Page 20 of Beast: Part Two

“Let’s go get them bandaged up,” he says turning his back to me.

Standing up from the floor, I wipe the bloody knuckles on my shorts. “I’m good, Priest.”

“No, you’re not,” he snaps turning back to face me. “But I’m not going to beg you to tell me what’s going on. However, I am going to take you upstairs and clean those wounds.”

I go to argue with him again and he holds up a hand to cut me off.

“You have a son here, Beast. One that’s going to notice your hands. And although he will see the bandages too, it won’t be as shocking as looking at your raw knuckles.”

Feeling like an idiot I drop my head. I didn’t think about how my actions would affect Gabe. I don’t want to traumatize him any more than I already have. I’m already the reason he had to see his mother lying on the kitchen floor.

Nodding, I reply. “Okay.”

I follow Priest up the stairs toward the kitchen. We all thought Priest was crazy when he had this house built. It’s an architecturally contemporary home with clean, minimal lines. The house is three levels with ten bedrooms and ten and a half bathrooms. It has a theater room, home office, full gym, shooting range, panic room, and a sex room for Priest.

The house is surprisingly quiet for a Sunday night. It’s nearly eight o’clock. There is no one out in the hallways. Even the dogs are missing.

“Where is everyone?” I ask as we enter the kitchen.

I take a seat at the island. Priest goes to the sink and reaches under the counter. He pulls out a fully stocked first aid kit before coming over to where I’m sitting.

“Fucking,” he says without thought. “The kids and the dogs are in the theater room with Fem and Ms. Reese. Zel and Maksim are probably relaxing. But everyone else is doing what grown folks do when there’s not shit else going on.”

Nodding my head, I don’t reply to that. The image of Summer and the unknown man pops in my head again along with the laughter of the demon.

“Whatever the fuck is going on in your head, you’ve got to fight it.”

I open my eyes to look at Priest, wondering how he knows where my thoughts went. Looking down, I realize my hand iswrapped around his wrist with a tight grip. I release him and shake my head.

“I’m trying,” I simply say holding my hands out to him palm side down.

Priest uses a small spray bottle and sprays my knuckles. The sting lets me know there must be some type of antiseptic in the bottle.

“It’s different from your mother?” he asks.

I nod before replying. “Yes.”

“Is it new?” He puts away the spray and grabs the ointment out of the box.

“No,” I admit. Although the voice was mostly silent, it’s not new.

He dips his chin placing the ointment away, he brings out the bandages and starts to wrap my hands.

“And what does it want?” he asks, looking into my eyes.

“Everything that I love.”

I don’t have to explain that to Priest. He understands what I mean. If the demon only wanted destruction, I could manage that. But this voice wants to take everything from me. It isn’t strangers that I’m brutally murdering when I close my eyes. No, it is the death of my brothers, Priest, and Summer that plague me. The demon does not want me, it wants those around me.

Priest sits back in his seat watching me closely. “How much control do you have over it?” he finally asks.

“Right now, I’m managing.”

He’s silent again. “And when you can’t?”

“I’ll be so far away from this house Lucien will never be able to find me.”

He nods his head. “I’m not going to tell you how to deal with this because I don’t know what it’s like. But I know you, Beast. I know what you’re capable of. You can win this battle. The moment you realize that your greatest weapons are behind thesefour walls, you will be unstoppable. It doesn’t matter if the voice belongs to this thing or your mother.”

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