Page 30 of Taken to the Deadlands

Image after image of Aris losing control was forced into my mind. It was disorientating, especially when I knew how much it had to have hurt Aris as well.

“Aris, please," I choked out, trying to reach for the demon. “Aris, help. Please, god. Make it stop.”

Even without knowing what I was seeing or why I was afraid, she didn't hesitate to wrap her arms around me, one behind my back, one under my legs, and lift me up and away from the bed. When she yanked me away, the woman’s memories started to fade. The being was too slow to grip onto me as we pulled away, but she sure as hell tried.

Her head slowly turned toward us, and whiplash from the memories caused bile to rise in my throat. I had to grab on to Aris to steady myself.

"What does she look like?" Aris asked, pulling me further away from the memories.

That’s right. This Aris is different. This isn’t the one you saw.

"Black hair.” I tried to squint and make out the eyes. “I think the eyes are brown. I can't tell. Her face is—” I couldn’t even describe it. “Oh my gosh. It's awful.”

Aris cursed under her breath and all but ran out of there with me in her arms. As soon as we left the room, I felt like I could breathe again. Her aura wasn’t sticking to me and the memories had almost disappeared, but the image of Aris’s frenzied face lingered.

"That's not a ghost," I said, peering back behind us.

I could still hear her moans, but she didn't follow us.

"That's not Cara," Aris said. "I won't know who exactly it is without some sort of picture, but I'm assuming it's one of the other ones I ate."

One of the other ones.

The girl had been mutilated, so much so I could barely make out her facial features. Was that how the person who was now holding me had treated humans?

My first instinct was to ask her to put me down, but I pushed my lips together in a thin line.

She never lied to you. You knew about this.

As if she knew what was on my mind, her warm touch turned scalding.

“You’re staying with me tonight.”

“Isthat something you had made or…?” I trailed off as I took in the sight of the contraption Aris tied to her face.

She stood at the foot of the bed, her chest puffed and hands on her hips. Pride was radiating off her even if I couldn’t make out the bottom half of her face, which was now covered by a thick leather-like fabric. Straps held it in place and wrapped around the back of her head, disappearing into her long hair that was now flowing against her almost bare back.

She had changed into a loose tank top-like shirt that could hardly be called a tank top with the amount of skin it showed. My eyes kept trailing to her barely concealed nipples, but the elephant in the room kept pulling my attention away from her breasts.

“It’s necessary if you are to be staying in here with me,” she said, then turned her back to me and lifted the top half of her hair up. In the middle of her head, attached to the mask, was aglowing blue crystal. “Touch it. Then it will only come off ifyoutake it off.”

“That’s a lot of trust,” I muttered before shakily kneeling on her bed. She stayed still as I crawled toward her.

It had been hours since the encounter with that…thing, and most of the memories had faded, except for the image of Aris with blood splattered on her face.

It scared me, of course it did. But it also made me so incredibly sad for her.

“I meant it when I said I didn’t want to hurt you,” she whispered.

The hand that had unconsciously reached out for the crystal paused.

“You can still kill me without the muzzle,” I said.

A beat of silence passed between us.

“Yes,” she admitted in a low voice. “But the frenzy wants to feed, not just kill. If anything, I would try to persuade you to take it off.”

I swallowed thickly and let my fingers brush across the crystal.

---