Page 36 of Memories Like Fangs
I stared at her curls, looking at her as I searched within for some thread of our bond, the magic that connected us together.
I felt nothing.
Only emptiness, just like I had before.
My eyes widened.
I tried to shift my ankle. But, the blood magic still dug into it, seemingly through all my skin, nerves, muscles, and straight to the bone. It was still tight, too tight, with no give at all. Quinn’s blade wasn’t biting at the binding at all.
Something was wrong.
Verywrong.
“Q-Quinn?” I said, barely above a whisper. “Wh-Why can’t I feel our bond at all?”
She gave no answer. Her shoulders remained hunched over, hair still obstructing her face so I couldn’t see her.
“W-wait… where’s Lilah? If you knocked her out or she left, these sh-should disappear like the shard in the Archive,” I added, my voice cracking now with a new, rising panic. “They’re blood magic. You touch them, and they turn back to blood. They aren’t doing that?—”
I stopped. My chest felt like it was going to collapse in on itself. The realization of everything hit me then, and I wanted to throw up.
I wanted so badly for this to just end.
Forever.
Instead, I tried to pull back from her as much as I could in the chair. My body trembled with effort, and the restraints chewed at me. I cried out at the agony from the blood magic, but honestly, what was in front of me was more anguish than I could ever hope to bear.
“Fuck. Fuck. Fuck!” I shouted. Tears streamed down my face. The sobs raking through my body hurt like hell, but I didn’t care. “This isn’t real, isn’t it? This isn’tfuckingreal!”
Finally, she looked up at me.
Her eyes, those beautiful golden, caramel-fire eyes, were darker now. They weren’t just shadowed. They were wrong. They were dull. It was like they’d been painted over. Her smile was slow and stretched, too wide, too calm.
This puppet version of Quinn would haunt me for the rest of my life.
“That’s my smart baby girl,” The Fake Quinn said, her voice sweet as poison. “I’m so very proud of you.”
I screamed.
And Quinn—notQuinn—just kept smiling.
And sawing.
Like she had all the time in the world.
Aslow, echoing series of claps erupted in the room.
Lilah’s laughter was sharp enough to make my ears bleed as it filled the cellar. It bounced off the stone walls, too loud, too pleased.
“Oh, gods!” She said in between, wiping away a nonexistent tear. “That was so precious! Icannot!”
My fists clenched as tightly as they could from where they were bound. I tried to summon some force behind my words, but they came out broken. My voice sounded raw to my ears like gravel scraping against bone. Rage was the only thing I had left in me with everything else so exhausted. “Stay thefuckout of my head!”
Lilah tsked, sauntering closer to me. She had changed clothes at some point, forgoing her torn turtleneck and ripped jeans for a long-sleeve v-neck and leggings. The heels of her boots still clicked across the floor like a threat. “No can do there, ladybug.I need to be in that cute, thick skull of yours if I’m ever going to get what I want.”
She leaned down toward me. It was too close. Her perfume stifled and burned my nostrils once more. She smiled wickedly as ever as she added, “Of course, this would all end if you gave me the location of either your mom’s or dad’s enchantment.”
“Leave my memories with Quinn out of this,” I snarled, bearing my fangs fully at her.What I would give to shift fully right now and do half the shit she made me imagine to her.
