Page 32 of This Violent Light
A strange groan fills the air, and it takes me a moment to realize it’sme. I grasp my stomach with both hands, but it does nothing to stop the bleeding. There’s too much blood, pooling across my waist and onto the floor. If the creature doesn’t come back for me, a vampire undoubtedly will.
I blink against a haze of darkness. I’m going to pass out, I think, and maybe that’s for the best. If I’m going to die a horrible death, it’d be better not to feel it.
I loll my head to the side, scanning the room for the creature. My magic must have worked. Somehow, I must have killed it.
I finally find it in a lump of discolored flesh near thewindows. I stare for a long moment, before realizing it’s the creature’s shriveled legs and nothing else. A trail of blood leads from the lower body to its upper half across the room. The torso is almost to the wall, strewn across the floor with organs exposed and those blank black eyes frozen in death.
The creature isn’t just dead. It’s been brutally ripped in two.
“Did I do that?” I whisper. I’m not sure who I’m asking, and I’m not surewhy. It’s obvious?—
“Afraid not, little witch,” Sebastian says.
I twist toward his voice, grunting at the sharp spike of pain. Sebastian strolls toward me, coming from the direction of the door. He pockets a key, staring down at me with an unreadable expression. He’s covered in blood. It’s the same inky black that spills from the creature’s body, and I realizehekilled it, not me.
“It seems you were going to let that thing kill you,” he says. The blood stains his chin and chest, coating both hands. Despite his taunting words, Sebastian doesn’t look relaxed. His face is strained, jaw tight as he looks over me.
“Don’t worry, I’m sure someone will finish the job,” I say. I look down at my stomach, at the blood pooling between my shaking fingers. I’m surprised there isn’t already a horde of vampires eating me alive.
“The door is locked. No one can get in.”
“Why? So you can eat me yourself?”
“Hells, Grace. You should be thanking me,” he says, voice clipped. “If I hadn’t?—”
I don’t plan to move. I don’t consciously decide to do anything. All I know is I want him gone. I want him so far from me, I never have to look at his stupid face again.
He flies across the room, and my hand moves, powered by magic I don’t understand. I bend my fingers, slammingSebastian against the wall, holding him there. Though I’m not physically touching him, I swear, I can feel his breaths against my palm. I can almost feel his cold, dead heart beating.
“Fuck you,” I say.
My words are barely a whisper, so quiet I’m not sure he hears me. Still, they’re the last I hear as I lose consciousness, and I close my eyes with a smile.
9
NOD IF YOU UNDERSTAND
GRACE
He’s back. That’s the fourth time today and the ninth time since I woke yesterday morning. I don’t know how long I laid unconscious before waking in my bed. All I know is that, while I slept, someone healed my body. I assume Cora. I haven’t asked. I haven’t spoken a single word to Sebastian or to the servant who brings my meals. I haven’t spoken to anyone at all, and I’m not planning for that to change.
If they need me to break their curse, they’ll have to figure it out without my cooperation. Until the moment that creature stabbed through me, I’d been willing to help. I’d even told Sebastian that, and how did he repay me?
He fed me to a literal beast and expected athank youfor not letting it kill me.
Now, Sebastian stands in my doorway. He wears a crisp white shirt, black slacks, and the same long coat he wore to abduct me from the human realm. He’s regarding me with a hesitant expression, and it’s somehow more unsettling than his usual arrogant one.
It’s as though he can’t decide whether I’m worth dealingwith. Like maybe he should just kill me and use my corpse to break the curse.
Let him try, I think.Maybe, when my magic comes the next time, I’ll use it to kill him.
If only I knew how to make death stick on him.
“You haven’t eaten,” is the first thing he says. He crosses his arms over his wide chest, frowning at me.
I don’t reply. I roll onto my side, turning to face the stone wall instead of him. Truthfully, my body is sore from laying in bed for two days straight. I’ve only gotten up a handful of times to go to the bathroom. Other than that, I’ve laid right here, staring and sulking.
“I brought your electronic,” he says next.
