Chapter 13 Rhyland
Rhyland
Dani's scream pierces through the fog in my head, yanking me back to—wait.
The shadows still writhe around Lilith's throat like living nooses, exactly where they were before that nightmare started.
My hands shake as I try to process what the fuck just happened—was any of that real?
Cold sweat soaks my shirt, and I can still taste the phantom fear of Dani's screams and pain.
But Lilith's still here, still caught in my shadow grip, her perfect makeup starting to run as she claws at the darkness crushing her—suffocating her.
Not lying broken on the floor. Not holding me down while some bastard.
.. The terror and rage from that vision still pulse through my veins, making it hard to separate reality from whatever mind-fuck the Soul Stone just put me through.
The bond throbs with Dani's fear from upstairs—real fear, not the soul-shattering anguish I just witnessed.
Or didn't witness. Fuck, my head is spinning, trying to piece together what actually happened and what the stone forced me to see.
These memories—these vivid, gut-wrenching scenes—they don't match what's in front of me.
But they felt so fucking real: the blood, the screams, the. ..
What the hell is this stone doing to me?
Jesus fucking Christ. The Soul Stone's power is more twisted than my darkest expectations—forcing me to experience my worst fears in full sensory overload. Not just watching them play out, but living every excruciating detail: Dani's eyes as that bastard—No. That wasn't real.
I scrub at my face, wiping away tears I didn't realize I'd shed. The image of Lucian's heart lying in its own blood refuses to fade from my mind's eye. This stone, this cursed piece of my mother's legacy—it doesn't just destroy bodies. It shatters minds first, leaving the soul in pieces.
Fuck that. My woman needs me intact, not broken by this corrupted power. The stone can keep its twisted nightmares.
My hands shake as I claw at the ring, desperate to get it off my finger.
The shadows retreat like smoke in the wind, but Lilith's body slams into me like a missile before I can process it.
We crash through wall after fucking wall, plaster dust and chunks of stone raining down as the ring goes flying, forgotten in the chaos.
Each impact feels like being hit by a semi, but it's better than letting that stone turn me into another shadow-drunk monster. My mother's power might be a seductive bitch, but I've got too much to lose to dance with that particular darkness.
My back hits solid stone with bone-crushing force, driving the air from my lungs. Lilith straddles me, her perfect face twisted into something demonic, designer dress now covered in debris and fury.
Copper floods my mouth as my fangs slice through my lip, rage and pain fueling every move.
The impacts rattle my bones like artillery strikes, but I catch her with a wild hit.
Her perfect face caves under my fist as she flies across the room.
I spring up, muscles coiled and ready for her next attack.
Dani's terrified screams pierce through me from above, each one a knife in my fucking chest. I don't have time for this ancient bitch's games—Dani needs me.
"Does it grate on your nerves, Rhyland?" Lilith snarls with sadistic glee, her perfect lipstick smeared with blood. "To hear her scream for you, and there's nothing you can do about it?"
I blur toward the stairs, desperation giving me speed, but she appears like a demon from hell, slamming me back with centuries of power behind her strike. The marble floor spiderwebs beneath me as I crash into it, the impact driving the air from my lungs for a second time.
The sound of Dani's pain is driving me fucking insane, but this sadistic bitch just keeps smiling, enjoying the show.
"Continere malum, protegere bonum, sigillum potentiae!"
Emily stands at the doorway, her hands weaving intricate patterns as she chants.
The air crackles with magic, thick and electric. Blue energy explodes from Emily's fingertips, slamming into Lilith like a tidal wave. The bitches eyes go wide with shock as mystical chains of light wrap around her body, forcing her back against the wall.
"Carcerem aeternum, vincula immortalia!" Emily's voice rises, and her eyes blaze with power. A crystalline barrier forms around Lilith, trapping her in a prison of pure magic.
Lilith screams in fury, hurling herself against the barrier, but it holds—each impact sending ripples of blue light across the surface. "You little witch bitch!" she snarls, her perfect features twisted with rage.
"Go!" Emily shouts between incantations, sweat beading on her forehead as she maintains the spell. "Get to Dani! I can't hold this bitch forever!"
I blur toward the stairs, every cell in my body locked onto Dani's scent.
Emily's spell holds Lilith in that barrier, but my mind can't shake off that fucked-up nightmare.
The similarities are too close, too raw—like the Soul Stone gave me a preview of my personal hell.
But I can't let that poison my head. Not now. Not when Dani needs me.
Lilith's rage-filled screams echo behind me, nearly drowning out Emily's steady chanting, but I've got bigger fucking problems ahead. Whatever's waiting for me upstairs, I swear to every god listening—it won't play out like that nightmare. This time, I'm ready.
The taste of Dani's fear in the air drives me faster, harder. Time to remind these pieces of shit you don't fuck with me and mine.
The door explodes inward under my assault, wood and metal shrapnel spraying across the room like deadly confetti. My vision narrows to a crimson tunnel as I take in the scene before me—rage burns through my veins hotter than any bloodlust I've ever known.
The bastard has his filthy fucking hands all over my woman's bare skin, holding her down while she fights with everything she has left. Even weak from blood loss, Dani's clawing and thrashing against him like a wild thing—my fierce little warrior refusing to break.
Her skin is painted with bruises and bitemarks, dried blood tracking down her beautiful neck where he's been feeding from her.
The sight of those wounds, of this worthless fuck's hands on my angel, ignites something primal in my chest. Something that makes the vampire in me look fucking tame in comparison.
I'm on this fucker like a demon straight outta hell, crushing his windpipe in my grip before his tiny dick-brain can even register he's fucked.
My other hand rips down, tearing off his pathetic excuse for junk—cock, balls, the whole worthless package comes off in a spray of blood and meat.
His scream is fucking beautiful, arterial blood painting the fancy-ass wallpaper like abstract art.
Somewhere in my peripheral vision, Dani curls into a ball, screaming—but the red haze of rage has consumed me completely.
I jam my thumbs into his eyes for daring to look at what's mine—they pop like overripe grapes, spraying juice and jelly down his cheeks.
But it's not enough—this cocksucker dared to taste what's mine.
His screams turn to gurgles as I grab his tongue—still stained with her blood—and rip it out by the root, taking chunks of his throat with it.
The wet muscle flops onto the carpet like a dying fish, blood bubbling from the gaping hole where it used to be while he gargles on his blood.
Still not nearly fucking enough for what he's done.
My power surges through me like hot lava in my veins.
I lock onto his blood with my telekinesis, feeling every drop flowing through his worthless veins.
His body goes tight as his own blood turns against him, choking as blood leaks from every orifice.
His hands claw desperately at his skull as if he can somehow stop what's coming.
One savage mental push is all it takes. His head explodes in a grotesque fountain of gore—brain matter and skull fragments spray across the expensive wallpaper. What's left of his face is a mangled crater of bone shards and tissue, his body twitching in its death throes as neural signals misfire.
Dani's broken whimpers slice through my bloodlust like a blade to the heart. I drop to my knees beside her, but she thrashes against my touch, fighting with the last scraps of strength she has left.
"No! No, get the fuck off me!"
Raw terror tears through her voice as she lashes out. Her fists pound my chest, nails raking skin—pure survival instinct driving her. Each blow, each scream, pierces my heart—my mate lost in a nightmare where she can't recognize me.
Her eyes dart wildly, seeing threats in every corner. The scent of her fear chokes me, mixed with blood and the stench of what those bastards did to her.
Each rejection burns deeper than any battle wound, but I'll endure it all until she finds her way back to me. They might have broken her body, but I won't let them shatter her spirit.
"Baby... baby, it's okay. It's me. I'm here.
" I keep my voice soft and gentle, even as rage burns in my chest at what they've done to her.
She's trembling like a wounded bird as I carefully cradle her face between my palms, needing her to look at me, and my heart fucking shatters.
Those bastards have turned her beautiful features into a canvas of violence—one eye swollen shut, lip split and bleeding, dark bruises blooming across her cheekbone.
Blood matts her hair where they slammed her head down.
"Look at me, Angel. I got you." I pour everything I am into those words. My fierce girl fought like hell, and I swear no one will ever touch her again.
The monster in me howls for more blood and more vengeance, but right now, my mate needs the man, not the beast. Everything else can fucking wait.
"Rhyland..." My name breaks across her fragile, broken lips.
Her beautiful eyes, that are like warm as summer sunshine—one swollen and bruised, finally focus on my face.
The fog of terror lifts just enough for recognition to spark in those depths I love so much—like a drowning person finally finding solid ground.
The moment she sees me something fractures deep inside. Her gaze holds such pain, such relief; it feels like my heart's being ripped out.
"Yeah, baby. I'm here. I'm…so fucking sorry." The words feel pathetically inadequate as she crumbles against me, her sobs tearing through my soul.
My angel buries her face in my neck, arms wrapping around me like I'm her last anchor to sanity.
Her naked body maps their brutality—bite marks ravaging her throat and breasts, bruises painting her skin in violent shades.
Her precious blood seeps from countless wounds, each drop, another failure carved into my conscience.
"Shh...Shh…I gotcha, Angel. Come 'ere." My voice cracks as I gather her broken form against me, moving with all the gentleness I possess.
She weighs nothing in my arms—too much blood lost, too much pain endured.
Her skin is deathly cold, her heartbeat a fragile flutter against my chest. Every shallow, pained breath she takes twists the knife of guilt deeper.
The question burns in my mind like acid: did that piece of shit rape her before I got here?
The thought alone makes me want to drag his worthless soul back from hell just to destroy him again and again, make him suffer for eternity for every mark on her skin, every drop of blood stolen, every second of terror she endured.
"It's okay, baby." I breathe into her blood-matted hair, pushing every ounce of love and protection I have through our bond. "Let's get you home. Where I can heal you, keep you safe, make sure nothing ever touches you again."
Her sobs gradually quiet into shuddering breaths as the tension bleeds from her body.
Even beaten and broken, she clings to me with surprising strength—those delicate fingers digging into my neck like she's afraid I'll disappear.
My fierce little angel—still showing that iron will even after fighting for her life.
The trust she shows, letting her guard down despite the horror she just endured, humbles me to my fucking core. I don't deserve it—not after failing to protect her.
My woman. My everything. The only light pure enough to pull me back from the edge of darkness. I'll spend the rest of eternity making up for failing her tonight.