bang, I cover my head, feeling the fire on my back again; sweltering heat, melting my skin. It feels as if my flesh is tearing open and suddenly, there’s a bursting of the pressure that has built. Black feathers rain all around me and then everything goes silent.
Chapter 7
In the corner
Lives a girl
Balled up
Lonely
Sullen
Locked away
By herself
She gave up
Curling in
Like a petal
Dying
Wilting
Edges browning
Cracking
So easy
The petal fell
Scattered like dust
Across
The charred ground
Covered with Cinders
Waiting to burn out.
***
“Ember, open your eyes,” Cameron whispers, his voice hued with panic. “Come on, fight it.”
My skin sears, liquid fire pulsating through my veins. I need something; I need deaths. Souls. I need blood on my hands. I need the fire on my back to subside. I need to stop melting.
“Goddammit, princess.” Cameron sounds worried, but I can’t see him. I can’t see anything; I can only feel the aching need to feel death on my lips again.
“I need it,” I whisper. “Death… I need it.”
Cameron mutters under his breath and then he’s surrounding me, touching me, feeling me with his hands. I bask in it, wanting to press my lips against his and steal the breath from him, but I can’t find him. Yet he ends up finding me and giving me exactly what I want.
Our lips touch.
He feeds my hunger.
Fills my veins.
Bringing me closer to death.
And farther away from life.
From good.
From Asher.
***
My eyelids flutter open, my eyeballs rolling back into my head that throbs in protest along with my whole body. My lids slip back shut. “Oh, my God,” I groan. “I feel like I’ve been run over by a truck.”
“Not a truck, just a stampede of Anamotti.” The sound of Cameron’s voice hurts my head even more, especially since it’s no longer in my head. “Plus, you fed off their leader’s death, so I’m sure that didn’t help.”
“What the hell happened?” I groan, clutching onto my head. “What was all that stuff… or was I dreaming?”
“You weren’t dreaming,” he says. “You fed off Alton’s life, not because of me. It made you turn rabid for a moment, too much evil blood. But don’t worry; I helped you out.”
When I finally get my eyelids to open, I squint as the light of my room hits them. After I blink a few times, things around me start to take shape. My walls. My bed. My window. Cameron standing beside my doorway, looking very relaxed with his hands in his pockets and a bored expression on his face.
“What do you mean, you helped me out?” I ask, but as soon as I say it, I feel the lines on my arms burn. “Dammit, Cameron, did you make me take more of your life?”
“I had to,” he insists, strolling towards me. He sinks down on the bed, the mattress concaving beneath his weight. “Alton’s blood was too much for you and you would have probably gone on a killing spree if I didn’t override it with mine.”
“And like your blood is any better.” I ask, sitting up.
He shrugs nonchalantly. “You don’t feel like killing anyone right now, right? You should be thanking me.”
I glare at him even though he’s right. “I wouldn’t have had to go through any of it if you wouldn’t have forced me to go to the bowling alley.”
“I was only trying to help you. If we can get to Alton, then maybe we can get to the leader of the Reapers, figure out what he looks like, what he’s planning.”
“Why are you so dead set on stopping him?” I wonder, leaning against the headboard. “When he’s the leader of you?”
“Lots of reasons,” he says, bringing his knee up onto the bed. “One being that if I find him and can kill him it means freeing my family from a curse. He’s been in hiding forever and impossible to
Chapter 7
In the corner
Lives a girl
Balled up
Lonely
Sullen
Locked away
By herself
She gave up
Curling in
Like a petal
Dying
Wilting
Edges browning
Cracking
So easy
The petal fell
Scattered like dust
Across
The charred ground
Covered with Cinders
Waiting to burn out.
***
“Ember, open your eyes,” Cameron whispers, his voice hued with panic. “Come on, fight it.”
My skin sears, liquid fire pulsating through my veins. I need something; I need deaths. Souls. I need blood on my hands. I need the fire on my back to subside. I need to stop melting.
“Goddammit, princess.” Cameron sounds worried, but I can’t see him. I can’t see anything; I can only feel the aching need to feel death on my lips again.
“I need it,” I whisper. “Death… I need it.”
Cameron mutters under his breath and then he’s surrounding me, touching me, feeling me with his hands. I bask in it, wanting to press my lips against his and steal the breath from him, but I can’t find him. Yet he ends up finding me and giving me exactly what I want.
Our lips touch.
He feeds my hunger.
Fills my veins.
Bringing me closer to death.
And farther away from life.
From good.
From Asher.
***
My eyelids flutter open, my eyeballs rolling back into my head that throbs in protest along with my whole body. My lids slip back shut. “Oh, my God,” I groan. “I feel like I’ve been run over by a truck.”
“Not a truck, just a stampede of Anamotti.” The sound of Cameron’s voice hurts my head even more, especially since it’s no longer in my head. “Plus, you fed off their leader’s death, so I’m sure that didn’t help.”
“What the hell happened?” I groan, clutching onto my head. “What was all that stuff… or was I dreaming?”
“You weren’t dreaming,” he says. “You fed off Alton’s life, not because of me. It made you turn rabid for a moment, too much evil blood. But don’t worry; I helped you out.”
When I finally get my eyelids to open, I squint as the light of my room hits them. After I blink a few times, things around me start to take shape. My walls. My bed. My window. Cameron standing beside my doorway, looking very relaxed with his hands in his pockets and a bored expression on his face.
“What do you mean, you helped me out?” I ask, but as soon as I say it, I feel the lines on my arms burn. “Dammit, Cameron, did you make me take more of your life?”
“I had to,” he insists, strolling towards me. He sinks down on the bed, the mattress concaving beneath his weight. “Alton’s blood was too much for you and you would have probably gone on a killing spree if I didn’t override it with mine.”
“And like your blood is any better.” I ask, sitting up.
He shrugs nonchalantly. “You don’t feel like killing anyone right now, right? You should be thanking me.”
I glare at him even though he’s right. “I wouldn’t have had to go through any of it if you wouldn’t have forced me to go to the bowling alley.”
“I was only trying to help you. If we can get to Alton, then maybe we can get to the leader of the Reapers, figure out what he looks like, what he’s planning.”
“Why are you so dead set on stopping him?” I wonder, leaning against the headboard. “When he’s the leader of you?”
“Lots of reasons,” he says, bringing his knee up onto the bed. “One being that if I find him and can kill him it means freeing my family from a curse. He’s been in hiding forever and impossible to
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