Page 152 of Serpent In White
I should let Darian know what happened, but I have to tend to the girl first.
I come back to my office, opening the door slowly. But when I peer inside, she’s gone.
Squinting, I look around. Nothing is out of place, so I shrug it off. She probably got bored and left, to go find Abdiel or something.
The girl is a new piece of the puzzle. After what she said to me earlier, what I heard in her mind… There was an anguish there, one very familiar.
Sighing, I decide to go handle my business. I need to deal with the prisoner.
Leaving the lab, I get on my ATV and drive up the mountain toward the shack. It’s not a long drive, but my brain is scattered the whole time. When I get there, I push on the door and wander inside slowly. I lean up against the wall, exhausted mentally. And just knowing I have to go up there… To endure it.
It takes so much out of me. I wish it didn’t, but it does.
I carry the burden of who I am on my shoulders, like the weight of a thousand secrets and lies. They’re as heavy as boulders.
Thinking about the girl, my eyes close. She was afraid, vulnerable. Damaged inside, and the way she was thinking about it… this is something I recognize all too well.
Her need to reclaim control… To take her life back… It reminds me of someone.
My eyes fling open, sweat trickling down my temple.
Peeking at the clock on my bedside table, I see that it’s two in the morning. And when my gaze darts across the room, I find an empty bed.
Swallowing becomes impossible. I have so much saliva, yet I can’t gulp it down. My throat is thick and dry, closing up until I almost can’t breathe.
I rub my eyes and jump out of bed, walking as slowly as I can when all I want to do is run. But I need to keep quiet. Kara’s not home, working the overnight shift. Buthe’shere…
Passing his bedroom, I hold my ear up to the door. I hear snoring. But then I hear a different sound, in the room next door. The shower is running in the bathroom.
My hand trembles as I reach for the knob, not bothering to knock. I twist it and open the door, peeking through the crack.
“Dar?” I mutter. “You in here?”
He doesn’t respond, but I hear muffled cries.
Fuck… No.
Pushing my way into the bathroom, I dart up to the shower. Darian’s in there… on the floor. The water is rushing over him where he sits, propped against the wall. His shoulders are slumped forward, shaking with his ragged sobs.
My eyes have never been so wide at the sight of my brother, my best friend… my only friend… broken. There are bruises all over his torso, the shapes of fingertips and hands. And there’s a pinkish hue to some of the water circling the drain.
The pain in my chest is full and thick, an ache unlike anything I’ve ever felt. And it quickly warps, twists and rolls into an unbridled rage. A monstrous fury so vibrant I can barely see straight.
My vision blurs for a moment while every muscle in my body constricts in pure wrath.
I’m going to kill him.
The decision is made in that moment. No debating, no contemplating. It’s been written by the universe.
But first thing’s first, I need to help my brother.
“Darian.” I stumble to him, falling onto my knees by the edge of the tub, reaching in, not giving a fuck that I’m getting soaked by the spray of the shower.
I grab his chin and tug him to look over his face. There’s blood trickling from his nose, too. My jaw sets, my teeth damn near grinding to dust.
Darian is crying hysterically, though still keeping quiet as he does. Of course, we have to be quiet… so as not to anger the evil.
But it doesn’t matter. No more tiptoeing or pretending it’ll get better. I should’ve fucking stopped this weeks ago, the first time I saw the bruises. The first time I heard him come in after everyone was asleep. Every time Kara works her overnight shifts…
