Page 24 of Fallen Angel

Hannah snapped out of her vision—the most detailed one she’d ever had. And then something clicked. The images she had received since her sixteenth birthday weren’t symptoms of her PTSD at all. They were memories from a past life. Raven’s memories. They must have been.

“You know what I desire, Callan,” Nathaniel said.

“You do not have to do what she commands,” Callan pleaded with him.

“Have to? I want to. I should die before disappointing her.”

“That is not how you truly feel, Nathaniel. You can be free of her.”

“What, like you? Look at you,” he shouted. “Trying to help humans like this?” Nathaniel tightened his grip over Bryce’s mouth. His chipped, yellowing nails dug into his cheek. Bryce moaned and struggled against him. “What’s the fun in that?”

“You never even attempted to resist,” Callan said. “You surrendered to the darkness, and now you revel in it. Even though you must know how wrong it is.”

“Rich coming from you. You introduced me to Mara, remember? We both reveled in it.” Nathaniel ran his tongue over one of his fangs like a nervous tick.

The muscles in Callan’s neck tightened.

“Besides,” Nathaniel continued, “right and wrong, black and white…it’s all a bit relative, don’t you think?”

Bryce bit down on Nathaniel’s hand. Nathaniel hissed. “I’m the one who’s supposed to do the biting.” He opened his mouth and fangs protruded over his lips. He sank them into Bryce’s neck. Bryce screamed. A chill reverberated down Hannah’s spine.

Hannah lunged forward. Callan was quick to hold her back.

“Get off me,” she yelled. Hannah looked for help, but the cliffs were barren.

Bryce’s face turned stark white, and the light in his eyes dimmed. Nathaniel retracted his fangs from Bryce’s neck and let him collapse onto the moss-covered ground. Hannah’s stomach dropped with him.

She broke past Callan and rushed to Bryce’s side. Blood dripped down his neck and was bright against his pale skin. She held his face in her hands. He was cold to the touch and his head limped to the side.

Nathaniel wiped blood from his mouth and licked his fingers. “Did I just do you a favor, mate? She seems quite shook up over the lad.”

Hannah placed her fingers against Bryce’s neck, but felt nothing. “You killed him,” Hannah cried. When she looked over Bryce’s dead body, she couldn’t help but remember assaulting images of her father’s blank face floating underwater. Hannah gently closed Bryce’s eyes.

“Move away from him, now,” Callan shouted. Hannah wasn’t sure if he meant Nathaniel or Bryce.

Nathaniel crouched next to Hannah. A smell of birch tar wafted from him. “Oh, come on, Raven. You know how this works.”

Hannah stumbled back, crawling against the dirt. Pebbles scraped against her palms. Callan helped her up and stepped in front of her. “She does not,” Callan said, standing between her and Nathaniel. “This is not Raven. Just similar features. Your eyes must be failing you, Nathaniel.” Callan clearly didn’t want Nathaniel to know that Hannah was Raven reincarnate. Simply thinking those words sent Hannah’s mind into a frenzy.

Nathaniel laughed. “Give me some credit, mate. I may not be as bright as you, but I’m not some halfwit. I remember Raven like it was yesterday. The same curl of the hair, same freckles, and the bluest eyes I’ve ever seen. Which means, she was reborn.” Nathaniel stepped back, a proud grin on his face. “We knew you were powerful, but this is very impressive,” he said, observing Hannah. “Mara won’t like it one bit.”

“Enough, Nathaniel,” Callan warned.

“I’m surprised you haven’t used the memory spell on her yet. I know you have it.”

“We do not have it.”

Hannah eyed her bag, which was still strapped across her chest, and she immediately regretted it.

Nathaniel noticed her glance. “I sense a lie,” he said. He ran his tongue in a circular motion under one of his fangs.

Callan looked behind him and noticed the bag they were both looking at. “You took it?”

Before she could answer, Bryce jolted upward and gasped for air. His eyes matched the eerie, pale glow of Nathaniel’s. His nose sniffed the air and his lips twitched.

Bryce was dead. Hannah watched the life fade from his eyes and felt nothing when she checked for a pulse. She couldn’t even muster relief to see that he was awake. She was too disturbed at what he had become.

“Welcome back, my new friend,” Nathaniel said to Bryce. “Hungry?”

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