Page 1 of The Stone Curse
CHAPTER 1
THE AFTERMATH
The graynite took to the air with Serath dangling, limp and lifeless, from its talons.
A roar filled my head, and the world vanished.
“Cam! Cam, come back. Come back, please,” someone cried.
“Hold her, hold her down,” another voice, familiar yet distant, ordered.
A scream. A wail of anguish, and fire raced over my skin.
Bands circled my wrists as sobs rose in the distance.
“Oh god. Oh god. Please help her. Help her.”
“I’ve got her. Cam, I’ve got you.”
Serath? No. Not Serath. Serath was gone. Serath was dead.
No, no, no.
I allowed darkness to take me back under.
“Cameron, can you hear me?”
I knew this voice even though I hadn’t heard it often.
“Cameron, you should have come to me. You should have told me. I would have helped you. Protected you.”
Fuck off, Lionel. I’m happy here. Safe here. It’s dark, cozy, and warm, and I want to stay.
“You need to come back. You need to surface. I’m your sire, and Iwillprotect you.”
I wanted to remind him how he’d never done anything for me before, but that meant speaking, it meant surfacing, something I wasn’t eager to do.
But even if you do say those things, they’d be a lie.
I squeezed my eyes shut against Derek’s voice in my head. I didn’t want to follow this train of thought.
He do something for you. He give you Romi.
Romi.
My brother was in danger.
But Serath was dead.
The darkness hugged me tighter. Desperate to keep me.
Romi alive. He alive and he need you.
No, no, no.
Time for us to wake up, my Cameron.
I hate you.
