quite a long prologue and even after cutting it short it turned out to be of more than 1K words. 😄

Hope you guys liked the prologue. 😊

I know it's too early to ask but do let me know what do you guys think the story will be about and something about our beast and his firefly.  😄

Do share your views about the prologue. It would mean a lot. ❤️

Thanks,

Shrishtee