Chapter 23
Chapter Twenty-Three
Bella
Everything is destroyed, the illusion that is them destroyed, and I can truly see the sort of monsters they are.
How I haven’t noticed all this time that they are demons is beyond me.
You would think I would notice the kind of monster that’s haunted me for years.
Yet I had no idea what they were, or maybe I did but didn’t want to believe it.
Xavier and Blaine terrify me as I see them beating some invisible wall.
I can see the room filling with black mist, yet they can’t get through to me.
I turn my head looking for an escape, shocked to see Latham.
I blink, trying to figure out where he came from.
I see Xavier toss him across the room, but now I am sitting on his lap.
I rub my eyes before his snap into focus, and I see the demonic blackness of his eyes.
They look like bottomless pits, and I scream, trying to get out of his grip.
I need to get out of here. I need to get away from them.
I could make a run for the door, could sneak past them while they are distracted, and the mist would cover me.
I go to dash for the door when Latham rips me back against him, and I smack into him, needing him to let go.
His grip only tightens. I try to breathe as his hand grips my shoulder, his elbow digging into my hip.
I can’t breathe, his arm compressing my lungs.
“Stop hitting me, Bella. I am the only thing keeping you alive. Fucking stop!” he snaps, but I can’t breathe.
I bite into his arm, and he growls, the noise loud and vibrating off the invisible walls surrounding us. Then I notice the glimmer; it is some sort of force field. Latham is breathing heavily, yet I need to get out of here.
“I need you to stop. I need you to calm down. I can't fight my urges for you while holding them back, Bella. I don’t want to hurt you!” Latham yells at me.
Tears roll down my cheeks. They are going to take me to him, they are going to hand me over, or they will kill me themselves.
Latham’s arm loosens, and I suck in a sharp breath. The fear I felt was so cold, so slippery, I couldn’t rein it in. I couldn’t escape it.
The battering on the invisible barrier between them and us slows, becomes weaker, and light starts filtering through the mist. I can finally see clearly.
See Blaine and Xavier clearly. They dust themselves off; Xavier rubs a hand down his face before looking at Blaine.
My heart is pumping, and I am surprised it doesn't lurch out of my chest. All this time, I’ve feared one monster, yet I’ve unknowingly lived beside and worked with three.
Just my luck.
It did explain me losing days and time, forgetting events and making me wonder what they had been doing to me when they took those memories from me.
Blaine clamps a hand down on Xavier's shoulder, both breathing heavily, but looking normal.
I move, getting ready to run out of here, when their eyes fall on me in the corner with Latham.
Blaine's eyes widen, and I hear a deep purr, making me remember Latham, who I am sitting on. Turning my head, he is still breathing hard and moving his hand, which I now realize is actually on the barrier he’s created around us.
His hand cups my cheek, and I can hear my blood pulsing in my veins at the demonic look on his face, his purr turning into a growl.
One so menacing and slow it has a strange ticking noise that makes goosebumps rise on my arms.
“Bella, don’t move,” Blaine whispers, and I am surprised I can hear him so easily.
I remain still. I don’t think I could move even if I wanted to. I am paralyzed with fear.
“Latham, drop the barrier,” Xavier says, moving around to the side of it.
I am boxed in with someone that looks like he is about to tear me apart. I am not sure what is worse, but the look in his demonic eyes tells me there are worse things than being ripped apart.
Latham’s arms wrap around me, pulling me closer, like a boa restrictor trapping its unsuspecting prey, squeezing the air from its lungs before devouring it whole.
“Latham, you don’t want to hurt her,” Xavier tries talking to him, but his eyes don’t leave my face.
I can't bring myself to look away. Some part of me tells me that if I do, it will all be over. The moment I break eye contact, he will kill me. I hear movement behind me, Blaine's voice reaching me while Xavier tries to talk sense into Latham to let me go.
“He is locked onto your fear, Bella. The same as we were.”
I say nothing, frozen in place. Latham turns his head like he is examining something, almost like he is trying to see me.
“You need to stop fearing him. It makes it worse. Your fear is what he wants to feed on. Bella, you need to calm down. I can't influence you out here, and we aren’t strong enough to take on a demon prince,” Blaine says softly.
Demon prince? What the fuck is that supposed to mean? Like the devil's son? What the fuck does it mean?
My fear heightens at his words, yet I have no idea what Blaine means.
“Think of something else, anything else. Something that doesn't scare you. Something that makes you happy.”
I can’t help the chuckle that leaves my lips at his words. Happy? What the fuck is that? I haven’t been happy since I was a small child, and even that felt like a lifetime ago. Fear has always been in my life like a dark cloud.
Nobody had the father I did, and fear came with our lifestyle. Being chauffeured around as kids by men with guns under their suits. We might have been kids, but we knew what my father was. We knew what these men were for. Our protection. Even then, when we had everything, we feared the unknown.
Latham smiles. His smile is cold and cruel, sadistic.
“What do you fear most, Arabella? What is your greatest fear? I found nothing in your blood. What haunts you?” he asks, and my heart beats faster.
“Don’t listen to him, Bella. You need to ignore him. He likes to play with his food, you give it to him—” Blaine doesn’t finish, but I know it means I’ll be dead.
My head whips to the side angrily. “Was that supposed to not fucking scare me?” I snap at Blaine, when I feel Latham’s tongue roll across the skin of my neck.
Xavier makes a panicked noise. I freeze, holding my breath and feel his nose skim across my throat.
“Your fear is addictive.” He inhales deeply. “I can already imagine how sweet your soul will taste, how sweet your essence will taste as I absorb it.”
His nail runs across my throat, and I cry out. Tears prick my vision as I feel blood run down my throat before feeling his tongue lick it up. He growls softly, annoyed.
“Still nothing. Give it to me, Bella.”
“What?” I stutter.
“Your memories, they are gone. Why can’t I taste them? Why can’t I sift through them?” he asks, turning my face from side to side, looking for a way in to destroy me.
“I don’t know,” I tell him, and I feel my lip quiver.
I would give him whatever he wants if he just let me go. I don’t want to go there. I don’t want to belong to that demon. I don’t want to burn again.
“Latham, please. Please, let me go,” I whisper, and he laughs.
“I will never let you go. You are mine to do as I please with.” He chuckles as his fingers wrap around my throat.
“Latham!” I squeak as his fingers tighten, cutting off my air.
My lips part, and I can’t breathe. His grip is so tight it's crushing my throat. I can vaguely hear Blaine and Xavier hitting the barrier, but the sound grows duller and duller as my ears fill with pulsating blood trying to get through my veins. My eyes feel like they are about to pop.
His grip is so tight, my head feels on the verge of exploding, and my mouth opens, seeking oxygen. I am dying. He is going to strangle me to death.