Page 24 of Devoured

My spine breaks. The sound catches Amethyst’s attention, and the wolf turns to glance at me as I cry out. As I hit the ground and palm the floor. My bones shift in my skin. They don’t just break; they disintegrate.

“Compel. Her,” I snarl, knowing that this is it. In this moment of transformation, this moment of raw vulnerability, Amethyst might rip out my heart and kill me.

I concentrate on that dark hunger in my stomach. The hatred and the memories and the pain of being in this castle day after day. The pain of talking to Sin and seeing Calix. The pain of betrayal, and the hallucinations of ghosts, and the weight in my chest like an anvil crushing the hollows where my heart used to be.

My body ruptures in short explosions of fur and bones and fangs. My flesh melts, changes, reforms. Too slowly. Too painfully. Amethyst grinds me into the floor before I even realize what’s happening. Her claws cut through my russet chest. My bones pop. My fur settles in waves over my skin. The transformation completes, but I’m too late. Amethyst already has me in her clutches. She snarls, saliva beading down my belly, and bends her head. Licks a revolting path up toward my snout. I growl—but I don’t move. I don’t fight.

I’m too late, and Evie is right on time.

She throws herself at Amethyst’s side with enough force to startle her—to make Amethyst lose her footing, giving me the space I need to roll over and tackle her to the floor. My claws sink into Amethyst’s flesh easily, and I snarl low in her face. I want to bite her. I want to open her throat. Growling, I tease my fangs along Amethyst’s neck until Evie’s hand settles on my back.

“Relax, Hart.” Evie crouches beside a struggling Amethyst. “We have her right where we want her.”

I growl encouragingly, and Evie tilts her head. Her scarlet gaze brightens on Amethyst’s face, and her voice descends into immediate compulsion. “Stop fighting and listen, Amethyst. You will forget you ever caught us tonight. In fact, you never saw us at all. You heard noises coming from the records room, and you went inside to investigate. You found rats scurrying through the flames. You hunted them, and you killed them. You ate them.” Evie licks her lips. “You will remain in your wolfish form and return to your patrol once we leave. Tonight was completely normal aside from your midnight snack, and you saw nothing out of the ordinary.”

Amethyst whimpers and stills beneath me. Her gaze widens as Evie finishes. But Evie doesn’t walk away. She leans closer, tilting Amethyst’s snout up with a slender finger. Her red-hot gaze narrows on Amethyst’s yellow eyes. “You’re going to pay for every single thing you’ve done. You’re going to suffer. You’re going to die. And you won’t be able to stop us.”

I jerk my head to tell Evie that we need to leave, and she nods. “Okay,” Evie says. “You can release her. Run back to your station, Amethyst, and forget all about us.”

When I remove my claws and back away from her, Amethyst does exactly as she’s told without a moment’s hesitation. I breathe a quick sigh of relief and glance at Evie. She looks back at me with something dangerous brewing in her gaze.

“I have a plan,” she says suddenly. And, for the first time in days, Evie smiles.

10

VANESSA

WHEN I RETURN TO MY ROOM, SIN IS GONE, AND EVIE slips away as if I’d never seen her at all. I transform slowly—painfully—back into my human form and collapse on the floor. I can’t catch my breath. I can’t get the sight of Amethyst with her fangs near Evie’s throat out of my mind. My skin is too clammy, too cold, and I feel sick.

Lightning throttles Castle Severi, crackling like the burning logs of a bonfire, striking the night with relentless fury. Thunder roars—so close, it rings through my skull. So close, it doesn’t seem to end. One earsplitting boom simply melts into the next, over and over and over again, until I’m covering my ears. Two candelabras, positioned on my blackened nightstand and dresser, do a poor job of lighting the small area with white flame.

My bedroom is almost a closet.

There are no windows. There are no vents. I shouldn’t be able to hear the storm outside, but somehow, I do. Lightning strikes the foot of my bed, and the room glows brighter than it does from the meager candle flames. It illuminates the twin-sized mattress behind me, the sheets that are as red as the carpets.

As red as blood.

On the walls hang tapestries that, in the dark, appear simple and pleasant. Ruby sunsets and scarlet beaches. But in the flashes of light, they begin to change. Begin to move. No matter how much I blink and rub my eyes, they don’t vanish. They don’t seem to be just another hallucination.

The floor rumbles beneath me, and the tapestries flutter in a nonexistent breeze. There are two wolves on that scarlet beach now. Two disemboweled wolves whose eyes have been plucked clean from their skulls. The ruby sunset is actually a castle aflame, and in the windows of the sharp, gray silhouette are melting faces that drip flesh and fur and blood.

The tapestries are either warnings from Cora—or threats.

My heart thuds in time with the storm, and I settle my head against the wall. Press my hands harder to my ears. Try so desperately to drown out the sights and sounds of this godforsaken place. But I’m trapped. Regardless of plans for revenge, regardless of compelling Amethyst, Evie and I are trapped here. Bile rises in my throat, hot and painful, until I’m reaching inside my pocket with trembling fingers and pulling out the sleepless draughts Evie made me.

“You’re not supposed to drink them every day.”

But I have been. I can’t stop drinking them. It would be too dangerous otherwise. Too foolish. I can’t let Sin inside my head again. I can’t let Cora know more than she already does.

Still, I contemplate getting up and tucking the draughts away. Hiding them somewhere Cora won’t find them. Maybe I’ll skip tonight. I’ll have another in a few days, when I can’t stay awake any longer on my own, and save the second potion for next week. Then I’ll wean myself off them, and I’ll find a healthier solution. A better solution.

Perhaps I can nap at odd hours. When Sin and Cora would expect me to be awake. Never at the same time, though, or else I’ll risk them discerning a pattern. And not in my room either. It’s too close to Sin, to the possibility of his claws in my brain.

But where else can I safely steal even an hour or two of sleep in a castle crawling with Cora’s wolves? Evie’s room? No. I instantly reject the thought. I cannot risk being caught with Evie, cannot risk any of this at all. Everything is too dangerous. I don’t have a choice.

Without realizing I’m doing it, I’ve already wrenched out the cork stopper. Dark amber droplets splash onto the back of my hand, and I lick my skin clean before wrapping my lips around the mouth of the bottle. Soon, I think. I will find another way soon.

I throw my head back and chug.