Chapter 62 – Blaming Erica

Chapter 62 – Blaming Erica

Erica’s POV

Everything after Lucien vanished was… a blur. Or maybe not. I remember pieces. Blood. Screaming. A hole in the wall vomiting red light, Edward’s blood on my hands. Elijah stayed frozen like a statue. Then doors flying open, people flooding in, shouting, touching, too much.

Someone yelled “Contain her!” and for a second I thought, who? Me? No. It couldn’t be me.

Edward was coughing up blood, trying to talk, and I swear my brain just… stalled. He wasn’t healing. That was wrong. He always healed. He had to heal.

He tried to reach for me. Or maybe I reached for him. I can’t tell anymore. Some healers they were able to call on dragged at him, but he kept looking at me like if he blinked, I’d disappear.

Then Elijah, finally, moved. Whatever spell Lucien left in him cracked apart, and he yanked me behind him like I was something worth protecting. His chest was heaving, his eyes still glowing gold. He looked wild. Not the good kind.

Then came the professors. All of them. An old man in front, silver hair, too many rings, barking questions. “What happened? Where’s the body?”
Body, he said it like Lucien was just another thing to file a report on.

Then they looked at me. My wrist was glowing. I tried to keep it out of sight, but it was too late. Someone hissed. Actually hissed like I was filth.
“She must be the one who summoned him.”
“I didn’t!” I screamed, but no one cared.

Two guards grabbed me hard. Edward tried to move again, blood still dripping from his mouth. “Don’t—” he tried, voice shredded. “Let her—”
A hand pressed his chest. “You are injured. Do not interfere.”

“Let her go,” he rasped. They didn’t.

They dragged me, I felt my feet scrape the floor. The world tilted. Elijah shoved past them, snarling, eyes bright. He didn’t say anything, but he didn’t have to. He wasn’t letting them take me alone.

They threw me into a smaller room. It was cold with metal everywhere. The smell of iron, dust, fear. Chains clicked shut around my wrists. Real ones. Not magic. Just… metal. But heavier somehow.

Elijah stood by the door, breathing hard.
“Leave,” someone said.
“No,” he growled. “She’s not your prisoner. Touch her again and I’ll rip your throat out.”

The guards hesitated, they sensed that Elijah wasn’t bluffing so they left, one by one.

Then it was quiet. Just us.

He sat across from me. Jaw tight. Hands shaking.
I couldn’t stop shivering. My throat still burned from Lucien’s hand.
“They think I did this,” I whispered.
“Let them,” he said. “They’ll soon see the truth.”

I wanted to believe that. I really did. But my wrist pulsed again like something alive was in there, laughing at me.

Then, the door opens. My heart jumped. I thought they were back to haul me somewhere darker, but it was Edward.

He looked wrecked, pale, bloody, and he was limping. His shirt soaked through. A healer tried to stop him; he didn’t even look at them. “Move,” he snarled. His fangs flashed, and they did.

He stumbled inside. Rage, guilt, I don’t know. His eyes found me immediately.
“Elijah,” he said. “Get out.”
Elijah didn’t move. “Not happening.”

Edward didn’t argue. Just walked right up to me like the chains weren’t there. His hand, warm, shaking, touched my face and wiped away blood that wasn’t mine. His thumb lingered.

“You okay?” he asked, voice breaking.

I didn’t answer. My brain was too full of everything, Lucien, blood, chains, marks, light, death. He looked like he was barely holding himself together. So was I.

And then, he kissed me.

Hard and desperate. Like he was trying to prove I was real. Or that he still was. His hand slid under my blouse and I—
I gasped.
My back hit the wall.
Everything felt too loud. Too much. This isn't right, I am in a terrible situation and he just wants to fuck me.

“Elijah—” I started.

But it was too late.

Elijah roared, grabbed him and threw him. Chains rattled, walls cracked, I almost fell.

“Get your hands off her!” Elijah shouted, claws out, eyes blazing.

Edward hit the floor, rolled, came up again, fangs bared, to my surprise he was healed. “Don’t pretend you care more than I do! You think she needs you? You think you even understand her?”

“I understand you can’t control yourself!” Elijah shot back.

They lunged. Metal and fury. Snarling. The sound, God, the sound was one of the most unpleasant things I ever heard. I guess two men fighting over me have begun to lose it’s appeal.

“Stop!” I screamed, but they didn’t.
Something in me twisted. That heat again, crawling up my arm, burning behind my eyes. Like the mark was feeding on the chaos.

Then, the door creaked open.

Lena walked in with a perfect annoying smirk, holding up her phone and recording.

“Well,” she said. “What do we have here?”

Edward froze. Elijah turned, breathing like he might explode.

Lena tilted her head, all mock pity. “Poor Erica. Controlling them again, huh? The cursed girl and her pets.”
My stomach dropped.
“Lena, don’t piss me off—”
She ignored me and kept filming everything.
Her eyes glittered. “This’ll look great on campus feed.”

Elijah’s voice came out low. “Turn that off.”
She laughed. “Or what, cousin?”
Edward’s fangs glinted. “You don’t know what you’re playing with.”
“Oh, I think I do,” she said, stepping back. “And everyone’s about to find out who you really are.”

Then—
The bell rang. It was loud and deafening. Everything stopped.

Another toll.
Heavier.

Edward and Elijah both went pale.

Lena frowned. “What’s that?”

Elijah’s voice dropped low. “The Blood Moon. It’s starting.”

And then the world changed.

Shadows crawled, screams outside.
Edward grabbed me. “We have to move.”

The chains glowed red, burning and snapped apart.

The Blood Moon had begun.

And somewhere in me, something answered.

Something that wanted to get out of me.
Something that wanted all of me.