Maddox
Shit.It’d been a long time since I’d visited the city. I wasn’t quite sure where I was; however, I did have human hands again. So, I had that going for me. Everything else sucked.
The city was too loud. The sirens blaring in the distance hurt my ears and made my skull throb. No matter where I turned, the smell of trash haunted me. Everything reeked. Here and there, I would catch other smells, but they were never good. It was always car exhaust or old vomit or stray cat piss.
Nothing was as it should be.
There was a new voice in the back of my mind. Its raspy voice chilled my bones and made me stiffen. The thing was beastly, always ravenous and filled with rage. There was only one thought that calmed the creature.
Addie.
I groaned and ran both hands over my face. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that I wasn’t human anymore. There’d been moments where I’d wished that I could go toe to toe with these supernaturals, but I’d never had this in mind.
“You’re alive!” Addie appeared, almost out of nowhere, and threw her arms around my neck.
Immediately, the scent of her hit me. It was so much stronger than anything around me. The aroma of earth and incense covered something more sinister. Though I could tell that the scent came from her dark power, it comforted me.
I held her in return despite the lingering anger still burning in my core.
If it hadn’t been for the power she’d hidden from me, then this never would have happened. Addie had drawn on my life force. She’d drained me in order to save herself. I didn’t know if I could forgive her for that any time soon.
However, I knew that, in time, I would eventually forgive her. That raspy voice in the back of my head adored her. The beast wanted to bow at her feet. It wanted to roll over so she could pet my stomach.
I jerked back at the thought.
Lip curling, I stiffened. Addie noticed the change in my demeanor. She jumped away from me. A flush crept up her neck and darkened her cheeks. The soft pink on her pale skin made me want to reach out and see if her cheek would be as tender as a rose petal. Instead of touching her, I tightened my hands into fists.
Too much had happened. Already, I could feel that second presence within me rising and growing. It hated how I’d pushed her away. It wanted me to run my hands all over her. The creature’s dedication to her terrified me. It would kill for her. All she had to do was ask.
I’d become the very thing I worked to put behind bars: a killer.
The potential had always been there. My heart had always been cold, warming only for a select few. I could disconnect and do anything. To keep myself from turning into a killer, I’d chosen to hunt them.
This new presence, the creature lurking deep within me, only amplified that part of myself.
I needed time to sort myself out. I hoped that, with a bit of solitude, I could come to some sort of treaty with the beast inside me. The creature could be reasoned with, I figured. Together, we would discuss my terms of existence.
And if the beast didn’t agree, I would find a way to end it for the both of us.
The beast growled at me. The sound hit so fast that it rattled my bones for a moment. I stiffened and shoved it back. The creature thrashed. I could barely keep it down. Something about it made it hard to grasp, even if it was only a voice inside myself. The beast seemed to slide between my fingers like a ghost.
“I’m not sure what I’ve become,” I said, my eye twitching.
Addie snorted. “Me either.”
I glared in her direction. “You’re really helpful.”
She shrugged. “Don’t look at me. I don’t even know anything about myself, let alone whatever is going on with you. This arcana came from my mother, and she died before I was old enough for her to tell me how toexist.”
Her attention seemed to hop from place to place, never staying put for long. I tried to see what she was seeing, but the world of the dead was still hidden to me. The ghosts that surrounded us were veiled to all but her.
When her eyes started to widen and she quickly dropped her gaze to the ground, I knew that a ghost had spotted her.
“Ready to go home?” I asked.
Not that her place seemed like a good idea, but I didn’t have any other options at hand. And it wasn’t like my new beast would let me leave her. It would fight me at every turn. I didn’t stay to take the easy route, but to avoid losing control again. I would use her as an anchor until I could get a handle on this.
Should she betray me again, though, it would start a war that I would be sure to win.