Ryan tapped a code into the keypad, and the door swung inward. I leaned in to squint at the darkness.
A shadow launched itself at the door, knocking Ryan across the hall. Daigh’s fingers raked at Ryan’s throat, raising red scratches. Red fur poked through Ryan’s skin, and he yelped as he struggled against Daigh’s attack and his uncontrollable shift.
Blake lunged forward but I got there first. “Get back,” I growled, grabbing Daigh’s head and funnelling all my pent-up pain and grief into my palms.
Daigh’s skin crackled under my touch. Flashes of memory that felt familiar but that didn’t belong to me burned through my mind – blood running under a dark sky, dancing with entrailsstrung around my body like streamers, gorging myself on drink and food and misery, rage, pain, jealousy… and love. Love so fierce and twisted it became an ugly hate. Love that wasted the body and poisoned the mind.
Love for Aline. Love for... me.
I drew all that love to the surface and threw it back at Daigh. I poured his own twisted dreams back at him. Joy filled me as he sank to the floor, his body convulsing as he lived every dark moment of his life all at once.
This is what you deserve. You destroyed my life. You killed everyone I love.
I drove the memories hard and fast into him until they became a blur of fire and hate. Daigh crumpled into a ball, clutching his head in his hands. Inhuman wails issued from his lips, becoming one with the screams inside my head. A faint smell of roasting meat tainted the air.
“Maeve, stop!” Hands pulled me back. I cried out as my mind was torn from Daigh. The memories evaporated, replaced by Blake – his statuesque face frozen in concern.
“Why did you stop me?” I growled. “Hetorturedyou, remember? He should suffer for what he’s done to us.”
“Oh, I enjoyed that very much, Princess. Cut his fingers off one by one and make him eat them if that’s what makes you happy. It would make me happy.”
“Let’s go then.”
Blake’s fingers gripped my shoulders. “Only if you won’t regret it. Your sister may be wiser than you give her due. I don’t want you to do anything you regret.”
I glanced down at Daigh. He’d curled up into the foetal position, his knees hugging his chest as he rocked his head in his hands. Red spiderwebs crisscrossed the skin on his face and ran down his arms. A wave of revulsion coursed through me.
I did that to him.
I cursed. Blake was right. As quickly as it came, the rage eased. A different memory flashed in front of my eyes – me as an eight-year-old crying in my room because a bully at school had stuck the fire hose through my locker and destroyed all my science books. Louise Crawford gathered me in my arms and listened to all my revenge plans and recited from Scripture about how Jesus turned the other cheek.
That’s what Kelly wanted me to do, to be like Jesus. And she was right. I felt it in my bones. I had to do the right thing even though the right thing was hard and I was hurting and I wanted Daigh to suffer.
Goddammit, why couldn’t I have been adopted by a Jewish family? From what I remember of the Bible, they’re nuts for revenge.
I stepped back from Daigh and collapsed into Blake’s arms. “What did you do to him, Princess?” Blake whistled through his teeth as we watched Daigh writhe on the floor.
“Nothing he didn’t deserve,” I replied, my body trembling.
A noise behind us startled me from my thoughts. I whirled around. At the far end of the hallway, Robert Smithers was on the ground, too, his head in his hands. He murmured nonsense. Aline cupped his shoulders, tears streaming down her face as she tried to coax him back to reality.
“I don’t know if it’s in his head or if he really feels Daigh’s pain, but there’s still a connection between then,” she cried, her eyes pleading me.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt Rob.” I burrowed my head deeper into Blake’s shoulder. His sleek black hair fell over my face like a waterfall.
“Let’s get him back inside,” Ryan said. Blake reluctantly slid out from my grip, and he and Ryan lifted Daigh’s arms and dragged him into the safe. I followed them, leaning my back against the cold wall and sucking in deep breaths.
What have I done?
I hated this man (and he was just a man now) with every fibre of my being. But when I saw the red welts across his sweat-soaked face from my magic, a sick feeling twisted in my gut. I wanted to inflict pain – as much pain as he’d given me. He was our prisoner and I wanted to torture him and take pleasure in his screams.
It was like when I’d watched Uncle Bob’s house burn, his terrified expression as he realised what I truly was and thathewas atmymercy. I wanted him to hurt for the hurt he’d done to Kelly. Was this the person I really was, twisted by a desire for revenge?
Was I any better than Uncle Bob? Was I any better than Daigh?
As if reading my thoughts, Daigh raised his head and stared up at me with crystalline eyes filled with pain. “I had always dreamed you would inherit my cruelty, daughter.”
His words turned my stomach, but I needed him to talk, to give us something that might tell us what was coming and how we might stop this forever. I stood over him, arms folded, legs wide in the stance Arthur had taught me emanated power. “That’s right. And now you’re under my power, and I need you to talk. If you lie to me, Blake and I will just drag the truth from your nightmares, and you won’t enjoy that. I want to know why you gave up your powers.”
