Page 89 of Lunar Desires
I almost committed mass murder…
“No…” I said. “No…”
I might have been skirting the edges of a dark pit, but this took the damn biscuit. This went beyond my comprehension, my entire being not built to cope with this. Dangerous forces drove an infected stake into my soul, poison seeping in, infectingeverything. Ruining me, spreading to my sparkle with deadly tendrils.
To strangle.
To end.
To defeat.
If Drake hadn’t shot me, we’d all be dead, along with so many civilians. A twenty-mile radius from this point extinguished so many lives in one swoop.
Friends. Colleagues. Family.
Mum and Peter dead.
My friends Danny and Lee dead.
Carol and the rest of the fabulous library crew dead.
Because of me. Because I couldn’t keep a cool head. Because I let the dark slither in, corrupting me.
Dead.
Dead.
Dead.
The horror sickened me to the core. Breaking me. I collapsed onto my side, bursting into tears. I curled into a ball as guilt tormented me, ravaging everything I had. Kicking, stomping, leaving no part unbruised.
And I deserved it.
Oh, did I deserve it.
“Riley…”
The wind swallowed Drake’s voice, or maybe I pushed it away. It didn’t matter. Nothing mattered now. As far as I was concerned, I’d failed as much as my wretched uncle. Already. At least he’d had a few years to mess up. Not me. Straight away, I’d given in to a lust for violence, kicking down the first hurdle.
“I don’t want it,” I whispered.
Hecate could take this power and give it to someone better.
“Take it. Take it. Take it.”
A prayer from the damned.
A prayer from a total scoundrel.
“Please take it…”
Chapter 27
RILEY
The smell of cookies filled the kitchen.
Nothing like some late-night baking to lighten the mood.
