All my focus is on the dragon above us.
Atticus’ eyes glow with satisfaction.
Suddenly, a crash resounds through the desert night like a death knell.
I swivel in shock.
The lotus pyramid has collapsed under the wall of flame, burning like a shrine candle.
Stone dust rises around me, shrouding us from Atticus.
Freya and Dove collapse to the floor, choking.
I stand in shock.
Inside, I am screaming.
Am I screaming out loud?
All those souls…dead and alive.
I have condemned them — the Turned.
My wards.
Their blood is on my hands.
More blood.
I stare at my iron-tipped gloves, and all I can imagine is them glistening with the scarlet of every death that I have caused.
They will haunt me forever now: Mother, Father, brothers, sisters…thousands of shades.
They will never be at peace again. I won’t.
Freak. Beast. Monster.
…You are death. The only Shadow Vampire with The Power: animalism. You’re a little monster but you will become my monster….
I sink my claws into my head like I can stop Nebet’s voice. But I can’t.
I never can.
I am the monster king who should have been executed at birth.
Nebet was born into a family who hunted my kind, and I am not meant to seek bonds or I will bring death to others.
And I just have.
Finally, my knees buckle, and I do scream.
I rake at my face, wishing that I could be anyone else in the realms but me. Rivers of blood run down my cheeks, but I need the pain.
It is better than looking at the pyramid.
It is better than the truth.
Bat-winged little monster who was born to bathe in blood.
