“No….” I plead, holding up my hands. “It’s the truth. She’s in the hospital—”
My words die out as he stands in front of me. He was once on the other side of the room and within a second, he was in front of me. He grabs me by the neck, yanking me toward him. His body feels like a furnace up against mine. Those dark irises spill out like smoke, turning the whites into obsidian black.
“You lie, human. Your desire to save your child is bullshit. Tell me what you really want.”
Staring up into his black eyes, fear washes over me like a downpour. My body shakes.
“Him,” I cry. “I want him.”
The creature watches me. A frightening smile lifts his face into a sneer. Dark smoke fills my room. With it, comes a chill so cold it feels as if my body may freeze in place. The more I breathe in the colder my body gets. I fear my lungs may ice over.
When it seems I may not live another second, the smoke fades, and the cold goes with it. I take a deep breath. The beeping of multiple machines fills my ears.
Opening my eyes, I’m no longer in the bedroom of my apartment. I’m now standing in the neonatal unit of the hospital. The creature lets go of my neck and steps away from me.
“Where is she?” he demands.
I turn away from him and walk over to the glass box that contains my baby girl.
She’s surrounded by a rolled-up blanket. Tubes are coming from every direction; you can’t even tell where they begin and end. Her pamper swallows her tiny body, and her chest nearly caves with each fighting breath she takes. My baby girl.
I don’t turn to look at him as he approaches me.
“They say she’s dying.”
“Yes,” he replies curtly, causing me to look over at him. His gaze remains on my daughter. “She’s been marked.”
Turning back to the incubator, I gasp, covering my mouth. Black pulsing veins run up and down Nasiah’s small body like webs. They weren’t there seconds before.
“Her lungs will give out first,” he goes on to say. “And then her heart.”
I turn away from the sight before me as tears fill my eyes. “How long?”
“She’ll be dead by the time the sun comes up.”
His lack of emotion should upset me, but something tells me he wouldn’t care if it did.
“Can you save her?” This is all I cared about. I needed my baby to survive.
As if she can sense me, my little angel opens her eyes. It’s the first time I’ve seen them open since she was born. However, it isn’t me she’s staring at. The creature beside me seems to freeze in place as my daughter watches him. It’s almost unnerving the way he stares down at her. His eyes are back to normal and not pitch black like they were before.
When I look back at my baby, her eyes are closed again, and she looks like she is sleeping.
“Saving her will not get you what you want. At least not how you want it.”
His deep voice causes me to face him once again.
I take a moment to contemplate what he’s saying. My heart wants Romeo to belong to me and only me. However, if the only way I can keep him in my life is as his mistress, then I’ll take that. I’ll do anything to have him.
“I don’t care,” I say assuredly.
He smirks again, showing off those sharp incisors. “Then let’s make a deal.”
Icy dread runs down my spine, causing me to shiver. Gooseflesh rises on my skin. All warning signs I shouldn’t be doing what I’m about to do. However, I ignore the signs.
“What would you give to get what you want?”
I look him in the eyes as I reply. “Anything.”
