Page 9 of Sinful

Sleep couldn’t come soon enough.

* * *

The room felt heavy.I opened my eyes and peered blearily through it, my body aching so much I wanted to scream. My gaze landed on him a moment later.

I let out a soft whimper.

He sat forward in his seat, his blue eyes fixed on me.

“Firefly,” he whispered, cocking his head to the left.

I said nothing as I stared at him. Slowly, he rose from his seat and moved to tower over me. I sank a little deeper into the bed when he reached out and ran his thumb along my busted bottom lip. It was still swollen and stitched up. Eating and drinking were too much of a chore, so I hadn’t been doing much of it.

“He hurt you,” he murmured, his voice trembling. “He will pay, firefly. Do you want to help me make him pay? Do you want to be stronger and take him out? To slay? To kill? To maim? Your revenge to claim?”

I stared up at him, my heart in my throat, not understanding what he was saying to me and sad he wasn’t Mirage.

He leaned down and ran his lips along my jaw. When he got to my ear, he stopped and whispered.

“I’m telling you, we will let you kill him. We will find him for you and let you kill him, firefly. All for you, my forever girl. A gift. Do you accept? You and the monster in your head?” He didn’t move away from me.

I lay beneath his warmth, so many thoughts racing through my head until one stuck. That creeping darkness on the edge of my psyche became clearer, the intent much darker than I could have ever imagined.My monster.The heat from his body flowed into mine, opening my eyes to a world of potential. All the hurt. The fear. The pain. The unknown.

“You choose,” Asylum whispered into my ear. “Tell me.”

I let out a shaky breath, that decision going from a little flicker to a bright, burning flame of want as I embraced the monster inside me who wanted to come out to play.

“Yes,” I rasped.

“Yes, what, my forever girl?”

“I-I w-want revenge.”

“How do you want it?” His lips brushed against my ear, his warm breath sending goosebumps scattering across my skin, making me shiver. Not with fear. With desire.

So much desire.

“I want to kill him.” I exhaled, sealing his fate.

Asylum shifted and brushed his lips gently against my busted ones, taking care to not put pressure against them in the most gentle kiss I’d ever gotten before.

When he pulled away, his blue eyes sparkled with all the wickedness in the world.

“So be it. It shall be done.”

His words should have terrified me, but instead, they doused the flame burning inside me in gasoline, igniting some dark part of my soul I didn’t know I had.

He let out a soft chuckle. “That dark part you feel in your soul, firefly? The one you’ve just illuminated? That’s wherewelive. Welcome home, my little firefly. No more hiding. It’s time to come out and play.”

I liked the sound of that.

ASHES

“He’s been up there a long time.” Church paced the living room, his fingers raking through his blond hair every few minutes while he cast quick looks to the clock.

“It’s OK,” I said, trying to cling to positivity.

Stitches sat forward on the couch and rested his elbows on his knees, his tatted fingers twined together. He looked exhausted. Hell, we all were. None of us had been getting much sleep since we’d brought Sirena home a week and a half ago. All had gone fine. Church stayed behind with her while we attended classes and therapy. Cady has been threatening our lives over not being able to see her. We’d told her she was sick, but after the first three days, it was becoming a hard sell.

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