Page 18 of Jagged Souls

The goat towers above me, larger than any of the others. The ceiling stretches to accommodate him. He stares into my eyes, sucking my soul out through his gaze. Then he opens his mouth over mine and spews forth a fountain of maggots fat with the flesh of another.

They fall onto my face, then wriggle their way inside my nose and under my eyes. I struggle against the goat’s grip, but he’s holding me too tight. I gag, choking on the maggots crawling down my throat, but when I try to cough them up, more of them just fall in past my lips.

“You’re okay,” a voice says, soft yet firm. “It isn’t real, Varius. Come back to us.”

But Micha’s body is calling to me. She’s just there, and I need to save her.

But the bugs are suffocating me. They’re eating their way through my body, wriggling inside my lungs and limbs. I can feel them everywhere, and it’s only a matter of time before they make it to my heart.

“Micha needs you, Varius.”

I know! I’m trying to get to her!

Desperation claws at me. My heart is beating hard and fast. I can still hear her body being crushed under dancing hooves. The maggots haven’t made it to my ears yet, and I can make out every break of bone, everypopof an organ.

The goat spews out more insects. Centipedes, spiders, cockroaches. They all crawl across my face and through whatever holes they can find.

“Listen to me, Varius. Antonio has Micha, and we need your bond to find her. Whatever you’re experiencing, it isn’t real. Leno has drugged you. Now come back to us so we can find your wife.”

I choke on tears and bugs, feeling their legs and hard exoskeletons as they swarm down my throat.

“Come on, Varius. You’re too much of a control freak to lose to this…”

“No, I’m just too amazing with my pla–”

“Leno!” Maddox snaps.

“I’m done! I’m done. Jeez. Hold his head back. I need to pour all of this down his throat.”

“Fucking hel. Can’t you just puff some pollen in his face again?”

“No. Now hold him.”

The goat’s fingers press into my face, cracking apart my cheeks and jaws. I choke on suffocated screams as he opens me up further to his poison. The bugs crawl all inside of me. The goats dance faster on my wife.

Her intestines and brain matter spew across the floor. I reach towards her in a pathetic attempt to hold her as I die.

Then suddenly, the bugs are gone.

The goat in front of me turns into Maddox, while the goats behind me shift into Leno’s vines. The pain in my leg is still sharp and prominent, but it isn’t from decaying flesh being feasted on by cockroaches. It’s from my attempt to dig them out, the cuts of my knife having gone deep. Blood pours from a dozen wounds, and I’m suddenly aware that I’m still starving.

My eyes drop to my brother’s throat…

“How are you feel–” he starts.

“Maddox, get away from him!” Mother shouts from down the hall, having just returned with Aleric and Khalid. With them is a dark-skinned woman called Stormie, and I know she was brought in by Mother solely to control me. She’s a shielder, and if she wraps me in her magic, there will be nothing I can do to escape, but she won’t take Maddox too. Won’t leave him with me to kill.

I lunge forward, and my youngest brother falls back, his feet rushing beneath him to keep him standing. The vines around my arms, legs, and torso all tighten. I roar as I strain against them, the bloodlust urging me to kill them all.

Khalid steps forward, a shield over his face. He told me what would happen if my curse broke and I attacked our brothers. He loves me, but he is the reaper, and it is his duty to protect this family.

But he isn’t the one who gets to me first.

With a cocky smile, Aleric phases and lands directly in front of me. He grabs me by the neck. When he phases again, we appear in the sky above.

The cold air shocks me into compliance. The wind rips across my face, forcing me to narrow my eyes against the burn. I start to tumble, the g-force building.

As the vampire vanishes, I fall towards the Earth alone.