Page 76 of Venomous Lies
‘We?’I whispered confusedly.
“If you both are always this talkative, no wonder you space out.” Echo’s voice broke the silence outside of Cas and me. Careful footsteps approached, but he didn't get close. “Rest. I’ll be here when you wake up, then we’re going to talk.”
How was he here? I wanted to ask, but I was too exhausted. Emotionally, physically, magickally… I needed to rest before I tried confronting anyone.
But I still had to ask, needing to know just what it was we were going to talk about.
“About the dream?”
“About everything.”
Chapter 23
Unknown
UNKNOWN
White room with bright lights—that was what I opened my eyes to.
I blinked, trying to clear my vision, but to no avail. Hissing, I tried to cover my face to get away from it, and that was when I realized I couldn’t move.
Material banded across my head, my neck, my wrists, legs, and ankles, each point of contact keeping me in place.
As long as I didn’t shift… something I was sure the white coats were well aware of and prepared for.
“Is it ready?” Instantly recognizing the nasally voice, I grunted. “Getting this was a pain in the ass.”
A woman’s voice joined the conversation. “And you created enough collateral damage to draw too much attention.”
“I’m sure?—”
The woman cut off the nasally man. “Are you? You need to keep your beast on a shorter leash, Thatcher. All you’ve done now is draw more unwanted attention.”
“They were wastes of spots in the program,” the man,Thatcher, stated stubbornly. “Barely any potential?—”
A loud grunt echoed, soon followed by rough coughs.
“A call thatImake,” she replied coolly. “Inject the blood and stay here to monitor how it goes. If it expires, get rid of all evidence related to it.”
The click of her walking away, then she was gone.
A too-familiar face appeared above me.If only my vision had stayed hazy so I couldn’t make him out.He had a long needle, an instrument I’d learned of a long time ago, in his hand.
“Don’t fight it. Just accept it,” he urged me as he brought up the needle and pushed it into my vein.
Black lines appeared in my skin, crawling slowly at first before quickly climbing up my arm and digging into my skin at the same time. It felt as if the lines dug into me, like sharp spikes, as it moved.
I was used to pain, to being uncomfortable. As my body transformed, bones would grind together, parts of me breaking apart and snapping, but nothing compared to whatever this was.
These weren't the painful sensations that I was used to.
Ithurt.
A scream clawed its way out of my throat, roaring into the room loudly enough that the man above me began to curse. The sound of shattering glass joined my screams.
I wanted to be free of it.
If I could have moved, I would have tried to claw it out of my body, tearing into myself to get it out.
