Page 139 of Skalterra By Nightmare
I was collapsing in on myself, but exploding outwards all at once.
And I was so hungry.
“Then let me stop you!” Ciarán held his hands up in a show of good faith, and dared to step closer. He had bottles of Skal on his belt, and I salivated at the thought of downing them, glass and all.
It wouldn’t be enough, but it was a start.
“You can’t stop me,” I said through gritted teeth. Galahad had more Skal. I could feel it floating on the ether between us. I reached for it. If I didn’t, I was sure whatever beast that was clawing at my insides would break free.
But the Skal made the beast wilder, and I cried out.
I wanted Skal. I did not want to be a rotsbane.
I didn’t know which of the two would win out over the other.
I couldn’t help myself. I pulled more Skal from Galahad. He would dry up soon. He was saying so in my head, but his voice was muted and faraway.
He would die.
I would kill him.
It would be worth it.
“I can take it away!” Ciarán said. “But you have to yield to me!”
“You’ll kill me,” I sobbed.
“No,” he promised. “I told you. Killers get killed, and you’re not a killer, and you’re not going to be a rotsbane either. You just have to yield.”
“You were going to! Just now!”
“I was messing with you! Wren Warrender, I command you to yield!” His voice reverberated as he spoke aloud as well as directly into my head through our connection.
“Get out!”
Gams would find me dead on the floor of Liam’s bedroom, and it might be worth it if it meant sating the hunger that gnashed inside me.
“I see them in your head.” Ciarán inched closer, fighting to stay upright in the swirling sparks and snow. “All the people you love. They won’t see you again if you give in to the rotsbane! Give in to me instead!”
“No!”
“You have a mother, and a grandmother!” Ciarán continued. He took my hands. My fingers with their dark talons and deadened knuckles looked so monstrous wrapped in his, and I tried to pull away, but his grip tightened. “And you have friends!”
“I don’t,” I whimpered. Everything hurt. Skal would make it better. Only more Skal could help me.
“I can see him right now inside your mind, Blue, and I see how much you care about him and your mother and your grandmother.”
“Just kill her!” the woman Grimguard yelled. Another arrow of orange flew through the flurry, but it dissolved into delicious smoke before it could split me open. I inhaled, savoring the way the Skal filled my sinuses and lungs.
I. Needed. More.
I needed to die.
“I’m not going to kill you. Not if you yield.” Ciarán’s bright orange and black eyes filled my vision. “But you have to give me control.”
The hunger tore me from the inside out, and the scream that issued from my throat didn’t sound human. I’d never wanted something more in my entire life.
Not Von Leer. Not a friend. Not a father who gave a damn.
