Page 36 of Thorn of Sorrow

My petit oiseau was dead.

The monster within me surged forth like a tsunami, poised to obliterate everything in its path. I flung back my head, unleashing an unearthly battle cry, the darkness embracing me and welcoming me home.

I was Giovanni Winterhaven, a harbinger of chaos and destruction, granting no mercy, only a savage demise.

The vampire slowly turned, and I knew from the glint in his eyes I was facing Osiris.

“Such a delicious ending for my broken toy.” He smiled, Kyson’s blood glistening ominously on his teeth.

Fangs bared, I took a step closer. “I don’t kill fast. I don’t kill clean. Every scar you’ve given, every wound you’ve left, I’ll return them all,” I said in a low, venomous whisper.

A quick feint followed by a real strike. The hilt twisted in my grip, the blade slashing deep across the demon’s abdomen, muscles straining as he clutched the wound.

Then a brutal slash across both cheeks, deep enough to hit bone. My blades struck his skin relentlessly, moving too swiftly for Osiris to retaliate.

A cold detachment spread through my body with every strike, consuming the unbearable pain until only a vast emptiness remained. The demon had taken what was mine, the only person I had ever loved.

Kyson was gone, and with him, my humanity vanished.

Blood oozed from over a hundred gashes before I took a step back, my breathing steady and even. “Tell me how it feels, knowing there’s no way out.”

The dagger hooked under his ribs, carving through flesh before being yanked back. “You think you know what pain is? Let me educate you.”

Each blade drove through one of his palms, pinning the demon’s hands to the wall behind him. With a deep snarl, Osiris tried to yank them free, but he couldn’t. By killing my little bird, he had unleashed my fucking monster. With its release, it had awakened my daggers’ insatiable hunger. Even now, they were slowly absorbing his blood and wouldn’t release him until not a drop remained.

“Giovanni,” Malachi snarled from behind me. “What is going on?”

I spun, baring my fangs at him, the room bathed in red from the glow of my feral eyes.

“No!” Dane screamed, dropping to his knees, wailing as he gazed at Kyson’s lifeless body. Tears spilled from his eyes, his trembling hands covering his mouth as he rocked back and forth. “Kyson, no!”

My monstrous gaze swept over my brother, daring him to stand in my way. I was gone, lost to my darkness. The Giovanni he had known was no more. I could wipe out everyone in the castle and remorse would not claim me.

“You should have made sure all of my smoke was destroyed. I guess a piece of me got away. Oops. But I really hope you don’t think you won.” Osiris sneered, his calm, calculating demeanor obliterated.

“No.” I slowly shook my head, the numbness creeping into my voice. I was dead inside, and nothing, absolutely nothing, mattered to me anymore. “I lost.”

With a flick of my wrist, the void surged to life. The hollow ache in my chest returned, expanding like an abyss, swallowing everything that had ever tethered me to this world. A breath dragged in, slow and uneven, as if my lungs had forgotten the point of it.

Osiris thrashed, his agony carved into the air between us, but his suffering felt distant, irrelevant. His pain didn’t bring Kyson back. Nothing would.

I spread my hands, causing the void to grow. The cupboard doors rattled, and the hanging pots leaned toward me as if drawn by magnets. The spice rack toppled over and gradually slid across the countertop.

“Giovanni!” Malachi barked, though I detected a hint of fear in his voice. “I understand you’re mourning, brother. It’s a torment I wouldn’t wish on anyone, but are you truly prepared to drag us all into that abyss?”

I wasn’t dragging anyone into the abyss.

I was the abyss.

Emptiness given form.

Devastation incarnate.

My muscles slackened, the tension that had once held my frame rigid now gone, as if even my body understood there was nothing left to fight for. The world dulled at the edges as my gaze flicked to Kyson.

He hadn’t been just my lover. He had been my salvation. And now that salvation was a corpse.

A black hole devoured my soul, and I was ready to take the entire fucking world with me.

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