Page 14 of Crimson Mourning

“Okay?” Lawrence repeated, his voice light.

I nodded.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

MICHELLE

My hands flew up and covered my mouth to hold in the gasp. Blood was everywhere.

“Damon,” I gasped under my palms.

The foul stench of final death covered the waiting room like a warm blanket. The walls dripped with the hot, thick red liquid, and Damon was in the center with the decapitated head of Eldon in his hand, and the body on the floor by his feet. Dregan was in the fetal position on the ground, swimming in a pool of red under him, gurgling on his own vomit.

“What did you do?”

Damon tossed the head of Eldon like discarded garbage. “I made corrections.”

He walked past me and headed towards the exit. My eyes widened. I had to stop him.

“Damon, you can’t leave!” I pleaded.

He paused with his back to me.

“Why not?” He asked.

“They’ll blame me for this. If anyone comes in here and sees this, they’ll punish all the familiars. We’ll all be in final death before dawn.”

He didn’t move. He kept his back to me the entire time I spoke. My eyes began to water as I realized he’d sentence me, and everyone here to death.

All for his belovedCassie.

That bitch didn’t deserve him. After ten years of marriage, he still couldn’t see her for what she was—a power hungry whore willing to part her legs at the drop of a hat for a chance to join the elite.

I thought Damon was different. He was noble. Gentle. A man among vampires. He was the one who cared about the human race. How many scenes had I imagined in my mind where Damon fed from a human, but was as gentle as an ocean wave on a warm summer day? Even tonight, how many times had I pictured it was Damon I held in my mouth instead of Eldon and Dregan to make the repugnant aftertaste easier to stomach? Only to see him for who he truly was now.

A vampire.

Like the rest of them.

“I thought you were different,” I said, as the tears streamed down. “I thought you cared about human kind.”

“I don’t,” he answered, his back still to me. “I only care for one.”

“Fuck you, Damon! Fuck you and everyone like you! I loved you, you bastard. I love you!”

My skin was white-hot.

“What?”

A wave of nausea washed over me. “Why do you think I did that? Huh? I let you see the code and kept quiet, foryou!Not forher, but for you.”

I fell to me knees, placed my head in my hands and wept bitterly. All this time, he hadn’t a clue about how I felt. I may as well have been invisible to him. Another faceless human used only for food or for familiar duties. I served his housewith distinction when I was under his father. When Davon established the council, he chose me to be the first familiar and lead the rest. I thought it was an honorable act, but now I see. The entire time I served clan Shaye, I was not a familiar to be promoted by them. I was the property of them. I was never going to have Damon as my own. I was never going to join the elite.

“You’ve killed me,” I sobbed.

“No,” I heard him say, before I was lifted to my feet by a strong hand. “I’ve freed you.”

Damon fisted my hair and pulled, exposing my neck. His fangs extended and then bit.

---