I screamed.
It took me a moment to gather what had happened. The red I saw was the light that bled through my eyelids. I opened them to the soft glow of the halls. Every sconce lit, as they likely always were. The cold marble at my back as I thrashed on the floor, clawing at the white linen that entangled me.
“Get it off her! Put it back over the mirror! Hurry!” My father barked orders to the staff.
“What was she trying to do? Was she going to ...” My mother’s voice was quiet as she stood over me, her hand hovering over her mouth in shock.
“She wouldn’t have done that. The demon taunted her.” My father’s attempt at soothing fell short as his words came out rough and clipped.
Olivia crouched over me, attempting to grab hold of my arm or anything as I continued to thrash. And scream. I was still screaming. I couldn’t stop. The fear was too overpowering, a fire eagerly lapping me up, consuming me whole, and I didn’t even know what I was afraid of. Those icy hands reached down my throat pulling out scream after scream, wrenching my body of all that it could take.
“Charlotte.” Olivia’s soft voice came through. “You’re okay, Charlotte. You’re safe.”
I believed her. I knew that. But my body did not. Phantom claws dug in and held tightly on to me, refusing to let go. And all I could do was attempt to fight through it.
“Mother, no.” Olivia struggled against Lillian’s hold as she dragged her away from me.
“Listen to your mother, Olivia. This is not Charlotte,” Father snapped.
No, it certainly was not. I didn’t know what had overtaken me.
“Get Jamesonnow!”
No.
No, no, no.
You can’t! It will kill me! I won’t survive another one!
I wanted to tell them, beg them, but all I could do was continue to scream. My body suddenly became weightless, and I realized I was being carried by two Society members, whose names I could not remember, certainly not now.
The one wrangling my kicking legs looked down on me with pity. A look I had to get used to, one I would see other faces don for the rest of my life after this. Along with the sneers and people stepping back to get away from me. As if I were contagious.
I was set down on something soft. My bed.
“Keep her restrained. She’s going to hurt herself,” Father ordered.
My arms were pulled taut over my head. I snapped my head back to see they had been tied to the headboard. The other member still held on to my ankles, pushing them down into the bed.
A sudden burst of energy filled the room, a commanding energy, one laced with rage and warmth. And for the first time, I was able to take in a deep breath.
“Is this really necessary.” Sebastian. It wasn’t a question but a thinly veiled threat. His voice was calm, unsettlingly calm, with an edge barely on the cusp of control.
“I know you have yet to see this, and it may be ... disturbing. But I assure you it is necessary.” My father’s tone seemed a bit hesitant, yet assuring, as if he was trying to make a sale. “Perhaps, you should wait outside.”
“No.” It was practically a growl. And coming from father’s secondhand, but my father let it slide. Sebastian was the last man standing after all.
Jameson’s head hovered over me, and I shrieked even louder at the sight of him. The rope bit into my wrists as I yanked against it, desperate to get away. He placed the silver amulet on my chest, and I screamed as it burned. Searing. Hot. Pain. It’s all that drowned my head. I couldn’t hear anything any longer. All was muffled as fire coursed through my veins. Black spots speckled my sight, and I fought to keep my eyes open.
My bedroom flickered in and out. The candlelight bled through the edges of my vision. A veil overlayed everything, blurring the commotion I drifted away from. A barren oak tree sat before me against an expanse of swirling gray, my lifeless body strung through the skeletal branches. Draped in white, my gown flowed along the currents of a silent breeze. A raven perched above me, its croaks all I could hear clearly. Had Brennus come to take me or cast me far away?
The haunting image rippled away, like a stone thrown into a placid lake. I jerked at the sight of Alaric. He sat at the edge of my bed, a ghost for only me to see.
“Why do you blame yourself for how they hurt you?” he asked, staring at me for a moment longer before he disappeared.
A rough voice seeped through the roaring in my ears. Sebastian was shouting something. His usual perpetually blank stare and empty eyes were an open book now, one that bled of malice. I had never seen such a terrifying expression. He looked as if he was barely restraining himself from mauling Jameson.
I choked on a strangled scream as Sebastian literally picked up another member, who was attempting to keep Sebastian away from me, and threw him across the room. Warmth pressed into my cheek, and I realized it was his hand. His soft lips were at my ear, and my screams halted, my throat raw and scratchy.
