Bleh, what the fuck have I become?
Fire builds in my chest, spreading down to my stomach, where a hollow ache opens up, warming my entire body.
I’m no hero. I’d rather watch the world I’m leaving behind burn to ash than let anything happen to them. I know I’m the cause of their suffering, and while I won’t deny that they’d have normal lives without me, I’m just as certain they couldn’t survive without me—just as I couldn’t without them.
The shift from reality is akin to stepping through a rushing waterfall, blurring the world around me as if pounding clear liquid blankets my vision. There’s a heavy dampness, like icy needles pricking my skin—cold and sharp, but without the sensation of being wet, and a loud roaring symphony that drowns out everything until I’m smacked with silence.
When my eyes focus, both Alaric and I are standing in a lit hallway, fluorescent lights illuminating the space around us. Each door closed, signs hanging from them. The walls themselves are white, the doors all different colors, but the majority match the muted color.
It smells like pomegranates.Ironic, really.
“This could have been avoided,” Alaric comments as he steps forward, turning his head over his shoulder to look at me. “If you wouldn’t?—”
He doesn’t get the chance to finish his sentence before my fist connects with his nose. I don’t give him a moment to recover as he stumbles back; my foot lands hard into his side, completing the fall. He crashes onto his back, and the sharp sound of tile meeting bone makes my lip twitch in satisfaction.
As he grumbles, raising up on both hands to lift up to see me, I’m straddling his hips and slamming another punch to his face. His lip busts, and he roars out a muffled cry.
Both of his hands attempt to grab my waist, but I’m quickly tearing theskin from my wrist and thrusting it against his lips. Blood splays across the icy floor, pooling in his mouth and down his jaw to his neck. His eyes bulge, and I grin in response. He is afuckingfool if he thinks he will continue to talk to me as if I am a godsdamn child.
As if I am not a killer.
A monster.
A demon.
Afuckingpsychopath.
“This all could have been avoided,” I repeat mockingly. “If you would learn yourplace.” My full weight rests on him, and as I feel my blood traverse slowly through his body, I roll my head around my shoulders before leaning fully forward onto him. “I can feel myself inside you…” My breath fans against his lips. “Do you?”
My gaze trails to his mouth, seeing his nostrils flare as he says, “Yes.”
“Good boy.” Leaning back, I smack his cheek with enough force that he clenches his jaw. “Now, let’s play with my new puppet.”
“No, let’s not?—”
“Lift your left arm,” I command, and as I feel the tethers of his brain fight me back, I know I’ve got him. My Amoro may not be able to command a Fallen… but my blood can.
Perfect.
His body loses the battle, and his left arm goes straight into the air. I’d be enjoying this more if it weren’t for this asshole’s bulging erection pressing right between my ass cheeks.
“You know,” I murmur, my hand coming to the one he still has at my waist and thrusting it away. “The last man’s lap I sat in, who had a hard on, that wasn’t Kai, lost it. Then I made him eat it.”
“I heard…” he says through his teeth. “Are you done with this game?”
As I adjust myself to lay down on him, our chests press together and I glide my hand up his outstretched arm. “I suspect my blood will leave your system relatively quickly—maybe half an hour.” This was my life before meeting Kairhyse. Using my body to my advantage, and it never bothered me to do so. Even if in this moment I’m doing what I’ve skillfully learned over the past decade to do, it hurts my Amoro—and me. But I have to do what must be done, no matter how I feel. “You’ve said this is bigger than you, thenus, so let’s come to an agreement before we step to see the ruler of the Beyond, Alaric.”
His bright blue eyes sink to half-mast, his breathing becoming more of a pant. I can smell what he wants, the desire that seeps from his pores, and feel the twitch in his cock.
“Go on.”
“I am not a toy, not something toplaywith. I’m not a fucking pig at an auction used to breed to have the farm thrive. Just nod if you understand.”
Only a second passes before he nods his head once. My fingers lace with his, the one still held up, and bring it down.
“All I want is to be free. Free of the constant burden of fighting for the one basic right I was born with: to live. You, my mother, Belial—everyone is selfish withmybody,mylife.”
His mouth opens to speak, but I cut him off, “Silence, Alaric.”
