Page 104 of Visions of Darkness

Chaotic energy spiraled through the room.

A cloud of frantic desperation.

“She’s mine.” His voice was dark. Cloaked in wickedness.

I only squeezed tighter, cinching down, refusing to let go. “You disgusting piece of shit. I will end you.”

The words hissed out of my mouth and into his ear.

A scream pierced the air.

Aria.

She scrambled onto all fours as the commotion jarred her awake. Her pale eyes were wide, close to glowing in the night as she struggled to process where she was and what was happening.

A lecherous groan rolled up the bastard’s chest.

“Yes,” he grunted. “You’re mine. He gave you to me.”

Shocked horror blanketed her expression.

Disgust.

Revulsion.

Fear.

“Get to the car, Aria!” I shouted as I fought the fiend who reared, bucking like a bull. “Hurry!” I gritted, hanging on, knowing I couldn’t give a fraction.

The fucker was strong, and the bloodlust made him stronger. Delirious with the thirst to hunt and destroy.

She gasped, croaking as she slid off the side of the bed and onto her bare feet. “Pax.”

Her voice acted as a lure, and he stopped spinning and fighting me and instead fumbled in her direction.

Only three feet of space separated the beds, and it boxed her in where she stood in front of the single nightstand. Panic roiled through her being, and she backed farther against the wood while I yanked my arm tighter around his neck.

I wanted to end him. To reach through his black soul and find the Ghorl on the other side and squeeze until neither of them existed.

“Aria, go. Get to the car. You have to get out of here. Hurry!” It wheezed from my lungs, and I drew up a fist and started pummeling the bastard on the side of the head, crack after crack landing at his temple while I held on tight with the other, trying to buy seconds so Aria could get around us.

“Go!” I shouted between the barrages of my fist. “Take the keys and go.”

The asshole flung and flailed, trying to knock me free, grunting, “She’s mine. She’s mine. You can’t have her.”

“Aria, go!” It boomed against the walls.

Only he stumbled forward another step, so close that she was pinned to the nightstand as he reached his dirty hands in her direction.

Fury whipped and blew, and I fought with everything I had. I refused to give or let go.

I’d promised her I wouldn’t let anyone touch her.

I meant it.

I meant it.

She was my purpose.

---