Chapter 30 The Pain Of Betrayal
The bitter taste of old blood coated my tongue, thick and metallic, and the dryness in my mouth only made it worse.
Then came the smell, musty and sour, the scent of damp walls and rotting air pressing close around me.
I forced my heavy eyelids open, blinking through the haze that clung to my vision.
Each blink felt like dragging through mud, my lashes gritty with exhaustion.
The world came into slow focus. What must once have been a white wall was before me, now mottled with sickly patches of brown and green, a decaying skin over old paint.
I lifted my head and immediately regretted it, a low moan escaping my lips as pain pulsed through my skull in relentless waves.
My throat ached for even a drop of water.
On trembling arms, I pushed myself upright, my muscles screaming in protest. My boots scraped against the rough, discolored concrete as I swung my legs off the narrow bed and planted my feet firmly on the ground. The sound echoed faintly, swallowed by the stale air.
I looked down at myself, half-expecting to find chains, manacles, something to explain the ache in my limbs.
But there was nothing. No restraints. Just bruises, dark and ugly, circling my wrists like cruel jewelry.
The memory of how they came to be flooded back in fragments, the shadows that had poured from Riley’s hands, the way they had held me in place, squeezing until I couldn’t breathe.
A shiver rippled through me, equal parts fear and disbelief. How had it come to this? How had Riley turned into something I could barely recognize? Was it an infection, something twisted and parasitic like in those horror movies, or was it something far worse… something unholy?
Something from another witch?
I rubbed at my wrists, wincing as the bruises flared beneath my touch, the pain reaching deep into my bones. The ache wasn’t just physical; it was something that had settled under my skin, an unease that would not leave.
I took a slow breath, my gaze sweeping the room.
It was small, windowless, and stifling. A single bed.
A cracked sink. A rust-stained toilet in the corner beside a tiny shower stall that reeked faintly of mold.
The light flickered above, its weak bulb buzzing softly like an insect trapped behind glass.
It was a prison disguised as a bedroom.
I rose to my feet, my legs stiff and sore, and began to move, stretching the tightness from my limbs as I crossed to the far wall. Every step was heavy, unsteady, and my mind was still fogged.
The only exit was the door opposite me. One that was metal and unwelcoming.
I swallowed hard, tasting blood again.
Whatever this place was, it was not meant for comfort.
It was meant to keep me here as a prisoner.
The irony wasn’t lost on me. I had expected this from who I knew as The General back when arriving at the prison. Only to find myself in utter luxury with every need cared for by Atlas. Never in a million years did I expect the man I had broken out of prison would be the one to put me in one!
I reached out to the door. The cold, hard surface beneath my fingertips, and I tried the handle, even though I knew it would be locked.
The resistance beneath my palm proved me right.
I had just begun to pull away when the faint scrape of metal on metal whispered through the room, followed by a soft click as the pins aligned and the lock released.
My stomach dropped.
I stumbled backward, retreating to the bed. My body moved on instinct, curling in on itself as I climbed up, pulling my knees tight to my chest. I barely had time to steady my breathing before the door swung open.
Riley stepped inside.
The sight of him stole the air from my lungs.
The darkness curled around him like a living thing, wrapping around his shoulders and arms in tendrils of shadow.
The dark veins that had crawled beneath his skin were harsher now, almost pulsing against his tan.
His eyes gleamed with a feverish brightness, a shade that wasn’t human.
My instincts screamed to run to him, to throw myself into his arms, to believe that this was still the man who had once made me laugh, who had once sworn to protect me.
But this wasn’t Riley. Not anymore. My chest constricted painfully as I took in what he had become, a living echo of the very evil we had fought against for years.
“So, you’re awake.” His voice was low and rough, and it sounded wrong.
He closed the door behind him with a sharp click and leaned against it, blocking my only escape.
His arms crossed over his chest, the motion stretching the muscles beneath his shirt, and one foot lifted to rest lazily against the metal.
He looked like a predator at ease, dangerous even in stillness.
“Riley,” I whispered, forcing my voice not to tremble. “Where are we?”
I kept my head resting on my knees, pretending to be smaller, weaker, trying to draw out whatever sliver of the real Riley might still be inside. He had always hated it when people were afraid of him. He would have done anything to make me feel safe.
But this Riley only watched me, his expression unreadable.
He didn’t even flinch.
“Can you believe this is the basement of someone’s house?
I don’t even want to know what the sick fucks got up to.
” He laughed, the sound hollow and jagged, his head jerking from side to side as though something inside him was trying to shake free.
Those blood-red eyes flicked across the room in erratic bursts until they locked onto a single point behind me.
I followed his gaze.
At first, I didn’t understand what he was looking at. Then I saw them, brown handprints smeared above the headboard, old and dried, the edges bleeding into the cracked plaster. Damp had faded them in places, but not enough to hide what they were. Blood. Human blood.
My stomach twisted.
When his gaze shifted again, it landed on the bed, and I flinched back.
That was when I saw the manacles, thick iron cuffs bolted to the frame, the rust running in lines like veins across the metal.
They were old, corroded by time and moisture, but something about the way Riley smiled told me he had already thought of a new purpose for them.
“Riley,” I said carefully, my voice catching on the dryness of my throat. “How did you get this way? You aren’t yourself.”
He tilted his head, that awful smile widening. The movement made my skin crawl.
“Nothing has happened to me, Alex,” he said. His tone was almost tender, as if he pitied me. “It is you who has changed. You’ve fallen for him, haven’t you? Completely. You’ve fallen in love with our enemy and thrown away everything you once believed in.” The accusation cut deep.
I wanted to deny it, to tell him he was wrong, that he didn’t know what he was talking about. But the words refused to come. My throat ached as I swallowed hard, the swelling from the ropes of darkness still tender.
And even as I sat there trembling, a part of me knew he wasn’t entirely wrong.
I had fallen.
Just not for him anymore.
“If you had found me peacefully and let me talk, I would have explained everything to you. Please, let me do that now. I have not been brainwashed, I swear it, just let me explain.”
He shook his head before I even finished, and I let out a sigh of frustration that scraped at my throat. There was no reaching him, not like this, not with reason. His mind was gone, his heart hollowed out by whatever had taken hold.
“Why are you holding me captive?” I asked, my voice trembling despite how hard I tried to keep it steady.
He pushed away from the door, slow and deliberate, his boots scraping against the damp concrete as he took a few steps toward me. Instinctively, I backed up until the wall pressed cold against my spine.
“I am doing this for your own safety,” he said, his tone calm in a way that made it sound almost rehearsed.
“I think you crossed the line a little,” I scoffed, my laugh sharp and humorless. Who was I kidding? He had crossed the line, set it on fire, and invited the devil to roast marshmallows over the flames.
“He is our enemy, Alex!” Riley’s voice thundered through the small room, echoing off the mold-stained walls.
He threw his arms out, and the shadows that clung to him responded, writhing around like living smoke.
“He destroyed our lives! I have always said I would do whatever I had to do to keep you safe.”
The words hit me harder than I expected, because once upon a time, they had been true. Riley had kept me safe. But this man standing before me wasn’t the one who had held my hand when I was terrified or made me laugh when I wanted to cry.
I averted my gaze, staring at the gouges carved deep into the plaster, claw marks from someone who had been desperate to escape.
Maybe it was a warning. Maybe a ghost of my own future.
My chest tightened painfully. I didn’t want to see him like this.
The man whose voice had once been a comfort was now cold and empty, the same mouth I had kissed now twisted into something cruel.
I forced myself to look up, to meet his eyes even as fear coiled low in my stomach. Slowly, I stood from the bed, my muscles aching with the motion. I expected him to lash out, to grab me, to hurt me. But he didn’t.
He just watched me.
His entire body was tense. Those crimson eyes flickered with something unreadable, something that almost looked like pain, before the darkness pulsed again beneath his skin, swallowing another piece of him.
“What is this darkness that is consuming you?” I whispered. I took one step toward him, cautious but deliberate. He didn’t move.
“You have been my entire world. I will never let anyone harm you.”