Chapter 28 #2
She pushes past me to make her way into the room, taking a seat on the bed like she owns the place.
“You can continue cleaning.” She dismisses me with a wave of the hand, but pauses when I don’t move.
“This isn’t the bloodhouse, Celeste. Your father doesn’t own me anymore. I’m not here to clean.”
She turns to look at me as if the effort is too much.
“So, you’re a blood whore to a new master, great, you can leave.”
Rage thunders in my veins as a cold chill sweeps through my body.
I get the same feeling I do moments before I entice a vampire to drink from me.
I haven’t had to do it since coming to the palace, but I desperately want to make an exception.
Still, Karius’s reminder to keep our connection secret rings loud in my ears, and a dead vampire would only raise questions.
I blow out small breaths, trying to calm myself.
It’s ok, I tell Athriel.
I do not like how she is watching you. It is with a predator’s gaze.
I can handle myself, I remind him.
I feel him sink deep within the folds of my mind, my words a promise that he believes.
“I am not a blood whore,” I sneer.
She sweeps over to where I’m standing and wraps a hand around my throat, and then slams me against the wall. I suck in a breath, but my eyes remain on hers without faltering.
“Do you have a death wish?” she hisses.
I don’t answer, and her grip tightens on my throat. If not for Karius’s power rippling through me, this would hurt a damn sight more. I pretend to struggle more than I need to as she narrows her eyes at me.
“He might drink your blood. He may even fuck you when he’s bored, but you will always be a pathetic little human, and your only place in this world is to serve us.”
A growl escapes my throat at her words.
She squeezes tighter, and I know for a fact that she intends to kill me. She would have killed me by now if there was no power coursing through me. It’s obvious in the way her face twists with anger as she takes me in.
Rage fills every inch of me, and I desperately try to calm it, but I lose all control as flashes of Willow, Tori, and Jace come to mind. Of all the vampires who have ever thought it ok to abuse a human. No more. I seethe as a hot, fiery sensation fills my entire being.
Stop, I tell Athriel, but the command goes unheard. He is too angry and has gone into survival mode, and I can feel my control slipping.
Without a second thought, I slam my head into her face, sending her stumbling back.
Her eyes widen in horror as she tries to right herself.
She moves to attack, but I’m faster. I spin a second before she reaches me and drive my elbow into her back, sending her crashing into the wall that she just had me pinned against.
She turns quickly, a growl erupting from her lips as she runs at me.
She tries to slap me, but I move too fast for her, and I can tell that she has never had a real fight in her life.
She is nothing more than a pathetic bully who uses her privilege to pick on those beneath her.
Well, no more. No fucking more. This time, I’m the one to wrap my hand around her throat.
I pin her body to the wall and leave her feet dangling in the air.
She screams out in horror as she fights to remove my hand.
“What the hell are you?” she says as my hand constricts around her throat.
Her eyes begin to droop and I can tell she’s losing consciousness, but something inside me wants her dead — a bone-deep hatred tired of vampires pushing us around.
A flash of me snapping her neck and leaving her corpse on the floor fills my mind, and I nearly do it until thick, dark shadows form beside me and a hand shoots out, seizing my arm and yanking me across the room.
Ivana steps out of the darkness. Her eyes find mine, and in them lies a warning.
I look down at my hand in horror. What did I do?
I revealed everything. Celeste scrambles from the floor where I dropped her, and the fear on her face is palpable.
She clutches at her throat as she gasps for air, and a small part of me still mourns the fact that I didn’t get to kill her.
I try to push the raging anger away. Ivana steps up to her, a warning in her eyes that promises retribution if she speaks a word of what happened.
Celeste nods her head frantically and hurries out the door.
Ivana turns to me, her eyes wide with concern.
“I’m sorry. I don't know what came over me.” She moves slowly toward me, tilting her head as if assessing something. I remain on the ground where she threw me, my body still in shock.
She stretches out a hand, and I take it without hesitation. She pulls me to my feet, and a look of worry mars her beautiful face. She places a hand on my arm, and her brows raise in question.
“I don’t know what happened. I just got so mad.” She nods and then looks toward the bathroom.
I smile in understanding and make my way across the room. I hurry into the bathroom, closing the door quickly behind me.
I press my back against it.
What the hell was that? I ask.
A long pause fills the gap before Athriel’s voice fills my mind.
I do not know.
You’ve never been able to take control like that.
That wasn’t me taking control, Adina. You let me. When she spoke of Karius, your rage created a gap in whatever holds my powers.
No, I was telling you to stop.
What you tell me and how you feel are two very different things. I cannot act unless you permit it.
I rub my hands over my face in confusion, and worry fills every part of me.
The bond made me lose control like that?
I do not know, but do not get upset with yourself. She was a vampire, and she deserved it.
No. That is not an excuse, Athriel. I shouldn’t have done that. I put so much at risk by losing control like that. That can never happen again.
Perhaps.
Not perhaps. Never.
I’ve never felt a rage so visceral in my life. I had no idea what I was capable of in that moment, and that makes me a monster, the very thing I’ve spent my entire life hating. I cannot become that. Ever.