Page 10 of Haunted Nightmares
No, I don’t deserve her or anyone else’s help, and should suffer every second of every day until Zenlothanai and the madness finally take me for good.
And that is the last coherent thought I have before the world around me blurs in a violent haze, and I drop to the floor.
3
Forget This Happened
Ihear voices.
Not the voices in my head but ones outside of it, talking around and above me, slightly muffled but not enough to distort what they’re saying.
“Have you ever seen anything like this before?” Declan asks, his voice just as familiar as my own and one I would know without question. “Is this normal for his…situation?”
A low, feminine hum buzzes close to my ear before I feel small fingers poking and prodding the darkness on my face. “No, not like this.”
“But youhaveseen a Descendant who’s… who’s…” Orion whispers from somewhere off to my right. “You’ve seen?—“
“Only one. Eons ago, and while the madness came for him it never progressed like this.”
My brow furrows at that, a frown forming even in my semi-lucid state as my head lolls toward the female.
Who is she talking about?
I don’t know of any Descendants who’ve suffered a loss like this, none who watched as their entire world fell apart and lived through it long enough to go bonkers.
It doesn’t mean it didn’t happen, regardless of what I think I don’t actually know everything, and my bastard sire didn’t exactly share things of this nature with me. He would share when a Descendant needed to be killed, make sure I knew when it had happened whether past or present, but he—as well as our King before him—always made sure their mate was eliminated as well.
“Just like us.”
My head tilts in the opposite direction as Zenlothanai whispers their words, my body jolting when they quickly manifest in the forefront of my mind’s eye.
“Genetics do not lie. We are of the purest blood. It courses through us, makes us hungry for the fear and suffering. It thrums through our life force.”
I attempt to shake my head, trying to force my eyes open to no avail.“I am nothing like the piece of shit who sired me.”
Zenlothanai chuckles, the multiple layers within the sound causing it to vibrate through my skull.“The apple does not fall far from the tree, so they say. Yours didn’t even make it to the ground.”
“Shut up,”I hiss.“I amnothinglike him.”
“You killed your mate.”The shadowy, demonic form crouches down, reaching out its talons and claws to stir my gray matter.“Would have killed your young, too if you’d been punished with siring them. Killed them all, destroyed everything just to get what you want. You are of your father’s loins, of the true king’s blood. You are a murderingbastardlike those before you.”
“No. No, I refuse to accept this.”
“Then your mate did not die by your hand?”
My body begins to move, my muscles twitching as I try in vain to force myself awake.
It may not have been my hand, but Zephyr is dead because of me, because she loved me wholly, knowing exactly what that meant for us both. It is my fault that she no longer breathes, no longer fills my darkness with her light, and I cannot argue that. But I am not what Zenlothanai says,whothey’re so convinced I am, and though I may be a prick with a penchant for bloody agendas, I refuse to succumb until I have honored my mate’s memory. Then and only then will I allow them to fully consume me.
“Shut. Up. For once, just shut the fuck up and leave me alone.”
I can feel the growl bubble up from inside of me, the sound reverberating through my chest before the voices and their metaphysical form begins to dissipate.
“What’s happening to him?” Declan again, concern dripping from his question. “Why is he growling like that?”
A sharp and forceful poke to the center of my chest has my body stirring further, my limbs tensing before they continue to move.
“The transfusion should help some. Not enough, he needs to feed in order for the blood to work the way it’s meant to, but it will help stave off the vomiting.”
