Total pages in book: 129
Estimated words: 130048 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 650(@200wpm)___ 520(@250wpm)___ 433(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 130048 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 650(@200wpm)___ 520(@250wpm)___ 433(@300wpm)
Truly saw him.
He might’ve been honest with me.
He might’ve said what lurked inside him.
But hearing was different from seeing and now…I saw.
I saw everything.
Bat wings sprouted from his back, veiny and webby and torn in places as if he’d flown through the gates of hell. His skin darkened and scribed with glowing red runes. Fangs indented his bottom lip as he opened his mouth and spoke things I couldn’t understand.
And his eyes?
The gorgeous grey depths that held such pain, such loneliness, blackened to burning brimstone as he plucked me from the ground and shook me.
Even drunk, he was strong.
Terribly, terrifyingly strong.
I dangled in his hold.
“Ily. Snap out of it.” His nose pressed to mine; I tumbled into his soul. Tumbled and tumbled, deep into his charred and twisted heart full of desperation and restraint, right and wrong, sadist and saint.
Pressing his fanged lips to my ear, he whispered, “Stay with me. I really, shreally need youse to stay with me.”
His slurs slithered into my soul.
His fingers burrowed into my flesh.
Panic percolated like a blizzard, frosting my bones and turning air into painful icicles.
Don’t touch me.
Please don’t—
His hands were a thousand fire ants.
His closeness a million poisonous needles.
Let me go—
Pressing me hard against him, all I could feel was heat and hardness, power and punishment.
“Please.” I wriggled in his hold. “It hurts. I can’t stand it. L-Let me go.”
He sucked in a tattered breath. “Ily, don’t.” Fear sobered him just enough to hiss, “Don’t fight me. You know what will happen if you fight me.”
“What will happen if she fights you?” Victor drawled far, far too close.
The room shrank like a torture chamber, the ceiling sinking, the walls creeping, squeezing me, entombing me.
No.
It’s not real.
It’s not—
“Ily.” Henri stopped whispering and shook me hard instead. I rattled like knuckle bones cast by a sorcerer. I trembled like a puddle when the earth shook.
Every point of contact between us grew worse and worse.
A halo glowed around his head, switching from a divine light to a shadowy crown. His fingers caressed my shoulders, gentle and soft and painful.
So, so painful.
“Don’t,” I whimpered as acid soaked through me and scorpions stung me. “Don’t—”
Henri ignored me, gathering me closer. “I can’t do this alone.”
“Can’t do what?” Victor asked.
Cupping my cheeks, Henri tripped into me, the liquor he’d drunk well and truly corrupting him.
I couldn’t.
Too much.
It hurts.
It hurts.
It hurts!
“Stop.” I kept my eyes squeezed tight against devil delusions and horrible hallucinations. “Stop touching me.”
“Please, Ily. It’s me—”
“Let me go.” My voice rose. “Let me go!”
“You know I can’t do that.” Tripping sideways, he looked at Peter. His tone switched from begging to bellowing. “What the fuck did you do to her?!”
Peter shrank away. He didn’t reply.
“Answer me!” Henri barked. “What’s wrong with her?”
“Nothing is wrong with her.” Victor chuckled. “True fear can appear in a multitude of forms. She’s just catatonic, Henri. That’s all.”
“If that’s true, then snap out of it!” Henri tapped my cheek. “Come on.”
His fingers were daggers.
His chastisement vinegar and bleach on every open wound in my mind.
“I told you to let go of me!” I pushed him.
He swayed backward.
I dared make eye contact with him, and what stared back was a man stripped to his primal, feral core. “Ily…” His gaze welled with horror. “T-Tu as promis.” (Y-You promised.)
Promised.
I promised.
What did I promise?
“Strap her on the cross, Henri,” Victor commanded. “I’ve had enough of this. Give her something to truly fear.”
“Give me a minute—”
“No, you’ve had minutes. You’ve had fucking days. Time to bleed her, so I know you’re truly one of us.”
A tsunami of blood crashed over me. Metallic rust oozed down my throat. My skin sliced open, raining blood, rivering blood.
No—
It coated Henri’s hands.
His arms.
His body.
And his lips.
And when he smiled in my insanity, my mind reached the end of its limit.
Grabbing me again, Henri lifted me upright until my toes barely skimmed the carpet.
I completely lost myself.
“No,” I screamed.
“Leave me alone.” I kicked.
“It hurts. It hurts. It hurts!” I punched and fought and attacked.
Dropping me as if I’d shoved a sword in his belly, Henri ripped his hands away and stared in shocked, terrible silence. “Ily…”
I panted hard on all fours, swimming through mirages of monsters and sinister shades of sin.
For a split second, I remembered.
I blinked and was free.
Don’t fight him.
Whatever you do, don’t fight!
“Henri…” I crawled to him. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to. I-I’m better now. I’m—” My throat closed up as darkness gathered around him, sucked from all corners of the crypt. Smog wafted around his bare feet, creeping up his legs. In the smog lurked snakes and pain, just waiting to snatch and hurt me.
I shuddered and closed my eyes.
Don’t look.
Focus.
You’re not alone.
We can get through this together…
Henri’s presence towered over me as he bent and cupped my elbows. Lifting me to my feet, he groan-slurred, “Come on. Let’s get thish over with.”