Page 25 of Blood Claims (Garnet Dagger Mafia #2)

WHEN I WAS THE RABBIT

E veryone had their limits.

My past was mine.

Which was, no doubt, why I fainted only seconds after they reached me. As for what came next, my consciousness only kicked back into gear when I felt myself being lowered down on the couch. Which meant before I even opened my eyes, I commented dryly,

“I’m getting the chains again, aren’t I?

” I heard Victor sigh before I opened my eyes to find him sitting next to me, the look of frustration clear on his face.

But instead of getting angry at the situation, he simply smoothed back my hair.

As for Tal, he came into view carrying a glass of water, the same tense look etched on his face.

“Here, drink this,” he said softly, handing it to me and prompting me to sit up, so my back was to the armrest. Then he took a seat at the coffee table, meaning both men were now opposite me.

Their expressions worried and anxious as they waited for an explanation to why they just found me up on the roof.

“I don’t know how it happened,” I admitted after taking a long drink, my throat raw from screaming… unless none of that had been real either. I just didn’t know anymore.

“I woke up and neither of you were there,” I added when they continued to silently wait for more. However, the second I said this, they both looked at each other, and I had a feeling this hadn’t happened that way.

“You slipped from between us during sleep, we woke to find you missing,” Victor told me, surprising me with this knowledge and I knew they could tell because my expression spoke volumes.

“But how… I mean, if this was all just a dream, then how did I get to the roof?”

“That’s what we would like to know,” Tal said, his voice tight, and clearly thinking of what could have happened had they been too late.

“Have you ever woken to find yourself sleepwalking before?” Victor asked, making me shake my head.

“No, never.”

“Then you were lured out there,” he replied with a hard tone, one that made a muscle jump in his chiseled jawline.

“By the shadow demon?” I asked before I could stop myself, making Victor jerk back a little. Tal was quick to shoot a dark look to his brother.

“Who?” he asked, prompting a sigh from my lips.

“It was the same one who haunted my dreams the other night. I don’t know his name,” I admitted.

“Your other nightmare, the one you didn’t tell us about?” Victor asked, his tone holding a hint of being accusing.

“I didn’t think it was anything but a dream, so didn’t see what good it would do by reliving it,” I argued in my defense. One that Victor didn’t look to agree with, but before he could pick apart my reasons, his brother spoke.

“Do you know what he looks like?” Tal asked, that tensed look not one I could rid them of as I shook my head, telling them,

“No, his face is always hidden.”

“Perhaps it is the influence of the witch that lingers, tapping into her mind and using it against her,” Tal suggested, making Victor grit his teeth and agree curtly.

“Perhaps.” Although it looked like this wasn’t something he believed at all.

No, it looked as if there was something greater at play here, something he feared.

Like he knew something but was unwilling to say just yet.

As if there were shadows clinging to his thoughts that he wasn’t yet willing to reveal.

Now where did that thought just come from?

Perhaps the dream still lingered, after all, and those shadows of his still clung to my mind.

Or maybe it was because I still couldn’t explain why I had seen the same shadows that day the brothers had saved me from the witch.

Why I couldn’t help but feel as if there was some connection.

The thought died the moment Victor asked me,

“Who is Peter?”

I froze in place, only just remembering what I told them both before passing out. Instantly, I started shaking my head, telling them no in panicked little movements. A reaction that quickly had Victor frowning for a new reason.

“Peach?” Tal pushed, but before they could stop me, I was up and over the back of the couch, walking away and still shaking my head. My actions took them by surprise as they both shot to their feet to come to me.

“No… no, I don’t… I don’t want to talk about it,” I stated, wishing my voice was firmer and not as shaky as it sounded.

“Hey, come now… it’s okay,” Victor said as he approached me with his hands raised, as if I was holding a gun on him or something.

I even looked down at my hands. Hands that were trembling as if I was expecting to see a bloody knife there.

But then my hands were taken in his and the comfort it brought broke me.

What happened next took him off guard because I suddenly threw my arms around him. Then I burst into tears, quickly soaking his T-shirt as he cradled my head to his chest.

“Ssshh, it’s okay, baby… it’s okay,” he cooed softly, his hand stroking back my hair as I continued to cry.

God, it had been so long since I had let myself cry over this.

My misery too focused on my ex, making thoughts of my childhood long overdue to deal with.

The guilt of what I did that day was nothing like the beating I received in the wake of it.

That day had been the first time I had run away, and it certainly hadn’t been the last.

Of course, as I grew older, it was easier to avoid.

What with friends couches to sleep on and taking whatever first job I could get by serving burgers at the drive through.

If I wasn’t at school, I was working every hour I could to save money to move as far away as possible.

I had my whole life planned out in front of me, and all of it revolved around my freedom.

Breaking free and cutting my father’s noose that he always held around my neck. Flipping the script on the sad and broken little trailer girl tale of woe. But disappointment and betrayal would also follow me, like a dark cloud, not even the concrete jungle of New York could shield me from them.

The city had eaten me up and swallowed me whole.

Just like that small fucking town had! And all from the foolish need to know what it felt like to be loved.

Just once in my life. Peter had been the closest to that.

But Peter had been just a dog, and I had been a very lost and broken child.

That day I had been the product of my father’s making and I had never forgiven myself the slip.

It was the one and only time I gave him that power over me.

A power that had consumed my mother whole, until one day, she took her own life.

She left me and didn’t take me with her.

Left me with the monster and, deep down, I never forgave her for that.

A day later and I had taken Peter so my father couldn’t.

He had taken my mother and I just hadn’t wanted him to take anyone else from me.

But Peter hadn’t taken me with him either.

No one had.

So, I freed myself.

And now it was time to free myself of the chains of guilt. It was time to admit my biggest sin. It was time to trust.

Victor pulled back a little and urged,

“Tell us, Nessa, trust us with your pain.”

Then Tal turned my face to his so that, like his brother, he could coax it out of me.

“Trust us with your nightmares and let us take them from you.”

I nodded before telling them,

“Peter was my dog and I… I killed him before my father could.” After which I then…

Told them everything.

Once my grim tale was told, both men looked halfway between committing murder and falling even more in love with me. And thankfully, they held me close throughout it all. Their arms keeping me held between them.

They comforted me though all my tears and all my pain.

Of course, they said all the right things. How none of it was any of my fault. How I was struggling in my grief and fear of what my father would do. How I thought that I was saving my beloved pet, afraid of the beating my father would have given him.

And I knew it all.

A part of me even believed them when they said this.

But was it powerful enough to get the memory out of my mind…? No. Was it enough to rid me of my father’s voice, mocking and cruel, calling me a dog killer for the next ten years …? No, it was not. But then, I didn’t think anything would be.

Although, that didn’t mean that it didn’t ease my fractured heart and help heal at least some of the cracks.

It also didn’t mean that getting it all out hadn’t eased the weight of that guilt I had carried for so long.

Because it had. And, for once, someone else knew of the pain I suffered.

Knew why I had such trust issues. They knew my baggage of self-doubt and lacking confidence, with a bitter hope that such cruelty wouldn’t find me again.

But more than anything… they hadn’t once judged me.

Which meant that they both understood me better. Understood every time I wanted to run. Understood why I put so much faith in the witch’s words about the curse. Because it was easier for me to believe. The bad was what I expected. And it was fucked up, but there was a kind of safety in knowing it…

It was so that nothing could sneak up on me ready to rip my heart out.

That was until I met two Vampires who had claimed my heart, despite the fight I continued to put up in trying to keep it protected. But they had fought harder and now I was willingly under their spell… and they were keeping me there.

Starting with replacing the nightmare with a far better dream…

Victor picked me up and walked with me in his arms back to the bedroom we had shared. A room I could tell he didn’t want me to fear. Tal followed behind, his stern expression only leaving him once he had finished his phone call. One I didn’t even see him make.

“Why are we back in here?” I asked in a fearful tone, because I wasn’t sure how I felt about being back in this room, seeing it was where the nightmare had started. But Victor had a determined look on his face. One I understood the moment he told me,

“Because we have a nightmare to eradicate and replace.”

To which, he then placed me down on the bed before he crawled over me. Then while straddling my hips, he pulled his T-shirt over his head, at the same time his brother did the same. My eyes drank in the gorgeous sight of them both and, soon, Victor was right.

They each eradicated anything that remained of the dream, quickly rewriting one to replace it so it could be acted out in great detail.

Addictive, mind consuming, heart soring detail, that had me…

Begging for more.