Page 71 of Bound By Darkness

The man yelped, my body crashing to the earth as the weight lifted from my chest. A gasp left my lips as I stumbled up, darkness pouring out with no boundaries. I couldn’t stop it. I didn’t know how to as my hands coated the ground in inky black.

The man straightened, a deep growl escaping his throat ashe lunged forward. Memories flooded of the witch as she’d pounced to my throat.

My hands raised, bathing the man in black. He let out a harrowing screech as darkness invaded every orifice, every crevice of his being.

The sounds of choking filled the silent forest until a thud hit the ground.

He was dead and I had killed him.

I had killed him.

Oh gods—I had killed someone else. My body collided with the dirt as darkness swirled around me, consuming the deepest parts of myself I had long forgotten.

I killed someone.

Wisps of smoke curled around my arms and legs, caressing the tender skin.

Consume. Feed. Forget.

Numbness coated me as darkness spread, washing me in wave after wave.

Consume. Consume. Consume.

The inky darkness spread along the forest floor consuming plants and trees as it snuffed life itself. A torrent of death crept into my mouth, shielding my vision with pure night. I wanted to scream, but night kissed me instead, silencing my wails and filling my lungs with tar.

Let me feed,a voice whispered.Let me consume.

Darkness spread, wrapping around oak and vine as it made its way through the forest.

Memories of Yeva and that night swirled in my head.

No more feelings. Numb, it whispered.

Strong hands gripped my shoulders. “Thalia, snap out of it!”

Darkness continued to pour.

I opened my mouth to speak, to fight, but only a gurgledwhimper escaped my lips.Death’scaress wrapped around my heart, lugging me deeper into the pool of night.

No! Please, let me go!I screamed at the dark, begging for its release, but it held tight. It tugged me deeper and deeper as night consumed my being. I clawed at the tendrils wrapping around me like vices of Death itself. I had made a mistake.

“Stay with me!” a voice, smooth like honey, shouted as it reverberated through me.

I followed that voice through the thickness of night.

I clawed and clawed.

Darkness gripped tight, but I fought. I wrestled against twilight, my body struggling through tar. It purred its vices at me, but I ignored its call.

I followed the voice screaming out to me?—

It snapped like a broken thread as the darkness sneered, recoiling back into the depths.

You’ll come back. Consume once more, the voice whispered.

My eyes snapped into focus, a rush of nausea emptying upon a pile of leaves. I heaved and heaved the contents of my stomach until my lungs breathed in fresh air.

My hands rose as I flipped them over and over. There was no more darkness pouring from them. Not even a glimmer of black.

---