Page 79 of Corrupt Shadows

My eyes flutter open to his masked face.

Bile creeps up my esophagus, acid biting the back of my throat. I fist my hands, desperate to hide the tremble in my fingers. Nausea sweeps my mind and the feeling of falling consumes me. I grab Lorcan’s hand, as if the ground is disappearing underneath me, but nothing has changed. “The benzos,” I say and remind myself it’s just withdrawal and that I’m not actually dying, but my body doesn’t get the message.

“You can’t die in here,” he says into my mind, while reading my racing but fractured thoughts. “Not from a human ailment, anyway.” He’s reminding me that I am vulnerable to him and his brother.

“G-great,” I stammer. “I’ll just suffer endlessly then.”

He snickers, and he’s lucky I’m too weak to punch him in the face.

“Don’t mock me!” I shout, pulling away from his aura. The panic subsides as frustration and rage build. Everything he’s done to me sweeps into my mind. Hearing his chuckle flipped a switch, as if I’ve been asleep. Without the benzo haze to keep my magic muted, I feel more dangerous than ever. Everything comes back with crystal clarity. “You are a monster!” I shout, each breath a labor. Adrenaline courses through my veins, and I push back closer to the fireplace. “You took my pills.”

“You didn’t need them,” he says nonchalantly. “You’d have killed yourself eventually, by keeping your magic inside. It’s not supposed to be suppressed.”

Tears burn my eyes, but I hold them back, refusing to let him see me cry. “You killed Jay.”

He shrugs. “You taunted me.”

I grit my teeth. “That doesn’t mean you can kill people.”

A growl resonates in his chest, but I’m not afraid. My eyes darken. I can almost feel the blackness leaking from my sockets as my magic vibrates in my core. His gravelly voice intrudes on my thoughts.

“I can do whatever I want. I am not human, and you shouldn’t mistake me for one.”

“No!” I force myself to my feet, stumbling as I stand barefoot on the rug, the throw hugged around me. “I should know better than to try to reason with evil.”

He presses his hands against his legs and rises, towering over me. My shadows dance around me, and his eyes light up. “You’re angry.”

I laugh maniacally and clap my hands, and the throw falls to the floor. “How perceptive, genius. Of course I am fucking angry. You made me suck your dick!” I shout, then clench my thighs as the memory comes back to me, shrouding my judgment. I shake my head, scattering thoughts of his dick in my mouth. “Then you didn’t even fuck me after.”

He grabs my chin, but I push him away.

“Don’t touch me.”

He chuckles darkly. “Then punish me.”

My lips part, then close again. “What?”

Challenge threads his stare. “Punish me,” he says again, tilting his head. “You can’t. You’re too weak. You can’t stop me. You couldn’t protect your bat or friend, and now you can’t even teach me a lesson.”

I ball my fists, and a wave of rage consumes every part of my being. Death magic sizzles against my skin as I look at this fucker taunting me with a smirk, thinking he can get away with anything. Everything is his fault, and I want him to pay. I want to make him hurt for keeping me from Gomez, for taking my pills, stalking me, killing Jay, and making me want him.

Tears run down my cheeks, but they are not from sadness. “You want to make me evil!” I shout and take a step closer, feeling braver than ever. “So I can be more like you, is that it? So you’re not so fucking lonely in this stupid fucking realm!” My entire body is shaking now. “Because I would rather my magic eat me from the inside out than be anything like you.”

He laughs and I push him, my hands flying against his chest. I can hardly catch my breath as my fists hammer against him. He doesn’t move, doesn’t even flinch, and I lose it.

A hum of magic erupts from my core, vibrating the room around us. Memories of the people in my life I’ve loved, blown apart in front of me, make me flinch. Trauma pulls me back, but he grabs my fist in his hand. “Don’t hold back,” he growls, squeezing tighter.

I push past my fear, my head rolling back as the magic pulses away from me unlike ever before. It spreads in a circle around us, obliterating everything in its path. The fire blows to smoke, papers fly, and glass shatters all over the carpet. Splinters of wood from the bedframe fly toward us, but my magic shields me like a dome. Lorcan is forced back into his seat, his legs kicking up as he slams back against the pillows. His mask shifts, but he quickly corrects it.

My shadows rip from me, stealing my next breath with them. The light from the window dims as my shadows form a blanket of glittering darkness, enveloping us in a makeshift night. The world steadies, and my nausea subsides.

For the first time, my magic doesn’t feel like a separate part of me. I am my powers, and they are me. My skin sears with heat as my lips curve into a smile. Shadows reach from the heavy blanket of darkness, forming hands that reach toward Lorcan. I just spot his grin when they reach him, shadowy fingers gripping his throat.

His sadistic laugh chills me as they push harder on his windpipe, then finally, they fizzle away, and for the first time ever, I feel in control and not like I’m ready to combust at any moment.

Red marks cover his neck but quickly heal. He stands back up, admiring the destruction around us. “Feel better now, little witch?”

My brain dizzies as power floods me, filling me up. A small, satisfied smile curves my lips.

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