Page 17 of Haunting Phantom
Damien takes a confident step back, allowing me to continue my rage, picking on the man who has no business trying to threaten or manhandle anyone.
“You think she owes you something?” My voice cracks through the air, but he can’t hear shit, only feel my wrath as it tightens around his throat.“You think she wants your pathetic cock, and that you can take what she won’t give you?”
Every word is like another Lego building block filled with rage, building higher and higher until I’m consumed by it, the darkness etching my vision, creating a storm of chaos that I’m the center of.
Phantom comes stumbling out of the room, drunk as fuck, jaw dropping to the floor when he sees Hyde pressed up against the wall, feet dangling, his screams silenced by my power.
“Just give me a second, baby. I’m taking care of this asshole.”
That’s when I feel it… the eyes of a darker presence watching me from the shadows. The shadow stretches along the wall, blacker than any absence of light, its edges alive and writhing. Two red eyes blink open inside it, watching me. Feeding on my rage.
The longer I hold him up, the stronger I feel. The strongeritfeels. The air thickens, humming with a power that isn’t entirely mine.
“Eve!” Phantom growls, coughing as he fights for his voice. But the air is thick, thicker than it should be. “Stop!” he begs, still coughing to catch his breath. I don’t think it’s me causing his reaction; it’s whatever is watching me from the darkness. Controlling… enabling… making its presence known.
But there’s no turning back, not when Hyde’s still breathing. He needs to pay for trying to take advantage of that poor girl. My vision starts to cloud, and everything before me hangs behind a black veil I can’t blink away. Instead of his face, I see the face of my old neighbor, his hot breath crawling across my neck, his hands touching parts of me that he shouldn’t have dared to touch.
Everything from that moment… the fear… the betrayal… it leeches out of me and into my hands, the lights flickering as my fingers curl around his throat and squeeze.
Hyde claws at his throat, face paling as he gasps for breath. I’m an invisible power he can’t combat, and it’s a dark seduction that has me drunk and feeling alive in my afterlife.
A voice filters into my head. It’s chaos and destruction, malice and hate. It’s feeding on my energy and enhancing it at the same time. The voice crawls across my mind like a spider, probing the weak spots and encouraging the worst.“Kill its.”
“Should I kill you, Hyde? Do you deserve to keep breathing after being such a vile human being?”
Blood creeps across the white iris, the veins bulging, his breath waning the more I squeeze.
“Kill its,”it hisses, the voice now sounding like it’s right beside my ear.
The urge is there to finish him off. I can taste his blood on my tongue, his life basically hanging in my own damn hands.
Only a few more seconds, and he’ll be dead.
“He doesn’t deserve to live,”it encourages.
He’s so right. Hyde doesn’t deserve the breath he still has.
“I’ll make sure it hurts, Hyde. Just so you feel her fear.”
Krueger’s voice cuts through me like static.“EVE!”
He appears out of nowhere, the lights flickering and cutting out, just as a few club members appear in the hall, watching helplessly as we reach the climax.
Phantom’s trying to pull Hyde down from the wall, but I hold out my hand, sending him sprawling backwards into Creature’s feet while still holding Hyde captive.
“Eve, stop! You’re feeding it,”Krueger bellows.
“He deserves it,”I spit back, my voice rising into something that feels evil. “You didn’t see what he was about to do.”
Krueger’s eyes darken.“And you don’t see what’s behind you! Don’t you feel its claws sinking into you?”
The shadow digs in, every heartbeat syncing with mine.
My grip tightens on Hyde’s throat. His pulse falters. For a second, I want to finish it. I want to make him feel what I felt all those years ago.
Then Damien’s voice joins in, softer, more urgent.“Okay, Dollface, I think he’s had enough. This isn’t you anymore. You’re not a killer.”
Killer?The word cracks something inside me, breaking me free of whatever mental prison the thing had me in. My grip lessens around his throat, and he drops, hitting the ground with a thud as he sits in his own puddle of piss, crying as he gasps for air.
