Page 16 of Jagged Souls

There are bruises on her face and cuts on her hands and arms – defensive wounds from fighting off an attacker. Her brown eyes land on me, so bright with pain and fear and a need to be held – a weakness she rarely ever shows. Blood pours from a hole in her stomach, right where Bambi used to be, curled up and protected. Both her hands press over it as if she can still protect our little girl.

But she can’t stop the blood seeping down her fingers. Can’t relieve the weight in my left hand as I hold what her womb should be holding.

“He… he…” Her face twisting in pain, she stumbles to her knees, her hands still clasped protectively over her stomach.

My heart stops as I stare at her, wanting so badly to believe she’s real. But my paranoia spikes, and I turn back around to find Maddox. If the little shit’s turned into her –

But no.

He’s there, lying on the floor, bleeding from his cracked skull.

Micha is real, and she is home.

With a choked cry, I run towards my wife. I don’t care that she’s most definitely a trap. I know she couldn’t have escaped on her own, which means Antonio wants her here. But whatever poison he has laced her with, whatever dark spell he has had his witch cast on her, we will figure it out together. Right now I just need her in my arms.

Dropping down beside my wife, I pull her into my lap. She cries into my shoulder. I wrap my arms around her and breathe in the scent I thought I would never smell again. I listen to her heartbeat. I feel the trembling of her body. I smell the richness of fresh blood...

Then the full force of the Craving hits me in the stomach, and I jerk forward, sinking my teeth into her throat.

Two

HIM

My wife screams, panicked and terrified. She has just been tortured, had our baby girl ripped from her womb, and Antonio did who knows what to her before she escaped.

I know she can’t suffer any more trauma. I know she’ll die if she loses any more blood.

But I can’t tear my new fangs out of her.

Her blood slides down my throat, an orgasmic taste that explodes on my tongue. I might have tortured her so badly she can no longer control her magic, but it still runs through her veins. Still makes it so fucking heady to consume. My senses expand until she becomes overwhelming. Her taste, her scent, the feel of her body against me blocks out all else. But it isn’t enough. I pull her closer with a groan.

It isn’t enough!

“Varius, stop!” she screams as she beats me with her fists, but her blows are weak, her limbs too drained of energy. Fear barrels into my chest, knocking my heart up into my throat. I know I’m killing her. I know I’m hurting her. I’m reminded of all the pain she suffered after I raped her, the last time I was lost to this madness. How she cut my mark from her skin, how she didn’t want anything to do with me. I betrayed her then, and I’m betraying her now.

And it’s killing me.

I want to stop.

I want to soothe her.

But my fingers dig into her skin, holding her still as she tries to pull away. I’m a slave to the bloodlust inside of me, can’t control my body even as my own mind rails against its binds, begging it to listen.

“Stop! Varius… stooooop! Help me! Maddox, heeeeeelp!”

I cry out against her throat, tears falling down my cheeks as my own wife is forced to beg for the aide of another man. But Maddox is still knocked out cold. Leno is helping Ezriel. There’s no one left to stop me.

And so I feed on the broken body of my little monster as she bleeds out through the hole in her stomach. As I press Bambi against her, squishing our little baby between us, I drink until my wife is dead.

With her finally drained dry, I pull back. I look down at her limp body in horror, and the full weight of what I’ve done rips an unholy noise from my throat.

I cradle her to me, screaming and crying and begging the gods to bring her back.

She came back to me, and I killed her.

She escaped from Antonio, only to die at home.

I climb to my feet, screaming for Sau.