I wrapped my hands around his arms, squeezing gently. “Yes, I’m fine. It’s alright.”
He released me and a deep breath, stepping back as he wiped his hand down his face. “What the hell was that? And who was that psycho?”
Sebastian and I eyed each other quickly. It was best to pretend I didn’t know my demon.
I opened my mouth but hesitated.
“It was just a stunt to antagonize her father,” Sebastian explained.
James shook his head in disbelief, turning back to me and stepping forward. “Gray, don’t lie to me or yourself. Nothing about this was fine.”
“It’s—”
“You promised. There’s no way in hell this hasn’t gone past the threshold of being too much.” He was referring to our deal, that I came to him when it became too much.
“I ...” Lying was the binding that wove through the walls keeping me together. Holding my secrets close stifled their breaths. I couldn’t say it out loud. I didn’t want to admit that I feared I was falling apart. “He killed Thomas.”
He pulled me into a hug. I wrapped my arms tightly around him, looking at Sebastian over his shoulder. Our eyes met in silent union.
Once we pulled away, he noticed the blood on my chest. My wound had continued to bleed despite Sebastian’s previous attention.
“You’re hurt. What happened? Did he hurt you?”
“I’m not sure. It must have been from the glass. Everything happened so fast.” It was disconcerting how well I had been able to craft my lies lately.
“Come on, let’s get you to the doctor.” He took my hand and led me away. Sebastian followed.
I looked back to him, to the man I had been raised to fear, and it was becoming harder to see him as a demon. He was the one person I didn’t have to lie to, but that didn’t keep me from doing so. James was right. I lied to myself in all that I hid. And I couldn’t confront what I saw when I looked at Sebastian now.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
As each second ticked by I grew more restless. It had been a few days since the harvest ball, and Sebastian and I had attempted to go to the portal twice, but we were interrupted as he was pulled into another mission by my father. After Alaric’s stunt, my father had seemed upset with me, likely because I had attracted even more attention to myself. Even though it was not my fault. That did not matter. Everyone was talking about it. I heard whisperings from the staff that people thought I had attracted yet another demon. Little did they know, it had always been the one demon, and that was him. But the rumors had already taken off, and there was no stopping them.
Though if anyone had a chance, it was Elsie. She swatted many upside the head for spreading said rumors within our very own walls.
Sebastian was able to convince my father that he needed to take me on a trip to further our connection. And after this fiasco plummeted my social standing to an abysmal low, it was not surprising that my father would become worried that I was messing up this relationship too, so he agreed. We were scheduled to go tomorrow, or rather, today, since it was nearing three in the morning.
But something was brewing within the walls.
Something dreadful.
And I couldn’t take it any longer.
I kicked off the blanket in a frustrated attempt to relieve the energy coursing through my body. The groan of the wood beneath my feet shivered through the stagnant air. An icy grip wrapped around my heart as I made my way to the door. Before I could open it, it clicked open on its own, slowly swinging with an unsettling creak. This was Alaric, and I internally groaned at what he had in store for me. But I took in a sharp breath and held my head high. I could handle this. And if I saw him, I was going to punch him square in theface. I was ready.
Until I stepped out into the hall.
The soft flames usually contained within the wall sconces at all hours were extinguished. The only source of light was the cast of blue from the moon. The silver rays cascaded through the windows like falling specters. The white linens covering each mirror along the long corridor flowed through an invisible breeze. The fabric rippled like water gliding over river rocks. The drifting tendrils reached out and retreated to gather more effort before reaching out again.
My eyes settled begrudgingly on the floor length mirror at the end of the hall. The linen moved in an erratic pattern, undulating, as if the terrible, writhing mass beneath it was about to erupt and break through the glass. I floated down the hall. My body stuck in a dream. Time slowed as resistance met each step I took. I clutched the hem of my nightdress that fell to my thighs, rolling the silk along my fingers, an attempt to stay grounded in this reality. I cringed as the phantom linen grazed my skin, leaving pinpricks behind.
I knew what this was. It was only an illusion. But no matter how many times I reminded myself of that, the fear only sank deeper. Gnarled fingers dug in, cementing to bone, refusing to release me from the terror racking through my body. I could feel the scream bubbling up, absorbing all of my oxygen, as if the only way I could breathe again was to let it out. What would surely wake the whole manor.
As I stopped before the mirror cloaked in white, my eyes fixated on how the fabric roiled. And I couldn’t look away. I knew I should have, but it was so comfortable. I took a step forward. And another step, another, until my face hovered only inches away. The air grew thicker.
A hand reached out through the mirror, beneath the white fabric. Before I could run, it grabbed the back of my neck, spinning me around so my back crashed into the hard surface. Only it didn’t feel like the flat surface of the mirror, though it was certainly as coldas glass. The frigid, awful hands snaked around my throat and my waist, tugging me in closer. I thrashed and writhed, desperate to be free of this grip that was attempting to swallow me up.
“If you want to visit the vampire lands so badly, I’d be happy totake you.” Alaric’s voice echoed through my head, crashing against my skull and bleeding into the fragile grey matter. Those last two words a promise to take and keep forever. And I couldn’t suppress it any longer, the acid that climbed up my throat and burned through every vein. A terror unlike anything I had ever felt.
