Page 94 of Tainted Gifts
"No!"
My screams echo through the air, too powerful for the ears of some. The stir inside me grows, gathers, and then explodes. The air ripples and whines as the power rips through it, and it strikes all the hounds at once, vaporizing their bodies to ashes in one powerful burst.
Everyone gasps before the silence around us becomes deafening, their eyes finding the same ghastly sight mine have. I feel sick, disgusted, and terrified as I rush to Jase, diving to be beside his mangled body.
Deep, deadly wounds are still gaping open, his precious blood gushing free. I push my hands to his wounds, trying to stop the blood from falling out more, and crying uncontrollably as I beg him to come back to me.
"Blood! We need blood!" Rex yells to the standing United. "The commander is down!"
They rush around to fill the order, but I tune it all out as I stare at the mismatched eyes that have been left devoid of all life.
"Jase," I sob out. "Please."
Kellan walks over as Melania pours packaged blood down Jase's throat that has almost been ripped out.
"Fuck. He's not down, he's-"
"Don't you fucking dare say it!" I scream.
Kellan tightens his lips, but he becomes a blur when my tears overwhelm me, hindering my sight completely. At least my watery blindness has shielded me from Jase's destroyed sight.
"Nothing," Mel sobs out when Jase refuses to come back. "He's not healing."
I cry harder, falling over his chest as I bury my head. I could have saved him. I never saw him getting shredded, and he wouldn't have cried out for fear I'd lose concentration and be killed myself. This is my fault. This is all my fault.
The ache in me starts hurting more, making me sick to the point I actually lose the control to hold back the gagging reflex. Simone holds my hair as I cry hysterically and vomit to the ground, keeping one hand on Jase's lifeless body.
"No," I whimper out between sobs. "Please, God... no. Please don't take him from me. I need him. I love him."
No one speaks, everyone remains silent except for Melania and myself. We both deafen the ears of all with our wails. Kellan tries to touch my shoulder, but I fling him back, barely even exerting any effort to do so.
"Don't touch me! I hate you! I hate all of you!" I scream, turning my attention and my burning fury toward the cowards of the United who stood there and watched him die, doing nothing to save him for fear of losing their own life to protect a hybrid they didn't see fit to live.
"He was mine. He was everything! None of you will ever be half the man he was!"
My tears drip harder as my knees wobble beneath me. They all start backing away from me, fear spreading as they see the rage in my eyes. I feel it coming. For the first time ever, I feel the call of my savage threatening to emerge.
I refuse to let it. I refuse to be forced into Kellan's arms right now. It hurts so bad to deny it, but I somehow manage to swallow the desire, and the savage stays subdued just as it has for centuries.
That doesn't stop me from using my gifts on these sons of bitches though. The vehicles all over the ground lift to sky and start spinning in a spiraling death trap. My rage seeps out more, making me feel the rush of power, a need for release.
"Aria! Don't!" Rex yells, his voice pleading and terrified.
"They watched him die. They didn't care!" I cry out, my tears feeling like a river of uranium as they burn down my cheeks.
The dull pain in my chest becomes a merciless stabbing, an endless throbbing that devours me. The pit of my stomach feels so hollow, just as my soul feels to have left me, following Jase to the grave.
"You feared him because why? Because he was different? You're all cowards! He was beautiful... perfect! You want something to fear?" I take a step forward, reveling in the terror falling so freely from their eyes while their mouths tremble. My voice becomes low, a hollow whisper as I continue. "I'll give you something to fear."
The winds pick up, aiding my twisting fury full of metal as it spirals its promise of death. My tears burn holes in my clothes as they race down, refusing to relent. My savage pounds against me, begging to be released so it can free me from my pain, but I stay me, refusing to let my suffering stop.
I owe it to Jase to give these assholes what they deserve. They love fear so much, so I'll forever be that monster that strikes terror in their hearts. I'll show them what they should fear. He was perfect. They're the undeserving. They're the ones who deserved to die, not him. Oh, God, not him.
Rex steps in front of me before I drop the first one to their knees, and he pulls me to him, jerking me up from the ground and forcing me to lose my concentration. His arms wrap around me harder, and I fall apart, letting the pain consume me with its shredding force.
The chaos stops, and the air stills. The vehicles crash to the ground, causing a few explosions, but everyone remains silent as I sob violently, convulsing in the arms of my brother as I shatter like glass.
Broken is a word used to describe so many things, but it's a word most use too liberally, never fully living up to its true meaning. This is what broken really is... me.
