Page 67 of Haunted Nights & Savage Sins
Suddenly, I’m feeling exhausted as if the simple movement of being half dragged, half carried from the floor to the door is enough to knock me out.
I don’t know why I’m so damn cold.
“…No fever…” I can hear the two of them talking, but it’s like I’m underwater. Suffocating.
“…I don’t know… just changed…”
“…eating, has she drunk any water?”
I hear the last portion of Killian’s words. And as best as I can I try to calculate the last time I actually put food or water in my mouth. I did have a cup of water on my side table I’ve been sipping at over the past few days, but I haven’t braved going out into the kitchen to get anything to eat. I’m fucking starving myself to death. How weak is that.
I guess there are worse ways to go.
Cormac brings me into the parlor room and sits me in his chair. Killian follows behind him. When I garner enough strength to open my eyes I can see the both of them looking at me like I’m some sort of wounded animal. I am. I’m utterly useless.
“You should send me back. Tell my father I’m defective. Maybe you’ll get a refund. Too bad he doesn’t have any other daughters to trade me for.” I grunt and turn my head away.
They start talking again but this time they are quieter and I can’t even catch bits and pieces. I don’t need to be here for this. I don’t want to be anywhere near him. In fact, now that Cormac is so close it’s almost like my body can sense it’s close to its next hit. I yearn for him. I miss him.
I push myself up from the chair, trying to steady myself so I can walk out.
“Sit the hell down.” Cormac comes back to me and shoves me back in the chair. At least it felt like a shove, I’m so weak he could’ve blown on me and I’d have fallen over.
“Fuck off.” I curse him.
“I’ve had just about enough of you disrespecting me.” He snaps at me.
Rage sparks inside of me. “And what are you going to do about it? Beat me? Cuff me to the bed? Or maybe you’ll sic your dogs on me again. I’m sure they could use a bit of exercise.”
He glares at me long and hard before he completely disregards what I’ve said and turns back to his brother. Before long, my body gives up and I just wind up falling asleep in the chair.
I’m not sure how much time has passed, but one moment I’m lost in a nightmare being swallowed whole by an ever growing shadow and the next I’m being shaken.
Cormac is standing in front of me, a plate of food in his hand. Rice and some sort of grilled chicken cut up.
“You need to eat.” He speaks, but there’s no emotion in his tone.
“I’ll eat when I’m good and ready to.” I turn my face away from him, but he grabs hold of my chin and forces me to look in hisdirection. I kick my legs out and try to wrench my face away from his hands. It burns. Just the feel of his fingers on my skin feels like I’m being burned from the inside out.
“Stop being so fucking difficult. I’m not going to let you starve to death.” He shouts down in my face. I swing my arms, one of my hands coming into contact with the plate that goes flipping up in the air. The food flies in every direction.
I smirk up at him, feeling like I’ve won this round.
He sighs hard, finally letting go of my face before he flexes his fists over and over again at his side.
Just when I thought it was over, Cormac grabs hold of my leg and yanks me down so hard that the back of my head hits the cushion on the seat of the chair. He lays me out on the floor and sits directly on my midsection, trapping both my legs and arms underneath him.
“Maxim! Bring me another plate.” He yells out an order and I realize then and there that this is far from over. He’s not going to stop until I give in. It’s going to be a long fight, but at least I know that’s one thing I’m good at. Fighting.
CORMAC
Two days of absolute hell.
I’ve had to force-feed Brenna for the last two days and she’s still no sign of changing.
I called Killian over because I was at my absolute wits’ end. Going out of my mind trying to figure out what is going on.
All I know is when I left that afternoon and when I came back she was a completely different person. I even went so far as to try to find a doctor that would take her in to check for brain tumors. Every last person I spoke to said it sounded more like a substance abuse problem than a brain trauma. It just didn’t happen that fast.
