Chapter Fourteen #2
Byron threw a scowl at the Wraith over his shoulder, but Terence just huffed a laugh.
I pulled Byron’s face back towards me and gave him what I hoped was a reassuring smile. “I know what I want to do. To be honest, I think I knew what I was going to do the minute Astrid gave me his card.”
“Okay,” Byron said firmly as he took my hand in his and stood back by my side.
Terence looked at us with an overly dreamy glaze in his eyes. “You guys are just too cute.”
Byron pulled his gun out if his holster and aimed it at Terence. “Stop being an asshole.”
“That’s not going to kill me,” Terence chuckled.
“I know, but it’ll make me feel better,” Byron growled through gritted teeth.
I was too wound up to find his actions adorable, but I didn’t want to piss off the one guy who was capable of finding my missing memories. “Byron, just put the gun down, and Terence?”
“Yes,” he said with an asinine grin.
I gulped. “I agree to your terms.”
He clapped his hands gleefully and stepped closer. “Perfect. Now we just need to log it in the Codex and then I can give you what you need.”
He pulled out a large leather-bound volume from the folds of his robe and a gold fountain pen with a purple orb shimmering at the end of it. “Your hand please.”
I extended my hand to him, and he jabbed the end of the fountain pen into the tip of my forefinger.
“Ow,” I hissed and went to suck the blood off it, but Byron beat me to it.
He grabbed my hand and pulled my finger deep into the wet heat of his mouth.
His tongue wrapped around the digit, and he sucked my finger clean.
Memories of him doing the same thing to my cock filtered through my mind and my cheeks flushed as he watched me with a dark hunger in his eyes.
“Sorry to break up this delicious morsel of a moment, but could you sign here?” Terence said as he held the pen out to me.
I pulled my finger from Byron’s mouth, loving the way his tongue rasped against my skin and grabbed the fancy gold pen. Terence held open the book and on the page was my name and the agreement we were making. A handful of memories in exchange for a favour to be taken at a later date.
A favour that couldn’t be refused. Sounded simple enough.
Byron squeezed my hand as I signed my name on the dotted line.
“Perfect.” Terence closed the large book with a snap and hid it back in the folds of his robe. Then he pulled out a small glowing jam jar and handed it to me. “When you’re ready, drink this. It will restore what you have lost.”
I took it from him and looked at it closer. The liquid inside was thick, black and full of small glowing silver particles. “Thank you.”
He snorted. “Once you’ve got your memories, you won’t be thanking me. Now, I need to get back to my girl. Have fun you two and make sure you invite me to the wedding.”
Terence disappeared in the same way as he arrived, through a swirling black vortex, but I wasn’t focussed on him. All my attention was on the little jar in my hand.
There was no point in waiting. I’d probably find an excuse not to do it and then I’d never find the closure or self-understanding I was seeking, and I’d probably die in ignorance.
I stared at the jar. No. My father wouldn’t win. He wouldn’t have this part of me.
I unscrewed the lid and quickly tipped the contents down my throat. I grimaced at the taste, and it was gloopy as it slid down into my stomach.
“What now?” Byron asked as his hands settled on my hips.
“I guess, now we wai—”
Pain exploded behind my eyes and a knife scraped across the inside of my skull.
“Wilder!” Byron shouted. He sounded panicked. That was a first.
My heart rate spiked and I couldn’t breathe. I gasped for air but found none. My magic sputtered and died in my veins, abandoning me. Fuck, I hope it settled in Byron. I hoped he’d keep it safe.
My knees crumbled, my heart stopped, and the world went black.
Hands swept my sweaty hair from my forehead.
“Just once more, Wilder. You can do it, can’t you?”
I whimpered. I was exhausted. My brain was fuzzy, and I’d lost all sense of time. All I could feel was pain. “Father… please….”
He cupped my face and tipped my chin up. “Do this one thing for me, son.”
“Please,” I sobbed as I looked into those harsh green eyes. They were so cold. So empty, but I leant into his touch. I wanted to feel something close to love even if it was a lie.
My father’s face morphed into a snarl. “You’re pathetic. This is what you were made for, and you can’t even do that. Maybe this time, I’ll just leave you dead.”
He doused me with ice cold water again and it was like the pain of a thousand needles scraping my skin. But this wasn’t even the worst of it.
No, the worst was yet to come.
My father walked over to the switch on the side of the machine and pulled it.
The generator fired up before the shock of electricity shot through my veins.
My entire body jerked and tensed as my nerves spasmed under the voltage.
I screamed in agony as my father held me there, suspended with my arms stretched wide and metal coils around me to catch my magic.
I’d lost count of the times he’d brought me to the edge of death just so he could siphon me. Eight? Nine maybe?
All I knew, was that I was more dead than I was alive now.
Surely there was only so much I could endure before I never came back…
“…this isn’t right, Wilder. We need to leave.”
Dara’s hair was all over the place, like she’d been dragging her fingers through it.
I was so tired. All I wanted to do was sleep.
Our father had been particularly brutal this time.
Dara started throwing things in a bag, but my eyes were heavy.
“No, no, no.” Dara tapped my cheeks. “Stay with me, Wilder.”
But the pull of the darkness was too strong…
…I jolted back to consciousness and yelled in agony. My entire body was in pain. I didn’t know what day it was, what time it was, anything. The only reason I knew that I was alive was because I could feel the pain.
The world was fuzzy as I opened my eyes and I as I looked up, I saw several faces behind the glass wall in front of me. My father was talking to them, but I couldn’t hear him.
“Father?” I groaned, but he didn’t turn around. “Father?”
“Ah, Wilder, you’re awake.” His voice boomed through the intercom and ricocheted around the cavern. “We’re going to put on a show.”
What? Why were all these people here?
“This boy will grow into one of the rarest witches known to man. A Shadow Witch,” my father explained.
There was an audible gasp from the collection of people.
“Are you sure?” someone asked.
“How is that possible?” came another voice.
“In ten years, he will come into his full power. What you will see today is a mere fraction of the possibility of what you could siphon. Imagine what you could do with all that power,” my father said, his voice full of confidence and charm.
“I will show you a demonstration of what he’s capable of and then we will start the bidding. ”
The bidding? Wait… was he selling me?
Oh God, Dara was right. We should have left when we had the chance.
“If you could all put on the glasses,” my father said. “And then the fun can begin.”
“NO!” I screamed. “Father, please!”
But it didn’t matter. The electricity shot through me and my heart spasmed, jolted, and eventually stopped.
I awoke with a scream, my hands scrambling for purchase as my body flew up.
Hands grabbed me but I fought them. “No. Let me go!”
“Hush, it’s okay, Wilder. It’s me. It’s Byron.”
A sob wrenched itself from deep in my chest.
“Breathe for me, baby,” Byron said softly, his lips pressed to my temple as he held me tight to his chest. “I’ve got you.”
I tried to take a deep breath, but it got caught in my throat, turning it jagged and raw as it passed my lips.
Bile rose up my throat, and I dived from Byron’s arms and lunged for my bathroom, making it just in time to empty the contents of my stomach.
When I’d finished, I collapsed to the floor, lost and drowning in the memories I’d regained.