Chapter 3 THE WEIGHT OF SECRETS

Ophelia's mind raced as she lay with fear, her eyes darting around restlessly, looking for an exit away from the firm grip of Keiran. She hated how close their bodies were and she wanted nothing more than to dissolve out of his grip.

Her mind was still filled with different confusions and questions were visible on the furrowed eyebrows on her face. She was the key to unlocking secrets? What secrets? And why did Keiran seem so determined to uncover them?

He stared at her with his piercing red eyes, as if he could see her soul and sense her thoughts. Ophelia felt like he was baring her soul and mind, and she hurriedly shifted her eyes to look anywhere else but at him.

"You have no idea what you are, do you, Ophelia?" he said, his voice vibrating through the air and his lips curled up in that sinister smirk of his.

He knew how majestic he looked, he knew the effect he had on her. She made it obvious with the way she kept on avoiding eye contact, she kept squirming to be set free, but he just didn't feel like ending the game. Not yet, he was enjoying this way more than he was supposed to.

Ophelia shook her head, her palm sweaty, her heart racing. "I don't know what you're talking about". She had absolutely zero ideas about what he was talking about.

His gaze intensified and he spoke again, his voice was like a warm, rich whiskey, smooth and velvety, with a hint of smokiness that made her heart race. She wondered how she just noticed the way his chest vibrates when he speaks, the way his voice resonated through her body was unsettling as well.

His smile grew wilder and his eyes darted behind her first, and then back to her face. "Ahh, but that's where you're wrong. You see, Ophelia, you're not just a relic of the past. You're a doorway to a world that's been hidden for centuries."

Ophelia's confusion deepened, but this time it was mixed with curiosity and lingering fear. She saw how his eyes darted behind her first and how he looked fiercely behind her, before changing, masking it and looking at her again.

Why did he keep on going on and on about this world and secrets? Why did he seem obsessed with uncovering them?

As if reading her thoughts, Kieran leaned in closer. "You'll see, Ophelia. You'll see the truth soon enough. And when you do, you'll understand why I've been searching for you for so long."

She felt like a mouse caught in a little cage about to be tortured, her skin crawled as Kieran's breath whispered against her ear.

That feeling of being watched by someone else other than Kieran was there again and he saw the way his eyes darted quickly behind her and came back to rest on her face. It was an extremely quick action, she almost missed it.

Kieran's grip on her face tightened, his fingers digging into her skin, not deep enough to leave a mark, but enough for her to feel his nails on her skin.. "You're a curiosity, Ophelia. A puzzle I aim to solve. And I'll stop at nothing to uncover the truth about you." She felt his seriousness and knew he wasn't joking around one bit about this situation.

Ophelia sat quietly, her eyebrows furrowed together in deep thought, her mind reeled as Kieran's words painted a picture in her mind.

And then, just as suddenly as he had appeared, Kieran vanished. Ophelia was finally free of his grip and cage, she heaved a sigh of relief as she was left lying on the moss-covered earth, her mind wandering all around with dozens of unanswered questions.

As she lay there, she jolted up immediately and felt something else, Fear. Ophelia realized she was not alone, but the hairs on her skin stood, they felt prickly and her fangs bared. She looked around with an unsettling feeling in her gut.

Someone was watching her, she could feel their eyes boring into her skin. She sat up immediately with fear engulfing her, but he tried to hide it and not give herself away yet. Looking around, peering into the darkness, she saw no one. The forest was eerily quiet, the sound of rustling leaves in the wind did nothing to reduce the mounting fear she had in her tummy.

Who was watching her? It couldn't possibly be Keiran. No, this was not the same feeling she got when he was around her. She took a deep breath, calmed down and looked again. Her heart stopped beating for a second with fear, her eyes widening with horror and fear and she saw it. A figure, lurking just beyond the trees. Waiting, watching her.

Her longs cooperated with her brain this time around, she turned and ran, she could hear her heart pounding in her chest. She could still feel the cold-blooded eyes watching her, boring and tearing into her skin. She was being hunted by something dangerous, something evil and she had no idea why.

As she ran deeper into the forest, Ophelia realised that she was trapped. She had no idea where she was or where she was even running. She cluelessly ran like a headless chicken with no direction.

The trees suddenly looked scarry,with their branches reaching out like skeletal fingers. She was breathing very hard,she was out of breath,her breath came in short gasps as she ran. Fear engulfed her whole being as she cracked her head for a way out of the forest..

Why did she have to be so unlucky? She was not yet over the encounter she had with Kieran and now she was being hunted by an unknown force..Can the day get any worse?? If she still had the power she had before,they wouldn't have dared to try this dangerous game with her..

But as she ran,she could feel the eyes still boring into her skin,watching her. Ophelia knew she wasn't alone and she was being hunted.