Page 20 of All Your Deadly Truths (The Filthy Duet #2)

Xeraphine

I woke up a bit ago, feeling slightly better than I did before my heart stopped. I don’t know how much time has passed, maybe a day or two, but I can’t confirm since I was quite literally dead.

Thankfully, my irrational response to Lars’s obvious lie about Kairhyse being dead is now a thing of the past. I’m smarter than that; for me to believe a fucking freak and manipulator like him is weak.

They walked me onto a ship not too long ago—I couldn’t see anything to confirm, but I could smell the sea and feel the slight sway beneath me.

Aside from that… nothing.

It doesn’t help that one of them hums constantly, grating on my nerves and distracting me from listening for anything else. Another one occasionally whistles, which is slightly less annoying, but it still gets under my skin.

Lars, thank fucking Belial himself, parted ways with me and while I’d rather forget his methods of saying goodbye, I’m grateful he’s gone. Sick prick. That is the wrong obsession. The kind that’ll give me nightmares and a few extra therapy sessions.

Why are men disgusting? I swore I’d seen it all, felt it all, but of course not.

They always find a way to be even more grotesque.

He couldn’t have just cut my thigh for blood to use as lube.

No, never, because how fucking boring! He just had to fuck me with the blade first. Who knows what he did after I ‘died’.

Sick fuck!!!

I need to extract myself from what he did to me. This silence we are sitting in is pissing me off equally as the thoughts of Lars are. So, I ask not for a true answer, but to break it, “Is the blindfold necessary?”

“Ah, she speaks.”

“Her voice is beautiful.”

A grunt is all I get from the third.

“No need for you to see, my darling daughter.” A hand grips my shoulder, and that strange, drug-like sensation that has been lingering on my skin shudders through me.

I know it’s her Amoro—the sensation of numbness and loss of control pulls at every tendril of my brain, affecting my body’s functions.

Her nails dig into my shoulder, and I groan.

Great, I’m not numb, wonderful .

“We’re going to run some tests, then you’ll go for a long sleep, sweetheart.” She pauses, but not for long, because then she asks someone, “Is the room ready?”

“Yes,” a deep male voice responds to her question. I’ve not heard him yet, which makes me think he’s the grunter.

I need to find a way to break free from whatever control she has over my Amoro. I’m beating myself up for not doing more research on my own kind. If I had known even the slightest bit about us, maybe I’d have a better chance of suffering less.

Guess I’m just fucked for a while…

I’m going to need serious therapy after all this, and I know Harper will demand double the pay for the bullshit I’ll unleash. I’ll start seeing her again once I’ve snapped my bitch of a mother out of existence.

I’m hoisted from my seat and dragged somewhere I can’t see. Three doors and a set of narrow stairs later, and I’m brought to a halt. If anyone were to look at me, they’d probably wonder why I’m not physically fighting to escape.

News flash: I’ve been begging my legs to move since I woke; my arms aching to do anything but hang uselessly at my sides.

It’s a fucked-up version of my own nightmare, and part of me takes sick satisfaction knowing this is what my victims have felt.

The other part is furious because I shouldn’t have to endure it.

A gasp escapes my lips as the blindfold is removed. The bright white light is too much for my eyes, and I shut them quickly, a soft hiss slipping through my clenched teeth.

“You did so good, Tali, look at her.” I need to see them to start distinguishing their voices, because this one sounds like a snake. It’s not just his slight lisp—it’s more than that. It’s the way his voice slithers, like a man ready to snatch my purse. “Stunning, just like her mother.”

I gag. “Kiss-ass. ”

“Filthy mouth, too. Just like you, Tali,” another one croons. He has a much deeper voice, and I swear I feel like I need to unclog my ears because it’s like he’s talking to me in a fishbowl. “Bet it sucks nicely.”

Rolling my eyes, even though they can’t see it, I scoff. “Give me the chance, and I promise my bite is far worse than my bark.”

As I begin blinking, Tali laughs. “You know, if I thought you’d just do as I said, I wouldn’t have to put you back down. However, your Amoro is quite strong. It’s taking a lot of me to keep it contained.”

My demon isn’t a physical thing, but if it were, I’d be petting it and praising the fuck out of it.

It’s just my own resilience—and possibly the fact that it’s been bound to someone else.

Either way, I’m grateful, because maybe it’ll weigh on her enough that I can break my Amoro free to give me the strength to crush her like the bug she is.

I finally manage to take in my surroundings. She’s standing not far from me, right on the opposite side of a metal medical table that I can only assume she wants me to lie on. Shifting my gaze, I see three men standing side by side like obedient dogs to my mother.

Two of them have black hair, short and clipped right at the ears. Though they aren’t related—one has medium brown skin, while the other is as pale as I am. The third is blond with blue eyes, and… Mundane? He looks at me strangely, his expression sympathetic in a way I can’t quite place.

“Plus, you aren’t really any use to me until you turn one hundred. Your fun is?—”

I interrupt her, “Can we cut the shit and not play this stupid-ass game, Mother ? Tell me what you want from me. Fucking Beyond, maybe I’ll just give it to you.”

I wouldn’t give her a fucking smile if she requested it, but I’ll bite.

The edge of her lip twitches. “Doubtful.”

“Try me.” I wish I could place my hands onto my hips; give her a sway of my head in defiance. Instead, I have to stand here like a godsdamn statue.

“Okay…” She wets her lips, and I can’t help but take in the structure of her tongue. Its tip is black, pointed like a knife. I’m glad I didn’t inherit that thing. “Lay down on the table first.”

The words are a command, and my body complies without my consent.

Groaning outwardly, I shift onto the table and lie down. I’m grateful to have some clothing on—a white cotton gown that looks more like a man’s shirt than a dress, but at least it reaches down to my knees. Their need to keep me perpetually naked is tiresome .

“Good girl.” She says that as though I had a choice.

I’ve never hated the damn phrase more than I do now .

I’m watching her, but when she directs her gaze toward the three men, I can’t help but follow. The one with short black hair and deep, colorless eyes smiles with sinister intent.

“We are a dying breed, Xeraphine.” Tali pulls my attention back to her, and as our eyes meet, she stalks up to my side.

“I’d say we make up less than one percent of the living population—fewer still for Succubae.

Our male counterparts? They make up more than eighty percent of our species. Quite… frustrating.”

Feeling hands on my legs, I turn my gaze downward and watch as that male spreads them. My eyes widen as he picks up one foot at a time and tucks it against my ass.

“What are you doing?!”

He turns around, and I don’t get the opportunity to keep watching as Tali grabs my chin, turning me back to her.

During her pause, an object presses against my core, the cold metal breaching inside of me.

My teeth clench, and I hold my breath as a painful pinch at my furthest wall makes my back arch.

“Fucking Belial, what the fuck?!” Something scrapes, and it’s not metal I’m feeling anymore, but something hot and raw, similar to a heated branding iron drawing down my insides.

She continues as I suffer through the pain, “Succubae are only capable of getting pregnant once. It’s a sick twist of fate that the Gods cursed us with.”

I’m willing my legs to listen to me, to close, to squeeze tight to rid myself of this agony. The object is no longer rubbing against my wall, but I can swear it is now inside my uterus.

“S-Stop—” I grit through my clenched teeth.

“It’s alright, we have cursed those Gods equally so they can go fuck themselves.

” She leans over the table, resting on one of her elbows, chin in her palm.

“Any who, typically we can only have children with our own kind, an Incubus with a Succubus. However, to my dismay, your father was what is called a Mark. Mundanes call them soulmates, whereas Dylox have what are called just ‘mates’. We can procreate with them, though only once. So I was quite angry with your father, to say the least. He took my chances of birthing a full breed, and instead, gave me a smart-mouthed Hybrid.”

My walls are being stretched outward, a pressure building so wide and deep that I swear I can’t catch my breath.

“When I found out I was pregnant with you, I nearly killed your father, but I knew I couldn’t be so foolish as to not give life to you: my one shot at growing our population.

” Her free hand—the one not propping up her head—traces a line across my stomach as she continues, “For us Demons to survive more than six years outside of the womb, we have to consume the heart of our father.”

A tightness grips at the beating organ in my chest.

“I could have had you feast on your father’s heart well before then, but I wanted to see what a half Mundane, half Succubus had to offer me. Your Amoro hadn’t shown the moment you came from my womb, so I forced him to try and bring it out by?—”

“No… No… Shut up…” I close my eyes and shake my head. I’m unsure of where my pain is now coming from. My cunt, stomach, or heart, that not only did I kill my father, but she forced him… to…

It makes sense now, why she was so confident that day, that I wasn’t a virgin.

“I made him fuck you, Xeraphine, but time was passing quickly, and you were closing in on your sixth year of life. So…” She releases an amused chuckle. “I starved you, opened his chest and gave you the only sustenance available: His heart.”

Bile climbs up my throat and I turn my head away from her.

I open my eyes and stare blankly at the brown door that contrasts heavily with the all-white walls.

My vision blurs, and the tears that flood them are so quick I can’t stop them from crawling across my nose, to the other eye, and down my temple.

“Anyways, I’m getting away from my objective.”

The sensation in my core is gone, and I’m grateful for once that I’m becoming accustomed to whatever is happening down there.

“My hope is that with your Mundane blood, you will be capable of breeding for me—” A high-pitched ringing blares in my ears, nearly overpowering her words. “I’m confident that you will. However, as any Succubae, you need to be?—”

I feel sick . She cannot be fucking serious.

“Tali.” The one between my legs calls for her, and I’m grateful for the pause.

I blink away the remaining tears, trying to regain the strength I have in myself.

She… No, absolutely not. I heard her wrong. I can’t be used as a fucking machine to bring more of me into the world. They wouldn’t even be full-bred Demons—oh my Gods, this can’t be happening.

“She’s been pregnant.”

“What?!” Her tone elevates, piercing the area around us, and if it weren’t for the blood already pooling in my ears, I may have winced.

He isn’t talking about me.

There is no way he is talking about me.

“There is evidence of her carrying.”

“Feeling hungry?” The conversation with Kai in his kitchen the first time he brought me to his place comes rushing back to me.

“No. Maybe. I don’t know, actually. I feel strange.”

And another one; the days leading up to Tali taking me.

“You aren’t as tired as you were those first few weeks of me chasing you, little demon. I think I need to work harder to exhaust you.”

A chill rolls through my entire body, goosebumps rising from the nape of my neck all the way to my toes. I suck in a sharp breath and shake my head.

I was sleeping so much…

We had sex once before I started feeling that fatigue.

A grip like nothing I’ve ever felt takes my cheeks as she tears my head back toward her. “You fucking whore! Are you kidding me?!” Her fingers pinch at my face, but I’m still far too stunned to speak or even react to her words.

I’d never slept that much in my life.

The twins? When I died, that’s when… No…

Zade… Oh my Gods… He…

He had grabbed right through my stomach, and I could have sworn it was like he was fisting my insides. The pain was like nothing I had ever felt before, and I couldn’t at the time believe that it hurt as much as it did.

The thought that he had grabbed onto… a fetus.

Kai’s and mine… No… No… That’s—that’s impossible.

I’m not one to feel fear often, but the look on Tali’s face sends a wave of it through me. Her eyes turn to black, and her skin begins to peel back, revealing the darkness that consumes us when our Amoro is set free.

“How?!” she screams.

Kairhyse is my Mark. It all makes sense, but is no less terrifying.

She tears her head away from me, still keeping my face gripped in her hand. “Tell me she can still?—”

“Yes, the rupture didn’t occur. It’s like her body healed it. The scratches against her uterus are nearly gone, if… any longer…” His voice fades and I lose focus on the world around me.

I don’t want kids. I’ve never even thought of them. It never occurred to me that I could even have them unless it was with my own kind.

When Tali looks back down at me, I don’t focus on her, just stare past her at the bright light that stings my eyes. “Well.” Her tone is less angry, but I can still taste the fury seeping through her pores. “Looks like we are getting started early, Daughter.”

Heat builds behind my eyes but I refuse to blink and give new tears life.

I’ll survive. I’ve got this.

I’m strong. Even if I can’t use my body to do so, I’ll fight. In every single way that I can.