Chapter Forty-One
Vhaena
MEMORY
Not all nightmares happened in sleep. They weren’t always something the mind made up, twisting reality into false, violent images. They could be inescapable situations. Unspeakable experiences. Deformed memories. They could even take the form of something living.
Like this man—one so cold and cruel that his presence haunted my world, bringing it to a screeching halt.
I couldn’t think. I could hardly breathe. And I wasn’t even sure if my heart was still beating as everything else inside me stilled in fear. The surroundings blurred at the edges of my vision as my sole focus zeroed in on the threat before me.
It didn’t matter that he had on a mask. From his voice alone, I knew it was him.
He didn’t even bother to alter it like Daemon had.
Like the predator he was, he stalked around us. I didn’t know how I didn’t see it before. It was unmistakably him. From his cadence, the way he held himself. The other blue-masked demon was Daemon’s brother. The same one who had bitten me, poisoned me with his venom.
“Vhaena.” My name on Asher’s lips was a vile sound as he slipped off his mask to reveal a scarred eye. “I have to admit, I’m impressed you’re not dead yet. How’s the shoulder?”
Daemon growled low in his chest, the sound inhuman, and Asher’s attention snapped to him.
My body vibrated, trembling with so many emotions, I couldn’t even keep track of them.
“Asher,” Daemon warned darkly. “Turn around and leave. Out of respect for our mother, I’ll let you walk away just this once.”
“How about you leave? We have unfinished business. Don’t we, Vhae?”
“You don’t get to say her name,” Daemon snarled, taking a step in front of me.
Asher grinned. “Yet, I bet you let her scream yours.”
Daemon didn’t respond.
Asher bent over himself, laughing hysterically. He looked at Daemon with a cruel smile.
“Vhae has the sweetest taste, doesn’t she?”
My breath hitched, and I tensed.
“Ah, you don’t know, do you brother? She never told you.” His eyes cut to me. “Such a good girl, doing what you’re told,” Asher praised, but it made my skin crawl.
Daemon’s hands fisted at his sides. “Tell me what?”
“Aw, Vhae. Should I tell him, or do you want to?” He took a step toward us—toward me—his fangs elongating as he smirked.
“Promiscuous actions have consequences. It’s all your fault—your brother being slaughtered, leaving your mom all alone, getting yourself into the Hunt.
And our human-loving Daemon…you’ve even convinced him to unleash himself.
Corrupted the one person who fights his inner demon. ”
Daemon’s jaw tensed, and I could see the fury trembling beneath his skin.
Asher turned to Daemon. “And you let yourself be with someone so soiled. What did she do? Spread those pretty thighs in exchange for safety? She’s the town slut that everyone hated so much they wrote her name down to get rid of her filth—and you still slept with her. What did she say to convince you?”
What a load of shit…
“You want to know who’s truly the one responsible for everything?
” My voice shook with rage. I had been through enough shit this last year, I wasn’t taking anymore from him.
“You want to know who started the rumors that ruined my life, who got me voted out of the town as a sacrifice, who got my brother killed?” I pointed a shaky finger at Asher. “It was him!”
One year ago
I didn’t have a reason to visit Daemon. I didn’t need one. Not today. No food as an excuse to see him this time. Just me and my desire to be near him.
No more excuses.
I’d spent all afternoon pacing back and forth, gathering the courage to just show up at his house and end this silence between us. If he wasn’t going to be the first one to say anything, then I would.
No more silence.
We’d had years of unspoken words between us, and enough was enough.
With my head held high, I dashed out the door.
My stomach fluttered with nerves, and I had to shove away the thoughts of doubt because I wasn’t letting them stop me.
I forced myself not to run, and I had to bite my cheek to keep from smiling.
I hadn’t been this excited in… Well, I don’t think I had ever been this excited. Not like this.
I rehearsed what I was going to say to him in my head over and over, but I still couldn’t figure it out.
“Daemon, I lo—”
Nope. Absolutely not. That would just scare him away.
“Daemon, I know we’ve been staring at each other for years, but I don’t want that anymore. Let’s kiss.”
Wow, I really needed to come up with something better.
“Daemon…”
What was I even going to say? That I was tired of never touching him?
That I never stopped watching him from across the room, wondering if he felt the same way I did?
That I wanted to feel his breath against my lips, his body against mine, and to fall into something we weren’t supposed to want?
To be by his side every day for the rest of my life?
I sighed, nearly tripping over my feet as I turned down the road. I was definitely going to make a fool of myself. And I didn’t care.
I headed toward the Corse family compound.
They owned a large piece of land just outside of town, and each of them had their own plot.
Daemon’s house was the first on the dirt road and the closest. Since he was the older of the two brothers, he got to choose his multi-acre plot first when he was old enough.
His parents had the plot at the end of the road, and his younger brother, Asher, had the plot between them—all of them far enough apart that they couldn’t see each other.
I was glad when he built his house because I hated having to walk so far when he lived with his parents.
I made it known many times, so when he chose the closest plot to town, my feet thanked him.
I was almost to the dirt drive that led to his house, off the Corse compound road, when I ran into Asher, nearly bumping right into him.
“Aren’t you in a hurry?” His smile was crooked, letting out the sharp scent of potent liquor.
“Yeah, sorry. I just wasn’t watching where I was going,” I breathed.
Asher’s eyes looked me up and down. The hairs on the back of my neck stood, and I suddenly felt uneasy.
“You coming to see me?” His words were slightly slurred. He reached out and ran the back of his finger down my arm.
“No… Actually, I was—”
He tsked, as if he didn’t hear me speak.
“You always did find a silly reason to come over when we were kids. I knew you’d come to me eventually,”
“No, Asher.” I shook my head and leaned away from his touch. “I don’t know where you got that impression, but you’re mistaken. I’m not here for you.”
What has gotten into him?
I stepped sideways, but he blocked the passage. I leveled him with a stern look.
“Move aside, please.”
He glanced down Daemon’s driveway. It was long and far from the road, but I could just see the roof of his house over the tops of the trees.
“You’re here for him,” he spat.
I nodded more eagerly than I intended, but I wasn’t ashamed.
“Daemon. Daemon. Daemon. I’m sick of him getting everything handed to him despite being such a pathetic fuck-up. A good job falling in his lap, friends, women fucking crawling to his front door,” he scoffed, curling his upper lip and glaring at me. “He’s weak. And you’re making it worse.”
I swallowed. I didn’t know what he meant by that.
Asher had always tried following Daemon in everything he did but never managed to quite do the same. Where Daemon instilled loyalty, Asher demanded it. When Daemon walked into a room, his presence was welcoming while Asher repelled everyone with bitterness and arrogance.
“Daemon got a good job because he’s worked hard for it. He has friends because he’s devoted to those he cares about. And I’m not crawling to him. I’m just going over for a visit.”
I made to move around him again, but he grabbed my arm, squeezing painfully. He pulled me forward and slammed me to the ground. My nose stung, and my eyes watered. I hadn’t even had time to react or try to break my fall.
“You are going to crawl in the dirt like the filth you are,” he growled and shoved my face down in the soil. “You think you’re good enough for a Corse?”
Asher’s knees pinned my legs down. His hand shoved up my skirt.
“How about being defiled by one?”
Dust flew in my mouth when I opened it to scream. I fought. I begged. I kicked and thrashed and did everything I could to get away.
None of it mattered.
He didn’t stop.
He left me on the ground when he was done, pressing his boot to my back while I bled from the tears between my legs.
“If he wanted you, he would have been with you by now. He could have anyone he wants. At best, he only wants you to put out. But I won’t let Daemon lower himself to be with you, especially not after he finds out you fucked his brother.”
My tears had turned the dirt beneath my face into mud right next to the bile I’d vomited.
“I didn’t fuck you. You raped me,” my throat let out a hoarse whisper, raw from the screams that no one heard.
“Oh yeah? Who’s going to believe a nobody whore over a Corse? Hmm?”
He removed his foot from my back, and I scrambled to my knees, backing away from him. I kept my eyes on his feet, unable to stomach looking at him.
“Vos…” I whispered in a plea. “Vos will. He’s Daemon’s best friend.”
“Not even Vosten would believe you. He’d have to accuse Daemon’s own flesh and blood. Especially for something so heinous—tarnishing the family name. Like you said, Daemon’s loyal and dedicated to those he cares about. Who do you think he’s more loyal to? His buddy or his family?”
I… I didn’t know. Daemon loved Vosten, but Asher was right. He was loyal to his family, too.
“Better yet,” Asher continued, “what would happen to your twin if he made such an accusation against the most powerful family in town? Hardly anyone would miss him.”
His lips spread into a disgusting smirk.
He grabbed my throat, pulling me to a stand with his sweaty hand then leaned in to whisper in my face in a voice I’d never heard from him.
“You’re not going to say anything in order to protect your brother. You don’t want to. No one’s going to believe a whore anyway.”
I opened my eyes after I finished voicing the memory out loud for the first time, pushing away the rest of that night after Asher let me go.
I had scrubbed my body in the bath that night and the night after and the night after that until my skin bled, yet I still felt his touch even after the water turned cold. But I never cried. I wouldn’t let myself shed a single tear for him. He didn’t deserve it.
I sucked in a deep breath, staring Daemon in the eyes.
“I never went back down that road again. The rumors started almost immediately after that, and within a few weeks, the whole town had turned against me. I never told anyone. I didn’t want Vos to lose you—or worse, his life.
I didn’t know if Asher’s threat held any merit, but I wasn’t willing to risk Vosten to find out.
I was convinced that you would be more loyal to your family.
I had also assumed that, since he’s your brother, Asher told you.
And if there was a chance that you were anything like he had said, anything like him…
,” I wouldn’t look at Asher. He didn’t deserve my attention.
“Then I wanted nothing to do with you. But I wasn’t going to jeopardize your relationship with Vos either. Not over one single incident.”
I released a shaky breath, knowing I messed up long ago.
“I’m just one person. I figured I could lay low, and it would all eventually blow over. I just didn’t expect things to turn out the way they did.”
Daemon didn’t move. He didn’t even blink. He just stared.
Then he backed away from me.