Page 21 of Obsession

The pure white of the linens on the bed soaked in the thick red readily. Seeping out to the surrounding pieces of fabric with ease.

Ren wiped the back of her hand across her mouth to clear the last vestiges of the spew vomit.

The words that Callum left her with resonated inside her mind, over and over again.

“You could have been happy…choose me.”

Playing like a broken record. Echoing the sentiment.

She curled herself up on the bed and wrapped her arms around her knees. The bruising from the night before was already healing and turning into those shades of greens and yellows.

The brothers' dark world was not one of romantic allure, but of hidden agendas and calculated maneuvers. The taste of betrayal was bitter on her tongue, overshadowing any romantic feelings she had for them.

Her current feelings were agony and a building hunger she couldn’t explain. Slowly the ache of her bruised flesh was replaced by cramps in her stomach that doubled her over.

She retched as they threatened to break her mind in two, the muscles throughout her body tightening up with such excruciating force that it caused her body to twist and fold at odd angles.

Pain erupted from a depth inside of her that she had never experienced before. She had no idea what was going on and started to question what had been done to her.

Grayson walked through her door with a bag of blood like you might find at a hospital and tossed it in through a small compartment door in one of the clear panels of her cage.

“This is your final test. It must be your choice. You will forever be bound to us if you drink. If you don’t then your choice is death.”

Something about the blood in the small plastic container looked off. It didn’t hold the same color as you’d think, there was a sheen of black that flowed through it as if it were alive itself. Swirling like the fog on a warm lake after a cool night in the fall.

The trust she'd reluctantly placed in the brothers shattered. She was left alone and vulnerable, a prisoner in a world that was darker and more dangerous than she'd ever imagined.

“What do you mean?”

Grayson just closed the door behind himself and left wordlessly.

Twenty-Two

Ren's world was turned upside down, figuratively and soon thereafter, quite literally. She caught the coppery scent from the bag as she turned the little screw loose to let it drip from the small tube.

“I wonder what it will be like. Will it really be as it was described in all of those books? Can I actually stay in this world forever?” She mused to herself while squishing the little bag of liquid, mixing its contents back and forth.

Despite her agony, Ren drug herself to the edge of the bed and swung her feet over the edge, sitting upright.

She grappled at the bag with shaky hands and tore at the plastic plug in the small tube with her teeth. It ripped open and red splashed her face, a few drops hitting her tongue.

“That’s it, no more deciding. It’s done.”

Her pupils dilated to the size of quarters. The pain she had been in started to fade away. A sense of euphoria flowed through her veins with each passing moment.

She was like a kid in the snow, trying to catch every snowflake on her tongue.

Joy.

Pure and unadulterated joy.

Despite her aversion, she took another tentative sip. It tasted sweet and as she swallowed it down almost reluctantly.

Then a new pain hit as her body responded in a few seconds to the raw energy that was surging through her.

The richly furnished mansion, which had slowly begun to feel like home, tilted and swirled into madness as her body continued to heal. She felt like she could see through the eyes of each of the men. One by one their vision took over hers and left just as quickly. She could see what they were doing and where they were inside the vast mansion.

Her muscles spasmed and she threw herself forward on the bed trying her best not to retch the few sips of the potent mixture Grayson had dropped off for her. She wailed as she felt her muscles tighten to the point of pain. She could feel the small slices in her skin fuse and the bruises healed with a tingling under her skin.

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