For the very first time, I fall asleep in his arms in his bed, snuggled against him.
It’s dark when I wake up. I can hear yelling.
I frown as I lift my head from the pillow. The bed beside me is empty.
“Vaughn?”
The yelling comes again, louder, from the living area.
I swing my legs out from the covers and wrap the duvet around me. Slowly, cautiously, I creep across the bedroom and crack open the door.
The yelling is even louder now, and it’s definitely Vaughn’s voice.
I tell myself he must be on a business call and turn to go back to bed.
“She’s not going anywhere!” he thunders.
I pause at the open doorway.
“She’s making usweak.”
I shiver. That was his voice. But...not. Harsher. Colder. Almost a little inhuman.
“I won't let you take her away,” Vaughn snarls.
“Youwon't letus!?” his altered voice barks in reply. “The fuckingaudacityto think there evenisa you without us!”
A chill ripples up my spine.
What the fuck is going on?
I slowly push the bedroom door open and tiptoe down the hall. The yelling continues as the darkness of the corridor lightens and I approach the landing that overlooks the open living area below.
“There is no YOU!” the demonic voice roars. “There is only WE! And WE say that she needs to fucking go!”
“I will cut you out,” Vaughn snarls.
Then his other voice laughs.
“You’d have to kill yourself if you wanted to dothat, motherfucker.”
“Guess we’ll find out together, won’t we?” Vaughn barks.
There’s a clatter of metal and then the sound of shattering glass. My heart lurches as I bolt down the hall, glancing over the rail of the landing to see him falling, or maybe being yanked, around the corner and out of view.
“VAUGHN!”
I rush down the stairs, sprint around the corner…
And then I’m not sure what I'm looking at, but it scares the hell out of me.
Vaughn is on his knees in the kitchen, a dazed look in his eyes as he struggles with himself, his arm muscles bulging as he points the tip of a large kitchen knife to his own jugular.
“THERE IS NO YOU WITHOUT WE!” he roars in the terrifying voice I’ve never heard before.
Then he touches the knife to his skin.
“NO!” I scream, hurling myself across the kitchen at him and dropping to my knees. “STOP IT!”
