Page 30 of Bitten By Desire

Shit.

I took one look at Julian and mouthed the word “run”. His indigo eyes rounded, and I pushed power behind the word as I repeated it. Whether it worked or not I didn’t know because as I attempted to follow it up with a command meant for the general, I was cut off by an ear-piercing shriek that threatened to crack open my skull. Doubling over, I clenched hands over ears in an attempt to block it out, but it was useless.

Sinking to the ground, I welcomed the blackness that crept in from the corners of my mind. Hands yanked back my head, and something was jammed in my gaping mouth. I could do nothing but wallow in the pain of the horrible sound as my hands were tied behind my back.

Finally, the cursed noise ebbed, leaving only an echo in my mind that throbbed along with the tremors racking my body. I blinked up as my thoughts and senses started to clear and stared straight into the general’s hard face. Around him a shadow aura grew and bulged, with appendages reaching toward me, independent from him and visible without any attempt on my part to see it.

I whimpered as the dark limbs twisted around me and the eyes of the man himself seemed to darken until only obsidian orbs remained. His face hardened into granite, and when he spoke, his teeth appeared as tiny, jagged rocks.

“Finally, I’ll be able to rest,” he said then plucked me from the ground like a weed, tossing me over his shoulder without care. “I’m glad to see our newest weapon works. It’s based on sound waves designed to disrupt the part of the brain linked with all supe powers.”

He stepped into the elevator, which appeared for him out of nowhere, and I kicked my legs, which did nothing but cause me to slip further over his shoulder. When the doors opened, he marched me out into what I recognized as the brig, the dungeon-like corridor of cells carved from stone. We passed opening after opening, and I caught a glimpse of only one occupant. She sat in the corner, knees pulled to her chest and face buried in her arms, but I was sure it was Tabitha, the psychic from MorningStar that I’d last seen glamoured at the vampire estate. I didn’t have time to dwell on her presence, though, as he dropped me unceremoniously onto a table in the last cell where I landed on my side.

I knew this place. It was where I’d found Julian attached to the Fae torture device he’d been trapped in, and I knew without a doubt that was exactly what was about to happen to me. The only way out of it—that I knew of—was to die and be resuscitated. My pulse pounded so hard I was sure my heart was trying to escape my body and make a run for it.

Only more whimpers escaped when I tried to plead with the man made of rock looming over me. I swung my legs around to try and run, but he repositioned me on the table with no trouble and held me down by the neck with one massive hand while he reached for the helmet of the device with the other.

“For what it’s worth, Doctor, I’m sorry it has to be this way.”

Tears of desperation escaped and slid down over his fingers as he shoved it over my head. A whirring sounded around me, and my body stopped taking direction from my brain as he untied my hands, repositioned me, and strapped me down to the table. Stinging electrical currents zapped at every inch of my skin as my clothes disintegrated around me.

And then I was no longer on the table. No longer on base. I was on a small ranch in Kentucky with my mother, sister, and father before he was turned into a vampire. I was seven again, and the smell of Mama’s shortbread cookies warmed the house and my heart.

Reality melted away as I embraced my surroundings.

I was home.

Chapter 10

Confronting My Demons

“Daddy!” I ran to my father who lifted me into his arms and dotted my head with kisses before releasing me again in a fit of giggles.

“You’re home early,” Mama said, embracing him.

Squinting at her, I smiled. I liked watching her aura grow all bright pink when she was with him. And his had bursts of red, green, and pink that exploded like fireworks whenever he looked at her. I wondered if my own aura would do that someday with someone else.

“Moooom,” Zoe tugged at Mama’s apron, demanding her attention, as always.

I rolled my eyes.

“You promised to take me shopping for something for the school play.” She stuck her bottom lip out, and a bunch of blonde curls fell over her face. I touched my own auburn hair, wondering why it didn’t do that, as Daddy snuck over toward his study.

“And I will, but you need some patience. Go get your shoes and coat on.” Mama dotted Zoe’s nose with her finger and sent her running off to comply.

“Can I do my homework with you?” I asked just before Dad closed the door. His special room was off limits to kids, for the most part, and the secret glimpses I got only made it more tantalizing to explore, like a mysterious passage in a castle that led to adventure.

“Sorry, Pumpkin. I have a phone call with someone. Business. Maybe I’ll take you for ice cream later if you finish on your own.”

Ice cream was nice, so I nodded my acceptance, and he swung the door behind him. It hadn’t latched, and my homework would be easy to finish, so I waited till Mama and Zoe left to nudge the door open just a tiny bit and peer inside.

Dad was seated at his desk, his back to me and phone to his ear.

“I’ll have something soon.” His voice didn’t sound like it normally did, and I jerked back for a moment before leaning in again to listen closer. “Well, it isn’t true. I don’t care who you heard it from.”

This conversation felt forbidden, but the little voice in my mind that I called Pythia whispered to me before I backed away.

It’s about you.

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