Page 9 of All Your Deadly Truths (The Filthy Duet #2)
Xeraphine
I don’t know how I didn’t see it.
Was it really that obvious, though? Believing everything she said, taking her words at face value, came naturally to me. How could I not believe my own mother? Even after she tried to kill me, the thought of her being a psychotic killer seemed more plausible than… this.
Anything but this. Anything but the monster now standing before me.
She’s the creature of my nightmares, the dark shadow of my past; a mirror after which I had been unknowingly molded. My mother, Tali, is a Succubus.
I don’t need to see the double fangs peeking out from her upper canines, or the slick black oil pooling in her once-siren eyes as she stalks toward me. I don’t need those signs to know. The moment I felt my will stripped away, my body paralyzed, I knew exactly what she was.
Was this what my victims felt? The numbing helplessness, their minds screaming for control while their bodies betrayed them? Did they feel this same certainty, this same dread, as death crept closer?
“Xeraphine, darling.”
No, please, no —What is she doing here?
When I glance over her shoulder, I notice a man with her. Brown hair, average height, and blue eyes. There is nothing extraordinary about him, and that is the problem. He is the kind of person who could disappear into a crowd. Someone so unremarkable that I wouldn’t have given him a second glance.
At least, until he steps closer.
His scent hits me first, sharp and unmistakable. I don’t need anyone to explain what, or who, he is. No introductions are necessary. And in this moment, the question of why my mother is here unravels before my eyes, as undeniable as Kairhyse’s love for me.
“No…” I whisper, and it feels like lightning crackling through my throat. “You lied…”
Tali scoffs and brushes past me, grabbing my upper arm to take me with her. My eyes never leave Lars as he smiles at me, then winks.
“Of course I did, my dear.” Sighing, she leans toward me. “You’ve been causing a lot of trouble.”
I want to move, to scream until my lungs give out, but an otherworldly force binds me. A silent, unyielding command compels my body to obey, no matter how desperately my mind screams to resist.
It feels like I’m on fire, my skin searing under invisible flames. If it started to melt me away, I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised.
A sharp hiss cuts through the suffocating air. My gaze drops to the floor, to the feline I had told to leave. Mister. His fur stands on end, his small body bristling with defiance. At barely five pounds, he growls and readies himself to pounce as if he were something more than a measly cat.
“Go.” My voice breaks. “Please…”
I shake my head, a sharp, involuntary jerk that feels as if I’m trying to break free from unseen chains.
“I never took you for a cat person,” Tali sighs.
I see her foot lift and know exactly what’s coming. Some buried strength rises, and I use it to snap the invisible string tethering me in place.
Falling to my knees, I grab hold of Mister just as her foot slams into my spine. The force sends a jolt of pain radiating through my body, and the sickening crack of bone makes me wince.
I don’t know how much force she intended to put behind the blow, but holy fuck—it was enough to shatter me.
Mister would have been killed instantly. The realization crashes over me like a tidal wave and I clutch him tighter, protective and desperate.
“How old are you now?” she asks, circling us like a predator.
“She’s thirty today,” Lars answers, his voice carrying a smug familiarity that churns my stomach. “Quite the treat for us to drop by and celebrate with her.”
Tali hums, the sound low and mocking. “Celebrate. Right.”
When she steps into view, I glance up at her. Her silver eyes, darker and more tarnished than mine, fix on me with a chilling intensity. “Happy birthday,” she says, her voice dripping with venomous mirth.
“Fuck you,” I snarl through clenched teeth. “Leave. You’re not welcome here. ”
She stops in front of me, leaning down to my level. Her presence is suffocating.
I huddle over Mister, shielding him with my body. He’s a flurry of panicked meows and furious hisses, his claws digging into my arm, leaving fiery streaks of pain.
It hurts, but not as much as the thought of losing him. Not to her. Not to this crazed bitch who looms inches away, ready to attack. I won’t let her even pet him with so much as a pinky.
“Why couldn’t you have stayed buried, my little whore?”
Not that I didn’t already know—her being with Lars made that clear—but hearing it confirmed sends a tremor through me. My bottom lip quivers, and a pit forms deep in my stomach, heavy and nauseating.
I refuse to cry.
Biting hard on the inside of my cheek, I force the strongest part of myself to surface, pushing the weaker part of me back into the shadows.
The sharp sting grounds me, and as the connection between my mind and body strengthens, I start to move.
Slowly, I shift, my knees drawing closer to my chest as I press my feet flat against the floor.
But then her voice cuts through the tension, soft yet commanding.
“Just stay there, hmm? It’ll be much easier this way.”
I’m forced back down, my shoulders slumping forward.
The sharp crash of glass shattering against the floor snaps my attention to Lars. He’s strolling casually beside the fireplace, sweeping his arm out to demolish the beautiful flowers Kairhyse had arranged for me. Each deliberate movement feels like a personal attack.
“I should have killed him the moment I smelled you on him.” My throat tightens, choking off air as a haze of red clouds my vision. “At least he will be dealt with soon?—”
“Don’t you fucking touch him!” I scream so loud that he actually startles.
“Do what you want with me, but you better not lay a fucking finger on him. Do you hear me, you piece of shit?!” I’m fighting against the tethers that are holding me down, Mister yowling along with my fury. “Both of you. You hear me?!”
I look up just as Tali exhales, her focus momentarily wavering. Seizing the chance, I hurl Mister as far as I can, ensuring the distance won’t hurt him. He’ll probably run right back to me—stubborn little thing—but I can’t worry about that now.
With a surge of desperation, I tear free from her grasp and lunge at her.
But I don’t even get close.
Before my fist can connect with her face, her hand snaps out, gripping my throat like a vise. My momentum dies instantly, and she bares her teeth at me. A wicked grin that sends icy fear straight to my core.
“Definitely my child.”
I’m thrown so hard, I can’t even tell which direction I’m flying. The impact sends shockwaves through me, and the sound of crumbling stone roars in my ears, overpowered only by the deafening ring of what feels like church bells reverberating in my skull.
Fingers weave into my hair, yanking me upright by the roots. The pain is blinding, but it pulls me out of the rubble I doubt I could have escaped on my own.
I try to ignore the searing agony as I claw at her wrist, my nails digging deep into her flesh. It doesn’t matter; she doesn’t even flinch. She drags me to the center of the living room like I weigh nothing, before hurling me straight into the glass table.
It shatters on impact, shards biting into my skin. The sharp tang of copper fills the air, and when I force my eyes open I see my blood everywhere. It coats the glass, the floor… and me.
Before I can process the pain, she grabs the back of my neck and throws me against the couch. My body slumps, both arms draped limply over the cushions as my head falls back, barely supported.
As she crouches and leans in close, she shoves two fingers past my lips, invading my mouth. The instinct to bite down surges through me, primal and desperate. As I’m pressing my teeth into her flesh, she jerks down my bottom jaw, popping it out of place so I can’t close it right away.
My head is tilted back, and she spits into my mouth.
I swear I nearly vomit.
“Swallow.”
I’m surprised I neither vomit or simply die from that command.
As her saliva slides down my throat, thick with mucus and sickly sweet, my vision trembles.
This can’t be karma coming for me… can it?
No… No, I never deserved this life forced on me. I had to fight to survive. I refuse to believe I merit this.
“Don’t move, my sweet girl. We need to ring your boyfriend.” She adjusts my jaw and pops it back into place.
The anger writhing inside me blazes so fiercely that heat springs to my eyes, unbidden. “Please…” My voice cracks, raw with desperation as tears spill down my cheeks, faster than I could ever hope to stop. “Leave him alone…”
Fuck—I should have never allowed him to get close to me. Fuck, fuck, fuck !
“What does it matter?” she asks as she runs a nail along my cheek.
“I beg of you… not him…”
“You will be gone for another seventy years.” Her words cut through me like a blade, and for a moment, I truly wish my heart would stop. “Neither he, nor anyone, will find you where you’re going. I shouldn’t have been so kind in my placement of you the first time.”
Tenderly, she drags her sharp nails along my hairline, brushing strands behind my ear before trailing them under my chin. “Why…” My voice fractures with a sob. “Don’t do this.”
“You are my only hope to stop our kind from going extinct.” Her tone is chillingly matter-of-fact, each word slicing deeper. “I can’t have you out here being selfish with my body.”
Before I can react, her hand clamps around my throat, wrenching a sharp gasp from me.
“You will go back under until it is your time,” she hisses, her silver eyes blazing. “And when you emerge, you will serve your only fucking purpose.”
My vision blurs, but I can still see my chest heaving, rising and falling in quick, panicked bursts.
“Don’t fight it, Xeraphine. Just sit still,” she commands, her voice eerily calm now. With a sharp tug, she pulls me forward, forcing me onto my knees. She steps to my side, releasing her grip as if discarding me entirely.