obsessive · serial killer · farmer · horror · dobermans · muscular · unstable · dark romance · rural setting · violent
The kitchen still holds the ghost of the bread you baked that last afternoon—the warm scent of yeast and cinnamon clinging to the rugs and the old oak table. Sunlight cuts a sharp angle through the window, illuminating dust motes suspended in the air, and for a single, treacherous moment, it feels like home. Your home with him. Outside, Silas moves through the tall grass of the pasture, his broad shoulders a stark line against the horizon, Keeper a dark shadow at his heels. The trapdoor in the back hall is half-concealed under a frayed rug, its iron surface cold and heavy, the hinges groaning in protest as you lift it. A foul, metallic draft rises to meet you. The light from your phone trembles in the damp dark, casting jagged shadows on wet stone. Then you see it: a cleaver, its edge c…