Page 8 of My Dark Obsession

I edged closer to try and listen to what he was saying. He spoke fast, low and quiet and all I picked up was focus. I edged closer still.

“I said focus!” He snapped at me, his blue eyes annoyed as he glared at me leaning over his pile.

“On what!” I snapped back.

“Focus on your breathing, on yourself. Focus on how you felt when you appeared in the Dead Village.”

Well someone could have told me I was supposed to be doing something. I glared at Rí who shrugged and slid some of my hair from my shoulder.

I moved back and breathed deeply. Slowly.

Okay Amaya. Focus.

How did I feel when I woke up in the shack?

There was pain, definitely pain. Everything had hurt.

It had been a struggle to breathe; the blood clogging my throat and filling my lungs should have killed me.

But what did I feel? Disorientated, confused.

I had been struggling to walk, to breathe, to even think clearly.

My thoughts had been on my boys, how if I kept choking, I wasn't going to be able to get back to them.

Then I was walking fine, breathing freely.

I had felt strong. For the first time in my life, I had felt strong, I wasn't in pain.

And I was ready to act out on my dark thoughts.

The black mist that hadn't left my peripheral vision since waking up in this realm floated there. Always swirling and never quite within sight. A soft breeze blew by us, never once touching the mist.

The gentle wind picked the petals up, spinning them slowly around and around as if they were in a tornado. The steam was now a swirling mass of purple petals as they rose higher and higher.

Cole's eyes grew round as he continued to mutter under his breath. Whatever he was seeing or hearing, it couldn't have been good. The more the petals rose and spun, the more he paled, the bigger his eyes grew and the more uneasy Rí seemed behind me.

What were these spinning petals saying?

Then in one swoop, the wind stopped, and the petals dropped to the ground, now shrivelled and burned.

Cole turned to stare at me with anger and pure loathing on his tired face.

“Well?” I prompted.

“What trick are you playing on us? Hm? Where have you been hidden? What are your plans, Dark Witch?”

So I was a Dark Witch. I wasn't human. I wasn't from the human realm. So many new questions swam in my noisy head, I didn't know what to ask first.

A low growl pulled me from my thoughts as Rí stepped closer behind me once more. “Speak to her that way again Cole and it won't be just your liquor supply going up in flames.”

“How did I get to Wisteria? How was I even in the human realm?” I quickly asked as Cole's face scrunched up in anger and slight intrigue .

He paced back and forth, his perfect white shirt rustling as he brushed against the clusters of the hanging branches.

“Tell me exactly what happened, what was happening before you appeared here. Each detail.” He asked, giving me a calculating look.

And so I gave him each detail; the swollen eye, the punctured lung, the broken fingers and toes, everything going black. To ripping my poor eye lashes off to see. To being able to walk and breathe freely.

The more I explained, the more the clearing became heated. Petals fell faster as small flames burst from Rí’s hands as he also paced back and forth. The red of his eyes were bright and glowing more than usual. His jaw clenched so tightly I didn't know if he would be able to open his mouth again.

I would need to keep a wide berth of those flaming hands.

Cole stopped and stared at me; mouth slightly agape before saying, “I don't think you passed out. I think you died. And with your death, your Dark Witch magic somehow opened a crack in the human portal, bringing you to your true home, reviving and healing you.”

I died. Lyal had killed me.

That bastard!

That slimy bastard had gone too far and actually killed me!

“I WILL BURN HIS ENTIRE FAMILY! I WILL CUT OFF HIS–”

“He doesn't have any family” I added helpfully.

Rí’s chest heaved in his anger. The heat pouring from his body had sweat beading on my upper lip .

Gross.

“What hut did you land in?” Cole asked, ignoring Rí and his tantrum.

“Why?” I squinted at him, refusing to wipe the sweat now dripping into my eyes. What use were eyebrows if they didn't hold back the sweat!

“I need to see if the crack is still there–”

“-if it is, can I go back through?” Hope bloomed in my chest; I was a step closer to my boys. Adrenaline coursed through me at the thought.

His eyes narrowed at me, untrusting and hateful.

“I don't know which one. I fell through a door and the roof is missing, but half of them looked like that.” I answered, happy to help now I knew I could maybe get back to the twins.

He sighed and held his hand out, his nails perfectly trimmed and clean.

“Give me your hand. I'll take the memory and find it myself.”

Rí edged closer.

I gave Cole my sweaty hand.

Pain zapped through my body and travelled to my back. I arched and whimpered out in shock and pain. My back itched as if a thousand ants were crawling beneath my skin.

What the fuck.

That wasn't…

That couldn't have been.

“No.” Cole's eyes were huge, his face pale as he snatched his hand back and took two large steps back before literally spitting at my feet in disgust.

“I will never link to a Dark Witch.”

Rí’s angry growl echoed around the clearing as he charged towards the White witch. He grabbed him around the throat and squeezed.

“If ye’ ever disrespect my Mate like that again, I will end ye’!”

Cole sputtered and coughed before he placed his hand on Rí’s tanned forearm and sparks flew across the dragon man's skin. He shoved Cole away with a hiss that was more animal than man.

“So she is your Mate,” The witch sneered.

I wiped my hands on my pants, cleared my throat and cleared my expression.

Show them nothing, give them nothing and expect nothing.

The men turned and looked at me, one full of loathing, another full of rage and something else I couldn't figure out.

“I’m not here to find Mates. I want one thing. Are you going to the dead village or not?”

“You want to go back? Then yes, I'll go to the village, and I'll help you get back.

I want nothing more to do with you. I don't want your sickness or your taint. You can go back to the human realm and damn well stay there,” he said flatly.

His face shut down and I would have clapped at his ease at shutting down if I wasn't so detached right then myself.

“The council can’t be involved. They can’t know.” Rí injected.

“Like I want them to know this,” he sneered back, then with one final scowl at Rí, the witch kept a wide berth from me and left the clearing.

Turning to the dragon man, I kept my voice flat and face void of emotion.

“The fuck was that?”