Previously on Saving Grace: “Piper is in your heart now. She is your fire, but you have to keep it burning,” his smile dropped as he glanced toward the door. “A darkness is coming, Grace, and it wants to snuff out your light.”

Alex stood in the alley between the two residence halls, his hands stuffed into the pockets of his sweatshirt, foot tapping as his gaze glancing right and left, hands clenching and relaxing. Checking his phone, he knew it they were late, ten minutes in fact. He was beginning to wonder if this was all one big prank when he heard the clicking footsteps echoing from the end of the path.

“Oh, you did come, good boy,” the female voice almost seemed to purr like a content cat as the golden haired beauty sauntered toward him, her lips lifted in a smirk. “I didn’t think you would have the guts to show after the little message I sent you.” In the full light of the moon, he could see her standing before him, one hand on her hip in the tight, V-neck shirt and jeans she wore that hugged her slender curves, her golden curls falling in waves of ringlets on her shoulders.

Clearing his throat, he forced himself to focus on her face, meeting her cold gaze, watching the lips twitch just slightly, her features seeming to … flicker within the light. “You said you had something to tell me, and I’m here now, so spill.”

She laughed, a sound he decided reminded him far too much of a hyena’s cackle — it seemed out of place, as if it didn’t belong to her, but someone else.

“Straight to the point, I see. Of course. It is why I have called you here, after all.” She walked a tight circle around him, her stilettos clicking and clacking against the concrete as she looked him up and down. “But maybe I shouldn’t tell you? It would only break your poor little heart.” The young woman stared at him with a wide grin. “But you are a good boy, you could handle it, right?”

“Just tell me what you have to say and leave.”

If it were possible, the teeth to her grin almost seemed to become sharper, her eyes glinting in the light as she closed the distance between them, leaning up to whisper in his ear as his eyes widened.

“Just thought you would like to know,” she chimed as she walked away, hips swinging as she left him to watch her leave, unable to move from the spot as his hands clenched into fists. Down the road, the golden beauty snickered, dusting off some phantom grime from the sleeves of her coat as she melded into the shadows.

One down. Two to go.