Page 89 of Broken Shadows

My head flicks side to side fruitlessly as I fail to discover another solution. Ireallydon’t want to purposely put myself in such a vulnerable position.

Godsdammit.

I must.

I fill my lungs with oxygen, then strike out with my bloody claws.

Agony spears through my unprotected neck as the snake stabs its fangs into my skin and bites down. Utterly useless words spill from my lips. “Well fuck, not stuck after all.”

Venom flows into my bloodstream, branding everything in its path with an emotion I have no experience with navigating encased in Hellfire, and I stumble forward.

I grimace and suck in a deep, painful breath.

What the fuck is this feeling?

I squint into the trees and my chin quivers as a bloody, mutilated visage sways at the end of a noose. My knee cracks against stone, sweat beading across my brow, then I go utterly still.

Hanging from a noose derived from a gore splattered spinal column…

Evie’s.

Dead.

Fuckboy.

I don’t recall his name, but the emotion surging through me with the venom reaches a climax.

My shoulders draw up and I pin my arms to my stomach, curling in on myself. Maybe I shouldn’t have killed him.

The fuck? He touched whatis mine.

I swallow repeatedly as another face replaces the boy’s, but this time it’s not human, then I recoil as a demon’s revolting, rotting, smashed in face appears. I have no memory of killing or torturing this demon. Its unremarkable face could be one of the thousands I tore into. Yet, my heart curls in on itself.

Fuck, fuck, fuck.

My claws scratch at the side of my face.

What is happening to me?

My hands curl inward against my chest as I rock.

It’s then that I remember the rest of the problem.

A chorus of hisses rises in volume. I try to catch myself, but it’s too late for that. My legs lose all feeling and crumple beneath me, a loud crack ricocheting through my brain as my skull smacks into the hard ground.

“SHIT!”

Heavy, scaly bodies slither on top of me, striking me with their fangs wherever they can reach. My clothes shred as my shadows burn within me, snake after snake, adding their weight to the knot of slippery, slithering bodies. My madness roars within my mind, but I can’t acknowledge it, my awareness seeping from the blood pooling under my cheek.

Perhaps I should just give in. Lay here and let the fuckers have their way with me. An unhinged giggle cracks from my throat. “At least I'll make a good meal.”

A sharp fang stabs into the back of my hand.

I suck in a deep, stuttering breath as my vision blurs and my body loses physical form.

What the Hell?

I grip the sides of the Fallenmore Coven’s mirror, the rose design digging into my palms.

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