Page 5 of The Madness Within

Just notwhat.

He’d killed Silas. Lied in court. Smiled when the verdict came down. The system held him up like a trophy, untouchable. Untouchable to them.

But not to me.

The third night, I left a message. Not words.

Teeth.

Two of them. Human. Child-sized. From the pouch he'd kept as a trophy, only now it was mine. Wrapped in silk, delivered to his office by a woman with no eyes and a smile like a cracked doll.

He didn’t sleep that night. I watched him pace from across the building, perched on a ledge like a gargoyle, the wind curling around me as if it, too, was hungry.

By the fourth night, he ran.

Good.

I love a good workout.

I followed him to the industrial zone, an abandoned warehouse. He didn’t know this city like I did. Every alley here knew my name.

Every wall bore my marks.

The air stank of rust and ghosts. Blood from decades past. The perfect stage.

I stepped into the open, slow, deliberate, dragging the sound of my boots against the concrete so he'd know I was there.

“Who the fuck are you?” he barked, panic in his voice now, sweat painting his collar dark.

“You know who I am,” I said, voice low, laced with old magic. “You knew the moment you saw my face.”

His eyes narrowed. “You’re that freak from the trial… The brother.”

I tilted my head. “Not anymore.”

I let my glamour slip, just enough.

My shadow stretched and split into antlers and claws. My eyes burned silver. My smile was made of things you don’t see in mirrors.

He stepped back. “You don’t scare me.”

I laughed.

Then Imoved.

Vampiric speed wasn’t just fast. It’s a scream through time. One blink and I was behind him, whispering in his ear, “Then why did you piss yourself?”

He turned to run, but I let the shadows grab him, living things, bound to my blood. They held him in place, tendrils curling around his legs like lovers, pulling him to his knees.

“Please,” he choked. “I didn’t mean to kill your brother. It was… An accident.”

“An accident,” I echoed. “You bled him dry.”

He paled.

“I saw it,” I growled, lowering my voice until it crawled beneath his skin. “You made him beg. You mademe.”

I let the glamour deepen now. The warehouse shrank. The air thickened with power. Magic radiated from my fingertips as I dragged my nails down his face, not to wound.

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