Chapter 37
Chapter Thirty-Seven
From the moment I sank my fangs into her neck, I could feel it.
Slithering through her bloodstream. Her blood tasted the same as before she changed, which quite shocks me.
The initial taste of it hitting my tongue overwhelmed me, so much that I felt my grip on her throat become tighter, bloodlust taking over completely.
But that’s not all I tasted. At first, I didn’t recognize what it was.
Well, until I felt its icy tendrils seep into me.
I knew something was wrong when I first sank my fangs into her but couldn’t figure out what until I felt it.
The darkness that has been plaguing her, addictive and sweet.
Yet so cold. I haven’t felt the cold since I was changed, but this was like ice cold, and I couldn’t help but shiver as I felt it consume me.
I tried to pull away, but I felt the darkness sink into me, refusing to let me go.
Making me crave it like a drug addict. I could literally feel it bleeding into my soul, scarring it as it left its mark there forever, tainting the darkest parts of me.
If insanity has a flavor, this is it, sitting on the verge between slipping from light to darkness.
Imogen wriggles trying to loosen my grip on her, but I just hold on tighter, refusing to let go.
I know I should have the moment I felt it, yet I can’t seem to pry my lips away from her neck, and after a while I don’t want to anymore.
My hunger becomes insatiable when I feel the darkness leave her, her blood changing taste to an entirely different level of purity and I can taste her magic .
Strong and powerful, flexing like a muscle as it pulses through her.
Imogen goes limp against me. Yet it still isn’t enough. I can feel the darkness leave her and creep over me like a snake wrapping itself around me. Tobias’s voice pulls me out of my hunger filled craze, when I felt him grab my hand that is on her waist.
“Theo, let her go, she is out.” His voice is stern and laced in panic. When I can’t let her go. He rips her forward, her body pulling from my grip as she slumps onto his chest. I growl, and it sounds foreign even to me. Sadistic and crazed.
“Theo, stop” he growls in warningly, before his claws dig into my arm and I realize I’m trying to take her back from him.
I freeze, realizing I’m being taken over by the darkness that consumes her.
I fight against it, shaking the feeling off though it never leaves, I feel it move about my body wriggling under my skin trying to find its way back in.
Tobias rolls between my legs, turning and laying Imogen beside him, her hair falling over her face.
She is so blue looking, drained of life, and the sight is quite shocking to witness.
Standing, I move to the window, forcing myself away from her.
Tobias glances at me and I can tell he is feeling through the bond, trying to figure out what is wrong.
My fangs ache in my gums, almost throbbing, the pain so great.
Hunger is something I usually have a good grip on, but whatever magic she possesses is throwing my control out the window.
“You okay?” he asks, brushing Imogen’s hair out of her face.
“Fine,” I tell him but the words slur from my fangs that are still protruding painfully.
“Shit, Theo, she is ice cold,” Tobias says, making me go over to her.
“She is fine. If she was dead, you would have felt the bond break. I can hear her heart still; it is just faint,” I tell him. He nods before tucking the blanket under her chin.
“What was that? I could feel it taking you over through the bond,” Tobias asks. I don’t know how to explain it.
“I’m not sure, whatever magic she possesses was dark and light at the same time. It wouldn’t let me go.”
“What do you mean, Theo?” He glances at her then back to me.
“I don’t know how to explain it. I have drunk from witches before, you can taste their element in their blood, but Imogen’s was different.”
“How?”
“Like, she tasted like all of them combined, like it was too much overpowering everything. To think I thought she was crazy when she said she wanted to take down the council. But after tasting whatever that was, I have no doubt she could.”
Tobias’s eyes flicked to me, and I can see the fear behind them.
“Whatever it is, whatever she is. Is light but also dark. It had a darkness to it. Like the more she uses her magic , the darker, it affects her. It was like teetering on the edge of insanity.”
“That would explain her mood swings then,” Tobias says, sitting up.
“No, it’s more than that, Tobias. It's addictive. The more power she uses, the more she will let it overtake her. Her magic scares me.” I don’t understand how she is strong enough to not give into it.
Can’t understand how she isn’t crazed by it.
The malevolence it brings is something I have never felt before. Twisted, dark and so cold.
I could still feel it running rampant trying to find a way to take me over. She is a newborn vampire with a power I’ve never felt before and being vampire it is like it was feeding off of her, like a never-ending battery source only strengthening it.
Now that it is in me, I can feel it trying to feed off me like a leech, trying to strengthen and take over. Making me want to give into the darkest parts of myself. It scares me knowing I want to let it. But if I feel like this, I can only imagine how she feels.
“So, what should we do?” Tobias asks, feeling my unease through the bond.
“I’m not sure, but we can’t let her keep harboring that sort of darkness. She will go insane, Tobias.”
“Did it feel like it lessened, though.” I thought for a second. Her magic did change toward the end, felt purer not as tainted and twisted.
“Yes, the darkness left her and went into me. I can feel it moving through me.” Tobias glances toward me, concern crossing his features.
“Can you handle it, Theo?” I can feel what he is asking. I have been controlling the darkest parts of me for so long, yet even I feel it try to taint me the way it does her.
“I’m not sure, maybe in small doses.” I can feel his thoughts running through his head and I know what he wants to ask but doesn’t know how to.
“I know what you want, Tobias. I can do it, but Imogen may not agree. She will feel the effects of it leaving her and I think she might not want to give up the power it offers.”
“We will see how she is once she wakes up,” he says before walking into the bathroom. I nod, not really liking the idea, but it might be my only choice. I know the sort of power she has will eventually become all-consuming if we don’t find a way to control it.
“She won’t be happy when she wakes up,” I tell him, imagining her anger that will be aimed at us.
“Tobias snorts, nodding.. “Hopefully you taking some of the darkness also took her anger,” he sings out from the bathroom and I hear him turn the shower on.
When he leaves the room, my eyes flick to her face, sleeping blissfully unaware of what just happened and the effect her blood has over me.
My gums tearing open and my fangs protruding just at the sight of her.
Getting up, I go into the bathroom, not trusting myself around her.
Tobias is in the shower. He opens the door, allowing me to hop in, but his scent is overwhelming with the steam heating the room.
“I need to go, Tobias; I need to try to run it out of my system.” I feel crazed and manic with hunger.
Tobias stares at me and I can feel it worries him.
He nods before leaning out of the shower.
I kiss his lips before darting out of the room, needing to get away from them before I feed on Tobias.
I know I won’t stop if I do. And I won’t risk hurting my mates.