9. Chapter 9
Josiah
Jerrod was now seething in a fury I had actually never seen from him in my entire existence.
He had always been so calm and flat. Nothing ever stirred him before her.
Before they had become bound. Camille quickly gripped his hands—the same way she used to do with mine.
She held them softly in her small hands and all I could see was red.
Then, she basically threw salt in the wound with her next statement.
“Imagine if you were in his position,” she said softly to him. “You’re going to hurt someone if you don’t calm down. Please… try to be understanding, because he deserves to be mad. He deserves to feel whatever it is that he is feeling and process the loss.”
The loss.
The way they gazed at each other, while my heart felt like it was going to melt out of my chest, made my blood boil.
She was supposed to be looking at me like that.
She was supposed to be mine, bound together, always.
Without any warning, my body moved on its own.
Before I even had a chance to comprehend what was happening, my fist had slammed into his face—knuckles cracking like a wrecking ball against his cheek.
“You backstabbing piece of shit!” I shouted. “You knew how I felt about her! You pushed me to her! You made me fucking go to her—to be with her!”
My brother didn’t even flinch as his eyes met mine. I could see the evident and unfettered regret swirling behind the pure rage burning in his eyes.
“I’m… trying really hard… to control my temper here—but if you come that close to hitting Camille again, I’m breaking every bone in your body,” he said smoothly through gritted teeth, eyes locked on mine in a challenge.
Was this prick being serious?
I looked at him in disbelief. Our eyes stayed on each other, unblinking, both of us too stubborn to break the silence. I looked away just for a moment and noticed the devastation around me, momentarily distracting me from our current spat.
“What the hell happened in here?” I said, baffled as I looked around the destroyed room.
The entire room was demolished. The table that we were planning on sitting at, was now nothing but shards on the floor.
There wasn't even a single piece of furniture that had been left untouched.
It looked like a bomb had gone off, but there had been no sound of a blast and nothing had harmed the people around us in the room.
“I’m having trouble controlling my new ability,” Jerrod admitted. “Emotions tend to get the best of me.”
“When?” I questioned and instantly regretted getting the probable response.
“When, what?” Jerrod responded in irritation.
“When did the ability manifest?” I asked.
“Immediately after I bonded to Camille.” Jerrod said back.
I sucked in a ragged breath. I knew that a new ability like this wasn’t a normal occurrence that happened with newly formed bonds.
From the look on everyone's face, we all knew it.
If anything, it solidified that Jerrod and Camille were true mates and that she had more than likely been pulled to him—through me.
The realization hit me so hard that my stomach churned with nausea.
“And what about Camille? Did she also get an unusual ability, too?” I asked softly.
“Uh… Visions,” she said sheepishly.
Their bond had irrevocably changed both of them, that much was glaringly clear. I wondered what, if anything, she had gained from me.
“Gods, this really complicates how I feel about everything,” I finally responded, as I rubbed the back of my neck. “Listen, I don’t have any more time left. Kyril or Athia will notice I’m gone very soon.”
“Who?” Camille asked, clearly confused.
“Athia is the Gilarian that took over Amelia's body. Kyril is the true leader of the Gilarian, not Athia. You guys, he’s bad news. I think he might be a species we’ve never seen before,” I explained.
“He can move like I’ve never seen anything move and I watched him drink a guy dry of his blood earlier today. ”
“Like a vampire?” Camille asked, eyebrow raised. She laughed. She actually laughed—like she didn't believe what I had just said.
“What is a vam-pire?” Kresh asked awkwardly.
“Vampire,” Camille corrected. “It’s folklore… on Earth. The usual consensus is that they are demons, they are immortal, super hard to kill and drink blood to sustain their immortal lives. But… it’s all stories, they’re not real. Like, scary stories you tell to kids, for entertainment purposes.”
“What exactly does he look like?” Jerrod inquired, moving on.
“He looks… well… kind of like a demon, I guess. Pointed teeth. He's got super long black hair and soulless eyes, but like… he has the most feminine face I’ve ever seen on a man in my lifetime.”
Camille gasped, “Beautiful Lucifer is Kyril! So he is basically the definition of a vampire.”
“Wait, you’ve seen him? How?” Josiah asked, concern clearly etched on his face.
“He was on the surface of Arion! He is a sentience disruptor. He had control of Camille’s mind, manipulating her thoughts and movements. Though, I don’t believe he actually knew it. You must be extremely careful in his presence,” Jerrod said, his tone suddenly deadly serious.
“I have to go,” I said ignoring his warning.
“I will come back with more information when I can. No one knows you’re here.
You don’t have long before they start infecting the residents of Earth though.
From there, I don’t know what’s next yet.
I don’t know how many there are, but it’s more than we ever even fathomed. They are in stasis.”
They all stared at me in horror, but I couldn’t take another second of being there—in that room—with her.
I had to get away from that situation. She was clearly in love with him and he was definitely in love with her.
It was not even a question in my mind anymore.
I could see it all over them. I didn’t say another word before I disappeared, and was standing back in my office.
I sat down at my desk and instantly wished that I had died with the bond, the way it was supposed to be.
It definitely would have been a much kinder outcome.
But, that got me thinking, why didn’t I die?
Why did I survive when that wasn’t what was supposed to happen?
Granted, this entire situation was so unorthodox, why not have an unorthodox outcome from the broken bond?
I put my head down on the desk and found myself zoning in and out.
The pain of the loss was like nothing I had ever experienced in my entire life.
I closed my eyes and just let the pain of it all burn through me, just like the fire that had destroyed the Gilarian and the bond during the severing.
My life was officially over now and I didn't know if I could ever move on from what had been taken from me.