Page 71 of Nocturne
HUNTER
The cold concrete bites into my back—hard, cracked, covered in a thick layer of dust that scrapes my skin where the shirt doesn’t reach. The bed I was tied to toppled over, metal legs twisted and groaning low against the floor, rust peeling into my left arm every time I try—and fail—to move. The ropes dig into my wrists, slicing slow, and the metallic taste in my mouth won’t fucking leave. I don’t know if it’s blood, or just the remnants of the sedative Damon shoved into my vein.
My eyes are heavy, the ceiling spins, but I still recognize the graffiti on the dirty walls—dripping letters whispering shit I don’t wanna hear.“LIVE OR DIE.” “RUN.” “CHOICE.”
A glassless window opens wide to the far-off city, a bent iron fence framing washed-out buildings and a sky that hangs low like the whole fucking world’s about to fall.
The walls scream in silence. Red, black, blue paint.
There’s a makeshift couch made of concrete slabs—broken—and a stack of plates shaped into some fucked-up version of a table in the center. On it, crumpled papers, a lighter. The floor’s a mess of scribbles andnames, unfinished sentences and threats that look like they’re smiling at me.
Damon’s standing. Still. Watching.
He talked. Said a lot of shit. Poured out words I can’t fucking swallow. Stories that hit my chest and bounce off—twisted, false, almost believable.
I know he’s lying.
I just don’t get why.
And maybe what scares me the most…
Is the part of me that wants to believe him.
I don’t remember how I got here. Everything’s scrambled, like my brain was drowned in smoke. I don’t know how, but Damon fucking got me. Took me off guard. Showed up outta nowhere—too fast—and now I’m here, tied up, drugged, trying to figure out where the fuck I slipped up.
“You’re a fucking liar… but since you spilled all that shit, now you’re gonna listen…”
My voice cracks, shaky, still drunk on the fog in my head. My body’s heavy, my senses numb, but the truth pulses so hard it feels like it’s gonna tear out my throat. I shake again, trying to rip the ropes apart, but all I manage is tearing more skin from my wrists. The pain burns, stings, and still I keep going.
Damon watches me. That crooked, sick smile—addicted to chaos—never leaves his face. His black hair falls messy over his eyes, the black jacket dirty, dust and dried blood stained all over it. But even under the fucking sedative, I see. I see everything.
He’s tired. The dark circles shout sleepless nights,the fear of being hunted. He knows that after all he’s done, after all the blood he spilled, the countdown’s already begun.
“I can’t… I don’t regret killing Noah.” My words come heavy, raw, tearing me inside. “I had to do it. He was mixed up with the Midnight Echoes. And since then… since then, Damon… I got obsessed with you. It consumed me. I didn’t want it. But it happened.” I blink, tasting the metallic guilt rising up my throat. “I killed for you.”
“SHUT THE FUCK UP!” he explodes. His voice cuts through the room like a bullet, loud as hell, loaded with everything he never wanted to feel.
“I’ve been watching you since then… you don’t know shit, Damon. Never did.”
“I DON’T WANT TO HEAR ANY FUCKING THING! SHUT UP!”
“I was there,” I keep going, shaking, bleeding. “I was at your brother’s funeral. Back when you hadn’t killed anyone for the Nocturne yet.”
“SHUT THE FUCK UP! SHUT THE FUCK UP, GODDAMN IT!”
Damon explodes again. He kicks the chair so hard it flies, slamming violently against the wall and crashing to the floor. He breathes heavy, bloodshot eyes, about to break—or kill.
I know he’s fighting his own feelings. I know he’s as confused, as broken as I am. And that’s exactly what brought us closer. The truce was just a formality. Everything happened because it had to.
I can’t move. Can’t think. Can’t even breathe right.Everything he said about O’Connor is messing with my head, making me question everything. Everything I’ve always taken as truth. And he’s right.
The doubts, the uncertainties — all of it starts eating me alive.
My life changed. I can’t focus on anything but Damon. He fucked up my head. My obsession with him grows every day, like a poison I don’t want — and can’t — stop. He became my weakness. Hypnotized me.
I was never okay before him. And now I know this might never change. I’m still broken. But if we’re together… Maybe we can be broken together. Destroying everything and everyone that tries to stand in our way.
It’s disgusting how obsessed I am with him.
