CHAPTER 286

CHAPTER 286
I'd noticed how I looked, but taking in the state of my mate forced me to look at myself, the steel door giving me a slightly blurry view of my bony body.

Like Nic, my arms were filled with dark veins that spread through my body and I had to look closer at my eyes. A red hue surrounded my pupil and rubbing did nothing to shake it off.

His were completely black and watching him was absolute torture.

His claws were bloody and the entire place was filled with dried flesh and it looked like he did this every time his box was cleaned up.

His memory was stuck on the ruins where his father had imprisoned him and let wild wolves feast on his body.

“Are you sure it's a good idea?” The lady I'd learned her name was Sade asked.

“She can't communicate with him from here, remember these walls are designed to keep everything that's not the body, soul, and darkness out. Don't worry, if she encounters anything, I'm right here and I'll get her out.”

Their conversation only added to the tension in my veins.

I could feel my other minds begin to wake from the slumber they'd been shoved into since I was no longer in that boxed prison, and I feared I wouldn't be able to reach him without my wolf's intervention.

But according to my Mom, the wolf bond only intensified during sex, everything else was normal for each part of me, vampire, wolf, or witch so I wouldn't need their help.

But I definitely wanted their encouragement, their presence. But deep down, I knew they would be ashamed to have me as their partner now. I'd gone against everything we represented, giving up my soul because of grief wasn't something I could excuse away.

“Fine,” Sade gave in, and then faced me, her expression different from the one she gave me earlier, “just… be careful. If he's not responding, signal to us. We can always try again. You're still going to be here for the rest of the week for monitoring so don't feel pressured okay?”

I nodded.

I stepped aside from the small window that let me see him.

He'd not noticed us, his entire form obsessed with the job of clawing himself bloody.

Sade brought out a remote from her pocket and I thought the door was going to slide to the side like mine had but instead, a rumbling sound began.

Then water began pouring down into the cell, washing him, the blood, and the entire room.

The darkness screamed, an odd, guttural sound that would definitely haunt my dreams forever.

The showers stopped and the wind began blowing violently, quickly drying the room for another two minutes while I watched him chase it.

I struggled to imagine myself in this position, with my parents on the other side, watching their daughter lose her mind.

Finally, the door slid open, but only slightly.

That got his attention for sure.

Before now, the darkness always looked at me with reserved pause, like it didn't like me but it knew not to cross certain boundaries.

But now, it was completely hostile.

I took a step into the room and it jumped towards me with venom in its eyes.

I jumped back so fast I was at the other end of the corridor in seconds.

“Close it! Close it! Close the door!” I screamed, sobs escaping my body uncontrollably.

The darkness, in Nic's body jumped around angrily in the now closed box. That was when I realized it was in chains and wouldn't have been able to get to me either way.

My mum held me as I broke down.

Everything came rushing to my head at once, the reality of my life.

It truly, completely took over my mind.

“You'll get it right,” she whispered into my hair, “don't worry okay?”

“But it wants to kill me, Mom, I could feel it. The hatred in those eyes means he knows I'm a threat and once I'm out of the picture, he can permanently own that body.”

“Sade will tighten the chains so you can get close enough. But for now, we need to get some blood into your body, okay?”

I shook my head.

“I don't want to feed that part of my body anymore.”

She laughed a humourless laugh.

“That's how you lose sight of yourself, child. You must take care of every part of your body. Keeping your wolf boxed in made her weak, your witch doesn't even know the extent of her power, and your vampire form grew so strong that when you lost your mind, they couldn't control the darkness. So we're not making that mistake again.”

“Oh,” I groaned, overloaded with information and regret.

I went with her, taking in the facility we were kept in.

“How did all of this happen?” I wondered out loud.

“It was a lot of back and forth with the people of Nyxandria, establishing a mental rehab center for vampires.”

“I wouldn't blame them,” I cut in, “killing us would end everyone's problems.”

“Only it wasn't just about you this time,” she shook her head, squeezing my fingers that were linked to hers, “thousands of vampires that Vlad had converted needed to be trained as well. Some died with him, but that takes a different type of ritual and you knew there wasn't enough time for that with everything else he was obsessed with. This place basically forces them to control their bloodlust, and they can then re-enter society. Most people didn't like that, the idea of someone like Xavier bringing Vlad back again was what everyone was scared of. But Sade, although completely human as she's refused to be turned, had created a machine that wipes their mind clean. Their link to him, their memories of his plans, everything is extracted. They are fed with the ones that are considered important and they train every day to be normal in the best way that word can be applied.”

I listened as we came to a cafeteria and people looked up at us, staring abashedly.

I slowed down, a shiver of fear and shame running up my spine.

“Don't worry,” my mom whispered to me, “they'll get over it soon.”

I joined her to a table, eyes down in shame.

“Your Majesty,” a server came to meet us.

“Diana, please help my daughter with a type O+,” she told the lady with a smile.

I watched as her eyes widened and fear covered the reverence that was in her eyes earlier as she looked at me.

She zipped off to the back.

My mum rubbed my back with a sigh.

Then out of the blue, someone in the crowd shouted;

“How did it feel when you snuffed the life out of those weak humans?”
An uproar of laughter, yells and shock erupted while I was pinned in place.

He was shushed and dragged out of the cafeteria with aggression but his words remained with me.

But I refused to cry, I'd done quite enough of that.

I just needed to get my mate and leave here, suffer the punishment for our actions and we'll hide away from the world forever.